I attended the World Entrepreneurship Summit 2008 (WES 08) last week. The inaugural event, organised by respected economist and enterprise expert Dr Rebecca Harding, brought together 400 entrepreneurs, academics and policymakers from around the world.
More than 200 speakers took part in the inspiring two-day event in central London. I didn't quite managed to hear them all but I put in a good effort!
The experience and advice on offer was varied. From Hollywood superstar Kevin Spacey explaining his views on social enterprise to Laurie South, chief executive of 50 plus self-employment agency PRIME, talking about getting older people into enterprise, I picked up several pieces of useful advice. I thought I'd use my blog entry this week to share several with you.
Here are some of the words of wisdom I heard:
Rebecca Harding, WES 08 organiser and managing director of Delta Economics:
"Entrepreneurs are the world's change agents. They are ordinary people who take personal risks to be creative, to innovate and to make a difference, either economically, socially or environmentally. Entrepreneurs may set up businesses, push at the boundaries of knowledge or simply want to improve the way in which they do their work. They are the networked, flexible and dynamic wealth creation engines behind every business from the smallest community-based firm to the largest corporate in the world."
Kevin Spacey, actor and artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre, London:
"If you're successful at doing what you want to do in life, it's absolutely your obligation to send the elevator back down. It doesn't matter what floor you're on. In this life there's always someone just below waiting to be invited in."
"Whatever your dreams are try to stay open to new ideas. Be willing to listen because new ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes they're the ones that get chucked over the wall. Our job is to make sure the walls that we create are not so high that the new ideas can no longer reach us."
"Whatever your organisation attempts to achieve from both its philanthropic endeavours and its commercial aspirations, avoid those who try to be negative and cynical because that way of thinking takes no effort at all and must be a rather unsatisfying way to go through life. I realise of course that in the end having a positive attitude may not solve all your problems but it just may annoy enough people along the way to make the effort worthwhile."
Julie Meyer, founder, First Tuesday and Ariadne Capital:
"I think the following words of Theodore Roosevelt should be the mantra of any entrepreneur today: 'It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or how the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valliantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great venture and spends himself in a working cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring so greatly that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.'"
"Start up is a way of thinking, a mindset rather than a stage of your company. The founder of Qualcomm and one of the most outstanding entrepreneurs of all time, Irwin Jacobs has said of Qualcomm, which is a multi-billion dollar company, of course we're a start-up, we're just a start-up with really big cashflow. Being a start up is a state of mind. It's about constant growth in a creative destruction type of way."
"Pulling together as a team to win the market is one of the most important things that you can experience in life that doesn't happen every day. So when you do win you've got to make a big deal of it and really claim victory."
Nigel Kershaw, CEO, Big Issue BigInvest:
"People perceived to be the problem most often have the solution because they know what and where it is."
George Polk, founder, The Catalyst Group:
"It is exactly the skills you develop as an entrepreneur that you need to address social problems. What a good entrepreneur does is spend time analysing, makes a decision and then sticks ruthlessly to it. If they are successful then that idea has created a gap in the market. It is crucial to bring those skills to the non-profit sector."
Damon Oldcorn, CEO, www.zebtab.com:
"Entrepreneurs often say they are always trying to raise money but I think the key lesson is what to do when you get the money. I find the less experienced entrepreneurs tend to freeze when they realise they now have to deliver. The key thing is to get experienced people around you so you spend the money wisely."
Paul Miller, founder, www.schoolofeverything.com:
"Find yourself a chief technology offier and give them equity. It's bloody hard if you don't, you run an internet business and you're not a techie."
"When looking for finance we've written to everyone no matter how famous and asked to come and see them. By and large they've said yes."
Paul Birch, founder, www.birthdayalarm.com:
"Expect to fail as a first time entrepreneur and learn from it."
More than 200 speakers took part in the inspiring two-day event in central London. I didn't quite managed to hear them all but I put in a good effort!
The experience and advice on offer was varied. From Hollywood superstar Kevin Spacey explaining his views on social enterprise to Laurie South, chief executive of 50 plus self-employment agency PRIME, talking about getting older people into enterprise, I picked up several pieces of useful advice. I thought I'd use my blog entry this week to share several with you.
Here are some of the words of wisdom I heard:
Rebecca Harding, WES 08 organiser and managing director of Delta Economics:
"Entrepreneurs are the world's change agents. They are ordinary people who take personal risks to be creative, to innovate and to make a difference, either economically, socially or environmentally. Entrepreneurs may set up businesses, push at the boundaries of knowledge or simply want to improve the way in which they do their work. They are the networked, flexible and dynamic wealth creation engines behind every business from the smallest community-based firm to the largest corporate in the world."
Kevin Spacey, actor and artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre, London:
"If you're successful at doing what you want to do in life, it's absolutely your obligation to send the elevator back down. It doesn't matter what floor you're on. In this life there's always someone just below waiting to be invited in."
"Whatever your dreams are try to stay open to new ideas. Be willing to listen because new ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes they're the ones that get chucked over the wall. Our job is to make sure the walls that we create are not so high that the new ideas can no longer reach us."
"Whatever your organisation attempts to achieve from both its philanthropic endeavours and its commercial aspirations, avoid those who try to be negative and cynical because that way of thinking takes no effort at all and must be a rather unsatisfying way to go through life. I realise of course that in the end having a positive attitude may not solve all your problems but it just may annoy enough people along the way to make the effort worthwhile."
Julie Meyer, founder, First Tuesday and Ariadne Capital:
"I think the following words of Theodore Roosevelt should be the mantra of any entrepreneur today: 'It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or how the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valliantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great venture and spends himself in a working cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring so greatly that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.'"
"Start up is a way of thinking, a mindset rather than a stage of your company. The founder of Qualcomm and one of the most outstanding entrepreneurs of all time, Irwin Jacobs has said of Qualcomm, which is a multi-billion dollar company, of course we're a start-up, we're just a start-up with really big cashflow. Being a start up is a state of mind. It's about constant growth in a creative destruction type of way."
"Pulling together as a team to win the market is one of the most important things that you can experience in life that doesn't happen every day. So when you do win you've got to make a big deal of it and really claim victory."
Nigel Kershaw, CEO, Big Issue BigInvest:
"People perceived to be the problem most often have the solution because they know what and where it is."
George Polk, founder, The Catalyst Group:
"It is exactly the skills you develop as an entrepreneur that you need to address social problems. What a good entrepreneur does is spend time analysing, makes a decision and then sticks ruthlessly to it. If they are successful then that idea has created a gap in the market. It is crucial to bring those skills to the non-profit sector."
Damon Oldcorn, CEO, www.zebtab.com:
"Entrepreneurs often say they are always trying to raise money but I think the key lesson is what to do when you get the money. I find the less experienced entrepreneurs tend to freeze when they realise they now have to deliver. The key thing is to get experienced people around you so you spend the money wisely."
Paul Miller, founder, www.schoolofeverything.com:
"Find yourself a chief technology offier and give them equity. It's bloody hard if you don't, you run an internet business and you're not a techie."
"When looking for finance we've written to everyone no matter how famous and asked to come and see them. By and large they've said yes."
Paul Birch, founder, www.birthdayalarm.com:
"Expect to fail as a first time entrepreneur and learn from it."
