This is my third interview in the NEF series and today my interview is with Benjamin Wigoder. Benjamin is currently working with Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) – which is one of the largest online payments companies in the world, he currently works in the product team where he comes up with new business ideas or sometimes just tweaking existing products.

This is the interview.

Hi Ben, It’s great to finally have you on YHP, how are you doing today?

I’m very well, thank you!

How did you get into entrepreneurship? What was your first business, how did the idea came about and tell us about your experience running that?

To be honest I fell into it. When I was 11 or 12 years old we had some ICT lessons at school where we learnt the basics of building websites. I remember during break time when most of the other kids were outside playing football, I went to the computer room to keep learning how to code. I launched my own website and once I was getting thousands of visitors a day I started putting ads on the site. After about 6 months I received a cheque for $500 from one of the companies who were advertising on my site. That was a buzz. I’ve still got a copy of that cheque on my wall!

You went on to study at LSE , tell me about your experience?

It was hard work! I met some very interesting people, made some close friends, but also grew up. I think that’s what university is mainly about. Of course I learnt a lot on the course, but it was the extra-curricula activities and personal development which I think will prove to have been the greatest benefit to me going forward, as opposed to matrices and partial differentiation… There’s a lot to be said for the freedom you get as a student – you keep hearing about all these companies started by students, Facebook & Google are great examples, or if you go further back, Time Magazine was started by some Yale undergraduates – so that freedom means you have the space to be creative and try new things – so I had a great time exploring new ideas – even though I didn’t create the next big thing…

I guess there’s been a lot of talk about going to university, the value of having a degree, entrepreneurship becoming a viable option , what made you realize that this was the right choice for you?

I think before university I was in a bit of a hurry. I wanted to start work right away. My parents thought I should go to university to keep my options open – and they were right.. When I’m pitching to investors and I can say “I have a degree from LSE” it adds credibility and shows I can stick with something for a few years. I think I was pretty lucky to go to university when I did though, with the recent increase in tuition fees it’s a much more difficult decision for this generation when they come to weigh up the pros & cons of a university education.

While at LSE, you founded Sparks @LSE which is now one of the largest entrepreneurship society events in the UK, tell me about how the idea came about?

Just after I started my second year, I met Artur, who was then President of the Entrepreneurs society. I applied to run one of the existing society events, but we got chatting and decided we wanted to do something bigger. You know how sometimes you get a meeting of minds? You bounce ideas off each other and it’s totally natural – and that’s what happened.

Suddenly we wanted to launch this international event to inspire young entrepreneurs, helping them create a network, whilst raising money for a worthy cause.

So that’s how the idea came about – a brainstorm… but the end result was nothing like the initial idea. We didn’t raise the sponsorship we initially thought we would, we got turned down by many of the speakers we asked (which in hindsight was unsurprising given we were launching a brand new event that nobody had heard of), and we had a couple of last minute logistical issues which caught us by surprise!

I was very lucky to have Artur as the President – he gave me full autonomy in creating and running the event, but was also a great source of fresh ideas and sound advice. To answer your question – I don’t think I could say the whole idea came about at one time, it evolved up to the date of the inaugural conference, and with the second one on the way, and the second iteration of the management team in place, the idea has continued to grow.

I remember attending the event in 2010 and it was packed with amazing speakers, attendees, how did you manage to get all the speakers onboard, get sponsors and get such a great turnout for the event? What would you say was some of the key things you learnt from that experience?

Hard work, luck, and perseverance. I think we must have contacted 15 or 20 entrepreneurs before we got our first yes. That was pretty tough – rejection after rejection – you need to keep believing. None of us had any experience in this kind of cold-calling either – so we didn’t know what to expect. But once we got our first “yes”, that gave us the belief this was something we could do. I imagine that’s similar to what it must feel like to make your first sale – at that point you know you have something of value which other people want.

We also made use of our alumni relations to secure speakers, and in this respect the university were very helpful. Getting sponsorship was tough. We didn’t find many companies interested in spending big bucks sponsoring an entrepreneurs’ society – had we been banking or consultancy or law it might have been different. So we got creative. For example we were sponsored by some of the other student societies on campus.

We also partnered with our university radio station, who provided the audio-visual for the event.
We had to constantly adapt to changes, for example we had issues with the university venue we had originally planned to use, and had to move the event to an external venue at the last minute. So lots of things changed, I guess my biggest takeaway is that things change quickly,but it doesn’t matter provided you are prepared to stay flexible, and make the best of what you’ve got.

I remember there was a worrying moment when I met with Artur and I said: “Look, we haven’t raised the projected funds, we haven’t got the right venue, and I’m not sure we’ll be able to afford lunch for the attendees – I think we might have to cancel the event!” – to which he replied: “Look, none of this matters – get a room, chuck in the speakers, chuck in the attendees – and you have an awesome event! Of course the other things would be nice, but they don’t actually matter – it will all work out!” – he was right – the next day we secured almost £2,000 in sponsorship from the Women in Business society.

So from this I learnt that sometimes, even when all the pieces aren’t yet in place, you just need to take a leap of faith. I love the definition of an entrepreneur as being someone who jumps out of a plane with all the tools needed to build a parachute – I think that’s a pretty good analogy.

I also learnt the value of having a strong team. Within that team you need leaders, people with initiative and drive and determination to succeed – I was very lucky to have these people. Without a strong team, the event quite simply wouldn’t have been possible – these were the guys who built the parachute after I said “jump!”

How were you able to balance your time and keep focus?

That’s a tough one. I’d like to say I was disciplined and kept focussed on my university work without missing a single lecture and submitting all my work on time. But the truth is I got really caught up in the excitement around the event – and for sure in the weeks preceding the conference that was my focus (and I roped in my flat-mates also!) Actually, that’s something I’d like to add to the things I’ve learnt from the experience – there’s nothing like having close friends who can help you out when you need it most.

You were also the president of LSE entrepreneurs. Talk us through how did that happened and some of the key things you learnt from that?

So running the society wasn’t really something I had in mind – but after successfully building Sparks@LSE, Artur (the then president) and I had a chat – he suggested I think about running for election as the next President. I think what excited me was the possibly of taking on a bigger role, where I could help inspire more people and create new and even more exciting entrepreneurship events.

In my mind it was also a great chance to manage a fairly large team – which I think will come in very useful in my future career. I think at one point we had 45 people in the team (this was broken down into sub-teams of 5-10 for different projects) – along with a management team. This was really hard! When I’ve read about how to motivate employees two things they really tend to want are to be well paid, and to have job security. When the team is made up of unpaid employees, who aren’t concerned about job security, you are forced to use other techniques to motivate the team. So here I learnt about the importance of ensuring people are challenged, are enjoying their role, and are striving towards a greater purpose (a common goal) – I think these are important lessons I’ll hold on to for the future – when I come to employ people for real.

What opportunities do you think being president or being involved in the LSE entrepreneurs gave you?

I was very lucky to be elected as President – and as an unintended consequence of being involved I was fortunate to have some unique opportunities. For example, I met dozens of very successful entrepreneurs, some of whom I’m still in contact with, all of whom not only have great stories to tell, but also sound advice to pass on.

I was also able to meet lots of other aspiring entrepreneurs – who were at different stages of launching their venture – and had exposure to lots of early-stage business ideas as they evolved. This was a fantastic chance to learn from other people’s experience.

I also had fun – for example we met HRH Prince Andrew at one point – to chat about what our society was working on.

Tell us about NEF and how you got involved?

So I was in my final year – and everyone was applying for graduate jobs – but I couldn’t see a single one I was interested in. I didn’t want to be a banker, a consultant or an accountant, I didn’t want to go into marketing, and I couldn’t see a single graduate scheme which actually made me think “yes – I want to do that!”

But in March 2011 I got an email from Freshminds (a company NEF hired to help with recruiting) – asking me to let the members of LSE Entrepreneurs know about the event. I was very happy to help spread the word – but also thought “finally – this is something I would really like to do!” So I sent in my application… I was pretty enthusiastic about the programme, and after a grueling interview process I was very fortunate to be selected.

Which company are you currently working for, what do you do and how’s the experience been so far for you?

I work for Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) – which is one of the largest online payments companies in the world. I’m working in the product team, which involves coming up with new business ideas – sometimes these are tweaks to existing products – sometimes these are radical ideas for new products. Because of the entrepreneurial spirit within the company, we are very fortunate to also receive a regular stream of fantastic ideas from people working in other teams.

Once we have developed the idea, and checked it makes sense from a business point of view, we work with our designers and developers to actually build and launch the product.

What are some of the key things that you’ve learnt so far from working for Skrill?

The one thing I was really keen to learn before starting work at Skrill was how a product idea travels from inception to launch in a large organization – so when I come to launch my own technology business I will understand how to scale it. It’s one thing to have a couple of guys in a room coding and launching new products, it’s another to have more than 500 employees and more than 23m customers relying on your products – and so I’m learning how to make sure that you don’t just gain customers – but that you keep them.

I’ve learnt how to work with different teams and people from widely differing backgrounds, and how to communicate effectively when working with people to a tight deadline. There’s a ton of stuff I’m looking forward to learning going forward – when that learning curve slows down, that will probably be a sign that it’s time for me to move on to the next challenge.

Is this something that you would recommend to other aspiring entrepreneurs? What value can they get from getting accepted in NEF?

For me, personally, I’ve had a fantastic experience so far on the NEF placement. I’ve really enjoyed meeting the other graduates on the programme and attending the workshops and speakers series which have been organized for us – I love the buzz that you get when you put a bunch of entrepreneurially minded people in one room!

From talking to the other candidates on the programme, it’s clear that everybody is experiencing a completely different NEF programme. Not only does your experience depend on the company you are working in, it also depends on the entrepreneur allocated to you, the work you are being given and your own personality. For me I’ve derived value from the network I’m continuing to build through the programme, the skills I’m building from the NEF workshops, and the responsibility and autonomy I’m being given at Skrill.

What would you say has been your most memorable moment so far?

Picking one moment is extremely difficult as there have been so many memorable moments in a very short space of time. One of my early projects was putting together a web-app to enable players to buy into the European Poker Tour – I went to the Hilton in London to see it in action – seeing a product I’d worked on from inception to launch being used and working well – that was a great feeling!

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own business?

Find something you enjoy doing and try and find a way to turn it into a business. When you start a business it usually consumes your life – and it usually needs to in order to be successful. So it needs to be something you love, otherwise you will be probably be miserable. As long as you enjoy what you do, then the work doesn’t really feel like work – and so you will end up much happier, and your business will be much more successful. Also, try and find someone to build it with you – the ability to bounce ideas off each other and provide support when things aren’t going quite according to plan, can make all the difference between success and failure.

What are your plans after NEF programme? What can we be expecting from you in the future?

Building my own technology company is definitely the end-game. But in the meantime, I am really enjoying working at Skrill, where I am learning a huge amount from my colleagues and improving many of my skills. As hungry and impatient as I am to create my own business, the reality is that I’m still only 21 and have plenty of time to find the right opportunity and the right partners to help make it happen.

It was back in the Summer of 2010 when I had just finished the first year of my BA Hons degree in Media and Communications at Birmingham City University, that I had the idea for my business. As a vegetarian I and had become increasingly concerned by some of the ingredients in many well know High Street beauty products and cosmetics. Animal fats, crushed beetles and pig placenta are common ingredients as well as harsh alcohols. These ingredients are used predominantly because they’re cheap and they’re used as fillers but are clearly not ethical or good for the skin.

Over the summer I started to research halal products as I found their stringent criteria matched my own beliefs. I then found that actually there was a demand for these products not only from the Muslim community but also from vegetarians and vegans. In Islam, ‘halal’ means permissible or what is allowed in the Muslim faith. Where beauty products are concerned animal ingredients, animal testing and haram alcohol is forbidden. Halal certification is a strict process whereby the products are tested and certified halal meaning they comply with Islamic law. I was convinced that there would be a demand for these type of products.

Initially I was going to run the business online and thought that maybe I would be able to combine business and studies. One day whilst shopping, I came across a very small but perfectly usable unit in The Pavilions Shopping Centre in Birmingham. The unit had been empty for many years basically because it was too small for most businesses. I managed to get the unit at a very good price and with the help of friends and family painted it and did it up myself to keep costs as low. I soon realised that I had created something very special and was determined to dedicate all my time and energy into the business in order to give it a chance to grow.

There’s no way I could have combined both the business and studies so I made a choice and put my degree on hold. I believe I made the right decision and I found that I had learnt many useful things on my degree course that were very much transferable to the world of business, so my studies were certainly not a waste of time. At first there were so many new things that I had to get to grips with. Everything seemed so confusing; corporate tax, vat, rent and business rates, importation duties, my head used to spin with it all. As time went on though, I did plenty of research and sought advice from people like business link and my local chamber of commerce and things became a lot clearer. Everything in business is a learning curve and every day presents new challenges and obstacles to overcome. Pure Halal Beauty is a unique concept and the first store of its kind that sells solely halal certified beauty products.

When our store first opened in December 2010, we received a lot press features and articles from around the world from national press, international press, local press, bloggers and we were even on television.

As the months went by I realised that some products although they are halal are not particularly natural with regards to their ingredients. I knew we could improve on the products that were available which is when I decided I wanted to create my own natural, halal collection that was completely ethical and eco-friendly.

In the Autumn of 2011, just before we reached our 1st birthday, we launched The PHB Collection- the worlds’ largest range of natural, halal and vegan beauty products. The collection includes, skincare, body care, hair care, cosmetics and men’s and baby products also. Most of the collection is made by hand in the UK, and our packaging is 100% recyclable.

I am incredibly proud of the PHB collection and we have had some amazing reviews and feedback about the quality and efficacy of the products. We did a lot of research before finding a manufacturer that we were happy with and who could offer us what we needed with regards to the ingredients and ethical stance of the products. I didn’t want to use any chemicals, parabens or petro chemicals which are common ingredients in many beauty products, mainly because they’re cheap. We researched and selected ingredients that are gentle, natural and effective. For example rosewood, gardenia and rosehip have some fabulous anti-aging properties, so we use these in our Elixir of Youth range. Whilst ingredients like grape-seed, rose and aloe-vera are used in our Pure & Natural range for Very Sensitive skin because they’re incredibly kind to skin. Also it is important to me that none of our products or ingredients are ever tested on animals or contain any animal ingredients. The halal certification and vegan society registration serve to add extra assurances to my customers.

Since the release of the PHB collection we’ve been inundated with interest from around the world and had a number of exciting opportunities. We’ve had a lot of enquiries about potential distribution and franchise opportunities in the UK and Internationally – so this is something exciting that we are exploring. We hope to expand our number of store in the future also, as we are constantly getting calls from customers who can’t wait for us to open up shops in London, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford etc. So overall 2012 looks like being a very busy and exciting year for Pure Halal Beauty!

For more information visit: http://www.purehalalbeautyproducts.co.uk/
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I continue with my series of interviews with members of the NEF programme, as mentioned in my first interview yesterday, I will be interviewing and releasing interviews of all the members of the NEF programme throughout the month.

Today, I have Ushma Soneji. Ushma is a Graduate from Oxford University currently placed at DFS based in Doncaster and also shadowing the CEO, Ian Filby.

Here is the interview

Hi Ushma, Its great to finally have you on YHP, how are you doing today?

I’m great thanks! Just enjoying being back home over the festive season.

Before we move on, could you quickly give us some background information about yourself so that the YHP audience can get to know you better?

Sure- I’m working at DFS in role that is vaguely entitled ‘Project Assistant to the CEO’. It involves a mix of business development and shadowing the CEO, Ian Filby. I got this role through the New Entrepreneurs Foundation, an organization that aims to nurture entrepreneurs by giving them tailored training and mentorship as well as experience within small to medium sized companies.

How did you get into entrepreneurship, what was your inspiration?

If I had to narrow it down, I’d say it came about when I first got involved in Young Enterprise at school. I decided to apply for Managing Director and loved the whole experience. I’d considered a number of career options by the time I reached university, but I realized that business, and especially big businesses, gave you the opportunity to touch lots of people’s lives in a small but positive way. That was what really appealed to me.

What was your first business, how the idea came about and tell us your experience running that?

Our Young Enterprise company, Route 17, made cushions with embedded speakers that could connect to MP3 players. We won a lot of awards for having an innovative product- but in all honesty, somebody in our team had a speaker cushion on them in the first meeting and said ‘we could do this’! Everyone got behind it, and it made sense to put the effort into creating a new product that everyone was passionate about. The most important lesson I learned that year was how much fun you can have when you throw yourself wholeheartedly into anything.

You studied PPE (Politics, philosophy and economics) at Oxford University; tell us about your experience at Oxford University?

It was an experience I feel very privileged to have had. The best thing about Oxford, by far, is the people. The friends you meet; the people you work with; the speakers you see; and the tutors that give you so much of their time. Terms are short and intense, but I loved my subject so it made sense to work hard and play hard!

I guess there’s been a lot of talk about going to university, the value of having a degree, entrepreneurship becoming a viable option, what made you realise that this was the right choice for you?

It’s problematic if you believe a degree is just a signal to future employers. When you start to consider self-employment, and particularly entrepreneurship, it doesn’t appear to be fully necessary. For me, however, my degree was a natural extension of everything I loved learning about and had little to do with employment opportunities. I was brought up to believe that while you are young and have few responsibilities, you should put your education first as it is the most natural time to focus. Similarly, you are also in a position to take financial risks and try new things, which is a key requirement for entrepreneurship. I therefore saw education and entrepreneurship as complementary, rather than conflicting.

You were quite involved in the oxford entrepreneurs society, tell us about that experience and some of the key things you learnt from that and opportunities that it has given you?

I became involved with Oxford Entrepreneurs when I took part in one of their OxPrentice events which involved pitching, creating and selling an ice cream flavour! Following that, they invited me to interview to join the society as the secretary. Taking meeting notes and writing the weekly newsletter allowed me to find out everything that the society was involved with. It’s a hugely successful and powerful society, but the best thing for me was meeting like-minded individuals. Your average week in Oxford will include at least one free meal/drinks event powered by a law, finance or consultancy firm and a lot of people fall into those careers because they are well-represented as well as being respectable and well-paid. It was nice to meet people who were considering different routes and trying something new.

You were also the president at SIFE during your time at oxford university? Talk us through how that happened and some of the key things you learnt from that also?

It’s a great story. I told the President of Oxford Entrepreneurs that I was interested in social enterprise, and he said I should meet with the current SIFE president to talk about it. I went to meet him for the first time over coffee and the conversation went a little something like this:

Him: ‘I’m leaving for India tomorrow. Can you take over?’
Me: ‘Er, sure. How can I get into contact with your team?’
Him: ‘I’ll send you their emails. But most of them are exchange students and leaving soon. You might want to recruit new ones’

And so I did exactly that. I recruited a great team, with really passionate people, and we began a couple of consultancy projects including working for a cruelty free milk organization (www.ahimsamilk.com), a Kenyan microfinance project (www.mashfoundationtrust.org) and sold our own paper pads for schools in India. I learned a lot over the year about how to recognize people’s skills and passions and delegate accordingly. It’s a tough lesson to learn, but a very important one.

You are also a member of the Kairos society, tell us about that organisation and why you decided to apply for it?

A few of my friends told me about the Kairos Society and said it sounded like something I’d enjoy. The Kairos Society aims to connect future leaders and entrepreneurs across the world through a passion for a better future. The real appeal lay in a trip to New York to meet entrepreneurs from around the world. The whole experience was a really positive one- there were so many passionate students who had started up innovative businesses, and it opened my eyes to the impact of disruptive technology on businesses. It was a trip for building friendships, as opposed to ‘networking’ and I really value the people I met here.

You did all of these things while you were in the university and still graduated with a 2:1 in your degree, how were you able to balance your time and keep focus?

Oxford can be intense at the best of times, but I think that all the extracurricular things I did actually forced me to focus my time better. Since I enjoyed it all, it felt more like a break from work than an additional workload most of the time. More practically, I didn’t have exams in second year and my final year counted for 100% of my degree, so I tried to cram as much into my second year as possible!

What would you say was some of the key things you learnt from that experience?

Being busy makes you more efficient.

Tell us about NEF and how you got involved?

I applied to the NEF because I felt I needed guidance. There’s a lot of agreement around the fact that the best way to start up a business is to get stuck in as soon as possible, but I still felt that I wanted to explore different industries and learn as much as possible about the process itself. The NEF seemed like the perfect opportunity for me, because I didn’t want a long term commitment to one role in one company, and to keep my ambitions to start up a secret. There is such a wealth of experience within our NEF class and we are all trying to achieve similar things. It’s been a hugely supportive experience and I’m grateful to be involved in it.

What company are you currently working with, what do you do and how’s the experience been so far for you?

I work for DFS and am based in their head office in Doncaster. I am working on and managing a few projects that will be tied into the company’s brand reappraisal and extending our customer base. It’s a fascinating time to join as it’s going through a lot of internal change in tough external retail conditions. I was also trained as a salesperson and spent two weeks in store to get to know the product and the customer experience. I’ve got three mentors and am trying to understand the company on different levels.

The first is the director I work most closely with on the projects, who has a lot of experience in the industry. The second is the business development director, who helps me get an overview of how the projects come together to create future growth for the company. Finally, I get to understand the overall company strategy from the perspective of the CEO.

What are some of the key things that you’ve learnt so far from working at DFS?

1. Know how to sell.
2. Relationships and people come first.
3. You can’t know everything about a business, but you do need to know how to get relevant information when you need it.

Is this something that you would recommend to other aspiring entrepreneurs? What value can they get from the experience?

Definitely. I think the biggest benefit of the programme is the constant reassurance that entrepreneurship is a viable path, and that there are concrete steps that you can take and people you can talk to, to help you in this direction.

What would you say has been your most memorable moment so far?

I really enjoyed the opportunity to go to Richard Branson’s house for a Q&A session with other young entrepreneurs. I asked him his views on social enterprise, and he gave a really well- thought out answer on the different priorities of a business as it grows. It changed my perspective a little on social enterprise, and just goes to show how much advice you can get by talking to the people who have already achieved what you aim to do.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own business?

Meet as many people as possible with similar interests to you. They are likely to be the ones that push you in the right direction.

What are your plans after NEF programme? What can we be expecting from you in the future?

I’m keeping my options open and prefer to set long term goals. My aim is for my next steps to help me with my goal of starting a meaningful and value-led business, and to meet some interesting people on the way!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Andy McLoughlin recently the co founder and EVP strategy at Huddle, a B2B online collaboration & content management company. Andy discusses how he started the company and grew it to a 70+ employee company that it is today and with an office in London and San Francisco explains the benefits and problems encountered when expanding to the US. Andy also gives valuable advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s one not too be missed!

Interview with Andy McLoughlin, Co Founder of Huddle by RishiYHP

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Be sure to check out the YHP magazine and subscribe for news and the latest articles from YHP.

Skip has pioneered territory on the digital frontier for nearly 20 years. All told, he has brought a dozen new media models to market for startups and giants alike. As a college student, he started the first Super Bowl website, selling out sponsorships in two weeks. He raised more than $10 million to build the first educational network (ASPIN), founded top Southwest web development firm Rhino, and launched one of the country’s first broadband networks at Cox Communications. He ran and sold SimpleDevices, headed sales and business development for JiWire, and helped establish, Excite@Home. On the corporate side, Skip ran the Yahoo! Global Alliances organization, introducing several media innovations for the company’s top 50 accounts multi-million dollar accounts. Simply put, he’s always running something. When it’s not a company, it’s endurace races: more than 50 marathons, 10 Ironman Triathlons and too many adventure races to count.

Hey Skip, great to have you on YHP today!

First of all what is Martini Media?

Martini Media is the digital media and content platform for engaging the richest audience with the most money and influence online. With more than 1,000 publishers organized across multiple lifestyle and business verticals, Martini Media has helped the world’s leading brands reach more than 90 million consumers across the globe that invest in their passions at work and play. Martini Media’s full-service marketing capabilities encompass display, video, mobile, social and audience targeting to effectively engage the most valuable audience online at scale.

And so when did you come up with this idea and what were you doing at the time?

The more money an audience makes, the more digitally savvy they are. In addition, this affluent audience is projected to overtake other demographics to become the most engaged group on the web. In my mind, when a consumer group moves from the least to the most engaged, this provides a great business opportunity and Martini Media was created to take advantage of that opportunity.

Prior to Martini Media, I worked at a start-up company, JiWire, which connects advertisers to the mobile audience, using the world’s largest location-based interactive media channel.

Had you started a company before and if so, what did you find was your biggest challenge when starting your first company?

I started my first company in college. The start-up I created, Rhino, focused on the movement from sports teams and engaging content to the web. Rhino still exists and is profitable. However, that start-up has the same challenge I face today, which is educating and proving to the marketplace that digital, whether it is in web development or in advertising in the case of Martini, is the right area to shift traditional dollars into.

What was been you’re biggest challenge at Martini media and how did you overcome it?

The top challenge for Martini is finding the best talent who can devote a considerable amount of resources and effort to ensure that Martini Media not only achieves its goals but disrupts the status quo in B2B, B2C and the lifestyle space. Talent is required to innovate and that innovation is required to achieve market share.

You recently raised $13 million in venture capital, how will you use this to help Martini media grow?

We plan to use the capital to ensure our company can horizontally scale in the U.S. and in Europe, resulting in more products and revenue per head based on technology and product investments.

How did you fund the company initially?

Venrock allowed me to work inside of its incubator called “The Quarry” and take advantage of the existing resources Venrock provided, as well as the sister and brother companies that were born there.

What would be your tip for aspiring entrepreneurs?

You need to have pig-headed determination, persistence and discipline. Professionally, you need to make sure your company can answer the 4 T’s:

• Do you have the right team?
• Are you seeing traction?
• Do you have technology?
• Is the timing right for your company in the marketplace?

So you are a pretty active guy, having run marathons and completed ironman triathlons, how important do you feel it is to have a real passion outside of work, to maybe help improve you while you are working?

It’s very important to be a well-rounded person. If you do not have passions outside the workplace it makes it very difficult for you to draw on other non-work experiences that will ensure you are constantly invigorated, interesting to engage and testing yourself/balancing yourself outside the workplace.

What do you hope to achieve over the next 3 years?

I hope to continue to be able to scale Martini Media vertically, horizontally, geographically and culturally, begin to establish myself and my company as a technology leader and lastly, run the Western States 100 mile race.

Thanks Skip, some great tips there and good luck for the future!

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I recently had the chance to interview Michael Acton Smith, the charismatic CEO & founder of Mind Candy, one of the most successful startups in the UK.

Based in Shoreditch in an area dubbed ‘Silicon Roundabout’ Mind Candy has gone from a position of almost going bust to building Moshi Monsters which has seen it’s popularity rocket to over 50 million users and a value of over $100 million. Acton is expanding  the Moshi Monster juggernaut  into areas outside of just online gaming and creating an eco-system with merchandising and TV  channels.

Prior to Mind Candy, Michael started Firebox with co founder Tom Boardman during the dot com bubble, through boom & bust.

Michael talks about his experiences of starting two successful internet startups through the tough times and the good times, as well as giving valuable advice to other entrepreneurs. It’s one not to be missed!

Check out the video interview with Michael Acton Smith below:

Share it with Twitter, Facebook & Google communities & then check out our other interviews on our YouTube channel.

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Robert Noyce, The Father of Silicon Valley

Robert Noyce was the co founder of Fairchild Semiconductor back in 1957 & Intel in 1968. He is credited as one of the inventors of the microchip, the visionary & natural leader founded two companies that would go on to shape the computer industry.

He was the “Mayor of Silicon Valley,” (well before Foursquare came around) that is what they nicknamed Robert Noyce, he grew up Iowa & was hooked to the field when he first saw two of the first transistors ever. It was his Physics teacher at college that showed them to his class and encouraged Robert to study Physics at MIT. At MIT his fellow graduates would call him ‘Rapid Robert’, his mind was so quick!

After MIT he started work at an electronics firm called Philco where he created transistors. But he had a vision of where he wanted to be and that was in Mountain View, California, working at Shockley Semiconductor. He was determined to get the job and went as far as moving his wife and kids to California, buying a house, and then going to Shockley to ask for a job, which he got.

Robert Noyce was a brave, determined, confident man that knew what he wanted and was determined to get it & Shockley saw that. After a while at Shockley Semiconductors Robert Noyce and a few other researchers at Shockley Semiconductors were disillusioned by the managements goal and focus. Noyce had already had a few altercations with Shockley & being full of ideas, ambition and confidence it’s not surprising the two clashed.

At this point, Robert Noyce, aged 30, went on to found Fairchild Semiconductor taking the seven disgruntled researchers with him. Together they grew Fairchild into one of the biggest & most innovative in it’s industry. During this time Noyce invented the integrated chip, a chip of silicon with many transistors all etched into it at once. He revolutionized the industry with the use of silicon. He ingrained a casual working atmosphere, letting ideas and creativity flourish, and this has stayed to this day, he defined the working style associated with the tech companies of Silicon Valley.

In 1968 he left Fairchild to start Intel along with one of the researchers he took from Shockley’s, Gordon Moore. This is where he yet again revolutionized an industry with the invention of the Microprocessor. Intel would go on to become a household name with revenues of over $40 billion & close to 100,000 employees.

A true pioneer, Robert Noyce had the ambition and determination to bring his passion to life and continue to innovate and build without fear, even in the face of adversity.

In his last interview before he passed away in June 1990, Robert Noyce was asked ‘what would you do if you were “emperor” of the United States?’ He said that he would, among other things, “make sure we are preparing our next generation to flourish in a high-tech age. And that means education of the lowest and the poorest, as well as at the graduate school level.”

In 1991 his family set up The Noyce Foundation, which is dedicated to improving public education in mathematics and science in grades K-12.

Noyce was a mentor and father-figure to an entire generation of entrepreneurs.

Today, December 12th 2011, marks what would have been Robert Noyce, the ‘Mayor of Silicon Valleys’ 84th birthday.

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Check out this interview from Robert Noyce from 1981, where he talks about the future technology in the workplace:

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Isabel Mattos is a serial entrepreneur, she has what you call the entrepreneurial spirit, running through her veins.

As an 18 year old she managed to get into the prestigious MIT university, even though she only applied 2 weeks before the application deadline. It helped that she received a scholarship or their was no way she would of been able to afford the fees. But she made it & if that wasn’t enough she also managed to get a job at the world’s most sought after company to work for, Google.

Although not from a family of entrepreneurs and no real entrepreneurial connection, she always knew that she would be an entrepreneur. After a short stint at MIT she started WaterAfrica, which developed a solar-powered piping system that enables better water distribution in Africa. After a couple more projects she founded ‘What If?‘ a social site where people can share their what if? questions which people can comment on and share with a gamification side to it as the more comments and likes, the more badges you earn.

She also founded Tisk-Task a a task management tool specially tailored at communities and on top of this she started yet another company. This one is called Talenj, which is a Google labs type of idea. It is made up of fun little websites that are useful and fun. In an experiments type format Talenj is there to try out a number of ideas and see what sticks!

She has a very creative tech focused mind and is always coming up with new ideas as you can tell. But rather than just come up with ideas she goes and makes them happen. Some may fail and some may work but you never know unless you try it.

She gave up the opportunity to have a comfortable job in Google and go it alone. She did plan to go back to Brazil and work on her own startup but after meeting Meyer Malka and Wenceslao Casares, two latin-american entrepreneurs responsible for one of the biggest Latin American startup exits, she was excited by thier idea which led to her latest venture which she joined from the beggining as he head of business development.

The startup is called Lemon and it seems she has made a good move as the online receipt tracking service has just raised $10 million in funding. It helps when raising funding that the founders have a track record of a successful exit.

According to the young 23 year old, Lemon has given her the opportunity to combine the two things she wanted the most: creating a startup, and working with people she admires.

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A few months ago we brought to you a startup that had just come out of stealth mode, Booktrack. I recently had the chance to ask a few questions to Paul Cameron, co founder and CEO of this innovative startup. Here is my interview:

So first of all what is your elevator pitch for Booktrack?

Booktrack is the creator of a new technology that synchronizes cinematic audio with text to create an immersive reading experience. Ebooks published by Booktrack include a customized, hand-created soundtrack that matches the action in the text. As readers go through the text, the music, sound effects, and ambient audio change to reflect what’s happening in the plot and are automatically paced to an individual’s reading speed to match the story line WHILE THEY READ. The result is a totally immersive experience that pulls readers into the world of the book.

When did you come up for the idea? What was the inspiration?

The idea arose from my brother, Mark, who was commuting to Hong Kong by ferry every day. During the trip, Mark would read books and articles while listening to music on his iPod. On occasion, there would be serendipitous moments where the music and the text would align tonally and thematically, enhancing the experience of both. He then called me up to explore how we might be able to make this happen on a regular basis for all readers. I had experience running teams of software developers, so we started prototyping and developing, and from that, Booktrack was born.

What were you doing before Booktrack and at what point did you decide to go fulltime, with Booktrack?

For over a decade, I flew as an officer with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, I am a qualified Aeronautical Engineer from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and I am a graduate of the Royal Canadian Air Force Aerospace Systems Post Graduate Course. In 2006, I founded the Marops Defense Projects Division, a high tech electronics and software company that provides products and services to the global defense industry. As the Division Director – I was integral in exponentially expanding the company’s revenue, resulting in its selection as one of the top 20 fastest growing companies in New Zealand.

In 2010, I officially co-founded and became CEO of Booktrack, starting full-time. I believe that in order to have a company succeed, you need to give up your day job and keep going at it until you prosper—there’s really no other way to get your ideas off the ground.

You have some great investors in Peter Thiel, Mark D’Arcy & Derek Handley, how useful do you think it is having the right investors, in terms of understanding of the product and industry as opposed to purely money, for your startup?

Our investors are among our greatest resource, and for far more than the capital they provide. Peter Thiel has been one of the most successful and influential figures in Silicon Valley for more than a decade. Mark D’Arcy’s work at Facebook and Time Warner has given him an incredibly keen sense of the global entertainment market and consumer behaviour. And Derek Handley is a revolutionary figure in the global digital marketing space. Their collective knowledge, advice, and steadfast encouragement have been invaluable in allowing our company to thrive in the competitive entertainment and technology markets, and their insight and guidance will be crucial to our success as we grow.

Booktrack got mixed reactions when it first released, some loved it but some felt that it took away from the whole point of reading and leaving the sounds and images to the readers imagination, what do you say to that?

When film first arrived, many thought that it would mean the death of the book; authors from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Ernest Hemmingway to Joseph Heller to David Foster Wallace proved them wrong. When sound was introduced to film, Time magazine said that “…the effect is startling, but often annoying…”, and H. M. Warner, co-founder Warner Brothers, in 1927 was famously quoted asking “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”. There was a general outcry from major publications and influential people stating that it was ruining the film experience; today, we can barely imagine a movie without a soundtrack or sound. In fact, every new development in entertainment technology—from the phonograph to the Internet—has brought with it cries that the new technology would displace and destroy previous forms of entertainment, and every time, the naysayers have been wrong.

Our goal isn’t, and never has been, to replace books. Literature and books provide a singular, inimitable, and irreplaceable experience, and everybody on the Booktrack team is a voracious reader. Rather, we see Booktrack as a new genre of entertainment that will coexist alongside books, films, and other types of media. We have no interest in competing with or displacing the book—we just want to provide those who want it with a new way to experience great content.

Is your targeted market, those who have maybe lost touch with reading and maybe need something to make it interesting again?

Not at all! Certainly, we see Booktrack as a way to get more people, and young people in particular, to choose books over the other varied forms of entertainment from TV and film to the Internet and video games that currently compete for their attention. If we can provide an option that might get children and adults reading, then that would be a great feat.

At the same time, while there may be some people who read Booktracks at the exclusion of traditional books, we believe they will comprise a minority of our customers at least for the foreseeable future. Rather, just as people both read books and watch movies, we believe that there will be people who will choose to read a combination hardcovers, paperbacks, ebooks, and Booktracks—potentially even reading the same content in multiple formats.

Over the years what has been the hardest part of building a startup?

The amount of time that great software development takes. When you’re sitting on this great idea, your designs are complete, and you need to take it to market, it can feel like the development takes forever.

How did you keep your spirits up and drive through the tough moments?

Very few people get the opportunity to bring a new innovation to market that is the equivalent of adding sound to film, and the product is just so exciting that we want to make sure we get it into as many hands as possible so that people can experience it. The belief that Booktrack is something special—something transformative and revolutionary—has been a powerful motivator and has driven us to throughout the process.

What was your biggest mistake when starting a company and how did you overcome this?

If we had it to do over again, we would have scaled our developer team more quickly in order to get the product to market sooner. That’s the kind of issue that can slow you down, but we eventually worked through it by building a team of really great developers who are both brilliant in their work and passionate about our product, and we are fortunate to be where we are with them today.

What would be your tip for any aspiring entrepreneur?

Don’t give up and always believe in your product and idea. Don’t listen to the detractors.

What do you hope to achieve with Booktrack in the next 3 years?

We would like to see all e-readers and devices be Booktrack-enabled so that anyone can experience Booktrack on whatever platform or e-book store they are reading from.

In addition, we are working to create a whole community of people who can develop Booktracks that are then distributed to the world through our platform.

We have assembled the right team of people who are smart and understand our vision, and in order to achieve our goals, we will continue working with them to advance our product and business opportunities

What is your favourite book?

Anything by Booktrack, of course.

>> Nice, thanks Paul for a great interview and good luck in your future endeavours!

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Curb has identified outdoor, sustainable media as a viable option for successful advertising and PR campaigns for big name brands and agencies.

In 2008, at the age of only 27 years old, and amidst the backdrop of developing fears about the future of our environment and an increased awareness by consumers about various company’s green credentials, Anthony Ganjou identified a niche in the market to bring advertising back to basic and to provide bespoke environmentally friendly media campaigns made from completely natural resources.

Anthony had a background in marketing, branding and sales through selling teddy bears and calculators on the street for an American company, which he feels gave him a crash course in business basics.  Most importantly, this position taught him to be determined to succeed and to constantly keep positive – essential attributes for any successful entrepreneur.

By using sustainable, natural resources to create innovative and successful marketing campaigns with no negative environmental impact, Curb has pioneered the concept of natural media marketing.  The concept was immediately popular with clients and environmentalists, and combined with search engine optimisation, the company grew rapidly.  In under a year, Curb had achieved international acclaim, secured big-name brands and had generated £200,000 in revenue.  The Curb Kia Cars campaign, when launched, was the biggest environmentally clean advertising campaign and achieved almost 150,000 visitors to the Kia website during the 2 week campaign.  Curb clients now include brands such as Haagen Dazs, Waitrose, Heart fm and Wagamamas.

In addition to Curb, Anthony is also the founder of Please Cycle, a one-stop shop initiative to encourage more people to get into cycling.  The secret to Anthony’s entrepreneurial success?  His BAIE philosophy – Belief, Ambition, Innovation, Enthusiasm combined with real passion for your idea.

Written by Emma McWhinney