If a foreigner were to ask about life in Great Britain, what would we answer?

Would we tell of our lives driven by family and community, of our young people engaged, educated, motivated, healthy and responsible, of our doctors and police valued and respected, of our innovative and forward-thinking politicians motivated by integrity and the genuine welfare of their countrymen, of a nation of social and business entrepreneurs fixing society and the economy?

Or would we tell of our individualism and lack of social awareness, of our young people’s disrespect and disillusionment, of our out-of-touch politicians’ detachment and ineffectiveness, of greedy and selfish mega-business, of our obsession with money, celebrity, fashion and material gain, of our blame culture destroying personal and collective responsibility, of our political correctness replacing common sense and common courtesy, of our pervasive security and fear culture stifling growth, or our welfare state promoting dependence rather than self-initiative?

We have arrived at a critical moment in time. The time has come to ask, here and now, what kind of society we wish to live in, what kind of society we leave for our children and their children, what kind of example we wish to set the rest of the world. Because as society stands, our future is bleak.

We therefore have no choice but to set an entirely new agenda for the way we live our lives, laying new foundations for a healthy society that places its values on individual and collective hard work, taking responsibility for our own lives, being involved in community and with family, on finding wellbeing and purpose.

It’s a task that calls on each and every one of us to take our place at the table and play our role in a better society that will continue to serve many generations after our time. It’s a task that requires us to stand up within our communities, to look around us, to help each other, to help ourselves.

In 1997, at age 18, I found myself with no job, little education, no home and no future. Despite coming from a broken home, a broken education and the odd encounter with police, I decided to take charge of my life and make something happen. Higher education was not going to provide the direction or the hunger for getting stuck into life and a conventional workplace was not suited to my creative drive.

Instead, I invested the £300 savings in my bank, printed some letterheads and started a small business. Over the next 11 years, that business went on to employ nearly 200 people, provide a valuable service to its customers and gave me a life of character-building hard work, determination and financial security that I could be proud of. My starting point was never something as cheap as money, prestige or material goods, but the inherent value of creating something and making things happen for me and others around me.

Entrepreneurialism, from the French ‘entreprende’ for ‘undertake’, is typically associated with business, but it is really about making things happen, in business or society. It is about identifying problems and creating and trying out new ideas and solutions, whether starting a business venture, a community project or a personal project, simply taking a seed and growing something new and unique.

Across the undeveloped and developing world, the one aspect of poverty that nobody talks about is the entrepreneurialism and industriousness. Despite the harshest conditions, millions of individual people make the most of their lives, running businesses, scratching a living and in doing so, they achieve self-worth. Not a single handout sought or blame apportioned. Just hard work and self-help. And always with a smile.

In Britain, we have seemingly lost the power to help ourselves, looking to others for solutions. But we are capable beyond measure. We are our own leaders if we choose to be. We do not need politicians or bureaucrats to tell us what to do, how to live and what we need to improve our lives, what is best for us and when, where and how. We have the self-knowledge and power to take control of our own lives and those around us, to do what is best for our children, our families and our communities. Politics is simply the business of people and public affairs.

Following the riots which brought home quite how broken and separated we are from ourselves and each other, we have an opportunity to change the course of history and every single person has the power to be a part of that change.

But that is only possible if we stand up and take part, if we participate, if we are interested, if we take responsibility, if we lead our children by example and affect others to do the same with a sense of common good. It is every man’s responsibility and anything less is a dereliction of duty. And in doing so, we can be proud of the society that we have each played a part in creating.

The time has arrived to become a nation of business and social entrepreneurs who make things happen, for ourselves, our families, our communities, our country. As a great man once said, ‘become the change you want to see’. In work, in personal life, everywhere, walk out of the door today, find purpose and make something happen that matters to you and for those around you. It’s not apathy or lack of purpose that has stopped us so far, it’s just that nobody has shown us how fulfilling and rewarding it is to participate and make things happen.

This post was written by RUDI SCHOGGER
Rudi Schogger is an Business and Social Entrepreneur.

The amount of startups founded by young entrepreneurs under the age of 20 is rapidly on the rise. The latest teenage generation are the first too have grown up with the internet, and with the ease of access when it comes to starting a business online many bright entrepreneurs have emerged whilst still in their teens.

It is also more common place to see teens who have taught themselves code and are able to create innovative web apps due to the freedom they possess. As this generation have grown up along with social networks they know how to leverage these. What may start out as hobby/after school project can turn into a real business.

But how do you survive as a real business when you are just seen as a kid?

As a teenager you are left with less responsibility. No kids, mortgage etc… (Well most of the time)  to look after. The risks to consider for a teenpreneur are much less in this sense.

Often a lot of the larger organizations that are more established,  are seeing real competition from startups with young founders who are have grown up with a different way of thinking. As the world continues to change and the face of business changes as well, the mindset of the older organizations are different too those of the younger entrepreneurs and that is where the next generation of young entrepreneurs can gain a competitive advantage over larger corporations in older industries.

We as a younger generation take for granted much of what we see as being the norm, but in reality it is still very new. This is a new way of doing business, older generations grew up and learned a different way of business. As a younger generation comes through and spend ever increasing amounts of time online, businesses no matter what background are having to have an online presence, which may be more than just a website and actually have to offer their products & services online.

A big consideration whens starting your company whilst still very young, is how are you supposed to be taken seriously as a young entrepreneur? It can be harder when getting loans or trying to work with suppliers and partners. How about when trying to get funding? It’s obviously a lot easier when you can show that your business is making money and your model is working, but it can often take a lot of attempts to get there (also having a co founder helps). This is where the power of networking and building strong relationships can help, especially within your own industry.

Entrepreneurs these days have a greater network to learn from than before. It is so easy for anyone to get online and find networking events they can attend or just interact with others who have been through it already. Social networks are the main facilitators of this. Places like Twitter & LinkedIn have allowed young entrepreneurs to compete with the corporate world as they have been able to build strong networks with other young entrepreneurs and also gain knowledge from many others young and old.

I think that young entrepreneurs are not seen to be as much of a pushover as maybe they were previously. Many young entrepreneurs have made it in the past, just look at Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. But I think it’s only now that with the internet, that entrepreneurship has opened up for a lot of under 30′s to be able to take their ideas and go through with it. The barriers to entry are so much lower and the nature of many businesses have changed giving young entrepreneurs the advantage in many industries, except maybe manufacturing.

I think one aspect that is slowly changing is the acceptance of entrepreneurship as a viable career choice, especially when you are young and have no experience, but you have passion and an idea. Much of what we get taught in school is still a very old way of thinking. The education system can’t keep up with the way world and business is progressing and innovating.

Only now are universities offering entrepreneurship courses, but to be honest it’s not just offering a course at university. The entrepreneurial spirit is something you have inside you, it’s a way of thinking and it’s something you grow up with. What about before university, can we see that entrepreneurial spirit and let it flourish?

Starting your own business whilst still being young can be daunting, but surely it’s more daunting when you are older and potentially have more to lose. Big steps have definitely been made and with more media attention being put on the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, hopefully young entrepreneurs can make a bigger impact across many industries and not just in tech (online).

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Startup Weekend is an intense 54 hour event which focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business over the course of a weekend. The weekend brings together people with different skillsets – primarily software developers, graphics designers and business people – to build applications and develop a commercial case around them.

Here is a video to explain a bit more:

Next weekend will see Startup weekend take place in many cities including San Francisco where it is being held at pariSoma between 3-5th June. Every weekend after that will see more cities across the world play host to this hugely popular event.

The London event will be held over the second weekend of September with the venue TBC. To see the list of all the cities and dates visit the Startup Weekend site.

Founded by Andrew Hyde in July of 2007 in Boulder, Colorado, Startup Weekend saw over 80 events take place within the first two years and it has now spread to over 100 cities in 30 countries.

So how successful are these startups, well over 36% of Startup Weekend startups are still going strong after 3 months & Roughly 80% of participants plan on continuing working with their team or startup after the weekend. One of the biggest successes has been Foodspotting founded by Soraya Darabi (who we covered last year) has over 600,000 users and has received $3.75 million in funding.

Here is a video from a recent event in Baltimore:

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Ian Hogarth is the CEO & Co-founder of Songkick. I recently caught up him to talk about the company he founded four years ago after quitting his job at Bain & Company, Singapore. Ian holds a Master’s in machine learning at Cambridge.

Songkick helps you keep track of live music. By integrating your iTunes, Last.fm or Pandora profile, you are able to receive alerts by email whenever a band you listen to announces a date in your city. It also shows users where to buy the cheapest tickets and see who else is going.

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this with me Ian, How are you doing today?

Great thanks! Thanks for taking an interest in our product.

Can you give the readers some background information about yourself, especially about what you were doing before you started Songkick?

Sure. Pete and I are best friends from Cambridge where he studied law and I studied Engineering. Michelle and I met studying Mandarin in Beijing. We quit our jobs in publishing (Michelle), enterprise software (Pete) and strategy consulting (Ian) to start Songkick.

How did the idea for Songkick come about and what made you decide that this was the right idea for you to pursue?

We all share a huge love for live music, and believe that seeing your favourite bands live is something everyone should experience more. We knew a lot of friends who wanted to see more concerts but didn’t have time to keep track of when their favrouite bands came to town. We realised we could use our software development skills to simplify that process and autumatically tell you when bands you listen to announce dates in your city.

Can you tell explain to the readers what Songkick is about?

Songkick helps you keep track of live music. You sign up, give us access to your iTunes, Last.fm or Pandora profile, and we’ll then alert you by email whenever a band you listen to announces a date in your city. We’ll show you where to buy the cheapest tickets and see who else is going.

What would you say was the hardest part of setting up the business?

Finding our first few hires. We were very lucky to meet an amazing developer very early on, Phil Cowans who was working at Microsoft Research then. Looking back, persuading him to quit his job and join us was one of the most significant events.

You rolled out a new integration with Warner!, Can you tell us about it?

Yes absolutely. In order to able to tell our users about every concert by their favourite artists we have built up the most comprehensive database of concert information in the world. We’re very excited to be working with Warner to power the tour data on their artist sites, thus ensuring that bands can present the most accurate and timely data on their tour dates to their fans. This saves bands and managers significant time, and means they can spend more time on their music.

Should we be expecting any other new features on the platform anytime soon?

Yes we have two big launches coming…stay tuned!

How is Songkick funded and what is your revenue model?

We are funded by angels and VCs from the technology and music industries including Y Combinator, Index Ventures, Alex Zubillaga, Jeff Clavier, Stefan Glaenzer, Peter Read, Dan Porter, Betaworks and other great angels.

We generate revenue by generating sales of commerce related to live music – tickets and soon merchandise and live recordings. We are a lead generation engine for the live music industry helping to solve the problem that 50% of concert tickets go unsold.

How has the your market changed since the company’s launch in 2007 and how has your business changed to keep pace?

The ticketing market has continued to fragment with some fantastic new ticketing services emerging like Crowdsurge, Eventbrite, Ticketfly and Topspin, so we’ve continued to focus on aggregating the largest database of concert listings to provide the best service to our users.

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

Improving the quality of our user experience. That leads to happier users who spread the word more passionately to their friends.

As a UK-Based company that is successful and has been successful with funding, Do you think start-ups in the US have it easier than the UK? What is your take on this?

I think wherever you do it a start-up is hard. In London you have a few advantages as well as the well publicised disadvantages – it’s slightly easier to hire a great team, and for us London has more concerts than any other city in the world, so we’re close to a major live music market which helps refine new ideas.

If you you were to start another enterprise, what might it be?

I would like to do something to help reduce child trafficking.

Since the launch of the company in 2007, what moment would you describe as the most memorable so far?

The night we logged 1 million gigs in our database, and stayed up watching the database before launching a major new version of our site.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

Stay as focused as possible and keep simplifying down your ideas till you have something small you can launch quickly and iterate on. Be ruthless in hiring only the best people. Keep fit and try to exercise even in the longest times.

Finally before we go, Songkick has been a company that has been very successful with raising money, Could you share some tips on raising money?

Be authentic. Find other entrepreneurs to mentor you through the process. Try to avoid letting raising money distract you from what really matters – building a great product and delighting your users.

Thanks for your time Ian

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Noam Kostucki, Noam is a social entrepreneur and recently a speaker at TED, Noam has given training, coaching and consulting at Yale University, HP, Tata, UnLtd and the British Heart Foundation. He is the founder of Seeducation (www.seeducation.org) and SeedPro.

In the UK alone, the social enterprise market grew from $24 billion (2007) to $97 billion (2010), and some people are still wondering whether “making money from doing good” is realistic.

I believe that everyone can make a healthy living from doing good. In my TED talk, I explored the question of “when is doing good the best way to make money“?

Now I want to look at what kind of social enterprise model can work for you.

If you are part of the 75% of the people who start by telling saying “but… you don’t understand: what I do is different. In my business we can’t do [...]“, don’t worry: just write down all the problems with doing what you would want to do and find a solution for each barrier, one by one, rather than all together.

When starting with social entrepreneurship, people wonder what they can do and how it applies to their industry or specific business. I don’t have a set answer, and no good consultant ought to. But we’ve got 2 other things in our sleeves:

1) a set of questions to ask you… most people I meet don’t actually know much about their market and own line of business

2) a set of models you can get inspired by… most people find the answer themselves once they’ve seen how someone else has made it work

This is why I have identified for you 6 of the most common big models. Take a look at how different organisations understand the idea of “making money from doing good” and take the best from each.

1. Buy 1, get 1 free for someone else: like the Jojo Project or Tom’s shoes, for every item you buy, someone else gets the same for free

2. Profit go to do inspiring good: OneWater that sells commercial water in supermarket invests most of its profit to build roundabouts for children to spin in Africa. As they turn the roundabout, they pump water to a water tower for the village and the surrounding ones. They also sell advertising space at the top of water towers to generate more revenue.

3. Intrinsic good: FEED Project is a company that sells bags and clothes that do good. Each items you buy is intrinsically good because they are made of eco-friendly material, and as an added value, each item also helps feed people in the developing world. So as they do more good, they make more money, the more money they make, the more good they do!

4. Invest in your future market: Seeducation is the “charity” that gives free education to individuals on how to make a living from doing good. SeedPro is the “company” that get paid by organisations for training, coaching and consulting on how to make money from doing good. These charitable activities support people in creating social enterprises. The more people Seeducation helps, the more social enterprises there are… and therefore the biggest the market is for SeedPro.

5. Improve the chain: Innocent drinks sells high price top of the range juice. They charge you for quality product, but also for the quality of the service they provide you: the go back all along the chain of production and makes sure every aspect is ethical and sustainable. They pay fair price and help their providers improve their sustainability and profitability.

6. Uncontested experts: For example, Age UK, the charity to help the elderly really runs 4 businesses that generate 104 million pounds from trading in 2010 or the Directory of Social Change that makes year on year about 95% of the money it needs from selling training, books, conferences and online tools.

If you want to learn more about how you charity can start making money from doing good, check the TED talk or tell you what you want to know about through comments, questions and ideas!

Following the latest controversy surrounding Connect.me, I decided to do a quick interview with the man behind the company to get a bit more information regarding the company.

Here’s my interview with the Co-Founder of Connect.me – Drummond Reed

Hi Drummond, Thanks for taking the time to do this interview with me, I know you guys are very busy at the moment getting ready for the launch, How are you doing?

It’s crazy at any startup, but after the reception for our beta invite signup page, getting 50,000 users overnight, we are so excited to get the first full Connect.Me product out that we almost can’t sleep at night anyway.

Can you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

I have been working in Internet identity and data sharing since the early 1990s. In 1994 I started a company called Intermind (later called OneName and now called Cordance) that developed the technology behind what’s now called XRI identifiers and XDI data sharing. We raised many millions of dollars in funding but were way too early for the market. So I began to concentrate on developing open standards for Internet identity and data sharing infrastructure, which besides XRI and XDI included various XML standards, OpenID, and Information Cards.

I helped start a series of non-profit industry associations for Internet identity and trust, including the International Security, Trust, and Privacy Alliance; Identity Commons; the OpenID Foundation; the Information Card Foundation; the Data Portability Project; and the Open Identity Exchange (OIX). Before leaving to start Connect.Me, I served as the initial Executive Director of OIX, which was set up to foster the development of the first open, Internet-scale trust frameworks.

Tell us about Connect.me and the story behind the idea?

It’s a very long story — in many ways it’s the culmination of everything I’ve been working on in Internet identity and data sharing for the last 20 years. But the short version is that after our work together on XDI context graphs (a very geeky subject), my co-founder Joe Johnston and I realized the demand for personal data lockers (also called personal data stores or personal clouds) was going to go through the roof as soon as the first personal network for connecting them appeared. So we decided to build it.

Everyone is talking about the beta invites and how quickly it got viral, with a possible scam alert going off, how did it all begin and how is it been controlled at the moment?

It began when Joe lifted the password on the Tuesday night before SXSW, after an event called “Social Shopping” at Orange Labs in San Francisco at which Connect.Me had been mentioned for the first time. So attendees that night were asking to sign up for the beta. It was ready, and Joe had his fiancee test it the invite system by posting to Facebook, so Joe sent the word out to a few people.

By 8AM the next morning we had 3700 signups. By 10AM it was 10,000 and by noon 20,000. When it reached 50,000 we turned off the feature that made it so easy to invite others (though never via an autopost) so we could keep the beta to a manageable number.

What would you have changed if you could do it all over again?

We’d provide a little more information about the founders so it didn’t turn into a scam alert. But not much — it’s still a stealth beta. And we’d tune the servers a little more. But otherwise it worked wonderfully, and we’re pumped to have a great group of excited users for the beta.

What is the business model for Connect.me?

All I can say right now is: 1) it is a completely new alternative to the conventional Web 2.0 model where, as Joel Klein said in the Time Magazine March 10 cover article, “You know how everything has seemed free for the past few years? It wasn’t. It’s just that no one told you that instead of using money, you were paying with your personal information.”, and 2) we will announce the model in conjunction with the unique personal trust framework we will be launching in May.

How are you guys financing the business so far?

With a friends-and-family seed funding round. We’re planning an A round post-launch.

More importantly, what should users be expecting with the official launch in May?

They should expect a new way to connect and establish personal trust on the net, and the first service from Connect.Me that takes advantage of this.

What advices will you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start a business?

Do something you are very, very passionate about. Something that you just can’t stop thinking about. It’s even better if most people you talk to about it don’t get it. Sometimes that means you’re nuts — but usually, if you really believe in it, and in yourself – it actually means you’re really on to something.

Secondly, get it to market as fast as humanly possible. Or even faster.

And lastly, be sure your beta signup is as simple and compelling as possible.

Thanks for your time Drummond.

My pleasure — talk to you again in May.

Editor’s note: Guest author Perry Kanvar is the director of albumlover.com, A 24 year old graduate of a degree in Entrepreneurship & Marketing BA (hons).

Introduction

This report will define what the differences between an entrepreneur and a small business owner are. It will then use these identified variations to distinguish whether the interviewed candidate, Miss Faiza Arbouche (see appendices) is an entrepreneur or in fact a small business owner. Eventually a conclusion will be constructed based on the findings in both the interview and from other secondary sources of information.

Methodology

The author has used both primary and secondary research with the investigation. This resultant report will be based upon an interview with a candidate; scrutiny of this interview will be aided from reviews of literatures selected from relevant up-to-date books, internet sites, internet journals and current newspapers.

Eventually a careful and thorough review will be carried out which will include a close comparison of the author’s ideas. Finally a compilation of the authors’ personal views would be placed in the conclusion.

Parks (2006, pg 3): an enterprising person is one who comes across a pile of scrap metal and sees the making of a wonderful sculpture. An enterprising person is one who drives through an old decrepit part of town and sees a new housing development. An enterprising person is one who sees opportunity in all areas of life.

Entrepreneur or small business owner

A question often asked is ‘What is an entrepreneur?’ Many theorists have answered this question in various ways, and although many use constant business jargon and different terminologies, their individual explanations; if simplified, all deliver the same meaning. This is that entrepreneurs are business people who like to make money and start businesses, but that is not the reason they are entrepreneurs. For entrepreneurs, ‘it’s about having a passion for doing something you love; that’s the entrepreneurial spirit’ (Allen 2001, pg 1).

Often when business people converse, the terms “small business owner and entrepreneur are used interchangeably as if they denote the same thing. However, many theorists discern two very different connotations (Allen 2001, pg 9). They argue that rather than this being a matter of semantics, there is actually an important distinction to be made.

Being an entrepreneur or more specifically an effective entrepreneur can be defined as having the abilities to be organised, being able to self-motivate, being creative and innovative, and being able to take risks (Lowe and Marriott 2006, pg 6). However it could be argued that starting up a small business and being a small business owner too requires these skills (Welsh 2007, pg 3). For example a person setting up a corner shop would need to organise their finances and time; have the drive to begin such a venture (self-motivation) and so on. Thus if being an entrepreneur and a small business owner require the same general skills, the differences between their ventures must sit within their perspective of their endeavours.

According to Parks (2006, pg 4), one of the tangible differences between small business owners and entrepreneurs is that the former are running around doing the every day work while entrepreneurs put their energy into building the business itself. In other words, he is suggesting that for a small business owner, each day is a new series of battles to keep up with the demands and problems of customers, the bank, investors, staff and suppliers. They never seem to find the time to develop the company itself, so that things become more stable and business can grow. Entrepreneurs on the other hand employ others to deal with this work, so that their job is t o build the teams and systems that make up the business, not to actually do whatever it is the company does.

Although many would agree that such an observation is correct, such an observation is too general as an argument to support the differentiation between the two. More specifically Pritchett (2005) suggests that the disparity between a small business owner and an entrepreneur lies in three personal and mental attributes – entrepreneurs are fuelled by inspiration rather than motivation; entrepreneurs work in inspired, smart and strategic ways; entrepreneurs have high levels of innovativeness and risk bearing.

The candidate janet explains that she is part of an up and coming company networking and collaborating talented artists from all genre’s of music. The company supplies studio time, showcases, and contacts for their artists and thus perform as an indirect agency or music label.

Evaluation of the interviewee reflects that the candidate is indeed inspired into continuing this venture rather than being motivated into commitment. Although both terms are often used interchangeably they both deliver varying definitions. According to the Oxford dictionary (2006), the term inspiration is described as having an “arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or creativity”. Motivation on the other hand is a result of the “reason that explains or partially explains a characters thoughts, feelings, actions or behaviour”.

Therefore motivation is often about getting pumped up by some external force, whilst inspiration is about being lit by a fire within that can burn forever. Inspired entrepreneurs do not need to be pumped up, but they know they need to regularly kindle and rekindle their flame of inspiration, by going to their own wells of inspiration and inspiring themselves Pritchett (2005). This is indeed evident with janet When asked how she got where she is currently at (in terms of her business), she stated that it has been a result of “pure dedication and determination with an enthusiastic attitude towards [her] work [which had been] essential”.

Additionally, Pratchett’s (2005) second attribute of the entrepreneur is that they work in inspired, smart and strategic ways. This is because entrepreneurs know that hard work alone is no guarantee of success. They do not confuse being busy with being strategic. They have shed the prevailing belief of the protestant work ethic (Sriram et al 2007) and know that success doesn’t come from pain, struggle and sacrifice, but instead know it comes from well implemented brilliant ideas. They know that time out to generate new ideas and think strategically is often more valuable than another hour at the desk.

One of the other distinctive features that reflect janet ’s entrepreneurial nature is this sense is her non existent business plan. A business plan is the formal written document that records the planning process at one point in time for a specific purpose (Seid and Thomas 2000, pg 14). It can be viewed as the document used to make money, a business bible as such (Frederick 2007). However without constant updates most plans would be out of date almost as soon as they have been completed, because of the constantly changing environment. Many entrepreneurs, therefore, have reservations about the benefit of the time that they might devote to planning what is likely to be fast-changing entity. Many believe that they plan continually and effectively – in their heads – and see little point in writing things down (Lowe and Marriott 2006, pg 340).

While some entrepreneurs claim that they can manage without writing down their plans, Chaston (2000, pg 40) points out that there are some limitations to this approach. Where the entrepreneur is not working alone and needs to convey ideas to staff (as in the case of janet and the other CEO’s of her company) and other stakeholders, such as investors, employees and banks.

Janetclearly pointed this out in the interview as she mentions that “funding [has been] hard to obtain [without] secure and thorough business plan”. Although this behaviour is typical of an entrepreneur, it evidently has made expansion harder and therefore can be perceived as a flaw of her general business practice.

Pritchett (2005) in addition states that entrepreneurs bare high levels of innovativeness and risk bearing. Furthermore according to Drucker (1993, pg 120), the general explanation of the difference between entrepreneurs and small business owners is that the former involves taking risks. While that is true, so does all human activity. The risk run in taking an entrepreneurial decision is no different from the non-entrepreneurial risk of, say, offering someone a job. The classical definition of an entrepreneur is somebody who ‘shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and yield’ (Curren & Blackburn 1991, pg 17). That is hardly a risky proposition: the risk lies in a different definition, offered by Drucker (1993, pg 122) – ‘entrepreneur always searches for a change, responds to it, and exploits an opportunity’.

From the interview is it apparent that janet is an entrepreneur as she claims. This is because although her innovativeness is not clear apart from the fact that she claims her company is; her ability to take risk is certainly portrayed. This is conveyed when she explains that she analysed her company’s position within the industry and admits that risk of failure is high. The interviewee explained that this was compensated for her passion to make the business successful. From janet’s answers it could be assumed that her company is in the ‘roll out’ stage in the entrepreneurial venture life cycle.

After much analysis of the candidate it is apparent that the individual can be classified as an entrepreneur as she fulfils Pratchett’s (2005) criteria. Furthermore, janet claims to be an entrepreneur herself. This is interesting as Thompson (1999) explains that an individual choosing the label entrepreneur is choosing growth. Initially it may be a small business, at least for a while, but entrepreneurs call it a “growing business”. If at anytime during the interview she had claimed that she was running a small business according to Thompson (1999), she would be practically guaranteeing it. However, it must me noted and is imperative that this is not totally assumed as the venture is at the “roll out” phase of the entrepreneurial venture life cycle and thus has the possibility of develop into a small business, even if the interviewee has this entrepreneurial edge.

Managers or more specifically in this case, small business owners are constantly pushed to behave like entrepreneurs. The other way round, entrepreneurs are often asked to behave like small business owners (Heller 2006). For survival, the small business owner is supposed to develop the drive and opportunism of the entrepreneur, and the entrepreneur is expected to learn the methodical disciplines of the manager. The pressures on both have indeed become more intense as the economy has become more competitive, more entrepreneurial, and more demanding (Thompson 1999).

Therefore rather than categorising people as entrepreneurial or not, it may be more useful to think in terms of a continuum of enterprise. Wherever they sit in this range, there is a role to be played (Parks 2006, pg 141). But if that economic and social prosperity depends on more individuals becoming more enterprising, people need to be encouraged to consider whether they might be able to improve their chances of realising their personal or professional aspirations in life by developing certain skills or attributes, or by actively seeking out opportunities to practice and develop enterprise skills.

Furthermore, in an increasingly competitive and over supplied world, organisations must differentiate their offerings from those of the competitors and become more enterprising if they are to survive and grow. To do this they must become more innovative, they have to be able to harness the potential for individuals to be more enterprising on their behalf (Lowe and Marriott 2006, pg 18). Therefore it may be that for small businesses to survive in the future and for those currently operating now, they have or may need to develop the entrepreneurial spirit to operate. Hypothetically speaking, stemming from this argument it could be fair to assume that perhaps small business owners and entrepreneurs are the same in fact the same.

Bibliography

Books

Ageev, A. (1991) Entrepreneurship: problems of ownership and culture Nauka. Moscow: pg 2-9, 31-41

Allen K. (2001) Entrepreneurship for Dummies Wiley. Indiana: pg 1, 7-9, 187-93

Bannatyne, D. (2006) Anyone Can Do It (Autobiography) Orion. London: 1 – 304

Beaver, G (2002) Small Business Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development Prentice Hall. New Jersey: pg 1 – 225

Carter S., Cromie S. & O’Neill K (1998) Women & Business Ownership Small Business Service. London pg 7-15, 92-95.

Curren J. & Blackburn R. (1991) Paths of Enterprise Routledge. New York: pg 17-24, 114-20

Gillespie, A. (2001) Business Studies Oxford University Press. Oxford: pg 33, 39 – 43

Lowe R. & Marriot S. (2001) Enterprise, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Elsevier Ltd. Oxford: pg 12-14, 262-9

Seid M. & Thomas D. (2000) Franchising for Dummies IDG Books. Calefornia: 9-14

Parks S. (2006) How to be an Entrepreneur Pearson. Harlow: pg 1-3, 7

Wickman, P. (2006) Strategic Entrepreneurship Pearson. Harlow 1 – 648

Woods, C. (2003) From Acorns… How to Build Your Brilliant Business From Scratch Prentice Hall. New Jersey pg 1-172

Journals

Davis. H (2006) Making a difference after hours Guardian (5)

Heller, R. (2006) Entrepreneurial Management: What’s the difference between management and entrepreneurship? Financial Times (3)

Hoffman K. (2005) Only job-creating businesses can really make poverty history Guardian (6)

Hisrich, R. & Grachev, M. (1995) The Russian entrepreneur: characteristics and prescriptions for success Journal of Managerial Psychology (2) – Emerald

Pritchett, B. (2005) Small Business vs. Entrepreneurship vs. Lifestyle Business MCB University Press – Lexis Nexis

Lucas, E. (2004) Breaking the mould Professional Manager (1)

Sriram, V., Mersha, T. & Herron, L. (2007) Drivers of urban entrepreneurship: an intergrative model International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research (4) Emerald

Thompson J. (1999) The world of the entrepreneur – a new perspective MCB University Press – Emerald

Walsh, J. (2007) Entrepreneurs vs Business Owners Hitting on the Game of Entrepreneurship – StartupNatio34`n

References

Books

Allen K. (2001) Entrepreneurship for Dummies Wiley. Indiana: pg 1, 7-9, 187-93

Lowe R. & Marriot S. (2001) Enterprise, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Elsevier Ltd. Oxford: pg 12-14, 262-9

Parks S. (2006) How to be an Entrepreneur Pearson. Harlow: pg 1-3, 7

Curren J. & Blackburn R. (1991) Paths of Enterprise Routledge. New York: pg 17-24, 114-20

Journals

Davis. H (2006) Making a difference after hours Guardian (5)

Heller, R. (2006) Entrepreneurial Management: What’s the difference between management and entrepreneurship? Financial Times (3)

Hoffman K. (2005) Only job-creating businesses can really make poverty history Guardian (6)

Pritchett, B. (2005) Small Business vs. Entrepreneurship vs. Lifestyle Business MCB University Press – Lexis Nexis

Sriram, V., Mersha, T. & Herron, L. (2007) Drivers of urban entrepreneurship: an intergrative model International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research (4) Emerald

Thompson J. (1999) The world of the entrepreneur – a new perspective MCB University Press – Emerald

Walsh, J. (2007) Entrepreneurs vs Business Owners Hitting on the Game of Entrepreneurship – StartupNatio34`n

Appendix (Interview)

Interviewee: Miss
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Education: Events and Business Management (BA)

What does your organisation do?

Our company is a music and events promotions Company based in London.
We aim to supply and build a strong network for the UK Music Industry and eventually internationally. By opening up various channels of communication, we connect new & unsigned artists and producers, to DJ’s, radio, recording studios, record labels, distributors, music retailers, digital service providers and online/mobile Service’s. We do this by providing a consistent platform for music to be created, listened to, performed and purchased – both through our own projects and events and by collaborating with other like minded business. At Music Is Life PR we are dedicated to supporting talent to achieve success here in the UK and also to breakthrough internationally. We want to discover, to inspire, to create and capture quality music!

Our company consists of four Services

Artist and event presentation

Management: Artist Management
Studios: Recording Studio and Record Label
Beat: DJ Agency

How did you get to where you are at?

Pure dedication and determination with an enthusiastic attitude towards [our] work [has been] essential. Networking and talking to everyone in any business is key!

Did you have a business plan?

We are working on a business plan as we speak. If you do not have a business plan, [it] can slow you down as a business, in terms of progress. Business plans can prevent help any ‘holes’ within your company and can determine whether your company is a success. For any future goals to be achieved, careful planning; hence a business plan, is necessary.

Is this a part time or full time role?

At the moment this is part-time as there are still realistic bills to pay and unless the essential funds are there to work on the business full time, this must remain part-time, until we can make this full time.

What is the current organisational structure?

Artist and event presentation
Artist Management
Recording Studio and Record Label
DJ Agency

Who does what within this organisation?

As above, but we ALL cover the administrative side of the company for now.

Is there a management team?

As above.

Did you identify the competition?

We have done market research within our sector. The music industry is very competitive and it is essential to know who and what your competition is doing, in order for you to keep afloat within your business. You also need to know what the competition is providing therefore if you are providing a similar service, why consumers would choose yours over theirs.

What was your start up activities?

Start up at the moment is non-existent, but with careful planning sponsorship and investment, (note with a business plan!) you can acquire the necessary funds for your business. At the moment, we are looking at making funds from events.

How did you require funding?

Sponsorship or investment as mentioned [previously]. Funding is hard to obtain unless you have a secure and thorough business plan.

Is there a risk analysis?

There is always a huge risk when it comes to business, but that comes with how much passion you have within making sacrifices, towards having the dream job you have always wished for, or for the business you have always set out to achieve.

We have totally analysed our position, the industry we’re in and the way we’ve grown our business and it is indeed risky as we are relatively a small company and have invested a lot of our own capital. Failure is high as we are not fully established.

The only way we can risk anything with our business, is keeping record of anything we do, e.g. receipts for costs, any licenses within the music industry (copyright, PRS, MCPS money etc) and registering anything which could cause you any problems in the future. A logo, for example needs to be registered and checked it is not being used for anything else.

Do you have any other ventures?

We have too many ventures to explain, but all 4 parts of the company are complex enough for us to develop each, in the near future. We have not restricted ourselves so that we can venture out within different parts of the different industries. Music, fashion, art, they are all connected in some way.

Where are you headed?

Headed in the right direction, to take over the world! (LOL) We are headed to present and cater for all types of talents within the UK and eventually internationally. Watch this space!

Do you think you are an entrepreneur or a business man/woman?

An entrepreneur has a business ‘mind’, [but also is] someone who goes out and gets things done! I try and do things differently. [Therefore] I am and entrepreneur.

Leanna Archer is the Founder/CEO of Leaana’s Inc, A hair and body care products she started at age 9 years old after her mom started using hair pomade made by her great grandmother on her hair.

Suddenly, she started receiving a lot of attention from strangers commenting on how much they loved her hair which was from the result of the pomade.

She quickly noticed the need for the product and how beneficial it could be; now the next step was convincing her parents as a 9 years old to start a business selling pomade

Firstly, they acknowledged the idea, but wrote it off by saying that they dint have the time and knowledge to run a business, she was told the regular you know “wait till you get older” speech.

But she dint give up, she decided to take it upon herself to introduce the pomade to her friends in a Gerber food jar and it paid off, they all loved it, and it was like they switched a light bulb on, calls started to come, people wanted more.

After that, Her parents were so impressed they decided to help her, she obtained her business license and tax id after doing some research and in June 2005, Leanna Inc was born.

Leanna is still currently responsible for the creations and development of the products but not without her family.

Leanna also travels around the country giving speeches to motivate kids and young adults.

New interactive business website, www.inafishbowl.com has recently been set up to help those considering setting up in business do exactly that – learn from the experience of others! The new ‘reality’ Big Brother style business website profiles the trials and tribulations of three start-up businesses filmed through different stages of their journey and broadcast on the website using live twitter feeds, videos and blogs as the entrepreneurs share their experiences in real-time.

Businesses featured include a record label, a bespoke tailoring company and a Mexican food range. Each are finding their way through the start-up maze and sharing their experiences along the way. From naming their business through to frustrating first meetings with banks, the businesses lay themselves open for others to watch and follow online.

The In a Fishbowl project was founded by entrepreneur Toby Reid and is being supported by Midlands based entrepreneur Andrew Springhall.

Springhall commented:

“So many people go through the process of starting a business and it is a truly daunting experience. There is a wealth of information available to first time entrepreneurs, but nothing that provides you with the chance to learn from the experiences of others. www.inafishbowl.com will do just that.
The service is designed to provide empathy, learning and motivation to others in a similar position. It will act as an interactive support guide for any budding entrepreneur.”

See www.inafishbowl.com for more details

It’s not everyday you hear someone reject to work with corporate giants such as JPMorgan and McKinsey to pursue life as an entrepreneur.

David Langer made this decision and he’s loving every single moment of it.

This is a must read interview for every entrepreneur starting up, especially those based in the UK. David covers a lot of ground in this interview, he talks about:

• Why he started GroupSpaces.
• How he secured funding for GroupSpaces and what you should start doing right now to be in a better position to get funding for your startup.
• Why he’s not going to work for either JPMorgan or McKinsey.
• Why as an entrepreneur you should be getting connected.
• Why you don’t need to be in Silicon Valley to be successful.
• Why he shares some of Barack Obama’s views on fitness.
• Why he would like to have a cup of coffee with Winston Churchill.

Can you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

I’m a 24 year-old Internet entrepreneur, born and bred in Wimbledon, currently based in Oxford having completed a Mathematics degree at Oxford University in 2007. In addition to working on my startup GroupSpaces, I also write for The Gateway newspaper as their Entrepreneurship Columnist and train for my current sporting passion: triathlons.

So David, tell us about your company and what inspired you to start it?

GroupSpaces is an Oxford-based Web startup which takes the pain out of managing clubs, societies, associations and other real-world groups.

I started GroupSpaces in 2007 with my co-founder, Andy Young, based on our personal experiences on the committee of various clubs and societies at Oxford University.

We observed that every real-world group we came across was managing itself using a mash-up of disconnected tools and processes. This was really inefficient and meant these groups were spending an unnecessarily large amount of time on admin, distracting them from their group’s core purpose.

The status quo was a mailing list on Gmail or a Yahoo!/Google group, a membership database in Excel, events on a Facebook group, payments being collected by cheque or cash and a website which was time-consuming to update and disconnected from everything else.

Andy and I thought that it would be much quicker and easier to manage all these things from one place, which is what inspired us to start GroupSpaces.

What makes your business different from other competitors?

GroupSpaces’ main competitors are Excel spreadsheets, Cc email threads, cheques and some other Web applications solving one specific problem for groups e.g. Eventbrite for event management.

GroupSpaces differentiates by providing an intuitive, all-in-one Web-based solution for group management.

What role do you perform in your company?

We currently have a small team which means I perform many different roles. A typical week for me involves wearing several different hats such as user support, marketing, sales, finance and operations. I currently work on every area of the business except for coding the actual software which I leave to our brilliant team of developers.

How difficult was it getting funding for your business? Is there a right way for young entrepreneurs to get funding?

Prior to raising our angel funding, we had already built a prototype product, had a few hundred groups using it and were generating revenue so we had a fairly good ‘proof of concept’, something which angel investors often look for. We ended up receiving multiple offers of funding for our angel round and the one we took came via the Oxford Early Investments business angel network. It took us about 5 months from our first conversation with prospective investors to getting the money in the bank.

If you’re a first-time entrepreneur and you think that you are going to need to raise funding for your business, I would encourage you to start building relationships with potential investors as early as possible and ask them what they will be looking for you to achieve before they would be comfortable investing in you. This can vary a lot between different investors, countries and markets, so the best thing to do is to just start talking to potential investors.

David you’ve worked in some pretty big companies so far such as Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan and McKinsey. Why didn’t you go down that route and get yourself a safe secured job?

Having done some courses and internships in the corporate world, it was crystal clear to me that being an entrepreneur was my best option. There were several strong reasons for this:
• I could do what I love and am passionate about every single day.

• I could have far more positive impact on the world by starting my own company and this was personally a very important factor when considering how I would spend years of my life.

• The long-term financial upside was greater if you are successful and I don’t think that it’s anywhere near as important to have money in your early twenties versus when you’re older and have a family etc.

• I could spend every day doing what I thought and felt was most important. I didn’t have someone telling me differently.

• Andy and I were already underway working on GroupSpaces and were very excited about its potential so we definitely wanted to continue working on this to start with.

• I’m not sure how safe and secure taking a job with Lehman Brothers would have been…
What are key ingredients that you think makes a successful entrepreneur?

Persistence, persistence and persistence. One of my favourite entrepreneurial books is Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston (Founding Partner, Y Combinator) – it’s composed of 32 short interviews with successful technology entrepreneurs such as Steve Wozniak (Apple), Max Levchin (PayPal) and Evan Williams (Blogger, Twitter). The book concludes with a quote from Ron Gruner, founder of Shareholder.com and Alliant Systems:

“The key to success, if you had to sum it up in one word, is persistence.”

I asked Jessica about this quote a couple of years ago after I had first read the book and she said that it was a deliberate decision to end with this. From her experience at Y Combinator having invested in dozens of startups, it was clear to her that the ones with the most persistent founders were the ones which went on to succeed.

Also from my personal experience both as an entrepreneur and interacting with hundreds of other entrepreneurs over the past few years, it’s clear that the ones who do the best are prepared to do anything and everything to make their companies successful and they don’t give up. Whether that means changing their initial idea, changing team members, raising more money, whatever is required, the most successful entrepreneurs don’t give up, they persist and keep persisting until success comes their way.

Do you feel that there are things which entrepreneurs are doing wrong to break into the entrepreneurial world?

I think anyone starting their first company should try to meet and build relationships with other entrepreneurs. This might mean relocating somewhere with a greater density of entrepreneurs but I believe this can be done in other places besides Silicon Valley. You just need to seek out a couple of other entrepreneurs who are slightly further down the line than you are and can share with you some of the lessons they learned and offer you advice on the challenges you are facing.

I also think peer pressure can be a big motivator for first-time entrepreneurs. Y Combinator companies benefit a lot from this – I remember Paul Graham saying that not screwing up at Demo Day in front of all your friends is a much bigger motivator than getting rich. Similarly if you can just find a couple of other young entrepreneurs at a similar stage to you, it will give you a significant sense of urgency to get shit done if you think their startup is progressing faster than yours.

Why do you think is so difficult for young entrepreneurs to get funding for their company whereas in the US there are tons of investment opportunity e.g. Silicon Valley

There are a couple of ways of looking at this. On the one hand there are far more angel investors and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley than anywhere else in the world, but there are also far more startups there. Obviously this results in a lot more startups being funded in Silicon Valley than anywhere else but there are also quite a few active angel investors and venture capitalists throughout the UK, you just have to look a bit harder to find them.

I’m not in a good position to comment outside of the UK or Silicon Valley as I haven’t spent any time being an entrepreneur there, but certainly in the UK if you are a first-time entrepreneur, you should be able to draw up a shortlist of 10-15 investors who do deals at the size you are looking for. These lists of VC firms for UK-based startupssources of angel financing are good starting points. If you put in the effort to network and get personally introduced to all these investors, get meetings, and still are not able to get funding, then your business is probably not far enough developed for the stage of financing you are trying to raise e.g. if you’re struggling to raise angel financing, you might still need to get more of a ‘proof of concept’ and if you’re struggling to raise your first round of Venture Capital then you probably don’t have enough early traction.

What are your hobbies?

When I’m not working on GroupSpaces, I enjoy working out, spending time with my girlfriend and heading to the occasional drum n bass rave.

In particular, I am a firm believer in ‘healthy body, healthy mind’. This old adage was in fact scientifically proven recently. A lot of people I speak to say that they are too busy to work out but I don’t believe that this is a healthy attitude. My mind functions faster when I’m at peak fitness and that means exercise is an essential part of my life. I make time to keep fit, even if this means sacrificing on sleep sometimes. In the summer I enjoy training for and racing triathlons and in the winter I tend to spend more time in the gym.

If you ever believe that you are too busy to work out, I would encourage you look at Barack Obama. The President of the United States is probably busier than you, even though you may be very busy. However, in a recent interview of Men’s Health magazine, Barack said:

“Most of my workouts have to come before my day starts. There’s always a trade-off between sleep and working out. Usually I get in about 45 minutes, six days a week. I’ll lift [weights] one day, do cardio the next. I wish I was getting a 90-minute workout.”

Who has been your greatest inspiration so far?

I find the most inspiration in people who are able to repeatedly apply themselves to a world-class level in multiple disciplines. As a mathematician, I often see patterns when I abstract parts of my and other people’s lives and I think the ingredients that make one successful in business, sport, politics, entertainment and most other fields are actually very similar.

Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers does a good job of explaining this – Gladwell claims that the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practising a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. There are obviously other factors in play, but I would relate the point made back to my earlier point about persistence being the key driving factor of successful entrepreneurs.

Specific people who have inspired me in this way are:
• Arnold Schwarzenegger for becoming the best bodybuilder in the world then turning his hand to acting and becoming world-class at that and now building a fantastically successful career in politics, becoming Governor of California.

• Mark Zuckerberg for changing the way hundreds of millions of people understand their relationships with their friends. What particularly inspires me about what Mark has achieved is that Facebook isn’t so successful because he executed one idea really well. He has continually innovated and adapted his company to grow and succeed, all at such a young age.

• Marc Andreessen for starting two billion dollar companies (Netscape, Opsware), being on the way to having started a third (Ning, valued at $750M last round) and having now started his own venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, which seems to be on the way to building a world-class portfolio.
If you had a chance to have a cup of coffee with anyone dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Winston Churchill. By all accounts his determination and data-driven approach to strategy were second to none. Some people laugh at books like Sun Tzu’s Art of War for Executives but I firmly believe that the characteristics of a successful leader in war are very similar to the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. I’d love to experience Churchill first hand and compare with some of the most inspirational people I have met in my life so far.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

My primary focus is building GroupSpaces into a world-class company and I’m not really thinking beyond that at the moment. Long-term I’d like to probably do at least one more startup, write a book, travel the world and perhaps start a venture capital firm. We’ll see what happens.

Do you have any tips for aspiring entrepreneurs?
• Before making important decisions, double check that both your heart and head are in agreement.

• If you aren’t already in regular contact with other entrepreneurs at a similar stage to you, go and find some – the peer support and peer pressure this will generate is really important.

• Once you’ve settled on your initial idea and founding team, focus on core and be the most persistent person you’ve ever met.

• Finally, I’ll offer a quote from Dharmesh Shah, founder of OnStartups: “The shortest piece of startup advice ever: GO!”

Thanks for your time David and good luck.

To find out more about David, you can follow him on Twitter (@langer ) or view his profile on LinkedIn.