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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A lot has changed for Rob since he began programming in QBasic, to starting his first business at age 15 calling local businesses with a offer to build them a simple brochure site.

All of which were successful, but he wasn’t until his time at Cambridge University where he graduated with a BA Hons in Computer Science that he started developing technology, some of which they currently use at his company FusePump today.

FusePump, like any successful business was born over beers one evening, Rob and his co-founder Lee brainstormed the idea for the business on a sheet of wallpaper. FusePump helps create a better online shopping experience for consumers by delivering a consistent user journey.

In my interview, we discuss some of the keys that has helped him build his business into a succesful company, his background, FusePump and his advices for less-experienced entrepreneurs.

Hi Rob, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

I’m good – thanks for inviting me to contribute to YHP. Hope you’ll be interested in my story so far!

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself? Tell me about yourself growing up?

I am Yorkshire born and bred and grew up in Bradford, where I went to the Grammar School. Thanks to one or two inspiring teachers, I became very interested in computers from a young age – but whilst all my friends were gaming, I was programming in QBasic!! It meant I was the butt of the jokes for a few years, but it served me well later in life as I eventually went on to study Computer Science at Cambridge and that is where I started developing the technology we use today.

How did you get into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

I have been an entrepreneur since a very young age. I started my first business when I was 15, calling local businesses from a directory that had no website listed and offering to build them a simple brochure site. After a while, I started to come across more and more businesses who not only wanted to have a presence online but wanted to sell online too and that was when I started building ecommerce websites.

After my first few experiences, I quickly learned there was no point in building an ecommerce site unless you could find a way to drive users to that site, so I became very interested in Digital Marketing and in particular the ability to leverage other websites as sales channels. At the age of 16 I decided to start my own ecommerce site to put to work some of the techniques I had used for other people’s sites, and by creating an innovative web site that used dynamic price comparison to create offers in real-time as users browsed the site, I was able to make really healthy margins selling DVDs online.

Who was your inspiration growing up and why?

I took a lot of inspiration from my family – my dad had his own small business as an Independent Financial Advisor which really highlighted to me the benefits of working for yourself. My uncle was an entrepreneur too and did some really exciting things in Information Technology. I still don’t fully understand what those things were, but he must have done them very well and it was his success that really got me interested in high growth businesses and the lifestyle that goes with them!

So tell me how the idea for FusePump came about?

Over beers one evening – my co-founder Lee and I were brainstorming on a sheet of wallpaper because he was having his kitchen decorated.

What were you doing before you founded FusePump?

I had been working on ecommerce websites, including the DVD web site of my own. During my time at Cambridge I used my dissertation project as an excuse to build a platform for web data extraction and I was lucky enough to meet Chris whilst I was there. Chris has remained one of my best mates and is now the other co-founder of FusePump and our CTO – he is a technical genius and has been instrumental to our success.

What is FusePump? What are you guys trying to solve?

Our aim is to make multi-channel ecommerce simple for online retailers who sell many different products. We improve the online shopping experience for consumers by delivering a consistent user journey, and make our clients more money in the process!

What was your biggest challenge during the starting up phase?

Our biggest challenge was balancing supply (or production capacity, for us) with demand. We always seemed to have more clients who wanted to buy our services than we were able to service at the time. It might sound silly to turn business away, but it’s not easy to find and train staff on-demand and we were not prepared to compromise on the quality of our service by taking on more than we knew we could handle. Perhaps we were victims of our own success.

How were you able to fund the business?

We didn’t raise any funding from VCs or investors at the start and kicked off with only a relatively small amount of cash that we borrowed from the bank. We must have had a great business plan as it was slap bang in the middle of the recession and their purse strings were terrifyingly tight, according to the press. This meant we had to grow completely organically, generating enough cash from sales to cover our overheads at all times. It’s really hard work to achieve the level of growth we have in this way, but it’s satisfying to know we did it on our own and managed to retain our valuable equity.

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

Businesses are all about people – you cannot grow a business on your own, so it is crucial to find the right people who you can inspire to share your motivation and drive in the early stages. It took an awful lot of work to grow out each area of the business in the early stages, but I am now fortunate enough to be surrounded by a fantastic management team who I can trust to manage and grow their own business areas. That’s why I would say hiring sensibly and strategically is one of the most crucial things we have done to grow the business.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

Absolutely – any successful technology business needs to be prepared to evolve constantly as market conditions and client demands change. We did a great job of listening to our clients and keeping agile during the early stages, and this was a key factor in our success. Now that we are bigger, it’s about creating an environment where innovation is encouraged and new ideas can be realised with minimal resistance. It takes some getting used to, but innovation doesn’t last forever and it can’t continue to come from the founders alone – it’s really empowering now to see newer and better ideas being developed all the time within the business.

What would you say has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey so far?

I am a bit of sales person at heart, so signing our biggest deal to date was probably one of the highlights for me. Before that, my highlight was probably signing what was previously the biggest deal to date and if you ask me in a few months, it will hopefully be signing the next biggest deal to date! Seriously though, the buzz of growing a business is that the highlights keep coming. There are over 40 of us in the office now, but I still get a massive kick every time I am able to go into the office and introduce myself to a new employee – people are the physical evidence that we are getting bigger.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

We are releasing some exciting new products, which are going to really shake things up for our new and existing clients. We are also entering some new markets – including France, Spain, Germany and possibly the US. On top of that, we will be doing plenty more of the same stuff we have always done to help us achieve our target of another 100% growth year on year.

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

1.Make sure your idea rocks – don’t be secretive, talk to everyone you can and tell them what you are planning. It’s human nature to look for problems so don’t be disheartened when they inevitably pick your idea apart, just make sure you learn from their awkward questions. Once you have convinced yourself you are onto a winner, just go for it and don’t look back!

2.Surround yourself with the right people – you can’t do it on your own, even if you own the whole business you will need to hire if you want to get bigger! In the early stages, there is no substitute for enthusiasm so pick people who share your passion for the business above all else.

3.Always have a plan – your plan will probably need to change every 15 minutes so there is no point in writing it down, but always try to make sure you have one in your head. Entrepreneurs are takers of risks – but if you’re doing enough thinking, you should rarely encounter a situation that catches you off guard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You could easily get carried away trying to write down the amount of projects Ouriel Ohayon is currently involved in.

As he says at the start of our interview below “So I have been in the startup world for a while now, even since it existed”. That’s not an understatement – He was the former editor and founder of TechCrunch France. He is an Ex-VC who is now a co-founder of a french internet fund Isai.fr and I could go on and on, but the purpose on my interview with Ouriel was to speak about his current startup, Appsfire. Ouriel describes Appsfire as an recommendation engine for mobile apps.

The full interview is below.

Can you give you some background information about yourself, were you the entrepreneurial type growing up?

(Too) many years ago I started working in very large non-high tech companies. I was doing marketing for real products, you know? the kind you can touch and buy in real stores? But then i quickly realize i wanted to work in smaller companies and mostly be run my own shop. So I have been in the startup world for a while now, even since it existed. I worked both as an entrepreneur and a Venture Capitalist.

Tell me how the idea for Appsfire came about?

I loved the iPhone from day one. When the App store launched i started downloading apps, but i also started to receive every single day emails from my friends asking for recommendations of apps to install. At the time there was 20 000 apps in the app store. only

I then realized something was broken but also understood that on mobile apps would be the preferred way to consume online and offline content

Discussing with Yann Lechelle (my cofounder) we built a simple prototype of a service enabling friends to share apps. This was the very first app discovery service ever created. As it grew we understood there was a big opportunity and quit our day job to build Appsfire.

What is Appsfire?

Appsfire is a recommendation engine for mobile apps. It serves every single dimension of app discovery for consumers (search, passive discovery, content discovery, social discovery, geo discovery,…) and adds a layer app stores are unable to provide because they are built as…stores: meaning the same for every one. Appsfire is first a set of free mobile apps for iOS and Android to discover apps (think IMDB for apps). You can find them on Appsfire.com

Our business is to work with app developers on the promotion and marketing of their apps. In a way we do for apps what google did for links.

Finally we re building an app discovery network where we provide app recommendations through apps fire to many mobile properties, not just in our own apps. We work with mobile operators, publishers, 3rd party apps and provide the infrastructure for recommending apps.

Talk me through the first few months of running the business? What would you say was the hardest part of starting the business?

Finding the right angle to start with. Discovery is a very large and complex issue. Most companies who try to solve including big companies like operators fail. we needed several iterations both on the user experience but also on the recommendation engine to make it right. It took us over 12 months to find the right approach.

How were you able to fund the business?

We started without funding and grew the service to 50 000 users. Then we raised 1 million USD from top private investors and recently we raised an additional 3.6 m USD from a top tier VC fund in Europe. Appsfire is now generating substantial revenues and we may never need funding again. unless..

Would you say the initial idea for the company, or that your business model has changed since 2009?

Our business was always to build a marketing company for mobile apps and create the best ad experience to promote mobile applications. The product to get to that vision is changing all the time based on consumer needs and competitive pressures.

What makes Appsfire differently from other similar platforms out there?

We believe we created the best recommendation engine for apps. It is based on deep analytics of what an App store is (we call it AppGenome) surfacing the best apps for a given user. We re the only company who has a 360 degree approach trying to solve every part of App discovery (search, social, promos, …) And we also believe our user experience is the best: this is why we re winning several awards (recently 148apps best app ever) and are often in top rankings with over 5 million downloads of our apps (activated downloads…)

How big is your team now?

We re small. 16 persons between Paris and Tel aviv

What would you say has been some of the most crucial that you’ve done to build the company to this level now?

Building a great team. It all comes down to that.

What is your business model?

We work with developers to promote their apps. They pay us to give them a preferred visibility in our discovery engine.

Is the business profitable?

Our revenues are growing extremely fast. We re surfing on a big market.

What kind of things can we expect in the emerging app industry in 2012?

More apps. More difficulty to emerge from the app store. we re just at the beginning of an app revolution.

How does someone who want to get their app discovered do? In other words, how do you succesfully launch an app? what are the procedures?

It is just not enough to build a great apps. Greats apps compete against great apps. Developers need to have a very marketing minded approach and consider an app like a music album or a movie a constantly market it through its life cycle. There are many free ways to do it (tease, blogs,..) but eventually you will have to buy advertising to promote your app. This is where we fit in.

What’s been your most memorable moment so far on your entrepreneurial journey?

I always love the days we launch something new. Something no one has done before. We innovate all the time. And giving birth to something new is always exciting

What pieces of advices could you give to aspiring entrepreneurs out there?

Build a great team. And select your cofounder carefully. You need to love your idea enough to make sure you’ll stay passionate about it for at least 5 years.

What can we be expecting from you and Appsfire in 2012?

If I told you, that would not be a surprise

It’s been a long journey for James so far but one that he knew would always lead him to the next big thing and the next big thing was mobile. From joining IPC media at age 18 selling classified ads, to joining a 15 man agency in London and then a 5 man mobile content business in Sydney, all of this happened with him just being 21 years old. It was then that James decided it was time to start his own thing, He said “Mobile was booming in 2009 with both the iphone and android gaining traction in most markets – it just felt right”.

James Connelly is the co-founder and managing director of Fetch Media – a mobile advertising agency.

I invited James onto YHP to talk to us about his journey so far, running a mobile advertising agency and some of the key things that he’s learnt so far.

Below is the full interview.

Hi James, thanks for doing this with me, how are you doing?

No problem, Joseph, and I’m well thank you. I am currently sitting in my US office in sunny San Francisco.

Can you give us some background information on yourself? How did you get into business?

Sure, I’ve been running ‘businesses’ since I was in school, it has always been a passion of mine. When I finished college at 18, I realised that my best chance of running a successful business was to learn a trade and then set out on my own, so I joined the advertising industry as a graduate ( without actually graduating) at IPC Media. I was selling classified ads, which is a great learning ground for sales people and the launch pad for many successful entrepreneurs. I knew I had to get into smaller companies to pick up more business focused experience, so I went to a 15 men agency in London a year or so later and then a 5 men mobile content business in Sydney at 21, which was a great learning curve.

Who was your inspiration growing up and why?

Well, I had a few depending at what age…Early doors it was Ryan Giggs! My parents were most certainly inspirational for me throughout my life. Nowadays, as a young entrepreneur, I’m inspired by Zuckerberg and how he has achieved so much at such a young age, which I think is fantastic. Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson are big names I’ve always been in awe of for successfully growing such strong businesses internationally.

Let’s talk about Fetch Media, tell me how the idea came about?

For me, it was as much about what I knew I could do well as opposed to just being a gap in the market. We’ve been fortunate for it to be both of these things and finally, a massive growth area. By the time I was 21, I had sold advertising, worked in a media agency and become a mobile marketing client. Mobile was booming in 2009 with both the iPhone and Android gaining traction in most markets – it just felt right.

What were you doing before you founded Fetch Media?

My last role was for a mobile content company in Sydney called Consumer First. I relocated there to run their media and product in the UK and US. It was there where I learnt the intricacies of mobile technology and how to apply it to marketing. It’s a great company and I’m still good friends with the chaps which founded it.

What is Fetch Media? What do you guys do?

Fetch is a mobile marketing agency. Our job is to help major businesses succeed in mobile marketing and advertising. We provide strategy, media planning & buying, creative and analytics. We are appointed by some fantastic brands including Expedia, Hotels.com, William Hill and Sony Music.

Take me back to the early days of running the business, what difficulties did you face?

Many! The early days when it was just me at Fetch, the clients were less willing to invest, so trying to get new clients was tough. It was a case of some serious cold calling! Hiring people was difficult too – we weren’t a super charged VC backed start-up and mobile wasn’t as big then so it was a tough sell, but it is paying off for those that took the plunge as we have since grown the most established firm in the UK!

What is your business model?

We have three different models: a retainer for those clients who require certain services on an on-going basis, a fee based model for a project we might do, and a commission model for the media side of our business so it is pretty performance based as clients will only increase spends if the media is working well.

What makes Fetch Media different from any service out there?

What makes us truly unique is our blend of both creative and performance related approach. Often in the marketing world, these two repel, but our team like to measure every single penny spent on advertising whilst also giving our clients some serious stand-out in the creative and planning we do. You often find agencies focused on the sexy stuff or performance – we do both and most often in unison.

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

Launching our first US office at the end of last year was a big one. It’s a huge market and there are so many businesses that need some expert advice on their mobile marketing. More recently, putting two industry heavy weights on our board has also been a catalyst for us.

Are you guys profitable?

Yes, we had an extended year one, which we managed to make a profit in. Our second year-end is almost upon us, and we are on track to deliver an increase of profit by over 350%.

Have you raised any money to build or grow the business or has it been purely bootstrapped?

100% bootstrapped and that’s something we’re proud of. We’ve had plenty of investors who have wanted to get involved and we feel that we have built a solid and sustainable business by going through the graft and growing organically. We’re now in a position where we can be more bullish. That said, it might not always be the case, but it’s been the best route to date.

Looking back to when you started the company, Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

Yes, and I would expect the business to continue to evolve. I don’t like standing still. We’re innovators and we must keep moving forward. That doesn’t mean we’ll start selling trainers, of course!

What has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey so far?

This one is easy. We won three awards in November last year and collecting the final one, which was ‘The Best Marketing Company in Mobile 2011’ was definitely the highlight. It was so important to us because the whole team have worked so hard and it was the recognition we deserved. We were up against not only our closest rivals but some industry leading PLCs. We were also the newest company on the shortlist so it was brilliant fun – of what I can remember, anyway…!

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

Expect to see some more media firsts from our innovations, some more awards, a growing client list and a bigger presence in both the UK and the US.

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

Fail quickly! Not everything works out and everyone makes mistakes but nip them in the bud ASAP. Don’t make the same mistake twice and listen to your gut.

Wearegoat is a collaboration between two Graphic design students who started the company during their time in the university.

I Invited the two co-founders on YHP to talk about how the inspiration for the business came about, how they met each other and why they decided to start a business together.

Below is the full interview.

Hi, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

Paul & Alexey: We are doing well thanks though very busy with work setting up the company and finishing off a few projects. The week we have been greeted with lovely weather, which we wish we could have enjoyed more as we have been stuck inside.

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

Paul: Although I am Maltese, I decided to study Web Design in Brighton. After a few years working in web design I decided I needed a change. This led me to explore Graphic Design and further my work experience in the field. Wanting to further my knowledge in Graphic Design I moved to London to sit for my MA in Graphic Branding & Identity. This has proved to be of great value, if I have not taken this decision I would not have met Alexey and started goat together.

Alexey: I was born in Soviet Union, where I got my first degree in Information Technologies. As I have always been interested in Visual Communication I decided to get a second degree in Graphic Design, which meant me moving to London. I met Paul before our courses started and the rest is goat.

So tell me how you got into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

Paul: I’ve always been interested in design; I guess I just gravitated towards it. I have always wanted to open up my own studio, because I felt that whilst working for other people restricted me and thought it best to venture out on my own to discover what I can do without these limitations. So far things seem to be going well, looking forward to what will come next.

Alexey: On the contrary to Paul, I never wanted to start my own business thinking that it was easier, more convenient and safer to work under someone else, but after a certain point I realized that the only thing I was gaining from working for someone was a wage. I was tired of people telling me that their failure will be my responsibility. I want only my own failures, but hopefully achievements, to be my own responsibility.

Who was your inspiration growing and why?

Paul: Watching my father and brother build their own business by working extremely long hours and being overly stressed with work didn’t seem to deter me from wanting to open up my own business. The satisfaction they received from achieving what they set out to do is something I hope to receive in the coming years.

Alexey: Everyday my father taught himself how to achieve something that he was unable to do the day before. He worked hard on each project, however boring it may have been. He turned them into opportunities to enrich himself with new skills.

So tell me about wearegoat and how the idea came about?

Paul & Alexey: Whilst living and studying together at the same university, we helped each other with university work and soon started working on side projects together. We realised that every idea we came up with separately turned into something much more powerful as soon as we started working on them together. We decided to use this synergy to solve other people’s problems instead of just our own and so we decided to open wearegoat.

What were you doing before you founded Wearegoat?

Paul: Studying at London College of Communication and before that working for a publication company in Malta.

Alexey: Also studying at London College of Communication while continuing to work at an amazing design studio in Moscow called Vazari.

What is Wearegoat and how does it work?

Paul: I see wearegoat as more of a collaboration of two designers who enjoy the same things and want to create great pieces of work together. Whether for a client or for a personal project, we treat everything as the most important thing at the time.

Alexey: It’s like me working on steroids.

What is your business model?

Paul & Alexey: Let’s try to keep it simple; our service is visual communication. It doesn’t matter whether it is video, web, print or digital, it doesn’t matter if it is interactive or static, it doesn’t matter if it is for the Olympics or a goat farm, if a client will come to us with a problem that can be solved by means of visual communication then it is our job to do it and to do it in a way that the client will be glad to have chosen us. We are still waiting for a chance to do work for a goat farm

What makes Wearegoat different from any service out there?

Paul: We are trying to work as close to our clients as possible, no matter what the project is, we try to get involved as much as possible. For the entire duration of the project we feel that we become an extension of their company.

What we noticed from working in other studios is that when a great idea is created everyone is trying to claim ownership of this idea. With wearegoat this has become the opposite, after coming up with a great idea through brainstorming we can never recall whose idea it was. We seem to work off of what the previous person put forward until we have something that works best for us and more importantly works best for the client. It is this synergy that pushes us to create the best things possible for our clients.

Alexey: Perfection

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

Paul: With Alexey tackling the innovation of the company I feel that I am in charge of the networking and business side of it by constantly ensuring that everything is up to date and in order. We joke that I am the housekeeper of the company.

Alexey: I spend my free time researching and learning, to ensure that we are on top of the latest in the world of design, whether it be new technologies, workflow systems or simply new applications to ease the daily routine in the office.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

Paul & Alexey: It’s too early for this question but I can say that the initial idea did not involve so many sleepless nights.

How have you been able to fund the business?

Paul & Alexey: Working and working hard. There is never a moment when you are off the job, especially with design you are constantly researching, thinking and coming up with ideas.

What has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey so far?

Paul & Alexey: Being able to work on side projects such as our goatcards (personalized birthday messages for friends that range between everything from static images with food to stop-motion with Play Doh or ice). They have become a great way of experimenting with different mediums and to just getting our hands dirty with non-computer based projects. They have become an outlet for our ideas that don’t seem to have any other place to go.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

Paul & Alexey: We just released a personal project called Pass It On which is an extension of our goatcards, the idea behind these is to bring a smile to people’s faces and add a little something special to an ordinary day. We also enjoy the interactions they can create between strangers just by allowing them to hand over a nice message to someone else. We hope 2012 will see more of these projects. We will obviously continue with the usual goatcards so expect to see many more of those.

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

Paul & Alexey:

1) If you haven’t learnt anything today then it was a waste of a day.
2) If you do something, either do it perfectly or don’t do it at all.
3) Make sure to have an amazing music work playlist; it helps you get through those late nights that are bound to be plentiful.

After spending the last 15 years in different retail roles – When does a mumpreneur decide enough is enough and it’s time to start her own business?

Today I interview Denise Proctor who after returning from her maternity leave in 2010 was made redundant, a great motivation for her to start The Baby Loft she said.

The Baby Loft is a UK based baby equipment hire service and hires everything that a baby or small child may need, from sleep, travel, and mealtime products to toys readily available from leading brands – An idea, she said came to her whilst on maternity leave after having her daughter Olivia.

Denise shares her journey so far especially on how she copes with being a wife and a mother to Olivia. Below is the full interview.

Hi Denise, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

It is great to have been considered and given the opportunity

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

I am Denise Proctor 36 years old, wife to Crispin & mum to Olivia who is almost 3 yrs old. We live in Hertfordshire and my home is also where I currently run my business The Baby Loft from.

So Denise tell me how you got into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

I have always been interested in business generally and have exposed myself to & worked my way around most retail roles within the last 15 years. I was never content staying in one role, I always wanted to know the bigger picture. I do have members of my family that have literally spent 40 years building up a hugely successful construction company from nothing, so have always admired and been inspired by this.

Who was your inspiration growing and why?

My parents, they have always taught me to believe that if you try hard enough you can achieve your dreams. My mums favourite saying is “ In life you only get out as much as you put in”

So tell me about The Baby Loft and how the idea came about?

The Baby Loft is a UK based baby equipment hire service and hires everything that a baby or small child may need, from sleep, travel, and mealtime products to toys readily available from leading brands. The site also provides a unique ‘Try before you buy’ service, an invaluable facility that allows parents to hire a desired piece of equipment of their choice, giving them the opportunity to check its suitability before committing to buy it.

The idea came to me whilst I was on maternity leave after having my daughter Olivia. I was astounded daily as to the amount of “stuff” that such a little person needs. In addition, family members also stock up their lofts with baby equipment ready to call upon when little ones come to visit. The idea to start The Baby Loft began as a few scribbles on a sheet of paper, something that I would maybe do at some point in the future.

What were you doing before you founded The Baby Loft?

Before The Baby Loft, I was working as a Software sales executive selling Merchandise management & Epos systems to Retailers. After returning to work from maternity leave in 2010 I was made redundant, which was perfect timing and the motivation I needed to forge ahead with my plans for The Baby Loft

Are you currently doing this full-time?

Yes this is a full time job for me.

What is your business model?

We are a baby equipment hire service, delivering high quality baby equipment and working with – Tourists visiting the UK, Hotels & accommodation providers, Event hire companies, Nannies & nurseries, Relocation companies, new mums wanting to try out the latest models, Grandparents with visiting relatives. For added convenience we will deliver to Airports / hotels / Family / friends/ holiday homes etc etc

What makes The baby Loft different from any service out there?

We are different in that we completely empathise with mums and the stresses that come with meeting & satisfying babies needs, so we offer equipment that we know is tried & tested, will happily give informed advice and opinions on the most suitable products, as well as offering a personal delivery & collection service, where we get the opportunity to meet the families and demonstrate the equipment

How do you cope with being a Mum and running a start-up?

In the beginning I did struggle as I had expected the business to begin at a slow pace, but not long after launching the orders began to come in thick & fast. I was working completely on my own then, as well as looking after my daughter Olivia who was a 1 year at the time. I was then given a piece of advice and that was that the best business investment you can make is good childcare. In the beginning Olivia would come with me on deliveries, I quickly realised it was unfair on her and she wasn’t getting much from it or from me during these long stressful hours in London traffic, she now goes to Nursery three days a week which allows me to focus on the business and she has a great time and has come on in leaps & bounds.

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

After about 6 months, I realised that I would need someone to help me with deliveries as I was beginning to turn away business as I couldn’t physically be in so many places at once, so I took on Jane, who has been a godsend and has allowed me to double what we can deliver in a day. Also I have contacted the airports and I am some way to achieving a visible Baby Loft presence in the airports, so watch this space…

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

Absolutely, it has changed direction in that I thought that my “Try before you buy” concept would be the most popular thus keeping me local, however the reality quickly became apparent in that 85% of my customers are tourists from overseas visiting the UK, so I had to quickly adjust my marketing & advertising from Local to International.

How have you been able to fund the business?

I have been lucky in that I was able to fund the business myself with the help of my redundancy.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

To build the Baby Loft brand, much like one of the large car hire companies with a presence in multiple locations using different formats, thus helping me to educate people to the fact that you can hire baby equipment as it is currently not a well-known concept in the UK.

What three pieces of advice would you offer to other female entrepreneurs especially mothers starting out today?

Be prepared for a lot of hard work, guilt and being pulled in all directions, but remember you are not Superwoman and that you are a Mum first & foremost.

Be flexible and go with what your business is demanding, if you are too rigid with how you expect it to work you will go off course

Be prepared to become “Jack of all trades”, running your own business means you need to learn & throw yourself into many new skills & worlds i.e accounting,advertsing, marketing, PR the list is endless.

Are you thinking about buying time or at least something close to it – Minutesforsale allows companies and individuals to buy time for every minute of the day.

So basically this is how it works – You pay a small one off fee and get your will website displayed on the Minutesforsale homepage for the amount of time purchased.

Meet Jason Ting, the 20 year old founder behind the project, Jason is currently studying at the London School of Economics.

Hi Jason, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

I am great thank you, though it’s mainly down to the sun being out right now. It’s great to be on YHP, thanks for having me.

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself?

Sure thing. My name is Jason Ting, I’m 20 years old and I’ve lived in London all my life. I’m half Chinese hence my awesome surname, and why I look half Chinese. I have numerous interests which include sports (football and gym more specifically, but really its an endless list), reading, cooking (I can make quite the dessert), movies, restaurants… You get the picture. Oh and I’m a massive fan of American Pie.

Tell me how you got into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

Well both my eldest brother and my father are self-employed, so I’ve always been surrounded by people who work for themselves to fit the lifestyle they like. So really for a long time I’ve felt I could try and do something different with my life, something that I could call my own to push as far as I can. As well as that I am currently studying at the London School of Economics, so I continue to be in an environment that is business orientated.

So tell me about Minutesforsale and how the idea came about?

Well I found myself surrounded by mates who were busy doing part-time jobs to make their way through university, or to help pay off their student loan. And so I thought now was as good a time as any to try and create a unique way of paying mine off. I wanted to create something that had never been done before. Having been flooded with advertising my whole life it made sense to start thinking about possible ideas in that field. In the end I thought of time, and from there I challenged myself to sell something almost unsellable that no one had tried before.

What is Minutesforsale and how does it work? What are you trying to solve?

Minutesforsale is a website that I have created and the basic concept of the website is that I’m trying to sell time. I know, it sounds strange just hearing it. But basically I am allowing companies and individuals to buy every minute of the day. Every minute of every hour.

They pay just a small one off fee and I will display their website on my homepage at that exact time, every single day. I’m not just displaying their advert, but their actual website in full, for one minute a day. They also get a permanent link in the timetable page where people can click on any time of day and see who has purchased it.

How have you been able to fund the business?

Well it didn’t cost too much to start up. Just the web hosting and things like that. I had enough saved up to cover those things. I learnt to code the website for free online. So thankfully my costs have been quite minimal.

What is your business model?

When I started, I had the price at a one off fee of £10 per minute. With every hour sold, I am increasing the price slowly. So after every 60 minutes sold, the price goes up. It will keep going up every hour until all the minutes are gone.

A nice added feature I have is that once all the minutes have sold out, people will then be able to re-sell their advertising spot if they wish to do so. Imagine you purchase a minute now, where the current price is £20, and by the time the last hour sells, the price is £240 we’ll say as an example.

You can then sell your minute for £240 to someone else, and you will get your initial fee of £20 back, plus half of the difference as profit. So for the £20 minute you bought, you will get back £130 if you sold later on.

It’s not my intention to have people selling all their minutes, but it’s a nice added bonus and maintains value in the spot they purchased.

What has been your most memorable moment so far?

Well being the fan of page 3 that I am, it has got to be getting a big article written about me on page 3 of a newspaper!

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

Well so far I’ve sold just under two hours in a couple of weeks. With a little more exposure and more people becoming aware of my site, I’m hoping to sell out every minute of time in 2012. That would be a great achievement, but there’s a long way to go yet.