Alistair Crane and Jamie True graciously turned down $10 million of seed funding in the early stages of building their startup. Alistair explains “We framed the offer letter from the bidder and it sits in one of our toilets in our U.K. headquarters”. The pair wanted to remain in complete control of their business, whilst simultaneously forcing themselves to create a profitable business, “When you’ve got $20 million in the bank, you lose some of that drive to make ends meet.” And their risk paid off.

In January 2010 the pair launched Grapple, which is quite simply a platform which develops apps for Blackberry, Android, iPad, iPhone, Windows phone and Nokia – from one source code. The company has grown from strength to strength, with the number of employees growing from three to 85 across London, Toronto and New York. Not only this but Grapple has also been able to invest $9 million back into itself in order to promote growth within the business.

The idea behind the business sprouted in 2006 when a group of mobile phone lovers queried how apps could be made for everyone regardless of their smartphone. After over four years developing the product, Grapple has now made apps for some of the biggest most dominant brands in various markets, including McDonalds, IBM, Xbox and Adidas. Their website boasts that ‘Everyday Grapple works with 1 in 5 of the UK’s top 40 brands’, and in 2011 there were more downloads of their clients’ apps than the entire population of London.
It seems despite the initial self-sufficient nature of the company, Grapple has grown along with its impressive client base.

It’s no surprise that Grapple has been awarded ‘Innovative Agency of the Year 2012’. Not only do they create, design and distribute apps at 75% cost to the clients of a typical iPhone app, but they also offer advice along the way and promote a close working relationship between themselves and the client. Not only that but even after the app has been finalised and distributed, Grapple provide their client with detailed analytics that show how many times the app has been downloaded and how it is being used, thus creating opportunities in the future.

Grapple has effectively utilised their strengths and even their weaknesses. Although on the surface it seems as though the business could be facing competition from others such as McCann Erickson and Ogilvy, they often end up collaborating! It will be fascinating to see Grapple continue to grow and expand internationally.

Imagine if, instead of spending hours lost in a crowd of weekend shoppers trawling the shops for the latest fashions, you had somebody that did it for you. And imagine if that somebody was actually a team of fashion experts including Grace Woodward, Louise Roe and Arabella Greenhill. Well that’s the fresh idea behind the London based fashion startup Stylistpick which aims to provide the latest accessories without the expensive price tag.

Upon signing up with Stylistpick you are required to take a short quiz to determine your style, and then every month accessories are handpicked and sent straight to your door for just £39.95. If you’re not happy with the accessory picked for you simply send it back for free and receive a full refund.

Founded in 2010 by Felix Leuschner, the company have achieved a large amount of growth and have now signed an exclusive deal with Cheryl Cole who has designed her own range of footwear solely for Stylistpick.

In December 2011 Stylistpick received $8million in Series A funding from Index Ventures and Accel Partners, followed by $11million in Series B funding only three months later. Leuschner explains that the funding has been used to fund expansion into Europe.

Leuschner says that he had seen the subscription model in other areas such as wine clubs and DVD clubs, and he became inspired by the success of personalisation such as this which pushed him towards Stylistpick. He explains “when entrepreneurs see something working well in one market, they will be eager to test it in others. The reason I developed this model was because I saw subscription models in general being successful”. Thus the UK’s first fashion subscription club was born.

From March 2012 Stylistpick have offered customers an alternative payment method to the full membership subscription, a ‘pay-as-you-go’ option which is available at the checkout; the company was also offering customers 25% off their first purchase. Shoedazzle, Stylistpick’s main competitor, announced its upcoming closure after just four months operating in the UK.

Leuschner remains confident of his company’s potential: “We live in a world where there is a lot of communication being pushed in people’s direction and there is too much choice and not enough time. Having a platform that is personalised, curated and at one price point makes sense”.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

Got GCSE’s coming up next month? Under pressure? We’ve all been there, especially when your teachers constantly preach the importance of these “exams” and how they determine your entire life. Through sheer desperation, you seek an excuse, and the ideas start flowing… “I broke my leg… got run over by a wheelbarrow..” and become increasingly more unlikely in the search for something original.

However, even if you devoted days to this endeavour, coming out with “I gotta promote my new application to the world’s 11th richest man”..is one that is most probably beyond anyone’s creative ability. This is no excuse, as Nick D’aloisio, a 16 year old King’s College School student who, ironically, was revising for his exams when he came up with a whole new way of revising.

Realising how time consuming sifting through different articles and web pages actually was, he wanted to see if there was a service available that summarises the content. There wasn’t. Today, this is what Summly does, but the shift from idea to product was an adventure which only begins with the student’s dream of finding an excuse that actually works.

Nick D’aloisio was always thirsty for knowledge. The Brit-Australian, grew up in Perth, where he enjoyed star gazing, proceeding to learn everything there was to know about them. It wasn’t too long after moving to London that this thirst for knowledge soon began to translate itself into an entrepreneurial streak. After eventually convincing his parents to buy him a MacBook Pro, at 12 he downloaded the apple development kit and “through trial and error” started creating apps. After initial failures, he developed SoundStumblr and Facemood, which summarises peoples moods on the basis of their facebook timeline. He then developed Trimlt.

This latter idea was designed to simplify the arduous task of revising by enabling users to see a quick summary of the webpage’s or newspaper article’s contents before actually viewing them. Like so many ideas that hit success, it’s mind bogglingly simple, or at least it appears to be so; “it’s one of those ideas, it’s so obvious when someone tells you it, but beforehand it’s not”. If anyone is not sure how to tell a good idea from a bad one, this is close to a criteria as you’re going to get.

He got confirmation of the idea’s value soon enough, attracting investment for trimlt and being featured in a few local press reports. It was one such report that caught the interest of Solina Chau, an investor with private equity firm Horizons. After having a chat with Nick’s parents, who up until this point had no idea about their sons entrepreneurial endeavours, he was flown to America to meet Li Kai Shing. He is the owner of the Horizons, a keen investor in tech businesses…oh, and the 11th Richest man in the world.

Through this investment, Trimlt became Summly, a much more powerful version that is capable of summarising the contents of huge articles into just a few bullet points. It’s easy to forget at this point that he’s only 15. Not surprising considering that he had his age hidden; “ It was a conscious decision to not disclose my age”, as he believed that focus would shift from the product to him. Either way, the success of the product necessarily shifts the focus on to the inventor

Nick is quick to recognise the advantages of being young; “ Youth was, in some ways” an enabler”, as not having to worry about the business as a source of income let him be more experimental with the app’s development. Since then the business has been going from strength to strength; 15,000 viewers on the website (unique visitors) and 25,000 downloads between June 2011 and December 2011 according to Nick.

Without going into too much technical depth (because I will probably get it wrong), the USP is not the concept, but the service. It uses “machine learning technology” to mimic the behaviour of humans when summarising. This is what he calls the “unique approach”, and is how Summly differentiates itself from other note taking services. However, he does acknowledge that a big internet player like Google can come along and push him out the market, but at the same time is quite confident that the tech giant won’t pursue such a risky strategy; “What’s to say that we don’t sell to their competitors and suddenly Google has lost out”. It seems he has keen business instincts to back up that knowledge.

What next for Nick D’aloisio? Despite his technical ability, he’s not your typical geek. He cites sports as a great hobby of his, and is keen to study politics and philosophy at university; “I do want to devote time to Summly now, but want to make sure I’ve got other paths going in the future”.

Looking back at his, fairly short but jam packed life, summarisation as a concept fits quite well. He always wants more time, to explore new ideas, and to see if he can make them work. This begs the question why? Is he really that short on time? Perhaps to find the answer we need to look at something Steve Jobs, his idol, said; “I’ve looked every morning in the mirror and asked myself, it today were the last day in my life, would I do what I am about to do”. It seems almost impossible for a person of 16 to think like that. Then again, Nick D’aloisio is no ordinary 16 year old.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

Traditional networking events can be expensive, time-consuming and sometimes fail to connect you with relevant contacts for your business. This is where 85by55 comes in.

As a self-proclaimed ‘Chatroulette meets LinkedIn’ 85by55 offers users a platform for networking comprised of a seemingly random video pairing which lasts just two minutes in order for users to create ‘meaningful interactions’ in the most efficient amount of time. Intelligent programming ensures that you won’t be matched with the same person twice, and will only be connected to those who match your preferences. Once the two minutes are up you can choose whether or not to connect with your new contact via LinkedIn and other social networks. Registration is free, and once you’re logged in and have set your filters, you’re free to network from the comfort of your home or at work in your lunch hour; the choice is yours.
You may be wondering where the name 85by55 originated from. Co-founders Shed Simove and Jonathan Fren chose the name because the average size of a business card is 85 by 55 millimetres. ‘Ahhh’ I hear you say, ‘catchy’.

85by55 offers a unique way to connect with like-minded people – in theory. But the open nature of the website could be an invitation for improper use despite the startup encouraging users to sign up with a LinkedIn profile in an attempt to abolish such behaviour.

Shed Simove, once a TV producer and now an entrepreneur, explains one tactic used by the company in order to promote 85by55. April Fool’s Day saw the launch of www.NigeriaGoogle.com, just a month after the launch of 85by55. The website got almost 100,000 hits in just a few hours which subsequently generated 15,000 clicks through to their own website, thus boosting awareness and spreading the company name. The site got removed but Simove is currently fighting to get it back up.

In the future 85by55 will offer a premium option which will require a small cost for the user whilst simultaneously offering an optimised service thus generating increased revenue for the company. The business also hopes to have their software embedded into partner websites thus increasing its use.

In theory Simove and Fren have created a unique and exciting opportunity for professionals to meet with other professionals in the hope to improve their businesses and create a web of useful contacts. However, perhaps 85by55 lacks practicality – we’ll just have to wait and see.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

Waste management. Not exactly the most exciting words you’ll ever hear. It’s not an industry sector that captures the imagination in the same way as “the city” or “investment banking”. The reason for this comes partly from the fact that, dealing with rubbish is, at least on the face of it (admittedly I’ve never been in the industry so can’t know for sure), not the most fun or interesting of activities. However, this can’t be said about Conor Guy, the founder of Envirogreen recycling. Having studied Law at university; the prospect of becoming just another lawyer didn’t appeal; “I thought society was saturated by lawyers and solicitors”.

From here his career took an unconventional path; after working at the Irish Independent and Marie Keating, he’s now the managing director at Envirogreen Recycling. His career to date couldn’t have been more different from those around him who now make up the countless lawyers, solicitors or even barristers. In much the same way, Envirogreen couldn’t be more different from it’s competitors.

The service itself is no different from other Waste Management companies. Envirogreen buys and recycle the waste of customers from the commercial sector. Their service deals with metals, plastic, cardboard, but also glass, and shreddings. However, how that service is provided is what makes Envirogreen unique. They cleverly realised that recycling can be quite a hassle. Sorting rubbish into separate piles for plastic, paper, cardboard and metal is fairly time consuming, especially if you’re a business and have a huge amount of rubbish to plough through. It would be enough to convince a lot of companies to just dump it all at the local skip.

However, Envirogreen provide a carbon reduction report that tells you just how many cars are off the road, or how many cubic feet of space in a landfill was saved thanks to your environmental consciousness. This not only shows that they care about what they do, but that they also care about what you do; making the effort in sorting seem tiny in comparison to the pride and fulfilment you’ve gained. What’s more, they practice what they preach, using water saving taps, low energy consumption machinery and many other environmentally efficient measures at their HQ in Northern Ireland. It doesn’t stop there either, as Conor has set the goal for Envirogreen to be completely carbon neutral. In short, what is refreshing about Envirogreen is that they don’t just manage waste to make profit, but have genuine goals to improve the environment.

This desire translates into the quality of their business service. The national recovery rate of recyclable material is 39.5%, whereas Envirogreen recover 89%..I don’t know what’s more surprising; the fact that the national average is so low or that Envirogreen is so high. They have also undertaken a completely unique approach; by partnering up with specific firms with the specific aims of reducing waste. They did this with the Quinn Group, who, having previously experienced poor service from other waste management companies, were taken by surprise by Envirogreen’s committed approach.

They had 11 objectives which ranged from the general goals of “reducing wastes and costs” to “inserting recycling receptacles”, as well as ensuring that they remained contactable and could respond quickly in case of emergency. They exceeded expectations, increasing recycling rates by over 30% with the firm. This attracted attention from other firms, and has created an impressive portfolio that includes Coca Cola bottlers, Kerry Foods and Britvic.

Coincidentally, Envirogreen would never have happened if Conor Guy didn’t spot these inefficiencies in the Irish Waste Management industry; “The costs were sky high, I thought I could do a better job than they could!”. Sure enough, after raising £7000 from family and friends, success hit. Envirogreen moved it’s base of operations out of Conor’s farm shed and into a top recycling facility, and have gone from strength to strength ever since. Turning over £11.3 million in 2009. Today, it’s operations stretch from the UK, Republic of Ireland and Poland During this time, both the company and Managing director were nominated for numerous awards. However, out of all of them, Conor marks the Shell Livewire Grand award ideas as the turning point; “ (that) gave impetus to move to the next stage and become an even bigger player in the market”.

Envirogreen is still in it’s early stages, but it’s rapid growth has attracted the attention of many onlookers, not just because they love what they do, but they do it in a way that nobody else does. Back when he finished Uni, Conor made a choice that few others did, and it took him to places few other have been. In much the same, Envirogreen’s approach to recycling is completely different from it’s competitors, and who knows where Conor will take it.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

On the face of it, there’s nothing spectacular about Shoreditch Grind. They’re a coffee shop, located next to Starbucks on the Old Street roundabout. That said, although there are hundreds of coffee shops all around London, there’s something about this one that makes it that little bit different. Founded by Kaz James and David Abrahamovitch, the former a successful musician, DJ and producer, the latter a UCL Economics graduate and would be investment banker.

With this combination of perspectives, it’s easy to see why Shoreditch Grind is so different from all those other countless coffee chains’, indistinguishable in name or the quality of the service they provide. However, how it set itself apart and achieved success is not so easy to spot, and to do this we need to take a look in more detail at those who founded it.

Kaz and David have been best friends for 10 years and both love coffee. David finished Economics at UCL, and after doing internships at various investment banks and seemed destined to follow the path set out by friends and family. However, he quickly realised that it wasn’t for him; “It was the natural progression, but I never liked being a small cog in a big wheel”. By contrast, Kaz James’ life took a very different road. Raised in Melbourne, Christopher (yes, that’s his real name) studied at various private schools, and was always involved in music. Thus, having captured his imagination at an early age, he decided to skip university in favour of a music career. Whilst on the face of it, they appear very different yet they are similar in all the important aspects; they both excel at what they do, neither of them wanted to remain locked in, and neither are afraid to take risks.

However, anyone in the business world knows it takes more than passion and ability to make something a success. David Abrahamovitch recalls how they reached their idea; “ (Kaz) is Australian and Aussie’s are massively into their coffee, and they were all amazed how difficult it is to get a good cup of coffee over here- that told me there’s a gap in the market”. It was from here that they decided to set up a Coffee shop at the roundabout on Old Street, next to a Starbucks. Whilst it seems like a bad idea to set up next to an established coffee chain and your main competitors, David doesn’t consider these big players as their competition. In fact, he takes a different view on it; “If anything, our competition is other independent cafés, but really they’re more like friends to us – we’re a community.” With this in mind, it made sense to choose the place they did; “If Starbucks opened a site there, that means there’s demand”. Would you forego a career in Investment Banking to open coffee shop from scratch next to one of the most dominant forces in the market? It’s easy to look back at the success of these two and say yes, but looking forward, it doesn’t take a genius to realise which most people would choose. Then again, David and Kaz aren’t like most people.

Opening in June 2011, the first feature of the business that appeals is the thought and care that goes into the making of the coffee; “we add our own blend of beans roasted to our exact specifications, and even more importantly some of the best (mostly Aussie) baristas in London”. Sure enough, their reputation and popularity grew from there, having been interviewed for the gateway (which is handed out at my University, as well as 15 others) and various other magazines. However, this is not the only way in which Shoreditch Grind separates itself; Kaz James; “ We wanted to create something that could bring music and coffee together”, which explains the presence of a recording studio on the floor above; “We’ve had Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones and Coldplay”. Top quality Coffee, and top quality music to go with it. It’s no wonder this business has been making a name for itself.

However, it hasn’t all been fun and games. It took 18 months to get the business up and running due to the difficulty in finding decent builders and electricians (a problem we’re all too familiar with), on their budget. On overcoming this, the work doesn’t stop; (David) “A business like this will not work unless you are very hands on… However much work you think it’s going to be, triple it”. However, despite this continuous work, and the difficulties along the way, Shoreditch Grind have created something so unique that, after a while you forget it’s a coffee shop. So next time you’re in Shoreditch make sure you visit the Shoreditch Grind.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

Your mail has arrived. You open it up and you start eating it. That’s not a sentence you’d expect someone to tell you, but if you asked somebody what they did with their Graze box, that pretty much hits the nail on the head.

If you’re stuck in the office, hungry, and short for time, people would be willing to try almost anything other than the usual McDonalds or KFC, perhaps in some extremes even their own mail.

It’s very simple; Graze is a service that delivers a small package of healthy food anywhere in the UK for £3.79. In fact it’s so simple I’m sure many of us have thought of the idea in some way or another. Yet when it passed through Graham Bosher’s mind, he saw more, he sensed a business opportunity. People want healthy food, but need quick food; the problem is that quick food generally isn’t healthy, Solution; offer quick food that is healthy and reasonably priced. In fact it’s so simple it makes you wonder why no one else has done it? The truth is; the simpler the idea, the more difficult the challenges, which makes the need for the solutions to be that much more innovative and ingenious.

Graze was founded in January 2009 by 7 friends. It’s small, neatly packaged from recycled material (environment consciousness is always a plus) and is well presented. They deliver at work and home, and are never late. They invested a quarter of a million in research and development; to find a way of ensuring that the food doesn’t go bad during delivery. For this entire service they charge £3.79. The Grazebox is small enough to fit through the letterbox; so you don’t have to trudge to the post office if you’re not in on the delivery day.

However, a professional product and service isn’t enough, people have to want it. How did Graze do this? Looking at the idea it seems easy to answer; they marketed what people wanted (healthy food) and provided a professional service. In truth, however, it’s much harder.

People have known about healthy food for a long time, they just never wanted to eat it. When people think healthy food, they think “spinach” or “broccoli”, which is not exactly synonymous with good taste. All the investment would be in vain if people don’t want the product.

Redefining the image of healthy food is one of the two key parts to Graze’s success; the other is the innovative ways they then convinced you to buy it. The innovation comes from the use of technology. Their interactive site lists the various food types that they do (up to a 100 different foods to choose from), next to which you have 5 options; Bin, Like, Try or Love. This is a flexible, user friendly approach because rather than having simply “like” or “dislike” it caters to the various moods people are in. They might not particularly dislike something, but not like it enough to order it regularly; thus they can click “like” which simply means that Graze vary the times they put that particular option in.

With this system they can tailor themselves to not just the specific food they like, but also what food the customer is in the mood for. This flexibility carries on into their service; you can have boxes delivered as often or as little as possible; and cancel the delivery anytime before 6am (although they are seeking to extend this) on the delivery day. In this way, healthy food isn’t something that is forced upon you as a child, but rather something that can be enjoyable; almost an indulgence.

The use of technology extends to that of social media in network marketing. They offer deals through Groupon and various other sites where you can get your first box half price. Through this they entice customers, but at the same time they don’t devalue their brand. Lets face it, if they put up these deals on their site you’d ask; why are they giving it away? Is it that bad? Better yet, they offer customers free boxes if they recommend their product to their friends, and provide a unique code to reference this. These people then market the product through Youtube and various other social media sites, continuously enhancing their exposure. The scary thing is, the chain of network marketing that is created is potentially endless. What’s more, using people to advertise through video media rather than just blogs makes people more likely to trust the reviews as genuine. If they see a person with a Graze box, eating it, people are more likely to give it a go.

It’s difficult to gauge exactly how successful graze is, as they don’t disclose their profits. However, in it’s first half year, Graze shot up to 80,000 orders, and today sends out over 120,000 boxes a month. It is estimated that in the first year they raked in £1.4 million in revenue. Also, if we multiply £120,000 by the price they sell them for (currently at £3.79), and take into account how it uses the internet to generate completely free marketing, reducing costs..well, it doesn’t take a maths genius to work out it’s a lot. Graze’s expansion has not stopped there; they launched their first TV ad back in December 2011; which increased site traffic over 10 times as soon as it was aired.

In fact, the entirety of this article can be summed up with the following words; Graze has hit a winner. Not necessarily with their idea; it’s brilliant in it’s simplicity although not the most original. The real originality comes through the use the internet. On the customer end; tailoring the final product to the customer’s needs, in the process redefining how people look at healthy food. On the marketing end; advertising their product continuously through social media, which costs them almost nothing. The business model, combined with the focus on healthy food and an all round positive image is what, at least in my eyes, make Graze a success.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

Blippar gives users the ability to transform their world by injecting life into various everyday objects. Simply by pointing the camera on your smart device towards recognised visual ‘markers’ you can open an interactive realm featuring unique experiences such as offers, entertainment and animations. These markers can be anything from print to actual objects which reward Blippar uses with an instant surprise.

London based Blippar launched in 2011 by a team of entrepreneurs with the aim of creating a platform for media and brand owners. The somewhat revolutionary app allows, theoretically, for an interactive advertising experience from a number of different brands and products through the single lens of the camera phone. The speed of image recognition is what CEO and Founding Director Ambarish Mitra feels stands Blippar apart from competitors, describing the experience as looking through a ‘magic lens’. Blippar also allows media and brand owners to monitor how users are engaging with their advertising by providing them with real time data, a function which has been enabled purely through Blippar.

The Blippar experience is a form of advertising which relies on the consumer for their initial input. It is therefore important that customers can give productive feedback which can mould and shape the growth of the app and the way in which media and brand owners use the app. Blippar of course realise this crucial aspect and have explained that the app must follow the needs of the consumer and not vice versa.

Smartphone ownership is the fastest growing global technology trend, a fact which carries huge implications for those working within the field. Blippar have teamed up with big names such as Tesco, Cadbury and Eurostar, thus propelling Blippar as a brand in itself.

Initially founded by Ambarish Mitra and Omar Tayeb, the idea came when playing with the image of the Queen on a twenty pound note in a pub. The company has now experienced a huge amount of growth, gaining over 350,000 users in 5 months and earning Omar Tayeb Young Innovator of the Year at The Guardian’s Digital Innovation Awards. He explains, “The last nine months have been fantastic for Blippar and we’ve got a load of improvements to our technology coming down the pipe soon, so hopefully the rest of 2012 will be even more exciting”. We can’t wait.

Mitra states that exhibiting at CES was the first initiative of entering the US market which allowed them to create a platform to leading brands in the States. He also believes that the key ingredient to a successful campaign is providing the customer with exactly what they want whilst simultaneously pushing brands to communicate with the customer on exactly what content is ‘blippable’. Mitra’s favourite ‘blipp’ comes from Heinz Tomato Ketchup which transforms a ketchup bottle into a recipe book and gives customers the opportunity to win daily prizes. He wants to make Blippar something routine, something that can become an everyday habit rather than a strange concept.

Earlier this year Blippar received seed funding from Qualcomm Ventures, the size of the investment was not disclosed.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

Many people are wondering who this new character that hit TV screens actually is? If it weren’t for his almost Boris Johnson type appearance, his initially unimposing demeanour would make it easy to let him pass under the radar. Yet it was Nick Holzherr who took control of some quite considerable egos (one candidate actually referring to himself as “the reflection of perfection”) and led the team to victory. His overconfident statement prior to the show’s start; “I’m a natural leader, I like to lead teams and I can lead (a) team into real success” most likely didn’t win him many fans. However it can’t be overlooked that, in the first task, he backed his claim, and he did it in style. Whilst this alone is not enough to back up his other equally confident claims, it nevertheless begs the question, is Nick as good as he says he is? Is he the real deal?

His childhood was split between two countries, having been born in the UK, his family then moving to Zurich three months later where he spent the next 7 years, after which his family returned. His entrepreneurial streak was evident early on in life, selling lost golf balls back to golfers at the age of 9. From there he continued to move through his education fairly swiftly; taking his degree at the Business School at Aston university. It was during this time that he developed his more entrepreneurial side; co founding SIFE (students in free enterprise), which aimed to get students involved in enterprise. It did this by enabling them to work on projects to improve economic development in the west-midlands region. Needless to say, it became an immediate success, becoming one of the largest societies, and partnering with Birmingham city council. So far so good.

It wasn’t just out of hobby that he began to explore ideas. In his placement year, he was stuck “in a glass building” at a global investment bank in Germany; “it was boring, I hated what I was doing”. Not having the best time, sketching business ideas became a form of escapism; “(during this time) I thought I could come up with some really interesting ideas”. It was here that he came up with his “go go coffee to go” scheme. Essentially what they do is sell the coffee to customers, but sell the cup itself as advertising space for clients “generating income from both sides” enabling cheaper prices for the same quality coffee. This ingenious scheme won the American-German Business club’s business plan competition. Confidence in himself was undoubtedly buoyed by success with SIFE, but success with the coffee scheme was a new step. What was present in this scheme unlike with SIFE was a tangible product, and shifting this belief from person to product gave him the courage to pursue it further.

It was from pursuing this business idea that his journey into enterprise began. Having ordered 20,000 cups from China, finding a spot to store this that was near their campus (their target market) presented quite a challenge. Nevertheless, they managed to find a friend at their university who was kind enough to store it. This experience showed him that, whilst it is difficult to find investors willing to give money, cutting costs by getting stuff cheaply, or free, is much easier. There was also another snag on the sourcing side; having rented office space in September, various delays in production and transportation meant that they didn’t arrive until January. Nick, looking back, almost wanted to quit; “We (and my business partner) had so many times last year when we thought; shall we just give this up”. However, having invested almost £40,000 pounds, they didn’t give up on the business, and started trying to think of different ways of making money from the advertising end.

From this, their idea for their latest venture was born. Using QR codes, which are 2D digital barcodes that can be scanned into your mobile, people can load up more information about the advert. The popularity of this idea quickly became apparent; “We had loads of people coming to us saying, guys, we really like this, can you do this for us”. However, expanding on the idea into a business is a skill in itself, and it was only through the experience he gained earlier that he was able to utilise it’s potential. In line with his “getting what you can for free” rule, he managed to secure free office space through the Birmingham E4F business incubator. Today, the initial idea has been transformed into a “content management system for mobile phones” where the user can scan the code on the business card and load up a profile, which links to the person’s Facebook, Twitter, Skype etc. All this wouldn’t have been possible if they didn’t keep at it when times were tough; which was something he didn’t learn in business school.

Nick has come a long way since selling those golf balls to (admittedly somewhat naïve) golfers. He now offers consulting and guest speaking services, is working on many other business ideas, while at the same time appearing on one of the UK’s biggest business shows. In particular, the claim that “I’ve got lots of ideas, I know how to whittle them down into ideas that will work and I’ve got what it takes to make them actually happen” succinctly captures what his learning experience. Since the age of 9 he hasn’t been afraid to explore these ideas.

At university, he perfected his ability to explore an idea to it’s fullest and come up with a concept that can work, winning him the competition. However, it was his initial failure with Go Go Coffee that taught him the difference between a good idea that works and one that doesn’t. Just like he backed up his leadership claim in the apprentice, his life experiences back up this one too. In short, Nick Holzherr is the real deal, and I’m sure we’ll hear more about him in the future.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.

“Sometimes people ask me, “why Naked?” But once I’ve explained to them that “naked” in this context simply means that all unnecessary costs have been eliminated, and you get, well, “naked” wine at its “naked” cost, then they see the logic behind this name.”

Let’s be honest, if you’re working in the city, trading equities at the age of 25, you’d be enjoying yourself right? Deciding which shares to sell and buy, which company to invest in, and who runs them would give a sense of empowerment even to the most humble of people. Rowan recalls how it was a period of “youthful confidence, undimmed by experience”. Why leave then? The job offered excitement, a sense of achievement, and a lucrative salary in the long run. It makes no sense to leave and accept a job at Virgin for less money.

However, it does when we look at what Rowan enjoyed most about his equities job; “ it gave me the ability to turn my ideas into action, and to see which ones worked and which ones didn’t”. Needless to say, it wasn’t the money, nor the status of the job that he liked, but the flexibility that accommodated the desire to explore different ideas, building confidence in his ability along the way. That is why, when Richard Branson offered him the chance to work for him, for less money, but with the opportunity to start his own business, it wasn’t really much of a choice; “I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and this seemed like a fantastic platform to do it”.

After joining in 1994, he led a series of successful ventures with Branson. It was Gormley’s idea to take Virgin into financial services; “nobody trusts bankers, Virgin is all about trust, why not bring this asset of trust to the industry” (Gormley speaking to Branson). After this, he founded Orgasmic Wines which enjoyed success, and was bought into by Branson who then changed the name to Virgin Wines (I wonder why?). Gormley then resigned as CEO of Virgin Wines in 2008, and founded his Naked Wines scheme. The eye catching name and the fact that it sells wines begs the question; how is it different? What makes it unique, and therefore successful.

To fully understand the innovation behind this idea; we need to see where the idea came from. Being an avid lover of wines (just look back at the name of his first venture), Rowan spotted a gap in the industry’s chain of production. In fact, the gap was the chain of production; “A supermarket bottle of wine that costs £10 typically has about £3 of wine in it.” The rest of the cost comes from storage, marketing and transport. Thus, naked wines business model is in it’s unique selling point, cutting the chain to just a producer and consumer.

Securing investment from German Wine group WIV AG, Rowan set up winemakers across France, Argentina, Chile, Australia and South Africa. Naked Wines provides the winemakers with supplies, a salary, essentially everything they need to make wine. In return, rather than asking for shares, or interest, Naked Wines ask for Wine at as near cost price as possible. It is then able to sell the product much more cheaply, through eliminating these “dead costs”.

After initial investment, the internet is what enables this business model to work. It costs about £50,000 for naked wines to set up a winemaker, and the internet is used to raise funds from their customer. Naked wines ask customers to provide about £50 to set up a winemakers, and when the money reaches a certain point (where all existing customers have donated, but are still short of the 50,000), they will then tell their friends to donate, continuing until they hit the target. Thus, users have the option of becoming “Naked Angels” where they continuously donate £20 to sustain these winemakers once the last batch of wine has been made. This model also reduces risk because, as Rowan Gormley points out, the final product “has an already made customer base”.

However, focus on the user is taken even further, as the customers on the website can communicate with the wine producers and give feedback on whether they are satisfied. This allows naked wines to continuously streamline their products to tailor the customer’s desire, creating a user-centric business model on the consumer end. The appeal of this model can be seen from several dimensions. Connecting consumers and producers in a social network lends it an invaluable community aspect. Members of the site can recommend wines to each other, as well as producers being able to network amongst one another. Any site member can visit the site, communicate with customers and create strong relationships. Another element is the funding of winemakers by the users, this gives them a feeling that, in supporting the little guy, they’re doing something good. All these elements provide a huge marketing potential, and it’s no surprise today it has over 62,000 people putting in £20.

Despite all this, the growth of Naked Wines has been far from smooth. They made a £1 million loss in 2010, and have been criticised by some for not being value for money, and “tricking” customers into subscribing for the £20 a month. However, it is easy to forget exactly what made them a success in the first place; the business model. It’s only been four years since this company started, and it still has time to achieve success. Even if we assume that the wines aren’t value for money, the feedback from customers would reflect that and only the wines that are will be made, creating an almost meritocratic model of quality control.

[Editor's Note] Milos Bezanov is a second year student currently studying International Politics at King’s College London.