I recently got the chance of speaking to Suleman Sacranie, founder of 99pshopper.com, a really cool guy with an interesting idea and something that i will think will go far, it’s definitely going to be huge.

Rather than walking to your favourite shop, or maybe you forgot to do your weekly or monthly shopping, or you recently cut down the budget for your weekly shopping.

99pshopper.com offers you products for 99p with delivery, just think 99p store but online and delivery. Cool right? Now start ordering!

Now to the interview, hope you enjoy it!

Hi Suleman, how are you? Great of you to join us on YHP

I’m very well thanks, before we proceed I just wanted to say what YHP do is an inspiration to why today we have successful entrepreneurs that take the chance and start up their own business, it’s a pleasure speaking to you Joseph 

Thanks man, i truly appreciate that, I’m so psyched about this interview, so let’s dive in.

Before we start talking about how you started your business, can you quickly give me some background information about yourself?

Well, my name is Suleman I was brought up in Leicester a city in the midlands, on the day my mum was giving birth to me my dad opened his first Supermarket in Leicester a former Co-Operative store which for the next 15 years of my life I grew up in, living above the shop meant when it got busy my mum had to bring me in the shop to keep an eye on me and as you can imagine a child never stays in one place so I had a box tied to the shelf so I couldn’t move, but this is where my entrepreneurial spirit all started, as I watched my dad develop the business from scratch into the backbone of the family .

(Laughter) this is probably the funniest, most random and favourite introduction I’ve had so far, i like it

Let’s first go back a bit, how did you get into business? What was your motive then? What inspired you?

Business has been going way back from my granddad and my father, and my father has always been the one that inspired me to go into business.

We talk nothing else but business between us and it really frustrates my mum and my younger brother as we are always looking at what we can do then realise it’s like 3 AM!

I can relate to that, time flies when you’re talking business

I always thought I would go down the academic route having completed my A- Levels in Chemistry, Biology & English Language. I started my degree course off at University Of Leicester in Chemistry when I realised that this was not for me whilst in lectures I would always be thinking about business, coming up with ideas that I wanted to pursue without any research.

My motive was financial freedom and to be self employed, when i was 17, I realised I couldn’t work for anyone whilst working at a bank call centre, I always used to say to myself, how could this people be in this position, I used to get in trouble for telling them how they could improve and later realised and told myself ,if this is the working world then It’s not for me as I need to voice my opinion and the only way I can do this is by developing my own business and being my own boss! However I realised it was easier said than done

So you sold your first company when you were 19, tell us about this company and why did you decide to sell it?

At 19, I applied for BBC Dragons Den Online, my video pitch appeared online and never did I think 8 hours later I would be planning a flight to the US, the concept was a software to teach children to keep away from guns and knives to be honest I didn’t have a clue where I could take the business, like I said I used to have the most crazy ideas but not know what to do with them and when the offer came up to cash in I knew it would be the best option as it would enable me to further myself and having some capital to embark upon something else

What were you doing before you started this company?

Before I started this I was doing my A-Levels at college. I am not academically the most able but I get by, and surprised myself by managing to get a place on a degree course at one of the best Universities in the UK.

So to 99pshopper, how did the idea come about? What is the story behind it?

Well, you are going to laugh Joseph when you hear the story behind it, me and my dad were just having a laugh about it earlier. It was about midnight a year ago and I was in the bathroom and something just hit me like a bolt of lightning.

I always knew internet was the way forward and then thought to myself people don’t have time to even do their weekly shopping, we are in a recession we all want things cheap.

I ran out of the bathroom and my parents were sleeping, i switched on the light and shouted 99p Shopper!
My mum thought we had a thief in the house and my dad half a sleep goes “what an amazing idea”, this is where it all started.

But going forward it was easier said than done, I thought I could develop a cheap website so i found a company in Bangladesh thinking within two weeks’ time I will be launching 99p Shopper, without a clue of what stock I was going to have on the site, the company doing the website had no clue about what they were doing, I was doing more of the web design than they were and lost £500.

I finally decided to tell them to stop the work and for a month I walked the streets of Leicester wondering how am I going to make 99p Shopper happen, I was getting lots of web quotes equivalent to prices of houses which was really shocking for me, but like they say “if you keep trying something will eventually come up”, I went to London, Glasgow, Bristol searching for a web company and i finally found one which was based in Nottingham less than 30 mins from me.

I met the most amazing web company Eventure Internet.

Mark Storey the Director at the company has been the man behind the success of 99p Shopper, he has put all his knowledge in making sure we launch the most exclusive food site on the internet, without him we would not have built 99p Shopper today. We used to meet up every week in Nottingham working on designs going through the development features and 4 weeks ago we launched 99pShopper.com.

I was just browsing through the website and let me get this straight; customers come on the website and order products and get them delivered to their doorstep?

Yes, it’s that simple Joseph, simply add the products to your basket, we have a Save With A Case option which enables bulk buyers to save more money on their shopping so you can buy an individual product or purchase a case, once you complete the checkout process we receive the order at our picking centre, the order is then picked and dispatched to the customer usually within 48 Hours.

So let me get this straight, you guys have a delivery centre, and this is where all the products are stocked, once a order is made, you go to your delivery centre and get the item delivery to the person, right?

Yes simple as that

How much items do i need to order for my stocks to be delivered?

There is no restriction like you have with many other supermarket sites you can spend what you want and order how much you want, the concept is to give flexibility to customers hence why we have no restrictions

You know what i know some of the YHP audience will be wondering how you’re making money, what is your business model?

The business model has always been to keep the company as an online brand; we buy stock in quantity enabling us to pass the savings onto our customers hence selling branded products at 99p & less. But over the last 4 weeks we have had 200 franchises enquires to open stores across the UK. With Supermarkets making huge percentage mark ups, we don’t work on the high profit scale yet working on quantity and keeping all our customers happy.

To be honest, i really like the idea, you know the idea of buying things online for 99p an then you have the delivery aspect of it, it’s pretty cool, i just saw crunchy nut on there for 99p, i guess i will start my weekly shopping as soon as this interview is done, you know by the time i spend £20, I’m sorted! And i do believe that this is something that is really going to go viral or crazy as soon as people start realising it exists? University student will love this

This is the concept joseph, by launching 99p Shopper we are enabling everyone to shop for big brands at low prices, with families having to make cut backs etc. food shopping has been made a lot harder this way for example Crunchy Nut retails for £2.39 in the Supermarkets by the time you add your weekly shopping to your supermarket bag and with our prices of 99p and under you can clearly see the huge savings customers will be making.

To be honest it has been viral crazy the media are picking up on this and writing about 99p Shopper, I am getting text messages from friends saying I have just seen you in the Mail on Sunday etc. not even being aware it is pretty cool.

But the growth of the company in this month has smashed all expectations I had and I am looking forward to developing the company and taking it as far as I can, I think the ex-pat market place is another that we didn’t think we would get any response from, Mark suggested lets have European option in doing so we are shipping customers weekly shopping to Paris, Munich, Madrid, Milan and many other places across Europe.

One problem that i think a lot of people have with the whole 99p issue, is about quality, how are you able to keep your prices low and still maintain quality and I’m sure making profit at the same time?

This is where the experience of my father has been so needed, as he has over 30 years of experience in t
his trade when it came to sourcing the big brands in doing so at the prices I wanted, he has the knowledge of where to go and the methods of doing so and since we have had suppliers contacting us and this has enabled us to go from 200 products to a range of over 2,000 products and this has continued to grow.

Have you started getting orders so far?

So we far we have had 12,000 orders from customers across the UK & Europe

How have you been advertising and generating awareness so far?

To be honest, this has been going on for a month now and with our fasting month I have not really had chance to focus on any kind of advertising, but clearly word of mouth is the biggest kind of advertising out in there as people are hearing about us from their friends and the word is going round

You secured a £100,000 sponsorship from eventure funding to set up the website right? How did that
happen? What do they get from the deal?

Well Joseph as i mentioned earlier, the way I wanted the website was not going to be cheap and I am a very hard person to please and having discussed this with Eventure, they are investors in people and they invested in me. All our internet marketing and campaigns that will be working will only be done by them.

I rate them as the UK’s best web company as they care about delivering the very best and I am already looking at developing new concepts with them

Have you got any plans in expanding the business up a bit? I read something about you looking to go into partnerships with Tesco? Is there anything concrete on that?

I’m not sure where the Tesco thing came from but we’ve had major Supermarkets contact us in going into partnership, but at this moment in time this is not something or direction i want to go in, I want to make 99p Shopper a household name and looking forward to developing a franchise model to open retail outlets across the UK.

Although the offer from a UK Supermarket was concrete it just seemed to be going away from what I wanted to do with 99p Shopper, it was the biggest decision of my life but I stand by not agreeing to it but there is no truth in the Tesco deal, we have not had any contact from Tesco.

So guys are actually not distributing, you have an agreement with a distribution firm to deliver the products right?

This was the initial agreement until they realised that it was not going to be 100 deliveries a week and this is where the biggest nightmare happened as the distributors could not cope with the number of orders, we had to make sure we held the stock and dispatched it to our customers so before customers were receiving their shopping in two different deliveries now all shopping is delivered to the door in one package.

I guess with business you start off in one way and things change as the business develops but if you are making changes like this within a week it is very difficult and we had to make these changes as well as
making sure all our customers’ orders were fulfilled and by working 24/7 we pulled it off.

This is crazy, but before we go forward, i want us to go back a bit; you were studying chemistry at Leicester university right? First of all, how did a sales man/business man end up studying chemistry?

To be honest Joseph I get asked that question every day and even I don’t have an answer to that question, all I can say is I had an amazing Chemistry teacher in Julie Russell and she made me a good student at Chemistry and really I was not going to do anything else but looking back Chemistry taught me many skills that i have used today such as problem solving, calculations and many other things that all link back to Chemistry

Why did you decide to drop out, i mean you have just a year left right? Why not finish it off and then concentrate on your business?

My parents said the same thing to me, but when you want to do something so badly, no matter how much you want to delay it you will constantly be reminded of it and I am one of those people that has to do something as soon as it is in my head I can’t hold it out for 2 years to carry it out.

I guess it’s good you din’t wait for 2 years, I might be the one running 99pshopper now ..Laughter..

Suleman: Laughter

You could say i tried postponing 99p Shopper but couldn’t get it off my head, I tried the uni stuff out but my heart wasn’t in it, I just wanted to be my own boss and when I want something I have to work on it instantly and constantly this was no different, and looking back I don’t regret it, not one bit.

And when you read about 150,000 students not getting into University and here’s me saying the economy can only grow with new business coming into the market to enable jobs to be created, i guess you could say it is an amazing time to start your own business!

What has been the hardest part of building the business so far?

Where do I start, I told you about the website dilemma, at the moment Joseph it’s all really hard work but I would say raising that initial capital was the hardest part as they say there is support of start-ups out there I looked and couldn’t find anything I was fortunate to win an Enterprise completion at the University Of Leicester that gave me £5,000 funding to get going as well as the success I had later on with the sale of my first company

What would you say has been the most valuable lesson you’ve learnt so far?

Keep friends and business separate, starting up your business is very personal and when things are not going well I get very frustrated and angry and this sometimes can come across in the wrong way so I would always suggest build your team around yourself and don’t treat your business as a day with your mates.

Secondly never get your work outsourced, yes you will pay a lot less but if something goes wrong and you need to be able to have the matter resolved right way, you might end up waiting for two weeks just to get through to the company, I learnt one lesson, “pay monkeys expect peanuts” and that is what I realised when I initially outsourced 99p Shopper

If you could go back, what one thing would you do differently?

I wasted three months having the web site developed in Bangladesh and it drained me, I was left frustrated and didn’t know whether to turn left or right, I would have used a UK based company from the get-go but then again I believe everything happens for a reason and it was a lesson I learnt and it was hard at the time but looking back it was part of the journey to get to where we are today .

I know you’ve been so busy of late, i know you are fully booked during the week, i know how you had to squeeze me in for the interview, how do you keep the balance between work and rest? What do you do for fun at the moment, to take the edge off?

Balance between work and rest, well I actually have to think about that one, I am always on the go but I make sure I have a complete rest day on Friday, this is when I can catch up on TV, enjoy a day with the PS3 and do what every other 21 year old does. Saturday is my day to sleep I don’t get up till late afternoon but I need these two days just to take the edge off things.

Saying that I am 21 but my hair is nearly all white and my mum is chasing me with a hair dye every day so I know to take it easy but when you are so passionate about something it is very hard to relax and take your mind off things

What advices or tips could you give to aspiring young entrepreneurs looking to kick start their start-ups?

You will get days when you wish why am i doing this, we all do but remember this much just thinking about starting your own business is the biggest step forward, raising finance is difficult but look at what can you do to kick start things before 99p Shopper went live to raise funds I was running a pilot on eBay and raising funds from this.

Never let anyone tell you your idea is not going to be successful as with determination and hard work you can make anything work

If you are looking at using a web company, use a UK company so you have constant contact with your web company

Get a mentor in place from day one, someone you can go to and get advice not be told what to do, but get suggestions and then make your own decision.

Go to these free workshops to get you off the ground they are free and you will meet likeminded people and you never know the one person you may meet may just be the one to kick start your business

You get told by a lot of people focus on your business plan but my advice would be to work on making the idea happen, put all your effort in winning the hearts of your customers/clients and this will all come together
Look at funding around you, Enterprise Inc gives £5,000 to kick start your business dream, St Thomas White Charity give £12,000 interest free over 12 years.

Don’t give up I never thought 99p Shopper would ever go live looking back just 12 months ago, these were the hurdles I was going through and you have to fight though these things and come out stronger

So what should we be expecting from you next?

Over the next 12 months we are looking at making 99p Shopper a household name with meetings with Venture Capitalist coming up, I am looking at taking the company to the next level and fingers crossed we should be having 99p Shopper stores across the UK 

Thanks suleman, hope to catch up with you soon.

It’s my pleasure speaking with you Joseph thanks for this opportunity

Hi Guys, Had the opportunity to interview Adam Robinson, A graduate from leeds university mastering in product design how an opportunity to travel and study abroad breathed life to his startup Plus Minus Design

Enjoy the interview

HI Adam, How are you doing today? It’s great to have you on YHP, Can you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

Hi, yes my name is Adam Robinson and I am 24 and one of the co-founders of Plus Minus Design. I am a graduate from the University of Leeds completing a masters in Product Design in June 2009 and originally from Highburton a small village in West Yorkshire close to Huddersfield.

How did you get involved with plus minus design?

I met Henry James, one of the co-founders of Plus Minus Design, on the first day of University, since then we were always a formidable team on our degree course. With Henry having considerable creative design talent, and myself skilled in detailed design and commercialisation, working together we were an unbeatable team. Outside studies we had always talked of establishing a business after university.

This was originally going to be TOFU – a designer/maker business of high-end sustainable furniture. In our final year of University however we worked with several multinational clients on commercial design projects and from their feedback we were convinced to entre into design consultancy. This was when Plus Minus Design was formed.

Why start a business? What inspired or motivated you towards taking that action?

In our third year of university Henry and myself took an opportunity to travel to and Study at Carleton University in Ottawa Canada.

To be honest our main motivation for this was to snowboard between classes however when we arrived there we meet a man who inspired us – Brian Burns. Brian is a leading academic figure in Sustainable design principles and it was under his guidance that we research, co-authored and published a text book on sustainable design – EcoSuss.

This experience, coupled with our already strong design skills gave us the expertise to be world leaders at delivering sustainable innovation. Couple this with the relationship we had established with blue chip design buyers and the decision to establish a business was easy.

You run the company with two other co-founders right? How did you guys meet each other?

That’s right I have already mentioned Henry James who I met on the first day of University. The other co-founder is Thomas Eales. Henry and myself met Tom during our final year of studying a Masters in Product Design at the University of Leeds.

Do you think running the business with two other people has helped your business grow or even helped you guys individually?

Most defiantly. One of the reasons we went into business together was because of our complimentary skill sets. Henry is one of the most talented conceptual designers I have ever met. Tom is excellent with new technologies and emerging innovations and personally I complimented for my analytical business leadership, detailed design for manufacture skills and eye for commercialisation. Working together we have built a highly desirable design service working with world leading businesses all over the world. Individually I doubt we could be any more then junior designers.

Let’s take a step back a bit, can you tell a bit about what your company does and what role you play in the business?

Plus Minus Design provides disruptive innovation that maximises social impact and minimises environmental impact– (Plus Minus – You can see where the name comes from now!) What that means is that we provide product ideas that truly change market places. A good example is the apple Ipod, that completely changed the personal music market forever or the Dyson vacuum cleaner that did the same in home cleaning.

This is the type innovative, market-leading design we practise. We couple this with an expert knowledge of environmental principles to minimise impact and maximise on the social and financial benefits.

Personally I am Managing Director of Plus Minus Design and provide both business leadership and project management. I am then supported by Henry in creative design and corporate relationship and Tom in technology and marketing.

What value does your company add to the environment and society?

With the risk of making gross generalisations, many people preaching sustainability are focused on the reduction of consumption – using and buying less. This concept while based on admirable ethics is in itself unsustainable. We live in a global economy that is tied to the consumption of goods and products and have a global economy expanding faster every day.

For people to maintain a good level of living we have to have more consumption not less. This leaves us with one option – improving what we buy. That’s where we come in.

I love products and I love buying the latest gadgets and I’m sure the vast majority of us are the same. For this reason we preach more of the same but better. Every product we design is focused on the improvement of people’s lives while minimising the impact it causes. Zero impact in product design is some way off but we promise zero unnecessary impact.

What would you say was key in getting you guys off your feet, starting this business?

It goes without saying that our expertise and experience with multinational clients was high beneficial. That considered however I would say the key was hard work and determination couple with an excellent support network from the university, our contacts and government schemes. At times in the first 6 months the motivation to keep going was hard to find and we had many setbacks but having a team for three people at least on of use was always in a position to re-motivate the other two and keep driving things forwards.

How were you able to get funding for your business?

The majority of funding for our business was provided by ourselves and a grant from Leeds Universities start-up agency – SPARK.

What role did going to the university have on you guys starting a business? What help and assistance did they make available?

When we started and throughout the history of the business the University of Leeds have been very supportive providing business set-up guidance, proving us with business contacts and support on funding. These services were all provide through the universities business start-up program – SPARK who assistance especially in the early stages was invaluable.

From a commercial aspect they have provided us with contracts from both their own clients and themselves. In addition to this we are regularly invited to high profile networking events operated for Leeds University associates.

What is your aim, what are you looking to achieve with plus minus design?

The aim for Plus Minus Design is to be world leaders at delivering disruptive innovation with a studio presence in Australia, Europe, South Africa and North America. In addition to this however we aim to have a portfolio of world leading product innovations that we have designed and launched for ourselves not just clients, one of which is the Solar Pebble.

So tell us about solar pebble? What was the inspiration behind it?

The Solar Pebble was actually inspired by a fact we heard. “1 person in developing nations dies every 20 seconds from the use of kerosene lighting” that statistic by itself is staggering however after a bit of research we found a bit more… over 50% of green house gasses from developing nation is from burning fuels such as kerosene for lighting and cooking.

Kerosene for lighting costs people over £80 every year (that’s over 1/3 of an average families income). Education is significantly restricted due to the inability to read and work at night. Education about AID and other viruses is highly ineffective due to lack of working radios.

With so many green and safe technologies available in the western world this appalled us and we started work on what evolved in to the Solar Pebble. The Solar Pebble offers users a light source that is 10x’s more powerful then a kerosene lantern, is infinitely safer, can power radios and costs just £5! It charges during the day through a small efficient solar panel and provides light in the evening through 9 LED’s and also powers phones and radios.

What are your next steps now for the solar pebble?

Right now we are exploring licensing opportunities with manufactures who can get this product both out to the markets where it is desperate needed and also to Western markets to be sold as a home, camping and festival accessory. We are in a number of negotiations but if any one is interested please contact me.

What should we be expecting from you in the future?

Most of that’s top secret! What I can say is right now we are exploring a number of app’s to help people save power and help them build contacts when starting a business. Also google “Just Add Water from Plus Minus” a product combating the negative impacts of the bottled water industry. If you will pardon the pun, it just made a big splash on the design blogs!

Do you have any tips for young and aspiring entrepreneurs?

If you have an idea that’s not going to put you in jail, just go for it you will never have a better opportunity. Right now most young people have very little to lose and few family restrictions meaning the only way is up! When we started we were heavily in debt from education and nothing to our names. Most people saw this as a restriction and said we needed to work for a few years to get some working capital together. We saw it as an opportunity – with nothing to lose there’s only one direction!

Thanks for your time Adam, good luck!

I have trying to get this interview done for a while now and you would agree after reading it, that the wait was totally worth it.

Loy okezie shares some insight into his company startups nigeria and also talks about the nigeria startup community.

Hope you enjoy the interview

Hi Loy, Welcome to YHP, tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hi Jo, thanks for this opportunity.

No problem man, nice to finally get you on YHP

I have a background in Business Management & Strategy and upon graduation; I’ve been working on several projects with a focus on the impact of technology on media, business and entertainment.

You’re a business graduate right? What influence do you think attending University has on an entrepreneur’s life? Do you think it makes you more aware and prepared to start your own business?

Yeah, I think that University should prepare us all for the business world. Whether you have a background in IT, Business or Arts, I think that the knowledge, skills and networks you build over the years at the University should be leverage for you when starting a business.

As a result of some knowledge, skills and networks acquired while studying at the University, I started a small training outfit that helped over 100 students from different backgrounds to improve on their presentation skills.

From that experience, I learned how to deal and handle people with different abilities while improving my communication skills. Ultimately, I learned some practical lessons on managing people and running a business.

How did you get involved in technology and start-ups?

I grew up with computers and although I didn’t have my first PC until I was in the University, I developed a lot of interest in the technologies (I use every day), the companies (that innovate them), the people (behind them) as well as emerging technology developments in the new web space.

My inspiration came from several books I read on how technology companies such as Google, Yahoo and eBay started. Then, I started reading technology blogs such as TechCrunch, Mashable, VentureBeat, GigaOM and RWW, all of which provide a daily dose of Internet companies and their activities.

That said, my most inspiring entrepreneurial driving force is Sir Richard Branson, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies. His adventure into space tourism with Virgin Galactic which takes paying passengers into suborbital space is the most audacious venture I’ve ever heard of.

Thus, upon returning from France in 2008 where I spent about 3 years studying, I invested a lot of my time and resources exploring web start-ups. As a result, I founded Startups Nigeria in order to showcase technology-related companies especially web 2.0 and mobile start-ups from Nigeria.

This has afforded me the opportunity to meet some of the smartest brains behind some of the best start-ups as well as some potential investors in the web and mobile space.

Tell us about Startups Nigeria?

Back in April 2008, I founded Startups Nigeria as a startups and technology news-related blog with an international focus on Nigeria. The blog eventually became very popular, influential and highly respected within the Nigerian and African technology and social media space.

Today, Startups Nigeria is a youth-driven, online community for technology enthusiasts, internet start-ups, companies, entrepreneurs, investors and students, all pioneering innovations in Nigeria’s emerging start-up eco-system and Internet economy.

With the new platform found at www.startupsnigeria.org (still in private beta), users can build their profile page, add and promote their start-ups, share their start-up stories, photos, videos, follow other start-ups, find ideal start-up partners, find technology-related jobs, find entrepreneurs and investors and lots more.

The idea of the platform is to help build Nigeria’s emerging dot-com Internet industry and contribute towards a knowledge-based economy in Nigeria by the year 2020 and beyond.

In the future, we hope to become a technology start-up incubator and help fund financially viable start-ups from Nigeria and African entrepreneurs.

What companies are you excited about in the Nigerian start up community?

Basically, I’m excited about companies that are using innovation to create value and solve problems. Thus, if there are any entrepreneurs and start-ups out there that apply this principle, I’ll be singing their praises louder and possibly backing them financially.

What change are you looking for in the Nigerian start up, changes that should be adopted to bring growth and expansion in the start-up community?

We need to see a lot of innovative thinking and approach.

We need to see new and exciting business revenue models.

We need to see collaboration with other entrepreneurs in Nigeria and Africa.

We need to see a vibrant technology community that fosters healthy discussions on the emerging web, mobile and Internet industry.

We need to see our Universities teaching emerging web and mobile app technologies.

We need to see web and mobile app development competitions sponsored by huge technology companies and targeted at University students.

We need to see technology incubators and angel investments.

Do you think it’s important that any internet company fully engage in social media to be successful?

Not necessarily, but it could go a long way in building a community faster and easier.

You’ve typically been ahead of the curve with tech and social trends (video blogging, social media, etc). What do you see as the “next big thing” – a technology or trend that will change the game yet again?

Location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla.

Any other words of wisdom for young entrepreneurs looking to start a new business?

Never Think Average. Never Quit.

So what’s next for you?

Building an emerging digital media brand that will change the way we live.

Thank you for your time loy, hope to speak to you soon.

I was very impressed with the work going on at onepage that I decided to have a chat with the two founders of the company, Joel Gascoigne and Oo Nwoye.

For those of you that still don’t have a clue what Onepage is, or does…let me put it this way, it is an online business card, instead of you spending money printing out thousands of business cards, you can simply just send the person your one page, that has all and more of the details that will appear on a printed business card, Yup that’s it..Simple, yet efficient!

I do really like the idea, Let me know your thoughts and enjoy the interview.

Hey Guys, How are you doing today? Welcome to YHP

Oo: I am doing great! how are you?

Joel: Hi Joseph, I’m fantastic thank you!

I’m Great you know, just glad to finally get to do this interview with you guys

Can you kindly give us some background information about yourselves?

Oo: My name is Oo Nwoye, I am Nigerian. I studied electrical engineering in Nigeria and my Masters was in eBusiness management at Warwick University. I hope to inspire a new cadre of Nigerian Internet Entrepreneurs.

Joel: I’m Joel Gascoigne, I’ve been playing with computers for as long as I can remember and I’ve been building websites since I was 12. I’m a recent graduate of Master of Engineering in Computing Systems from the University of Warwick. Coming to the end of my degree I made the decision to create my own startup rather than follow convention of further education or employment.

So what do you guys do?

Oo: I am an Internet entrepreneur. I am a co founder OnePage, an application the allows people the organise and share their contact details. I take care of the Marketing Business and Administrative issues. Once in a while I write code. I am assuming html is code.

Joel: I’m co-founder of OnePage and a web developer and entrepreneur. I deliver the product and handle all technical aspects. I also enjoy dabbling in the business and marketing side of things, and I love to find ways to meet other like-minded people whether that’s attending or running events.

Explain to me like a web newbie just getting started in social media, what is one page about and how it works?

OnePage is like your business card, but online. you can access this card with your mobile phone. When you meet someone, instead of handing over a printed business card, you send the person your OnePage. That way, you save the person you are giving your contact card , having to type out your details when he/she gets home. In addition, you avoid wasting paper which is an ecological sensible thing to do.

What would you say makes onepage different other similar websites?

Our emphasis is on getting people to communicate through the cards. For instance, you can be emailled directly from your card. In addition to that your onepage can be embedded in your blog. OnePage is so many things to a lot of people.

Why decide to start a business?

Oo: To have the freedom to control my destiny. I love being in charge and that is only possible if you run your own business and answer to only yourself.

Joel: I aim to be financially and locationally independent, so that I can be anywhere and do whatever I’d like. I also aspire to be an angel investor and mentor who has been through the full process with all its ups and downs, and truly “gets” Internet business.

How and why did you guys get together to start a company?

Oo: I had always known I would start an Internet company and I wanted to launch it in UK. So when I got admitted to Warwick University, I created a Facebook group Warwick Internet Entrepreneurs. After about about 2 months the group had swelled to a grand total of 2 people. Myself and a certain Joel Gascoigne. We met up, and became friends. The rest they say is history.

How was it like starting a business whilst still at university? How did you manage your time?

Oo: We did not start as a business in Uni.We nurtured the idea while at school but it was after we graduated we turned it into a business. While in undergraduate school in Nigeria, I did some little business on the side.

Joel: Throughout my time at University I ensured I was always doing something more than just the required studies, which included freelance commercial web development, working on my own startup ideas and playing around with the technology out there. Starting the business was a natural extension of this, and it is a matter of prioritising things. In reality, my University life was a period of being very busy and sleeping very little, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

What are the benefits of starting a business at university?

Oo: There are several advantages to starting a business in Uni.
First, you have the goodwill of everybody. Staff, professors students etc. You can ask for help from anyone and be sure to get it for free! Afterall, you are only a student.

Secondly, you have a lot of university resources to use for free. The library, computers, meeting rooms and so forth.

Thirdly, you are not under financial pressure to pay your rent and earn money like it would be if you are out of school. Your finances are already taken care of because you would have made the living expenses if you were not doing any business. Therefore you practically have 0 cost in starting right fro school.

Joel: I would encourage anyone at University to take full advantage of the perfect situation they find themselves in if they think about it for a moment.
Your living costs are covered, and you have periods of time with no study to do. Combine this with the immediate market of early adopters for technology-based startup ideas, and you really are missing out if you don’t at least give something a go whilst you’re there.

So how is it going so far at onepage, I know you guys just recently completely opened up onepage? And also moving to another location for your business?

Oo: We moved to Birmingham because we had to be in the same place to work on OnePage. Luckily, we heard of the BSEEN program in Birmingham and applied for it. We them moved there shortly after getting it.

Joel: After graduating, me and Oo were in different locations working remotely on OnePage for a number of months. We needed to be in the same location to take the business to the next level, and we also wanted to be somewhere big enough that there would be things going on. Birmingham was the obvious choice since it was between Sheffield and Coventry where we were, and we also have proximity to London.

Why move to another city, Do you think location is key for every start-up?

Oo: Yes. According to Derik Sivers (Do read his blog) “being in the middle of things increases your chances for opportunities”. It was important to be around the right people and to be in the right environment and for us bigger cities than Coventry are ideal. We wanted a place with good proximity to london without the accompanying costs. birmingham was that for us.

Joel: Location is important, but it is no excuse. Whilst there was pretty much no startup community in Sheffield, that meant I started my own events and created that community. In many ways having to do that was even better than if the community had already existed. Online communities really help with this too, and I encourage people to take their online communities offline too if possible.

What are the key ingredients that make a successful start-up?

Oo: I do not have the sapiential authority to say what makes a successful start up as i have not created one yet. But from my experience and studies, I would say ambition, determination and patience are important for success.

Joel: Get something out fast, change it lots and be open to change the idea (ensure the aim is a successful business, not succeeding with a particular idea). Also, I would say that persistence is the single most important thing. It will be nice to answer this question when we are a “successful startup”

What gives you that extra energy to give moving forward, especially when things gets cloudy?

Oo: My ambition to be a successful internet entrepreneur. For the journey I am on, I must follow this path. I have seen the destination, so it is so exciting

Joel: I always go back to why I am doing this, which is financial independence and being a mentor who “gets it”. When I remember that, I know that the times “when things get cloudy” are actually the most important steps to overcome and look back on, since those will be the steps where others will need help the most.

Is the company self-funded or did you get outside funding?

Oo: We are self funded.

Are you guys looking to get any outside funding?

Money from the right pocket is always welcome. More important than money for us is mentorship from those that have walked the walk we are walking.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learnt so far since starting the company?

Oo: It always takes longer than you think. Secondly, it is an emotional rollercoaster. One day you feel on the top of the world, the other day, you feel defeated.

Joel: That nothing happens overnight, that is just how the books and press make it look afterwards. The important thing to do is make every day count.

How have you been going about advertising and marketing the services?

For now, we have been using social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, etc.). Once we launch the mobile version of our app, we will step up the ante and try getting main stream press.

What has been the biggest surprise for guys on this start-up journey?

Oo: Not many surprises though. Since I have read so many statup stories, I have been quite prepared for all I have been experiencing

Joel: How much great information and people are out there. It really is one of the best times to choose to do a startup.

What has been your most memorable moment so far?

The day we launched OnePage last year. We had a countdown and had a live feed of us. After the initial rush, we went out and got a beer . I will always look back on that day:)

Which do you think is most important: the right market, the right product, or the right team?

Oo: The right team. The product and market are so unpredictable. With the right team, you can weather any storm.

Joel: I’d also say the right team. You can pivot to a different market, and a different product, but to pivot to a different team is much more difficult. Find the right team, consisting of people who complement your skill sets and will be there to put that confidence and energy back into you when you’re feeling the pressure.

What’s more for you guys at onepage?

Oo: To get ubiquitous. It will be tough but very achievable.

Finally before we go, what advice would you like to give future entrepreneurs that are looking to start their own business?

Oo: Just go for it. take the leap. most importantly, choose who you hangout with carefully. Make sure you surround yourself with people with a similar mind set with you.

Joel: Learn as you go along, don’t let anything hold you back. Avoid the thoughts such as “I don’t have enough experience” or “I don’t have enough money”. That perfect time will never come, and if you even have the slightest desire to do your own thing, then you now have to give it a go. Just do it.

Good Luck Guys and thanks for your time

Thank you for talking to us. We would love for people to connect with us by any means they wish. They can find all our contact information at http://myonepage.com/oo and http://myonepage.com/joel

Hi Guys, Hope you enjoy this interview with an interesting and exciting entrepreneur Emil Hajric, I say interesting and exciting because he managed to keep on Skype for a long time talking about his companies, his drive, plans for the future, Let’s just say we got carried before finally getting back into doing the interview.

Emil Hajric is a 17 years old entrepreneur based in Bosnia, doing some pretty cool things with his start-up, Questionify.

Hope you enjoy the interview!

Hello Emil, How are you doing? Nice to have you on YHP

Hi. Thanks for having me. I’m doing pretty well right now, doing UI consulting, running questionify and launching another start-up, I think you could say I’ve been busy.

Can you quickly give us some background information on yourself?

Sure, so I’m Emil, I’ve been programming and designing for about 5-6 years now, 3 of which have been spent on start-up attempts. Some have been pretty successful and some have simply failed.

So how did you get into the whole entrepreneurial lifestyle?

Ever since I was a kid I was hungry for money. I remember when I was 8 years old, my dad used to run a large Bosnian supermarket in the US, I used to sell lemonade inside the store, I remember making 20 bucks a day (a lot for a 8 year old). It was fun. Then when I was around 13-14 I decided to start my first business, it failed. Second one failed too, third was pretty successful. Fourth one is going well.

How do you balance school work and working on a start-up?

I usually sleep 5-6 hours MAX. I attend a prestigious high school in Sarajevo so it’s really hard. I manage to balance school and work basically by organizing my time to the point where I have all of my hours planned out. It’s pretty tough.

Who is your role model/Inspiration?

I think Sergey Brin is a terrific role model. In 10 years, he built a company that’s so damn powerful. In terms of lifestyle, I like Roman Abramovich. He’s a badass

What do you like the most about the entrepreneurial lifestyle?

I love the fact that you can define what you see as valuable and practically create a culture that you feel is appropriate and run the entire company so that it breathes a culture. Besides, who doesn’t like money?

So tell us about your latest Project, Questionify?

Questionify is basically a customer support platform for any business. Your customer goes to your support page, type in the question, if there’s an answer for it, the customer sees it, if not, your support team gets an email with that question, they answer it and all the customers that had the question get notified.

In one sentence, questionify manages your help page by collecting all the questions from customers and displaying it on your support page so that it’s easy for customers to search through and browse the questions.

What inspired the idea?

I was initially building a Q&A community for businesses but Derek Johnson of Tatango.com talked to me about this idea and it slowly transformed.

How long did it take you to build?

Well, I’ve been through a lot of iterations, a lot of feature add-ons and changes. It’s been two and a half months though.

Did you have any problems building the product, and what kept you going?

Oh problems? I remember there was a period where the only thing I did have was a set of problems and I had to come up with the solution! Yeah there were a lot of problems like how to get the first customers, etc. I’m not sure what kept me going, but I think I loved doing Questionify so it wasn’t a problem. I’d hate to quit after I started development.

When will you be releasing officially?

1 month from now. Till then all the interested beta testers can email me and I’ll setup a free account while we’re in beta. My email is hajrice@gmail.com

how are you looking to make money from this product?

Charging on a monthly bases – subscription based.

What have the key lessons you’ve learnt along the way?

I just release a simple version but have a signup form so that people can easily get started with your service.

- Release that buggy version and get some feedback. If your target customers’ don’t want it AT ALL, it’s time you changed the idea a little.
- Always design it first, then code it(it gives you a clear vision of how it’s going to work)
- Don’t talk about what you’re going to make, *make it*

What has been your best moment so far to this day?

I’m really not sure.

What do you enjoy to relax?

I LOVE to watch The Office and The Cleveland show. I also like walking, beaches, and go karts seem to be fun even though I haven’t rode on one in ages.

What should we be expecting from you in the future?

A LOT. I see myself running an awesome company with a great culture!

What advices do you have to say for teenagers your age, looking to start their own businesses?

- Dream a lot
- Find what you like
- Figure out which problem you’re really solving and for who.
- Find the people you’re solving a problem for and make them whip out their wallets.
- Rinse and repeat.

Thank you for your time Emil

Don’t forget to Join the YHP FanPage and Follow us on twitter.

Hi Guys, check out this interview with brett klasko, I’m sure you remember that i did a profile on him a while ago, Brett started His first company at the age of 14.

Hope you Enjoy the interview!

Hello Brett, it’s great having you share your entrepreneurial experience with us on YHP

First of all, how are you doing today?

Can’t complain.

Can you briefly give our reader some background information about yourself and what you do?

Sure, I run the company I started when I was in high school. My job responsibilities range from CEO to janitor as I take care of whatever needs to get accomplished.

What does your company do?

Phinaz is an interactive financial media and sports marketing firm. The two sides of the company are pretty separate though under one roof. Our financial media side publishes financial and investment information for active traders. The sports marketing wing coordinates fundraising programs for professional teams by offering discounted tickets to schools, youth groups, and other non-profit organizations.

It’s like you’ve been in business for ages, actually you have, 11 years now, How did it all begin?

When I was still in middle school, I got really into the stock market and started publishing my thoughts on the Internet to anyone who would listen. I began to generate a following (most didn’t know my age) and things took off from there. I never intended for it to turn from hobby to commercial venture, but at some point, the revenue became significant enough where there was no looking back.

How many companies have you created since starting your first company?

Hmm, I’d have to say about 5 though one was a failed venture that we relaunched several years later with a new focus.

Tell us what you enjoy doing when you’re thinking about the next business move?

I love the sleepless nights a new business idea causes, so I try to embrace them. Load up on caffeine and turn up my music. Most of my best ideas come to me after midnight, which is probably why I’ve never been much of a morning person.

How did you finance your business? What have been your most effective sources of financing over the years?

Well, one of the benefits of starting the company while in high school was that I had a roof over my head and didn’t have to worry about personal expenses. I’ve seen other entrepreneurs fail because they were so concerned about supporting themselves initially and not starving. This allowed me to reinvest almost 100% of revenues back into the business from day 1. I was also able to use profits from my investments in the stock market to fund the business.

How has your market changed in the past few years? How has your business changed to keep pace?

On the financial media side, things have certainly changed recently after the market plunged in late 2008/early 2009 and then soared back. For us, as long as there’s interest in the market, traders will remain interested in our services. We had a couple difficult months in late 2008 when the market had 1500-2000 point swings in a day. That scared many people away for a bit.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

For us, it’s all about our subscribers, so the most crucial thing has been effectively marketing our services to the right people. I’m constantly analyzing our marketing data to ensure that we’re hitting our target demographic with the right message. In fact, we’re in the middle of a big project to further refine our marketing programs based on much more specific metrics.

What investment would make right now if you had $50,000 to spare?

I’m always looking for new opportunities and make sure I have available capital if I come across something that piques my interest – whether it be an expansion of one of our current businesses or something different.

How do you find people to bring into your organization that truly care about the organization the way you do?

That’s probably the toughest part of the interview process. I require each candidate (from intern to full-time) to come to our NYC office to have a face-to-face interview, as that’s the only way I can truly judge someone’s character and ensure they would be a solid fit in the company. I’m usually able to get a read when talking to someone in-person as to how much they prepared for the interview and how passionate they are about this position (or if they’re just going to take the first job offer they receive).

What has been your most satisfying moment in business?

Being featured in some major newspapers and on CNN when I was in high school and college was pretty neat. But if I had to pick one moment, it would have to be sitting in LaGuardia airport in December 2008 when I was on the phone with my accountant and realized just how significant our profit for that year was. It was the first time we turned such a significant profit and I truly realized just how far the business has come.

What do you think are the key lessons to becoming a successful entrepreneur?

I think there are two things each entrepreneur must possess in order to be successful – one is a passion for their business idea or industry. Entrepreneurship involves many very late (and sleepless) nights and that passion will fuel the drive necessary to continue building the business. The other important trait is resourcefulness.

As an entrepreneur, you generally won’t have large budgets to work with and will constantly find yourself needing to fight for business. Being resourceful is key to getting what you want/need without having deep pockets.

Do you think it is still effective to always have a business plan?

If you seek outside capital, absolutely, as it’s one of the few ways to adequately explain the business to an investor. For internal use, I prefer an action plan which is a more concise version of the business plan. This puts many of the ideas and thoughts in my head on paper, which helps me focus on the key areas of growth as we move forward.

What are the best ways for businesses especially start-up to manage their finances during tough times especially in this financial downturn?

For us, we’ve actually increased our marketing budget while other companies have cut back. I saw the financial downturn as the perfect opportunity to increase market share and take some business from our competition. I manage our finances the same way in an up or down market as I’m very rigorous as to how much and where we spend our money.

In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur?

Exciting.

Thanks for your time Brett.

Check out the Phinaz website and follow him on twitter

Don’t forget to Join the YHP FanPage and Follow us on twitter.

Hey Guys, Today I have a very exciting young tech entrepreneur, who has a built quite a presence/name for himself online and in the tech world and he’s only 17, you can only wonder what this little genius has up his sleeves for the future, he has just recently launched a new start-up called iPad Case Finder, with technology changing and moving so fast these days, I’m sure you will say teens like Daniel should be watched very closely…Age is nothing but a number, just ask Daniel..

Enjoy the interview

Daniel I’m so excited to have you on YHP today, How are you doing?

Thanks for having me on YHP today — I’m excited!

Can you give us some brief background information about yourself?

Sure. I’m a 17 year-old entrepreneur with a huge love and passion for all things technology. I started out my technology career in 2006 when I started working for a software company called Remend. From there, I went to work for companies like Qik, TechCrunch, Apture, atebits, TechCrunch, and start a few ventures of my own including Teens in Tech Networks, and most recently, iPad Case Finder.

What does your company do? What role do you perform in it?

Currently at Qik, I serve as the Special Projects Team Lead and Product Marketing Lead, managing product marketing and product management as well. I’m the Founder & Chairman of the Board over at Teens in Tech Networks, a company I started over two years ago. I’m also a Co-Founder at iPad Case Finder, which is my latest venture.

At what age did you begin your entrepreneurship journey, when did you realise how much you love technology?

I started getting interested in technology when I was in middle school (age 12-14), and got really interested in computers and the internet in 2006.

When did you start your first business?

I started as a tech journalist when I started my first podcast, Apple Universe, in March 2007, which in January 2010, I had to close down to time constraints.

What do you like the most about you do?

I love being able to interact with people, and build products that hopefully make an impact on people and help them succeed.

I know you were contemplating about the possibility of either going to college or not, have you made your final decision? How did you come to that decision and why?

Yes, I’ve decided that I’ll be going to the College of San Mateo studying Digital Media. I realized that I really needed college to help my career, even though most people argued against that.

What’s been the best advice you’ve been given so far?

It’s hard to narrow down all the advice I’ve been given to one, but when I first started being more active in the Silicon Valley scene, someone told me to never let me age get in the way of my dreams, and I’ve followed through with that (I hope!).

What is your best technology, application, business tools out there?

I use tons of tools, but I would have to say my favorites are Dropbox, Spotify, HipChat, WordPress, Twitter, Facebook and list goes on.

How did you get involved in Techcrunch?

I got involved with TechCrunch last June, when I approached Michael Arrington about the possibility of working with TechCrunch. Since then, I’ve moved on from TechCrunch.

Apart from all the companies you’re involved in, what other business do you admire the most and why?

I love companies like Apple, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Intel, and others due to their impact on technology today.

How do you manage to do so much, how do you manage your time?

I’ve learned over the years to manage my time, and that homework always comes first, no matter what!

You’ve recently just taken an Advisory position at Tatango, why did you decide to go on board? Don’t you feel it might be a lot of work for you considering the other projects you are currently involved in?

I joined Tatango in September 2009, which feels just like yesterday for me, because I really believe in the product, team and vision of the company. Derek Johnson, the CEO, is incredibly smart and works very hard, and I admire that from him.

Out of all the projects you’re currently involved, which one is the most exciting and why?

It’s hard to narrow down all the projects that I’ve worked on into one exciting, but I have to say, iPad Case Finder, my latest project has been tons of joy. There is a new challenge each day, and it’s fantastic to see a product that you build grow like that.

What do you think will be the next technology to erupt in the technology world?

I’m really excited to see the future of mobile and geo-location — both super hot right now.

What do you think you would be doing if internet never existed?

I prefer not to think about what would happen if the internet didn’t exist — I’m very happy with the internet right now

Who’s been the most fascinating person you’ve met so far?

I had the chance to shake Steve Jobs hand three years ago, and that was really surreal for me. I’ve met tons of other people that I’ve looked up to like Mark Zuckerberg, Ron Conway, Michael Arrington, and so on.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

I try not to think more then a few weeks down the road, so it’s too early to tell what’s going to happen in five years. Ask me again in 4.5 years

What advice would you like to give tech kids looking to follow you?

Never give up on your dreams. If you want to be the next Bill Gates, no one can stop you, so don’t let that be a factor to stop you.

Thanks for your time Daniel

Thank you!

Connect with Daniel on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and on his website.

Hey Guys, Today i had the opportunity of interviewing GitHub’s Co-founder Chris wanstrath.
Hope you enjoy him opening to us about how everything started.

Hello Chris, How are you doing today?

Fantastic.

Can you please give us some background information about yourself?

I grew up in Cincinnati, live in San Francisco, and started GitHub with PJ Hyett and Tom Preston-Werner. I attended the University of Cincinnati for about a year as an English major before dropping out to work full time as a programmer.

Before GitHub I worked at CNET Networks on GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com, Chow, and Chowhound then started a consulting company with PJ Hyett.

I’ve always loved the web so working on websites was sort of inevitable. When I was younger I wanted to make computer games, but that’s hard so I gave up.

Tell us about your start-up GitHub? What inspired you to start them and what do you do there?

GitHub is a better way for businesses and open source projects to develop software. We started it because working on proprietary and open source code was a hassle. The actual coding part was overshadowed by all the maintenance and administrative tasks – merging patches, communicating with other developers, etc. There had to be an easier way.

GitHub fixes those problems, and is constantly evolving to fix more.

I’m the CEO which means I write a lot of emails, work with our partners, and do a fair bit of speaking at conferences. Sometimes I even write code.

How did you raise capital for your business?

We didn’t. GitHub was bootstrapped by the founders. Consulting gigs, credit card debt, and working nights and weekends were how we started it. Eventually it was making enough money to pay our salaries and begin hiring employees.

Do you have a favourite business tool or resource online?

I don’t know how we’d run our business without Campfire. Group chat is essential, especially with the hours we keep – everyone is on different schedules, sometimes even in different countries. Campfire keeps us all on the same page and makes it easy to catch up on what you missed.

Having a shared calendar is pretty essential too. We use Google Calendar.

How many hours do you work a day on average?

Anywhere from 6 to 12, depending on what I’m working on. Usually it’s somewhere in the middle. I try to keep it around 7. I find the less hours the work, the better I do. But sometimes you just can’t tear yourself away.

What qualities have you developed as a result of running your business?

I’m always trying to be more terse. I’m busy and you’re busy so let’s just get to the point. Especially email – the shorter the better.

It’s easy to write two paragraphs. It’s hard to write two sentences explaining the same thing.

In your opinion, what is the most important quality an entrepreneur should have?

Knowing when to quit. Not every business is going to work, not every idea is worth sticking with.

I read you play the guitar; I’ve recently picked that up myself? Acoustic, Bass, Electric? When did you start playing?

I’ve been playing off and on since I was 12, starting on acoustic. I played bass for a while too, even took lessons, but now I pretty much only play electric guitar. Mostly metal. Megadeth, Between the Buried and Me, Protest the Hero, August Burns Red, bands like that.

Can you explain to the readers what makes GitHub different from other open source development out there?

On GitHub you never have to ask permission. Fork someone else’s project and push your commits without them knowing. See what other people are doing with your code and pull in the worthy changes. With git, it all feels natural and obvious.

What challenges did you face during the early days at GitHub and how were you able to solve this?

Building the actual business was difficult. Proper forms, insurance, payroll, finding an accountant and lawyer – it’s easy to screw that stuff up, and we did.

You also end up waiting on other people a lot. Things beyond your control can be quite frustrating, especially when you’re trying to move fast. Creating GitHub itself was cake.

Do you have any personal experience that has changed your life?

Bootstrapping GitHub with our own money means we are very cautious about what we spend our money on. Not having any money really makes you appreciate its value.

How do you define success?

For me it’s a moving target, but I think to be successful you just need to set and hit goals.

What advices would like to give to young entrepreneurs starting their business?

Make goals. React quickly. It’s much easier to respond to the unexpected than to plan for it.

What should we be expecting from you and GitHub in the future?

Better ways of working with other people – whether it’s simpler permissions, more robust code review, or integration with other source code tools, we want to make collaboration a dream.

Thanks for your time Chris, hope to hear from you soon.
Don’t forget to follow chris on twitter:@defunkt

My Interview with Rodrigo Martinez – Founder & CEO of Inovaz, An interview that was really over-due, I have been meaning to do this interview since last year and finally got around in conducting this interview with him. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

How are you doing Rodrigo, we finally get to do this interview, Thanks for taking time to do this with me.

So can you kindly give me some details about yourself, your background, what you do?

My name is Rodrigo Martinez, Founder & CEO of Inovaz. I am a 27 year old and come from Mexico, prior founding Inovaz I worked in Prague, CZ as a Business Analyst and Project Manager for Monster.com and in India as a Business and Technology analyst for Satyam Computer Services.

I have completed a BSc. in Computer Science from Kingston University and a MSc in Technology Entrepreneurship from UCL.

Inovaz is a digital experience design agency, we focus on building technology based solutions that add value, are easy to use and form an emotional bond with our users. Inovaz is a global born startup based in London, UK (Marketing & Sales) and Guadalajara, Mexico (Design & Development) with a team of 16 young professionals from 8 different nationalities (Mexico, UK, Argentina, US/Nigeria, Bulgaria, Venezuela and Colombia) wanting to change the world.

The perfect example of the type of solutions we build is FatStudent – an online part time job board for the YouTube generation. We allow candidates to record a 30 video pitch to give them a chance to showcase their very important softskills (communication skills, personality, etc.) to employers which are impossible to convey through a paper CV.

Is this your first business?

Yes, FatStudent is the very first product of my very first business: Inovaz.

What inspired you to start this business?

I have always been passionate about technology and design – and ever since I was around 9 years old I knew I wanted to start my own business. I see how technology impacts the world we live in and I have always wanted to be a part of those changes.

The goal of Inovaz is to become an incubator of ideas (FatStudent being the first of many), I want Iniovaz to become the IDEO (From Wikipedia: “IDEO is a design and innovation consultancy based in Silicon Valley”) of web – so when I first started I looked at the most creative and innovative companies I know (IDEO, Pixar, Google, Pixar, Adaptive Path – to name a few), I tried to understand what makes them tick, what makes them so special and replicate it with Inovaz – and let Inovaz evolve into our own from there.

How and where did you get this idea for a business? What need did you see?

FatStudent started as part of my coursework for my MSc. and given the fact that I had experience in the online recruitment industry gave me the tools to clearly identify the huge gap in the market when it comes down to part-time job and students, even a larger opportunity is that online job boards in general need a complete overhaul.

What role do you play in the company?

My role in the company is that of CEO (Managing Director)/ Product Manager

As a Product Manager: I make sure we understand the customers’ problems/pains and translate that into an easy to use appealing product.

As a CEO/MD I believe my main responsibilities are:
Build a great team and make sure we are all in synch
Build a great culture and work environment, to make sure people love what they do.
Make sure everyone in the team is able to perform 100% this not only includes giving them an office, a laptop but give them the trust and empower them to make their own decisions.

Many people believe the CEO does not have to report to anyone in the organization besides the board, but in reality I feel the CEO actually is the person that reports to the most people – every single one of people in the organization.

I once was told that there are two types of CEO: the doers and the visionaries – I consider myself the latter and I am thankful for the amazing management team I have that pull my feet back to the ground more often that I would like to admit.

What is an average workday like for you?

I spend the first couple of hours of my day catching up with emails, then I like to prioritize my tasks for the day. A big part of my role is making sure all the team is on the same page, so I like to be aware of what is going on in the offices.

Every day we (the management team) also have a brief 15-20minute call to synch up and see if we have any “blockers” which we need help with. Then I probably spend 30-45 min reading the latest technology news.

Afterwards I start working on my pending tasks which can range from presentation preparation, product defining and wireframing, testing, etc. In the evenings there are usually entrepreneurs/start-ups/technology events that I attend to.

How did you finance the business?

We have financed the company ourselves, I have been lucky enough that not only my management team believed in the vision of Inovaz and FatStudent to decide to join the company but they also invested in the company. Also one of our biggest achievements was to receive a large government grant (Mexican government) to further develop our technology.

Did you write a formal business plan? How relevant do you think a business plan is to a business especially now that young entrepreneurs build big and profitable companies without knowing or thinking about a business plan?

This is a very interesting question, the short answer would be YES we did write a formal business plan and YES it is useful – it forced us to really think through all aspects of the business. A business plan will help you organize all the ideas and thoughts you have about your new business, starting a business is very exciting and overwhelming, add to that limited experience (or not experience at all) in various aspects of the business and you will overlook very important/key aspects of the business – a business plan will always tell you “don’t forget to think of …”

What are your marketing strategies for this business?

Due to our limited experience in marketing and sales (our background are in either technology, design or finance/economics). We now realise that we did not have a strong/ well thought out marketing strategy for FatStudent. We are now in the process of searching for a mentor/advisor that will help us revise our marketing/sales strategy to help us take FatStudent to the next level.

How do you manage your time? I notice you do a lot of travelling?

Yes, I travel back and forth between London and Guadalajara. Technology can greatly improve communications on a global scale but it still cannot replace a face to face meeting yet. I manage my time by asking myself these couple of questions every time I start a new task: What is the value of the task I am about to start?; what would happen if I don’t do it?. If I cannot come up with a good answer then I just move on to the next task.

What was the most difficult part of starting the business?

The most difficult part of starting a business is to leave your life behind – basically it is a leap to the unknown. This got magnified by the fact that we left jobs, friends and family behind.

What is the worst experience you’ve had as an entrepreneur?

For me that worst experience that I have had is having the feeling of not knowing what to do next… feeling lost just going a drift.

What are the biggest challenges you faced starting up and how did you overcome them?

As I mentioned before communication is key for success, making sure everyone is going in the same direction. It is hard even when you are working next to each other. Now imagine starting a business where the teams are divided by second largest ocean. It has been a challenge but we have learnt from our mistakes, we are still working on it but we are for sure overcoming the problem.

What are the biggest challenges you face now?

Turn Inovaz into a business – anyone can start a company but very few people can turn it into a business.

How would you describe a successful entrepreneur?

Someone passionate about what they are doing, not scared of taking risks, not scared of making mistakes and not willing to give up.

What tips do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

The time will never be right to start a business – Just GO AHEAD and do it. The worst thing that can happen is that you are not successful (i.e. monetary success) but you will learn and gain a lot of experience which would get you a much better job.

What are your thoughts on university being the perfect platform to start a business?

I think it is the ideal time to start a business, most university students have to work so starting your own business while at university could be a great solution to alleviate the economic pressures.

Are you profitable? What is your business model?

I wish but not yet we hope to get there early next year. We are exploring different options but it is too early to say which ones will work. One of the most interesting ones is the white labelling of the FatStudent technology to power other organization’s job boards.

For example if you own a job board but you don’t have a big technology infrastructure we can provide you with a next generation job board so you can focus on the business side of things.

Who are your competitors?

We have identified as our main competitors Gumtree, Vivastreet, 247Recruit, Employment for students .

How many people are involved in the business with you?

We are a team of 16* young professionals from all over the world – we bring a mix of disciplines, backgrounds and life experiences. What makes us different from any other technology companies is that rather than creating technology solutions, we create human solutions – solutions that are not only useful but also appealing (visually and emotionally).

Not everyone is now directly involved in FatStudent as we also provide services to other organizations to design and develop their digital experiences.

How has your market changed in the past few years? How has your business changed to keep pace?

The online recruitment industry has changed very little since it started (~18 years ago), with the launch of FatStudent we want to redefine what a job board should be.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

My biggest achievement to date has been to be able to get such an amazing management team to support me and share this journey with.

What plans do you have now to expand your business further?

We are now searching for strategic partners and also mentors/advisors to help us take FatStudent to the next level.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years etc. from now?

FatStudent has global potential and will become the student portal for students around the world.

Thanks for your time, Rodrigo Martinez

Check out the Inovaz Website and Twitter
Check out the Fatstudent Website and Twitter
Check out their youtube Channel

Hey Guys, Just finished an interview with Ramon Davis, a young entrepreneur with an amazing story, I spoke to Ramon before the interview realised how he managed to turn his life around, unlocking his hidden potential and following his passion.

I would also like to thank Enitan Sarr for introducing me to this amazing young man.

Hope you enjoy the interview.

How are you doing today? Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?

Thanks for asking; I’m having a pretty healthy day so far. I was blessed to see another day, so everything else is breathing, believing and achieving. A little background on me well lets see, I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago and recently moved to London in October 2009.

I am Managing Partner of Media Basement as well as the founder for Evolutionary. Both companies deal in the creative marketing solutions arena. However while Media Basement is headquartered here in London, my other company Evolutionary deals with USA clientele.

Tell us a little bit more about your company and what role do you play?

Media Basement is a design agency based in London that was started about a year and three months ago by my business partner Pia Cabble. I recently became partner with the business in October of 2009.

As Managing Partner some of my duties include: overseeing projects from start to finish, strategically implementing new ways to acquire market share, make sure we are always consistent with our message and branding as well as building and maintaining relationships with clients, universities and government. And the list goes on and on and on… It doesn’t stop until the job is done.

How did you get involved in this company?

I became involved with Media Basement through a shared mutual passion for creativity and innovation. We both agreed that our skill sets complimented each other that we had a winning business recipe if cooked the right way. As my strengths are more focused on strategy, creative vision and new business development and Pia’s strength is more focused on the creative executions, ambition and forward thinking so it worked out for both us.

Is this your first business?

No. To date I can safely say that I have had almost 7 business ventures under my belt. Some were successful and some were not at all. Its just part of the game.

How did you get finance to start the business?

All financing came from personal funds and from client invoices. The beauty about a small creative based business is that the initial overhead is quit low. All you need is a smart phone, laptop, ideas and the drive to push the ideas. We have recently moved into our first office space as our team has grown a bit since we first started.

How has your market changed in the past few years? How has your business changed to keep pace?

One significant market change has been the expansion from USA to London. I had to learn how to adapt to the different cultural differences and adjust strategies to meet the market. Due to the recession we have seen an increase in business as more people are turning to entrepreneurship as a form of financial freedom. Fortunately for us that means that there are a lot of new business that needs a website and marketing solutions to push there companies.

Who are your customers?

Our customers range from companies in the wine investing industries to photographers and music groups. We definitely have a variety of clients at the moment. However we are starting to focus more on the creative sector and E- Commerce related companies.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Because we have realised that website design and marketing will not take Media Basement to the next level we have extended some of our services. For example this spring we will be launching a series of seminars for creative’s that will help them with their business practices. In addition we will begin hosting networking events at various locations to enforce the Media Basement brand.

What inspires you? What motivates you to keep going?

You know how when you sit down and contemplate on your life and you reflect on what you have done so far and what you plan on doing in the future? Well both motivate me, because my past was not a smooth road I am inspired by my progress. People that no matter how hard their situation might be, they still beat the crap out of those odds, they inspire me.

I’m a big dreamer, when I ride the train or bus I imagine my next stages of my life. I see it, I feel it, and I believe it and then it becomes a part of my mission in life. I’m motivated to constantly turn my dreams into reality and to defy the odds. And finally I’m motivated by God’s grace over my life.

You’ve had some rough times in the past especially growing up in an environment where drugs and crime were constantly being shoved in your face, Tell us about that and how you manage to escape that lifestyle?

Initially growing up as a youth in the city of Chicago I was definitely influenced by the streets. I cannot say that I did not indulge in the lifestyle for a long time. I dropped out of high school, ran with gangs, smoked weed all day went to jail a few times etc… But then I think I was like 17years old and I saw all my friends preparing for graduation and I guess it did something to me.

So I ended up moving with my father because it was only so much my mother could do for me. From there after getting in trouble a few times out there my pops gave me the book of Proverbs and the rest was history.

I graduated from high school and was fortunate to meet someone who gave me a full ride scholarship to go to school in Atlanta. From there I guess I adjusted to my surroundings and made it work for me. Overall I give all credit to God for changing my situation and blessing me with a divine purpose in life.

How do you manage your time?

I try to live by the 60/40 rule, meaning 60% enjoying life and having fun with loved ones and investing in my hobbies and learning new things and 40% strict discipline business executions. You have to enjoy life it’s to short handle your business but also try to enjoy just living, listening and learning. I believe it makes you a more balanced person.

What is your own definition of success?

The main stream always tries to manipulate the masses with success being material gain such as your car or you home or clothing. I think that you are success if you create a goal in your mind and honestly try your very best to accomplish that goal.

What do you think it takes to be a successful entrepreneur?

A mental disorder loll…. I think that you just need to have laser beam focus, believe in your idea no matter what all the critiques say, persistence, discipline, a hard work ethic and a ton of faith.

Do you have any upcoming projects you would like to tell us about?

Sure we are in the process of developing a social networking site that will be based around the global creative industry. My lawyer told me that’s all I can tell you for now (LAUGHTER)

Do you have any advice for young entrepreneurs looking to start their business? Those entrepreneurs caught making a choice to follow the streets or change their direction and develop their hidden potential?

Yes, you have to decide early in your life if you are going to be the low-key leader that’s developing self or the famous follower losing self. You know a lot of people turn to the streets because of the image it gives them, basically copying someone else’s lifestyle.

All I can tell someone is spend more time investing in things that you like to do instead of participating with activities and people that will take up your time and money because time is money. I would say if you are the smartest person in your group get out of that group. Surround yourself with people that are smarter, wealthier and more well off than you or who have the same goals, it keeps you on you’re A game.

Entrepreneurs hang around entrepreneurs. Don’t get me wrong I’m still cool with all my friends that are still living the street life, but they respect my hustle and there is no love lost. The great thing about life is you can write your own story, so when your contemplating what direction in life you want to take, think about how you want your story to end and move forward. But always let your next move be your best move.

Any last words of wisdom?

I would like to leave readers with two quotes that I live by.
1. Consistent persistence takes you the distance.
2. Amaze people never amuse them.

Thanks for your time Ramon