Concept Cupboard is an online marketplace with a social purpose. It’s a place where businesses can work with the next generation of creative talent to produce professional and cost effective marketing [Click here to learn more about how it works] and today I had the opportunity of Interviewing one of the founders of the company, Chris Dodson, and this is what we talked about.

Can you give us some background information about yourself

My background is in marketing. After studying marketing at university in the UK & US I decided to go and work for an agency. Joining a big corporate just wasn’t that appealing and it has been that way ever since. Prior to starting up Concept Cupboard I was working for an awesome advertising agency called archibald ingall stretton, just off Oxford Street. It was a brilliant place to work, with lots of fun talented people.

The last 12 months have been incredible and it’s been a massive learning curve. I’m now Managing Director of Concept Cupboard, one of 30 Marketing Academy scholars in the UK & I also managed to make it into the final 8 of the Shell LiveWire’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. I’ve even been to 10 Downing Street. All of which has been made possible by setting up Concept Cupboard.

How did the idea for Concept Cupboard come about

I had the idea for Concept Cupboard while on a train from London to Nottingham en route to a stag do. I had two hours where I switched off my phone and just scribbled down some business ideas and after the weekend was over I asked one of my client’s at O2 what he thought (luckily I didn’t lose my notes). It transpired that he loved the idea and wanted me to meet some of his friends to discuss it in more detail. During dinner we decided to join forces and go into business together. I left my job about 6 weeks later and started working on Concept Cupboard full-time.

Some of the key things you’ve learnt along the way

I’m learning all of the time. There is no guide for running a business and so you make it all up as you go along. Getting advice from other business owners is a massive help, and you often find people are experiencing similar difficulties. But every business is different and the way you approach problems will never be the same so ultimately it is your call. It’s quite scary but also extremely liberating.

The biggest lesson I’ve learnt so far is to focus. I am very clear on the things that will drive the business forward and I ensure that they are prioritised above everything else. AS you can imagine it also helps the team know what they need to do.

A difficult period starting the business and how you overcame it.

We haven’t had any real difficulties to date (touch wood). I think they become more common as you grow and stop being a startup, e.g. when you have 30+ staff. We aren’t quite there yet, but hopefully soon.

The business now: your plans for the future?

We’ve had a good first year winning a number of business awards, including being named as one of the 20 best UK startups of 2011. That’s given us a nice confidence boost and helped shape our plans of where we can go with Concept Cupboard. We are coming up to our first year anniversary so that is a great milestone in itself. It is crazy to think that about 12 months ago Concept Cupboard didn’t exist in the public domain.

Later this year we’ll be launching Concept Cupboard globally as well as adding new services & features to the UK site. Watch this space.

Advice to young entrepreneurs starting out.

There isn’t a better time to start your own business, especially if you are leaving school or university. Startups are in vogue in the UK at the moment, and investors & the media are looking out for the next big thing. It’s a perfect environment for young new companies to thrive in.

My advice to anyone starting out would be to as follows:

- Have a clear idea of what the business is and how you will generate revenue. I personally don’t think you need a 20-page business plan but you do need a document that sets out your vision. If you can do that in a few pages then great, but put energy and effort into making it as good as it can be. You can always update it as you go.

- Develop a thick skin quickly. People will say no. Some might even say that your business won’t succeed. By all means listen to constructive criticism and don’t ignore feedback because that can be dangerous. They might have some good points, but you’ll meet people who don’t have the vision you do. Don’t let it get you down.

- Pick up the phone & get out a meet people. It is really easy to just sit behind your computer and get a business started, but to create partnerships and generate word of mouth recommendations you need to get out and meet people. Go to relevant events, call up potential partners/customers, set up meetings etc.

- Enter business awards. There are so many business awards programmes out there so even if you have just started you can find competitions to enter. They are so good for PR and raising your awareness, especially if you enter competitions specifically for young people. Competitions like Shell LiveWire not only offer cash prizes, but really do give you some credibility.

Sachin Agarwal is the founder and CEO of Posterous. After graduating from Stanford University in 2002 with a degree in Computer Science, Sachin decided to work for Apple although he said he almost choose the job at Amazon but being an Apple fanboy, he decided to join the team at Apple.

During his time at Apple he worked on Final Cut Pro for 6 years but after feeling a “burning need” to build a better way to share photos and content on the web, he founded Posterous in 2008.

This is my Interview with Sachin.

Doing a bit of research I realised you’re originally from the UK, when did you move over to the US and why did you move?

I was born in the U.K. but moved to Southern California when I was 3. One funny UK story is that there is a restaurant in Newcastle, England named after me. My mom and dad met and got married in London, England. They opened a restaurant named after me in Newcastle, soon after I was born. The restaurant still exists today, but I haven’t been there in over 25 years.”

What’s your take on UK entrepreneurs struggling to get investment on their startup compared to opportunities for entrepreneurs in the US especially Silicon Valley?

I left the UK when I was 3 so I don’t have much insight into the UK funding environment. That said, I can’t think of a better place for an entrepreneur than Silicon Valley.

Anyways, Let’s dive into it. How did the posterous idea begin, What is the story behind it? The transition from just an idea to a company?

After graduating from Stanford, I worked for Apple for six years as an engineer for Final Cut Pro.
The idea for Posterous came down to filling a burning need. I was living in New York and keeping in touch with all of my friends in San Francisco. I was always blogging, taking photos and posting photos — it was simply too hard. I wanted to build a better system.

So I started coding at night and on weekends. Pretty soon, I had something to show and was lucky enough to get accepted by Y Combinator.

What difference do you think Posterous brings into the blogging world?

Posterous’s disruptive idea was simplicity — that you could create and update your blog via email when competing services were making blogging more complicated. Email was the perfect platform to use since all mobile devices have email, and you can send photos and other attachments.

We’ve extended beyond blogging but continue to focus on the value of simplicity and how it can solve consumer problems.

What is the one thing you like the least about the internet and why and how do you think it can be solved?

The Internet as an application platform stinks, and I think this is even more apparent now as we see incredible iPad apps being released. Why are iPad apps, in their initial versions, so much better than websites that have existed for years? The Internet is great as a generic platform for consuming flat, static content, but isn’t good for rich media

When are you guys planning in launching/rolling new features? What are your developers working on these days?

We just launched Posterous Spaces, which was a massive effort and, so far, a huge success. It’s clear that people are looking for an easier way to share privately. Posterous Spaces give you the control to share as widely as you want or limit to a select few.

As for the future, many aspects of the online sharing process are still broken, which creates opportunities for Posterous Spaces to continue to innovate.

I know Posterous is currently a free platform, Is there any plan to introduce premium services?

Yes – we’re a free platform. I’ve never believed in advertising based businesses. If I find value in a product or service, I’ll pay for it. I buy my music. I pay for Netflix. I don’t like it when advertising ruins my experience when using a product. And that’s why there’s no advertising on Posterous. We want you to enjoy the content. When you’re viewing your friends’ photos or your family home videos, you don’t want to see ads alongside those. And I believe if we create a lot of value for our users, there will be other ways to generate revenue.

Is the business profitable?

Not yet – fortunately, we’re a lean team so the expenses are pretty low

I know you’re an investor in Backtype, Is this something you’re looking to go into a bit further in the coming years?

Right now, I couldn’t be happier running Posterous, but I hope so!

List the three most valuable lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?

Wow – it’s tough to narrow down to three

1) Your company should be run by engineers, not managers. Everyone needs to be passionate about the product, and the best way to get people passionate is to give them ownership.

2) Give employees the freedom to own and improve their products. It’s important to have goals, but make them long-term and then set people free.

3) Don’t play the feature game with your completion. Your team shouldn’t be focused on what the competition is doing – they should be driven to innovate and come up with products that challenge the status quo.

What’s the No. 1 mistake you see a lot of entrepreneurs making and you wished they didn’t make?

Starting a company is one of the hardest things you can do in life. You will be challenged every day, and you will have to sacrifice a lot if you want to be successful. So my advice is that you shouldn’t rush into starting one. Don’t start a company just for the sake of starting a company. Wait until you have an idea that you believe in so much that it keeps you up at night.

Until you have that idea, get more experience. It’s really valuable to work for an established, successful company before starting your own company. I learned a ton at Apple about how to design, develop and ship products — this experience still helps me every day at Posterous.

I’m a big believer in education and experience. The longer you wait before starting a company, the greater your chances are for success.

What are the most crucial things that you’ve done to grow your business?

The best marketing tool you have is your product, so if I had to pick one thing to fuel growth, it would be to build a great product.

New business ventures, social enterprises and creative projects can now get investment at Civilisedmoney, the next generation investment platform which launches this month. Whether its £500 for a local community scheme or £1m+ to launch the next big business venture, Civilisedmoney can help you secure investment.

What is Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is the next generation of business investment, giving entrepreneurs the platform and opportunity to raise smaller amounts of funding from their own network of friends, family, colleagues, customers, suppliers and ordinary people, rather than from one or two wealthy investors.

By attracting lots of investors who invest smaller amounts of money into a person, company, product or idea, in return for equity or other rewards, entrepreneurs can bypass the traditional choices of business angels or venture capital and get on with the business, whether commercial, social or just personal.

With banks repeatedly failing to pump the much needed investment into business and enterprise, entrepreneurs need more effective, innovative ways to fund their ideas. Crowdfunding has the benefits of building a network of supporters and advocates, pre-selling your product and testing the market, and you begin your business without debts and loans.

About civilisedmoney

Civilisedmoney, online people-to-people financial services, owned by you, makes it easy for people to invest, donate, lend, borrow and transact money with each other directly at fair and transparent rates, cutting out need for the middlemen, the banks.

Civilisedmoney launches with two crowdfunding products for entrepreneurs, businesses, organisations and individuals. civilisedmoney is also developing a full range of people-to-people financial services products that offer a genuine alternative to those currently provided by banks.

Civilisedmoney and people-to-people internet services give people the opportunity to come together to create a fresh financial future. One that is fair, transparent and without the expense of branches and big bonuses or the dangers of banks gambling with your money. It is banking with people, not banks, simply people connecting directly, fairly and transparently.

Crowdfunding with Civilisedmoney

Civilisedmoney currently offers two crowdfunding products for entrepreneurs, businesses, organisations and individuals:

Invest & Get Investment is equity based crowdfunding to fund start-ups and business expansion. It connects entrepreneurs with like-minded people in order to raise capital.

Crowdfund & Get Funded is reward based crowdfunding. Likeminded people can pool their money to back an idea, a person, or a business, in exchange for goods, services or something else of value.

Contact Civilisedmoney

If you have a venture or project you would like to crowdfund, please contact Rudi Schogger at rschogger@civilisedgroup.com or for more information, please visit www.civilisedmoney.co.uk

So finally a few days after Startup Weekend London 2011 I have had the chance to reflect on what was a great weekend!

For those of you that don’t know Startup Weekend, it is an event held from Friday evening to Sunday night where a bunch of ambitious and determined entrepreneurs come and pitch an idea, build a startup and present to the judges  over the 54 hour period.

Here is a video to explain a little more:

So I gave a little update ‘27 hours in‘ but this is a more comprehensive review of events.

Startup Weekend Day 1

So Friday evening roles up and so do over 200 entrepreneurs, all ready to network, pitch, build, eat, drink and generally have a good time. Stocked up on pizza and beer over 60 participants took to the floor to pitch there ideas. With only 60 seconds per pitch and 64 pitches it was a frantic hour and a bit. Ideas where then voted on and over 20 where then picked.

This is where it got even more frantic as those chosen now had to form a team, how, by shouting over everyone else to attract people over to you. With half an hour to find attract people with the right skills the room felt like a busy trading floor. It was evident that developers were in high demand, as always.

I joined a team called Social Stadiums, pitched by Sam, the idea was a social network for sports stadiums where fans could comment, share pics/vids, vote on polls and even purchase merchandise and food and drink from the app.

Due to such a large number of participants the venue was moved to Ravensbourne college right in front of The O2, fo rmally the Millennium Dome. A beautiful venue as this was, it did not have the capacity to accommodate people overnight, which the previous venue did.

This meant after the pitches it was virtually closing time and so with little chance to meet the team so far we decided to hit the bar and get to know each other over a couple beers.

Startup Weekend Day 2

Saturday morning and with half the teams based in Ravensbourne college and half the teams based in Club Workspaces in Clerkenwell (the original location) everyone got underway.

We had a large team, a very large team, 11 to be exact! There goes the lean startup model, but at least we had a lot of skills available to us. Having such a large team brought about in benefits as apart from a large skill set we got to work intensely with a diverse amount of people that we have all got to know each other well. The downside was that it took a little longer in making decisions and sometimes peoples roles were undefined. But everyone wanted to get stuck in and took it upon themselves to get involved, contribute and be proactive. 10 guys and 1 girl, 3 designers, 1 designer and the rest in business and marketing roles, it certainly was an interesting team, if what a little unnecessarily big. But we all got on well, which always help.

After spending most of the day figuring out what we are going to work on and talking to mentors, which where useful although after about the fourth one a little annoying. Slowed us down a little having to explain what we were doing 6+ times. They did give us some great pointers and take apart aspects of our strategy which put us on the right track.

The day was long but enjoyable and after dinner everyone retired to the bar in The O2 for a night organised by one of the other startups in attendance, PartyWithALocal. They do exactly as the name suggests, find locals for you to party with when travelling.

Startup Weekend Day 3

The last day of the weekend begins with a few looking a little worse for wear afterthe previous night, but with the pit ches only now hours away, heads were down working hard. As the afternoon rolled on teams began practicing their pitches. After lunch we grabbed a couple mentors showed them our pitch. They shot it down, changes needed to be made. Again, new pitch, more mentors to hand us even more advice and therefore changes. It was all fantastic advice and come 4 ‘o’ clock we felt we had a great pitch, but the multiple revisions gave us little time to practice the pitch. We did however take on all the questions mentors asked us and create the perfect responses. This proved useful as you will see later.

As the clock hit 4.30 the presentations began. 4 minutes to pitch and 4 minutes of Q/A from the judges. In a room of well over 200, it got a little toastie to say the least. There were plenty of beers and crisps to last the four hours or so of pitches.

Our pitch for Social Stadiums, came just after the midway break, so people were a little more fresh and alert at least. Our presentation started fantastically, Sam did a good job, but unfortunately as we came to our slide where we embedded a video, of some market research we carried out, the volume didn’t work. In trying to rectify this the tech guy switched screens and in the end we were glad that we added subtitles on. Anyway despite the disruption the pitch went well although we were unable to finish due to the time lost during the video incident, aagghhh technology!

So the Q/A next and thankfully we fully covered every potential angle they could come at us beforehand. Sam answered every question with aplomb and impressed the judges with the answers.

The Results

Did we win?! No

The prizes were as follows:

The main prize, most innovative, went to Portal Entertainment an independent cross-platform production company (who were already a little more established before they turned up at the weekend)

The most likely to get funding were Trendset.me who delved into crowdsourced market research.

The finally prize was most likely to make a million which went to Invizua a digital marketing accountability company. (Again a bit disappointing since they were already more established before the weekend)

Oh yeah and since there were a couple of fun apps that would definitely go viral, they made up a category, funniest app which went too ImClockingYou, who I thought had a fantastic app and funny, well done pitch. Basically you can set time limits, say if you are going shopping with your girlfriend and the time limit is exceeded she forfeits and you gain a reward from your girlfriend. It can be anything that you determine from cooking dinner to ‘special time’ as they put it in there pitch. It works both ways and for any situation you wish. It’s a pretty funny idea, and that’s why they won funniest app I guess!

And all though these were the winners there where no losers over the weekend, I think everyone learned something and was part of a fantastic experience one which many will want again and one which many entrepreneurs encounter across the world at other Startup Weekends.

So what are my takeaways, well here are a few Startup Weekend Tips:

Remember your building a company, not just a product!

This was the first thing we did, build a strategy and make sure we knew what we wanted to say on the Sunday night pitch. This helped us prioritise the app we built. This is what will help us take the company forward in the future as well. With the number of Bus/Marketing guys in the team, it’s no surprise we took this route.

Find a way to be different

There are a lot of people, ideas and pitches, and with only 60 seconds to pitch you need to make sure you stand out, whether it is how you present or what you wear it doesn’t matter just make an impact or your cool idea might get lots and forgotten about amongst tens of other cool ideas

Make the most of the mentors

They’re there for a reason. You may think you have the greatest idea in the world but don’t be afraid to share it with others, that’s the only way people can pick holes in your idea. They are there to help push you in the right direction and offer advice on your pitches, ideas etc…

And one last thing, enjoy it! It is a great experience and make the most of it, just have fun.

I can’t wait till next years!

Follow @rishi_chowdhury
Follow @socialstadiums

So I’m here at Startup Weekend London (#swLondon for all you tweeters), 27 hours in and Social Stadiums is taking shape. What is Social Stadiums, well it’s a stadium fan engagement application!

Yeah I know, what?!

Essentially ‘Social Stadiums’ is a mobile application that helps sports clubs engage with their fans and enhances the match-day experience through digital content and interactive services.

Features?

Initially:

• A set of rich digital feeds containing spectator comments, photos, and videos. It will also allow the host to upload premium content such as instant replays and stats but only on the premium app.
• A poll feature which allows spectators to put a question to the rest of the crowd in real time – such as should it have been a penalty? Or voting for Man of the Match? – and the plan is to also provide a service through which the results can be displayed on the big screen during half time and the end of the game.
• A retail feature through which spectators can purchase food/drinks/merchandise/tickets using their mobile device and pick it up from the fast track counters. Benefits include; spread peak demand for Food/drink sales and it will give the club an opportunity to sell merchandise while the fan is emotionally engaged. (Future feature)

We have come up with enough feature ideas to last the next 10 years. As I write our fifth revenue model is being discussed. I think we are settling on a freemium model with a premium subscription package as well, then bringing on merchandise deals with clubs later, after have grown our userbase.

Just looking at the early, early prototype, it’s looking cool.

We’ve had some great mentors come and help us over the weekend, we have quite a large team so often we can lose focus, and they have often set us back on track.

So that’s the update, it’s changing all the time, being refined, but I will update again after the pitches! In the mean time sign up to be alerted when you can access the Social Stadiums App here – http://socialstadium.kickofflabs.com/

Let me know what you think of the idea in the comments below or tweet me!

Follow @rishi_chowdhury

It was spring of 2011 when 25-year-old industrial design student Tuukka Kingelin decided to organize a meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss setting up a company. This company, later called
Uploud Audio, would commercialize Kingelin’s long time hobby – loudspeaker designing and manufacturing.

Later the team applied for Aalto Entrepreneurship Society’s Summer of Startups 2011 (http://aaltoes.com/summer-of-startups/), which was an intensive 10-week programme targeted for early stage startups during the summer of 2011. From this programme Uploud Audio team got, for example, some valuable feedback for its development and growth.

So in a nutshell, Uploud Audio does good sounding and looking hi-fi loudspeakers for ordinary people. Unlike tech savvy gold ears that are seen the main consumers of hi-fi nowadays, ordinary people think at least twice what kind of stuff they are willing to keep in their living rooms, for example.

The team behind Uploud Audio consists mainly of three people. In addition to Tuukka Kingelin, there are Aku-Ville Lehtimäki and Lassi Laitinen – a business undergraduate and a marketing oriented social psychology undergraduate in this respect. There are also a bunch of hi-fi enthusiasts and professionals helping out the core team to produce loudspeakers that actually sound good enough.

For tech savvy readers, it can be revealed that all the model have SEAS 7” coaxial element ( http://www.seas.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=141 ) while the boxes themselves are made out of integral urethane.

The future of Uploud Audio looks promising. For example, in Finland there are a handful of hi-fi manufacturers, but they all more or less rely on rather on technical specifications than the design aspect. Globally, the design hi-fi is usually quite expensive and therefore average people cannot or are not willing to afford it.

Check out prototypes and concepts from Uploud Audio at: http://www.uploud.fi

This is my interview with Blair Brandt. For those of you still scratching your head, wondering who he is. Blair is the founder of one of America’s most exciting start-ups, The Next Step Realty – The company helps 20-something recent college graduates find rentals in their first-job markets, pairing them with young real estate agents with similar interests and backgrounds, and a specialization in their rental needs.

Or how Blair puts it “When the transition of ending college and entering the new world is upon students, the last item on the agenda is the obligation to find housing, especially in a city that is unfamiliar and new. This is where The Next Step Realty comes in. Not only do we enable you to skip the step of finding an apartment on your own, we put you directly in touch with a young, accomplished real estate broker who specializes in your leasing needs and will take care of the entire transaction for you.”

Here is the full interview.

Blair Brandt (left), Belton Baker (Right)

Hi Blair, thanks for joining us on YHP, how are you doing?

Well, I’m amongst the living. Between earthquakes and hurricanes, its been an interesting week.

Can you quickly give us some background information about yourself before we move on?

Born in Manhattan. Grew up in Palm Beach, FL. I went to boarding school in New England at a great spot called Deerfield Academy. I went to college at the University of Richmond in Virginia and graduated in 2010. I’m thankful to have had incredible parents, teachers, and mentors. I’m 23 and currently live in New York City.

When did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

I started a laundry business for students my freshman year of college and loved the independence of being my own boss. After that, I never decided to be an entrepreneur, I just kept exploring new opportunities and learning as much as I could about each industry I worked in.

Good entrepreneurs never sit down and decide to be entrepreneurs. They hit the pavement hard and keep their ear to the pulse of the streets. When they see an unfulfilled demand, they properly investigate the opportunity and execute efficiently. I’m proud to say we are of this category.

We never decided to be entrepreneurs, we were already doing this on a person to person basis long before it was a brand.

Tell us about The Next Step Realty and how the idea came about?

When I started working in real estate, I took the hands-on approach and, over time, happened to stumble upon a point of frustration I had with the market. Being a 22 year old sales associate, I didn’t have the respect of the clients I wanted to work with, but when I started working with young professionals relocating to the Palm Beach area – I saw that I was instantly building my client base, making more money, and learning a lot about my job.

My partner Belton Baker also believed that our friend’s who were seniors on college campuses were suffering from an inability to seamlessly find housing after graduation. A few of my friends, knowing I was immersed in my real estate job, had even reached out to me to be connected with the right broker in other cities. So, we decided to systematically connect and strategically match-make these two groups through an exclusive network. This would solve the slow pace of business that young brokers were initially experiencing, while also assisting the graduates in their relocation.

Why the name The Next Step Realty?

We sent out an e-mail before we launched the website to test the viability of our idea. We chose a few fraternities and sororites at UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Richmond, our alma-maters, as our sample group, and the title of the e-mail was “Here’s to The Next Step: Post-Collegiate Housing”. We sent it to seniors in the spring of 2010. When the feedback from the e-mails was overwhelmingly positive, we used that e-mail subject line to name the company.

Tell us how the process works?

Go to www.thenextsteprealty.com. Choose the city you are moving to. Tell us about yourself, how to contact you, and what type of apartment you are looking for.

Within minutes, your hand-picked Next Step certified broker will call you to confirm an appointment, review your parameters, answer your questions, and begin to e-mail you listings of apartments.

The broker who contacts you will be not only be pre-qualified to work with recent graduates based on our rigorous selection process, but they will also be available to assist you at times you have listed as convenient and be a specialist in the type of apartment you requested.

Our brokers in most cities are free to use, with the exception of London and Manhattan, where we have pre-negotiated discounted rates on behalf of our clients in advance. Everywhere else, landlords compensate brokers for bringing tenants to the property.

Typically our clients spend a day or two out with a broker weighing all the options, sign a lease, and move on with their lives! It’s that easy, and it’s free to use Next Step, so there’s nothing to loose.

What would you say was probably the most difficult part of starting the business?

The biggest obstacle is overcoming the inertia of your audience – making them aware that there is a different way to do things, and that your route is the most favorable.

What’s the toughest feedback you’ve ever received and how did you learn from it?

The toughest feedback we ever received was that our service wasn’t necessary because people could find brokers on their own.

We learned from it by improving our system so that our network of brokers is so well-qualified and well-researched by us, it is almost a crime not to go to us for a recommendation on which broker in your new city is the best fit for you. We created a certain quality guarantee, which has created great word of mouth and enabled people to trust our brand.

It is a safer bet to rely on that type of standardization then the one-off referral of a friend or family member who got lucky using a mediocre broker a year ago. Also, our match-making system ensures you work with a specialist. Finally, the pre-negotiated discounts are important because they save our users money, and those types of savings can’t be procured by going it alone. Our network creates these benefits, and makes being a part of it worthwhile.

Negative feedback is always just an opportuntiy to improve and make your product better, and I think our efforts to make our website indispensable to graduates are starting to pay off.

Tell us some of the key lessons you’ve learnt so far on your journey as an entrepreneur?

Persistence is crucial. You have to keep driving your product every day. Making it better, spreading the word.

Marketing is important. Of course you have to perfect your offer first, but the press is your friend and any opportunity for one single person to learn more about your company is a worthwhile use of time.

Brand control is also key. Being able to determine how it appears to others rather than it becoming something you don’t want it to be.

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

That’s a great question. I was very excited when we signed our first lease. But, ultimately, it’s a toss-up between being invited to the White House and getting off the set of my first live interview on Bloomberg TV.

I was 22, had graduated from college only a month before, and we had been working at break-neck speed for 3 months. We’ve made incredible strides since then, but something about how quickly it happened and the shift that it represented in our lives made it very memorable. It was nice afterwards to go to the rooftop of our friends apartment, enjoy a beer, and reflect on an insane 3 months.

How do you stay grounded with your recent success in business?

Knowing that we haven’t succeeded yet.

Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years?

We’ll have a strong market share in the U.S. and abroad of recent graduates and young professionals relocating from campuses to cities or between different cities, and we’ll definitely be changing the real estate market’s usual norms and conventions. Less money will be spent recruiting wealthy clients through expensive, out-dated advertisements, and more money will be pumped into developing the relationships we are initiating with young renters early on.

What can we be expecting from you in the future?

Beyond expansion within our core real estate services, The Next Step brand is currently exploring different business opportunities that consistently revolve around our niche audience of undergrads, recent grads, and young professionals.

We currently have projects underway in fashion, television, and vacation rentals. We also are becoming a desirable avenue for other brands who want to reach the twenty-something, high end demographic that we cater too. We are becoming a platform for companies to promote their products to our targeted demographic, and a consultant to companies who need assistance engaging members of our website.

What advice can you give to entrepreneurs out there looking to get involved in this industry?

Pursue industries and jobs that you love, and be infinitely curious about how it works. If you think it can be done better, then do it.

Thanks for your time Blair

Chances of meeting one’s role model nowadays are extremely rare, i don’t mean via Twitter or Facebook but face-face really having a proper conversation with them physically, let’s not mention if that role model or inspirational figure was Richard Branson.

However, it became possible for three lucky entrepreneurs to meet Richard Branson through the Virgin Pioneer Media competition where each contestant uploaded a video giving a brief intro about themselves and their start-up rounding it off with a question to Richard Branson, a question which they all hoped they could ask him personally if they were selected as one of the three winners.

Here are the three entrepreneurs that got through:-

Jamal Edwards

The 20 year old CEO and founder of SB.TV (an online music media channel) and Just Jam Records (a label agency under Sony RCA) asked…

“As SB.TV has got a big youth audience, how would you develop it into an organization that is as successful as yours?” He ended the voting with 3,650 voters coming first in the quest.

Sebastian Thiel – The CEO of “It’s Upshot” asked

“If you could have a conversation with anyone in history, who would it be with and why?”(Including those that are not alive) His campaign drew 3, 185 voters.

“It’s Upshot” is an online Youth entertainment brand and culture TV channel, which aims to provide all kinds of entertainments. Sir-Bastian aims to create a new youth sub culture that is dominantly against the uses of violence. Its upshot is all about believing, achieving and beginning young.

Matthew Lovett, CEO of “WOW Media asked…

“What was your biggest fear whilst setting up your company and how did you overcome it?” he ended up with 2,758 voters.

Matt’s company WOW Media helps other companies in creating enticing, eye-catching and sophiscated websites with Supports of all kinds made available to customers and potential customers ensuring they receive the best treatment.

All three entrepreneurs have different kinds of business, produces different kinds of products and services for their customers but now have one thing in common, they are all meeting Richard Branson.

It was rather exciting seeing how these entrepreneurs used Facebook and Twitter to drive their loved ones, fans and customers to their voting page.

As I sit on the tube writing this after what was my 3rd networking event off the week, I realised that networking is one of the most valuable spends off my time in terms of return, and not just in monetary terms.

Networking is free most of the time. It is full of like minded individuals and if you go to the right ones it is full of people that you can work with or learn from in some way.

Again you do get the odd events where people just end up trying to sell to, but I’m glad to say I’m coming across these less and less.

The more social these networking events the better, they provide a laid back atmosphere to chat with similar people and these informal chats often lead to many opportunities and potential ways you can work together.

What’s better is that face to face networking events create better lasting impressions in the minds of people you meet. I mean, ultimately it’s not about who you know, but rather who knows you, right?

This can always lead to future opportunities for both parties, in terms of help, advice and business. It can also motivate you go further, take the plunge into starting your own business or just expand you industry knowledge.

After networking events make sure to stay connected with those that you met. Take a look at the business cards you received and email those that you met while what you spoke about is still fresh in your mind.

You may feel you are to busy to attend these events, but they act as a nice break from being stuck in front of a computer and they can count as being work as you are inevitably spreading the name of your business, across an audience that can provide value to your business and it is a great chance to learn something and get ideas.

You will see the value in forming and maintaining a strong contact base which will serve you well for years to come.

There are many really strong startup communities around the world now and in times of economic uncertainty I truly believe that these communities have helped each startups progress in this period which can be challenging for many.

As a member of the marketing team at Huddle and co founder of YHP, I am pleased to say I am a part of two of the best networking events in London which are joined by two of the three I have been too this week.

DrinkTank is one. The tech meetup organised by Huddle and was started by the founders a few years ago after going to way too many networking events full of consultants trying to sell there services. This event was made a strictly members only event, all applications are vetted to ensure we don’t get spammers (look out for the next event soon).

YHP Connect on the other hand offers a smaller number of people the chance to come together and network in a relaxed social atmosphere with talks by entrepreneurs, who have been successful, discussing the journey they took and problems they overcame. With a smaller group the Q&A session becomes more useful and everyone gets a chance to talk with each other and the speakers.

Remember networking events give you the chance too relax and socialise for a few hours in what is a time when working on your startup can include working long into the night. And better still, it counts as work.

Your are marketing your business, your marketing yourself and best of all you are creating connections.

These events are all about mutual benefits. How can you offer a service or help another? Because there will be a time when you may need help or advice and you will want to have built a strong network.

There is a reason why many angels and VC’s insist on startups with a co founder and its because the majority of the time 2 is better than 1. And guess what, this scales. The knowledge and help of a community will pay dividend.

Your net worth is only as good as your network.

The Importance of Networking

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