The Spark Magazine

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February 2016 Issueentrepreneurial-spark.com

Do you have what it takes to be an Entrepreneurial Leader?

New Entrepreneurial Centre set to become home to Edinburgh’s top tech startups

Anthony Fletcher, Graze CEO, talks getting your product right and disrupting the food industry

£3.95

If you have a business idea and the personality and drive to stand out from the crowd, then you need Entrepreneurial Spark.

Entrepreneurial Spark is the world's largest free accelerator for start-up and scaleup businesses. Working with entrepreneurs across all sectors in the UK and India, Entrepreneurial Spark gives startups the advice and support they need in order to grow their business.

With 68% of all new jobs created in the UK between 2012 and 2013 coming from fast-growing small firms¹, startups are a key part of the business community, despite making up just 1% of the total business population.

With some Entrepreneurial Spark alumni businesses securing over £2 million in funding, and current Chiclets winning awards and bringing on board successful entrepreneurs such as Steve Smith, founder of Poundland, as well as others having their products stocked internationally, entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to take their business to the next level.

The team at Entrepreneurial Spark don’t just help businesses to grow, they help entrepreneurs to develop as individuals and as business men and women. With a focus on the people behind the ideas, the team of expert Enablers, Mentors and business leaders will help the next generation of entrepreneurs to reach their potential and achieve their dreams. In essence, we build people who build businesses.

It requires hard work, determination, and an ability to take on board criticism and grow from it. But if you can make it through the first six months and come out of the initial programme with a viable business model, you know your customer and you have a solid business plan, then the world is your oyster.

Are you a dreamer, or do you have a #GoDo attitude? Don’t waste time thinking about ‘what if’, find your nearest Hatchery location online and apply for the next intake visit entrepreneurial-spark.com

¹ Source: Octopus Investments study

ArE You an eAglE?

like a Duck?

Do you SoarABOVE the crowd

complaiNing & QuackIng

instead of

#GoDo

An Introduction to Entrepreneurial Spark

Partners

Vision: To inspire and enable positive social change through the action of Entrepreneuring®

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http://www.entrepreneurial-spark.com/


2015 has been an incredible year for Entrepreneurial Spark, we’ve launched in India and will soon have 13 Hatcheries across the UK, picking up several awards and commendations along the way.

So why did I set up Entrepreneurial Spark? Having started my own entrepreneurial journey later in life, I realised that getting the right start is so important to creating a successful business. Put simply, creating less horrible beginnings leads to less horrible endings.

Throughout the UK and further afield we have such a wealth of entrepreneurial talent that doesn’t reach the potential it could. With Entrepreneurial Spark we work to encourage entrepreneurs to develop the right mindset, and the necessary skills to explore their business idea and turn it in to a successful reality.

From my experience one of the biggest issues stopping would-be entrepreneurs is the voices telling them they can’t. There can be some pretty horrible things going round people’s head, enough to make you stop living your dream before you can even start it. So I’m telling you now – ignore them! Know what you want and know that you can achieve it.

You can do it. But first of all you need to believe you can. Picking up on the old adage of ‘you can do anything if you put your mind to it’, yes, you can. But it doesn’t just take putting your mind to it, you need to know

Foreword

Vision: To inspire and enable positive social change through the action of Entrepreneuring®

I want to welcome you to The Spark, the first edition of our Entrepreneurial Spark magazine

Jim Duffy,Chief Executive Optimist

@GoDo_Today

your business and be determined to see it through and make it a reality. You need to live and breathe your business 24/7. It’s not something you can pick up and put down at your whim, you have to have the determination and the willpower to see it through.

That’s where we come in. Here at Entrepreneurial Spark we have a wealth of business leaders who can work with you to help you achieve your goals. Your Enabler will help take you from the initial concept and test and push you to ensure you have a viable business model, before putting you in touch with partners such as RBS, NatWest, Ulster Bank and KPMG who are experts in their field, with some additional piranha pits, event nights and pitching practice along the way to really encourage you to grow and develop.

If you move out of your comfort zone, you might find out something about yourself. Take action, you’re the only person who can change your life – if you don’t do it then who will?

Do what you need to. Focus and achieve your goals. Everyone has to start somewhere – why not start now?

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Issue #1

Entrepreneurial Spark is the world’s largest free accelerator for start-up and scaleup businesses. With over 450 entrepreneurs currently on board the programme across the UK, and 300 being enabled in the next three years across India, Entrepreneurial Spark are helping lead an Entrepreneuring® revolution.There are currently nine Hatcheries open across the UK, in Ayrshire, Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester. An additional three Hatcheries will open in 2016 in Cardiff, Milton Keynes and Newcastle, with a Hatchery opening in London in 2017.

In June 2015, Entrepreneurial Spark launched a series of Hatcheries in India across Delhi, Noida (Delhi NCR), GIFT City and Ahmedabad. Hatcheries in Bangalore, Mumbai/Pune and Hyderabad are set to follow.

Applications for the August intake across all current Hatcheries and Cardiff, Milton Keynes and Newcastle are now open. Prospective Chiclets can apply online at entrepreneurial-spark.com

To find out more about Entrepreneurial Spark and your nearest Hatchery location visit entrepreneurial-spark.com or email the team at [email protected]

Visit Entrepreneurial Spark on Facebook and Twitter and let us know what you think of The Spark: Facebook.com/ESparkGlobal, @ESparkGlobal

Contact

Social

2. Introduction to Entrepreneurial SparkThe world’s largest free accelerator for start-up and scaleup businesses

3. ForewordJim Duffy, Chief Executive Optimist, Entrepreneurial Spark

5. NewsPoliticians supporting entrepreneurs, start-up successes and challenges, and an expansion to India

9. Revolutionising Edinburgh’s tech start-up sceneThe Entrepreneurial Centre set to house the city’s top up and coming tech businesses

10. #GoDoAcceler8Developing the next generation of Entrepreneurial Leaders

13. What is an Entrepreneurial Leader?Jim Duffy highlights the four main factors in becoming an Entrepreneurial Leader

16. Meet the GP innovating the health technology sectorCemal Kavasogullari talks about the future of self-care and health tech

19. 5 tips on pitchingImpress investors and capture the essence of your businesses with these five tips

20. Enablement AdviceWords of advice from Royal Bank of Scotland, KPMG and Harper MacLeod

23. #AskJimDuffyDo you have the right #GoDo attitude to succeed in business?

24. Events diaryWhat’s happening in the world of Entrepreneurial Spark

26. Upcoming events#GoDo Bootcamp, SURGE, LAUNCH Festival and #GoDoAccerler8

28. Top 20 asks from ChicletsDo you want to help the next generation of entrepreneurs grow and scale their business?

30. Five minutes with Graze CEO Anthony FletcherTalking tech, knowing your customer and getting it right


Hatching a plan!

Candle start-up stages remarkable comeback after fire gutted premisesA start-up company that saw its entire stock and machinery destroyed in a fire this summer has bounced back and is on track to more than triple its turnover.

Darcey’s Candles, currently on board the Entrepreneurial Spark programme in Ayrshire, had been growing rapidly and owner Jackie Dalziel had just recorded her first TV advert to recruit additional sales staff when disaster struck.

Jackie quickly found and fitted out new premises and managed to source some old moulds while she had a new set custom-made, allowing her to quickly start meeting orders again.

Since its advert aired on STV at the start of September, Darcey’s Candles has recruited a further 70 sales reps, taking its team to almost 200. Turnover is expected to be £120,000 this year and will leap to £400,000 the following year as the full impact of its bigger sales team and new plant and premises are felt.

Spark News

The world’s largest free accelerator for start-up and

scaleup businesses welcomed Jeremy

Corbyn MP, leader of the Labour party, and

Kezia Dugdale MSP, leader of the Scottish

Labour party, to the Brighton Hatchery

Politicians recognise the importance of supporting entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial Spark has been engaging with key members of the political parties over recent months in a bid to keep entrepreneurship at the forefront of politicians’ minds.

The world’s largest free accelerator for start-up and scaleup businesses welcomed Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party, and Kezia Dugdale, leader of the Scottish Labour party, to the Brighton Hatchery. There they were invited to meet the team and experience first-hand how the programme is supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurial Spark also attended the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, meeting with Cabinet ministers and those tasked with driving forward the enterprise and entrepreneurship agenda for the UK.

The world’s largest free accelerator for start-up and scaleup businesses


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Spark News

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The world’s largest free accelerator for start-up and scaleup businesses

1. Jeremy Corbyn visits the Brighton Hatchery to meet Jim Duffy and Entrepreneurial Spark Chiclets #MarrowGate

Following this, Scottish businesswoman Lady Michelle Mone paid a visit to Entrepreneurial Spark’s Glasgow Hatchery as part of a national entrepreneurship review.

This programme of engagement with the government has been developed to help foster a nation of entrepreneurship, as part of Entrepreneurial Spark’s aim to cultivate entrepreneurs across the UK and create a generation of business leaders.

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2. Entrepreneurs getting ready to pitch at #GoDoEventNight

3. Jim Duffy, Hemin Bharucha and Murali Hariharan sign the MoU between Viridian Group and Entrepreneurial Spark in India

4. Lady Michelle Mone meets Chiclets at the Glasgow Hatchery

5. Jim Duffy welcomes Jeremy Corbyn to the Brighton Hatchery

The famous

marrow as

seen on the BB

C's

Mock the Week!


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My Spark!2

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Leading business accelerator continues entrepreneurial revolution across the UK and IndiaIn its first expansion beyond its native UK, Entrepreneurial Spark has opened a string of centres across India to support a growing culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. The Indian accelerator programme is a joint venture with Viridian, and will be known as Entrepreneurial Spark – Powered by Viridian.

The expansion will see Entrepreneurial Spark’s ground-breaking offer of office space and support rolled out to a much larger pool of potential entrepreneurs, and has the capacity to have a huge positive social and economic effect.

The business accelerator has also seen incredible growth in the UK, opening Hatcheries in Brighton, Leeds, Bristol, Manchester and Belfast between September 2015 and February 2016, with four other locations to add before the start of 2017.

My Entrepreneurial Spark journeyGayle Heggie, Excellence Engineer @GayleHeggie

’ve worked with entrepreneurs my whole career, but when I walked into

Entrepreneurial Spark I knew I was home. The great thing is the organisation practices what it preaches: we all learn as we go along, and put what we learn into practice. We are entrepreneurial.

We’ve learned a lot about best practice in startups, how best to train, help and mentor entrepreneurs, and how to spot bad habits and ingrain good ones. We now know what a good entrepreneur looks like – and a bad one – and take part in regular training to develop our knowledge further.

When I started, a little over three years ago, I was the only member of staff looking after a Hatchery of more than 50 Chiclets. They were all there for a whole year, instead of six months, so the pace was a little more relaxed. As the Hatcheries grew, we realised that we could get more out of the intake if we gave them a crash course at the start, and so the #GoDoBootcamp was born.

The first Bootcamp was five days, which was far too long. We scaled that down to three days, and then two. Now we have perfected the format, we can get across everything we need to in two intense days.

As we have learned, adapted and innovated, like any good business, Entrepreneurial Spark has grown. I’m now heading up the expansion across the south of England. But the best thing has been seeing the Chiclets grow.

In the world of entrepreneurs things move fast – one of my earliest Chiclets sold his business for £1m this year; when I first met him, he wasn’t even trading.

It’s a hard industry, and you need to be tough and strongminded to succeed, but seeing so many Chiclets grow successful businesses as a result of coming on board with Entrepreneurial Spark shows that I’m definitely in the right job, and it’s an unbelievably rewarding one.


Spark News

O

My Spark!

Poundland founder buys stake in Chiclet businessA training firm set up by former military men has success firmly in its sights after recruiting Poundland founder Steve Smith as an investor.

Smith, who sold his stake in Poundland for £50 million, was impressed with the business and offered founders John Loveday and Paul Hood help by opening up his extensive network of influential contacts.

Following on from some early contracts won, Spearhead is already on track to hit a turnover target of £1.9 million in the year ahead – with a spectacular 76 per cent profit margin. It is now seeking more contracts with national retailers, including Poundland itself, which could push that figure up significantly. Spearhead has a target of £30m turnover in five years’ time and currently has a national network of more than 125 trainers across the UK.

The Entrepreneurial JourneyLucy-Rose Walker, Co-Founder & Chief Solutions Officer @LucyRoseW

ver the years since Entrepreneurial Spark began, we have worked with over 550

entrepreneurs across the UK and further afield. These entrepreneurs come in different shapes and sizes, and work across a variety of sectors, but in some ways they are all the same.

They’re facing the same journey, needing to do a lot of the same work and are bound together by the fact that they believe they have what it takes to become the next Sir Tom Hunter or Dr Ann Gloag OBE.

When we hold interviews to find the next batch of entrepreneurs coming on board our accelerator programme we look for specific elements. We focus on the individual. Are they a coachable entrepreneur? Will they rise to the challenges ahead? Do they have a growth mindset and a workable idea? Do they want to take their business and scale it, to become a potentially global success? And finally, do they have the commitment required to make it work?

It’s not an easy task being an entrepreneur, you need a specific set of skills, be 100% dedicated but most importantly have the right mindset. We see people who say they have the best idea, know loads of people who love it, and are sure of exactly what they’re going to do. You know right then that if someone isn’t willing to change their mind on something and becomes defensive when you try and suggest an alternative route, that it’s not going to work. Fall in love with the pain point not the solution!

Entrepreneurial Spark isn’t the right programme for everyone. Not every entrepreneur wants to work with an Enabler and mentors pushing them and questioning their ideas and essentially holding them accountable for their execution – or lack of in many cases! The team at Entrepreneurial Spark will always give entrepreneurs 100% in terms of time and effort but they require the same back or you need to question who is running the business. You need to be willing to work and work exceptionally hard at that throughout the journey, but the moment you secure your first investment, or win your first contract or customer, you know it’s worth it.

Spearhead is already on track to hit a turnover target of £1.9 million


Entrepreneurial Spark has welcomed Edinburgh’s tech and start-up scene to the new purpose built Edinburgh Hatchery at RBS' global Headquarters at Gogarburn.

With successful worldwide tech businesses such as FanDuel and Skyscanner choosing Edinburgh as their UK headquarters, the new Hatchery will give tech entrepreneurs the expert support and mentoring they need in order to grow and scale their business.

The Entrepreneurial Spark Hatchery: Revolutionising Edinburgh’s tech start-up scene

Entrepreneurs from the new February 2016 intake have joined existing Chiclets in the former ‘executive wing’ at RBS, which has been transformed into a centre for entrepreneurs and innovation, named the Entrepreneurial Centre.

Small businesses from all sectors will be given the opportunity to collaborate and work with fellow entrepreneurs and RBS employees. The Entrepreneurial Centre will significantly house RBS’ technology solutions centre, giving entrepreneurs in the tech industry an opportunity to gain expert advice and world class mentoring from specialists with years of experience.

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The one-day event, which marks the halfway point of the business accelerator programme, focused on developing the Entrepreneurial Leader.

Using a range of tools to improve the individual’s self-awareness and appreciation for the strengths of others, the event encouraged Chiclets to look inward and really question

whether they believe they have what it takes to become an Entrepreneurial Leader.

As an entrepreneur you need to have a vision for your business, and really believe in the product or service you’re selling, after all if you don’t believe in it how do you expect anyone else to? It’s also imperative that you’re able to confidently communicate this

This is the question which was asked across the country during Entrepreneurial Spark’s #GoDoAcceler8 event.

The answer? Well... that depends on you.

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE AN ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADER?

to others in order to convince people to buy your product, invest in your business, lend you money and enjoy your team.

It’s important to know your goals, and your business inside and out. It’s not enough for you to give a quick 60 second overview, you must be able to answer challenging questions when probed and back up your


reasons for making the business decisions you’ve made.

If someone was to stop you in the street tomorrow and ask you to explain to them the gap in the market you’re filling, or what your five or even ten-year plan is for your business and the various investment and product stages needed to get you there, would you be able to answer confidently?

If you can’t answer these fundamental questions about your own business, then who can?

In order to be a true Entrepreneurial Leader, you need to be aware of yourself and those around you. It’s important to understand the skills and behaviours required to lead effectively, as well as getting to grips with the role itself.

Leadership means authenticity, you must lead by example and show humanity to your staff. You need to inspire your employees, keep them going and not just

#GODOACCELER8 AWARDS

WINNERS

Following the Acceler8 event, Chiclets from across the UK were invited to the Acceler8

Awards where they were in with the chance of winning a share of the £70,000

up for grabs.

In each Hatchery one Chiclet was awarded the top prize, the Acceler8 Award,

of £3,000 cash.

In addition to this 13 Chiclets were awarded the #GoDo Prize, given to those

best demonstrating the mindsets and behaviours of a successful entrepreneur,

walking away with £2,000 each.

On the night Chiclets were also invited to present their 60 second pitch to the judges to try and secure one of the three £1,000

cash prizes.

Charnel Conway of ABA Tutorship also received a special RBS Choice Award.

She was awarded £2,500 as well as tickets to the Scottish Business Awards where

she had the opportunity to meet Holywood actor George Clooney.

Myroo Skincase; ISIKO; Phycosera; Your Very Own Story; Maiden-Voyage; Bowbaskets; China Connect; Edera Bespoke; Articulate

Language Camps; Siobhan McKenzie; Late Panda; Innovative Healthcare Solutions; Al Start; Double Six; Brighton Gin; Meme Coverture; The Mumpreneurs Network;

Bare Biology; Kitsch Drinks; Arc-Net; Claris Communications; Rig Pigs; U.K. Gift box; Chiclets Football Road Trips; C-Seeker;

Fitnniss; ABA Tutorship; If Everyone Cares; Truestart Coffee; This Mum Runs; Fro-Sister;

Helpful Peeps

#GoDoAcceler8

46% of sta

rtup’s fail due to p

oor leadership

Leyth Hampshire, Pelico and Adam Horvath-Szalai, Crowdreach, working in the Bristol Hatchery


point at the end goal but guide, coach and encourage them to help you achieve it together as a business.

When you’re looking at hiring new members to join your team, make sure you don’t end up with carbon copies of yourself. Identify your own weaknesses and look at filling the gaps with employees who complement you.

Your team are your backbone. Build a solid team with a strong skillset and work with them to ensure that everyone is invested in the business, and know the long term plans and steps needed to make these goals a reality.

Anyone can come up with an idea for a business. But it is only with hard work, dedication, the right attitude, and real investment of both time and money, that you become a successful entrepreneur.

Success doesn’t happen overnight; you need to work for it. But if you do? The reward definitely outweighs the negatives.

Ultimately the leader should listen to lots of thoughts and opinions but will have to make up their own mind which direction to take.

Often cutting through uncertainty or making a decision based on limited time or information. You then have to be able to communicate where you want to go and convince everyone

else to follow you!

Anthony Fletcher, CEO, Graze

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All about developing Entrepreneurial Leaders

1. Bristol Enabler Lorraine kicks off #GoDoAcceler8

2. Perfecting that pitch

3. Sharing wisdom at #GoDoAcceler8

4. Give those pitchers a hand!

5. #GoDoAcceler8 trends across the UK!


The concept of leadership fascinates me. There’s so much literature available on the subject, but what does being an Entrepreneurial Leader really mean?

I see so many people on a regular basis who would say a resounding "no" when asked if they thought they were an Entrepreneurial Leader. However, the truth is that a lot of them are, or at least could be, as so much of what goes into starting your own

business is about entrepreneurial leadership. In my opinion there are four main factors

to becoming an Entrepreneurial Leader:

Decision Architect When you start your own business you have to design the decisions, and ultimately make them. There are a wide variety of tools available to help you do this once you’ve collated and analysed your data, such as the Business Canvas Model, but the Entrepreneurial Leader has to act fast and get it right first time.

UncertaintyAs you grow your business there will be several periods of uncertainty, things you thought would happen won’t, and sometimes things you thought couldn’t happen will. To be a true leader you need to be able to navigate the uncertainties you face and get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Brilliant communicationI can’t reiterate the importance of communication in your business journey enough. You need to be able to speak to suppliers, investors, your staff, customers…the list goes on. In between your presentations, networking events and various meetings you also have to manage your personal relationships with family and friends. To balance all of this you have to be brilliant at communication. It can make or break you, trust me I know.

If you’re not already? Here’s the best piece of advice you’ll receive – learn to be!

Vision and your dissatisfaction with the status quoAs an Entrepreneurial Leader you have to have vision. You need to think BIG and act small. You must be motivated, agitated, annoyed or at the very least creative in your reasoning for your vision. At the end of the day, it’s why you exist. And that’s what people will buy into. You, your vision and how you execute it.

With the right coaching, mentoring and encouragement, we can all become better leaders. Someone who can inspire, someone who others want to follow.

It’s a pressure, and a privilege to be an Entrepreneurial Leader. The buck stops with you – but you’re also the one that can shape and grow your business.

With the right #GoDo attitude you can make it a success, you just need to work hard and be determined to do it, and do it right.

What is an Entrepreneurial Leader?

“So much of what goes into starting

your own business is about entrepreneurial

leadership.“

Jim Duffy@GoDo_Today


No great company was ever built by a single entrepreneur. We often just see the star cult of the founders and great CEOs, but there are always many entrepreneurs backing them up. Joining companies when there is no guarantee for success, building products and translating great ideas into actions.

I believe entrepreneurship is a state of mind, independent of ownership structure and decision remit. It is a combination of innovation and pragmatic execution, an ability to take existing ideas and recombine them in novel and better ways and, on rare occasions, coming up with something fundamentally new.

At Gett we are fostering a culture to both challenge the status quo and get things done. This is the only way to maintain 300% growth rates, as everything is moving too fast for a centralised managed environment.

Every single member of staff needs to take responsibility for walking the fine line between following process and challenging process when they see an opportunity. The real entrepreneurs will find pragmatic solutions that can be executed, and don’t need technology to change to make their ideas work.

For me, entrepreneurship is walking the dark path that everyone tells you isn’t going

to work while finding a way to make it work. It is about creating new or improved customer propositions, winning your first customers quickly, keeping them whilst refining the product or service, and then

scaling the organisation, processes and teams to capitalise on newfound opportunities.

These are distinctly different steps in the cycle of a company and they can happen at any stage of maturity. Large companies often try, without success, to emulate what smaller companies manage to achieve through an engaged team with the right risk and rewards appetite. Equally, the most successful of those companies grow up and find the same challenges for continued innovation and entrepreneurship. Many larger companies resort to building incubators, separate teams or buy smaller companies.

In my mind, young startups don’t need to have the perfect business plan and exit plan from day one. They just need a customer and build from there, following the cycle of innovation, scaling up, and building a great team. With that they get access to more capital to then continue on the cycle and continue building a great organisation, which hopefully retains its original entrepreneurial spirit.

At Gett we are fostering a culture to both challenge

the status quo and get things done

Gett is the UK’s only nationwide taxi app with operations in London and 24 other cities. Gett works exclusively with licensed black cabs and hackney carriages, and is the only app offering a 100% black cab guarantee in London, with all passengers being driven by the best trained drivers from London to Edinburgh.

What is Entrepreneurship?Dr. Remo Gerber, CEO UK and Western Europe, Gett @remogerber


How do we make good exciting? We start with good ingredients, add a pinch of inspiration from our favourite flavours and mix it all together with the imagination of our taste experts. The result: delicious flavour combinations you won’t find anywhere else.

Taste our nutritionist-approved snacks for yourself online at graze.com and in shops.

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Entrepreneurial Magazine ad_210x260_v1.pdf 1 27/11/2015 15:58

The Entrepreneurial

Spark programme is really helping

me, as I am a doctor and not

a businessman. It has taught me

to be clear on our aims and get the message across very concisely


he nature of the first meeting between entrepreneur Cemal Kavasogullari and his Innovative Healthcare Solutions team members could not be more apt:

Idea of the project was born when Cemal hosted couple of engineers and programmers through Airbnb, the Silicon Valley tech firm revolutionising the market for short stay accommodation.

The group soon got chatting about Cemal’s own ambitions in mobile health and realised that another of their early stage concepts could be adapted and merged with his idea for a medical records system that gave patients full control and access to their data.

From there, the idea has gathered momentum with an astonishing pace, especially considering the testing and rigorous development process

involved in the health technology sector. The product that the group settled on combines cutting edge technology, with Cemal’s notion of easily shared data to empower self care.

The handheld smart scanner dubbed: ToothScan uses spectroscopy method to search for problems in teeth, and places the information onto a smartphone app, encouraging people to take charge of their own dental health.

Following the ideation of the product, a team of experienced medical and financial high-flyers were brought on board via personal connections and common interests. Mrs. Sivan Abenson-Zohar, a business strategy advisor who has previously worked with NASA, Mr Matt Lechner MD PhD with a long standing research career as well as a senior financial

Ambitious Chiclet juggles growing healthcare business with GP training

@c_kavasogullari

My exams are this year and it’s very challenging to manage my time between work, study and the business. Fortunately, my supervisor is supportive.

T


advisor Mr. Panikos Teklos joined the board adding years of senior executive experience to the company.

Development and testing is ongoing, with the business winning prestigious awards even before it starts trading.

This summer the company also got on board the Entrepreneurial Spark business accelerator programme within the Glasgow Hatchery.

Cemal said: “The Entrepreneurial Spark programme is really helping me, as I am a trained as a medical doctor and not a businessman. The process taught me to be clear on communicating our aims and get the message across very concisely. You literally have one minute to push through years of work and ensure it makes sense, because if you can’t do that, you don’t understand the business angle.

Cemal and team mate Tim Tang an Imperial College Business School alumnus also recently travelled to Warsaw, Poland for an event which saw 300 of the most innovative and promising startups pitch their business ideas to a judging panel of leading businessmen and women. After beating the competition, Innovative Healthcare Solutions walked away with the top prize of $100,000.

The company has also made it to the finals of both the Scottish Edge Young EDGE awards and The Duke of York’s Pitch@Palace, amongst other ventures.

“Since joining Entrepreneurial Spark our business has developed and grown with the help of the expert support and advice from our Mentors and Enablers,” said Cemal.

The speed with which the business has moved from armchair concept to major plans is even more astonishing considering that Cemal is a full-time working junior doctor. He currently seeks to qualify as a GP.

“I’m in the final year of my training and my exit exams are this year. It’s very challenging to manage my time between work, study and the business. Fortunately, I have an amazing team working with me on the project and my supervisors have been extremely supportive.”

“Being a GP will be a good place to be from a business point of view. It will keep my feet on the ground, allow me to understand the health sector in the most direct way possible and it’s not something I want to give up completely.”

“In fact, our project is very well linked to general practice, because it can potentially have a very big impact on people’s general health and wellbeing. My original concept was about bringing relevant information to people to enable them to tackle health problems before they develop. Teeth are a good place to start as they are closely linked to many other long term conditions like diabetes, obesity and heart disease.”

Cemal strongly believes in ToothScan’s potential to contribute to one of the biggest consumer trends currently occurring in the health sector: self-care.

He said: “Whether that’s by monitoring sleep patterns, blood pressure or calorie intake, people across the UK and further afield are becoming more engaged in looking at how they can improve their health and maintain a good quality of life.

ToothScan takes this idea of self-care to the next level by allowing consumers to monitor their oral health and adjust their lifestyle accordingly to ensure a longer, happier and healthier life.”

ToothScan is very well linked to general practice, because it can potentially have a very big impact on people’s health

Cemal Kavasogullari, co-founder of Innovative Healthcare Solutions, with his Enabler Kevin Walls


TIPS ON PITCHING

Impress potential investors, customers, and the business community in

Know what you’re going to say and say it clearly. Make sure everyone fully understands what you’re trying to say – be straight and don’t try to impress with overly flowery language.

Concentrate on covering off the main elements: the painpoint, your solution, business model, size of the prize and your ask.

Know your numbers, and have your forecasts and realistic plan ready to go.

Fully engage with your audience, make them see the person within the business as well as hearing your pitch.

And finally, make sure you

Be memorable! There’s nothing worse than pitching to someone who won’t remember you as soon as you walk out of the room. It wastes everyone’s time and won’t give you any return. Be yourself, but be memorable. practice practice practice!

If I tapped your shoulder and asked for your 60s pitch could you impress me

60seconds


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Enablement Advice You’re only as good as the people

you surround yourself with, so why settle for business advice from anyone other than the best?


Harper MacLeodPaula Skinner, Partner@PaulaHarperM

Having worked with entrepreneurs and early stage businesses for a number of years, advising on the

legal aspects of business, we have developed a good idea of what the most common issues faced by these businesses are.

Some of the main problems we see include:

• Companies being set up with a 50/50 ownership in the absence of any shareholder’s agreement to govern this relationship. Although legally there is no issue with such ownership, this has the potential to lead to deadlock if both shareholders do not agree, or fall out in the future. Having some form of agreement between founders is critical.

• When businesses are initially established different people are often involved in the concept, branding and design. It is important that businesses ensure any intellectual property created is assigned to the company e.g. logo, software code. This can be done by way of an initial contract with the designer, or by an assignation once it has been created.

• Lack of record keeping by businesses can lead to problems in the future, especially when the considering investment or a sale. When due diligence is carried out in relation to investment or sale, it is crucial that the business is organised and knows where all of the important documents are, and that signed copies can be accessed quickly.

KPMGIain Moffatt, Head of Enterprise in the UK@Iain_Moffatt

The number one mantra that we repeat time and time again during our conversations with Chiclets is a relatively short and simple one: know your numbers.

This is something that should be hard-wired into the brain of every entrepreneur, but sadly, is one of those things that all too often falls to the bottom of the to-do list.

Put simply, working capital projections are one of the most important things you can ever put together. Too many businesses run into trouble because of a failure

Royal Bank of ScotlandGordon Merrylees, Head of Entrepreneurship@GordonMerrylees

In the recent RBS entrepreneurship monitor almost half of people in Britain said they would like to own their own business. 56% of those however are held back by a fear of failure and almost the same number of people say there is not enough support locally to help them succeed.

At Royal Bank of Scotland we’ve been looking at these results with interest. While it is great news that so many people want to be self-employed, it is a concern that such a large number are worried about failing and don’t feel there is enough support locally.

Our partnerships with organisations like Entrepreneurial Spark and The Prince’s Trust are deliberately designed to remove these barriers. Entrepreneurial Spark Hatcheries are based in city centres across Scotland, England and Northern Ireland – not centralised in one place. We’ll be opening a Hatchery in Wales in August 2016 and the aim is to base all of these facilities at the heart of entrepreneurial communities, where they are accessible to the very people who were highlighted in the entrepreneurship monitor.

Our experience tells us that while lending is important, early stage businesses are looking for advice, access to networks, opportunities, facilities and contacts. We want to help release people’s potential where ever they are based and ensure startups across the UK succeed and help grow the economy.

to manage cash properly, so forecasting is a frequent and crucial area to consider when trying to turn the growth aspirations for your business into reality.

While initially there will be a lot of assumptions, getting your head around the numbers helps you gauge where you're at, and you can even tweak the forecast as time goes on so that it becomes more accurate month by month. Being on top of the numbers will also help avoid losing value on a future contract or transaction – either on external investment or a deal.

With templates and step-by-step advice from KPMG mentors available, putting numbers down on paper is really not as scary as it sounds. And in the long-term, it could be the crucial difference between success and failure.


*Source IPSOS Business Elite Europe Survey, 2014

#AskJimDuffyHaving set up his own business, and worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs on growing and scaling theirs, Entrepreneurial Spark Chief Executive Optimist Jim Duffy is expertly placed to offer advice to budding entrepreneurs and small businesses.

“Don’t be a slave to your inbox, check it first thing in the morning and intermittently throughout the day, with the aim of answering priority emails and clearing the rest”

“Practice makes perfect! If you get stuck when you’re pitching be as honest as you can. You can always follow up with your audience afterwards to clarify your points”

“Managing your time when starting your own business is so important! Know what you’ve got to do, plan your time effectively and don’t be afraid to delegate”

“It’s key that entrepreneurs are motivated, comfortable with being uncomfortable and most importantly have the right #GoDo attitude if they want to succeed in business”

“When building a team make sure they have bought in to your vision, and always employ A players”

“Network online and offline, you should be constantly building a relevant network”

“When pitching it’s imperative you know your audience, keep it short, snappy and interesting. Start with a question or anecdote to engage your audience and keep them listening”

“It’s important to have meaningful conversations and build rapport at networking events, don’t forget to stay true to your outcomes”

“Surround yourself by people who will challenge you to deliver what you said you will, this will keep you motivated to achieve your goals”

Find out when the next session is, and what topic will be discussed, by visiting Jim’s website at jim-duffy.com

Do you have a question you would like to ask Jim? Get involved in the next #AskJimDuffy Q&A session on twitter by tweeting @GoDo_Today using #AskJimDuffy

Deep in thought!


Events1. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn MP visits the Entrepreneurial Spark Brighton Hatchery

2. Jim Duffy addresses the Brighton Summit

3. Jim Duffy and Gordon Merrylees of Royal Bank of Scotland pick up the UK gong for Innovation in Supporting Business at the Financial Innovation Awards

4. Lady Michelle Mone meets Chiclets, including Alexis Viswanathan of Alphabet Babies, as part of her Mone Review visit to Entrepreneurial Spark

5. Melanie Lawson, founder of Bare Biology, tells Secretary of State for Business Sajid Javid MP all about her range of luxury Omega 3 supplements on the Entrepreneurial Spark stand at Conservative Party conference in Manchester

6. Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale visits the Entrepreneurial Spark Brighton Hatchery

7. Bristol Chiclets win at the #GoDoAcceler8 awards

8. Entrepreneurial Spark Enablers welcome the newest Chiclets to join the business accelerator programme in Scotland

9. Entrepreneurs celebrate winning over £65,000 at the Scottish Entrepreneuring Awards

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Upcoming Events

At Entrepreneurial Spark our team are constantly out and about at different events, making connections and learning new skills. Alongside the great programme of events available to our Chiclets, including a fortnightly #GoDoEventNight, Piranha Pits, and dedicated workshops hosted by experts including RBS, NatWest, Ulster Bank and KPMG there are a fantastic range of external events which benefit not only entrepreneurs but the overall business community.

Every issue we’ll include some information on upcoming events, so if you’re hosting something you think our Chiclets or the general business community would be interested in, drop us an email on [email protected]

SURGE Tues 23rd & Wed 24th February Named ‘the best technology conference on the planet’, Web Summit will take place in India this year. With over 42,000 people from more than 134 countries attending the previous Web Summit, this year’s event looks set to be even more spectacular. Championing those in the tech industry, particularly female entrepreneurs, a range of high profile speakers will take to the stage in Bengaluru during the two-day event to give their advice to startups and small businesses on how to grow and scale their business.

#GoDoAcceler8 Wednesday 13th April#GoDoAcceler8 events will be taking place in Hatcheries across the UK marking the half way point in the six-month accelerator programme, with a focus on building people who build great businesses,

Following the daytime event, which also gives Chiclets an opportunity to reflect on how far they’ve come over the past six months, the #GoDoAcceler8 Awards will see Chiclets across the country winning a share of £90,000 in cash prizes.

#GoDoBootcamp Mon 1st till Tues 9th February Entrepreneurs will come together at various locations across the UK to take part in their first Entrepreneurial Spark Bootcamp. While at the event the next generation of entrepreneurs will gain an insight into the coming months on the business accelerator programme, learning about the importance of having a validated business, knowing your customer and ensuring you use their insight, thinking lean and the mindsets and behaviours of an entrepreneur.

LAUNCH Festival March 2nd – 4th, San Francisco Billed as the greatest start-up conference in the world, with 15,000 attendees, four stages, and 250 speakers, LAUNCH Festival focuses on helping founders build, scale, and fund the next generation of outstanding companies.

With a number of high profile speakers attending the event, alongside the opportunity for a Q&A with industry experts and tactical advice on building and growing your business, the event is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs at every level.


ASK: Muddles Beverages are looking for a drinks manufacturer who can process and bottle their drinks for a nationwide client

COMPANY: We make muddles, which are unfiltered, handmade & herb-infused fruit drinks

CONTACT: [email protected]

ASK: Nourish.growcookenjoy are looking to meet a buyer in the Wholefood industry

COMPANY: We create delicious and nourishing gluten, dairy and refined sugar free Coconut Macaroons


ASK: Puddle Lane Duck are looking for an introduction to a senior buyer from Waitrose to speak about having their unique organic duck eggs stocked

COMPANY: We supply fresh, free range organic duck eggs to shops, restaurants and wholesalers


ASK: Popagami are looking to meet someone interested in publishing their new children’s activity book series, licensed by WWF-UK with celebrity endorsement from Dougie Poynter

COMPANY: We have created innovative, fun, and educational origami animal characters that can be used for greeting cards, gift containers, and as finger puppets


ASK: TaxiFone are looking to meet organisations interested in generating ongoing income by providing customers with a free taxi phone service

COMPANY: We supply, install and manage the service of free taxi phone systems across multi-site organisations such as supermarkets & retail outlets


ASK: Al Start (Go Kid Music) Brighton are looking for introductions to anyone who works in, or produces, children’s TV – Cbeebies/CBBC, CITV or digital channels

COMPANY: We are a brand new production company from Al Start specialising in children’s music


ASK: air2eau are looking to meet with the person responsible for overseeing carbon emissions and sustainability in BP

COMPANY: We supply the purest water available through our innovative water generation system. ‘Water out of thin air’ is our delivery promise


ASK: My Slice Pizza are looking to meet a major supermarket buyer to talk Roman square sliced pizza

COMPANY: An authentic Roman pizza slice bar, we serve fresh and healthy pizza al taglio, inspired by the street food vendors of Rome, to pizza lovers across Brighton.


ASK: Crowcreation are looking to talk with general managers or marketing managers of hotels in the UK about their website development, for market research purposes

COMPANY: We provide web design and marketing tools for the hotel, B&B and serviced accommodation sector


ASK: ConnectJustice are looking to meet someone from the IT sector who develops online training platforms

COMPANY: We are a social enterprise whose aim is to build trust between police, communities and state agencies around extremism and exploitation


Do you want to help the next generation of entrepreneurs grow and scale their business? Can you provide an introduction to their next big investor, or set up a meeting with a potential customer? If so, get in touch using the contact details below and give someone the ability to #GoDo today.

Top 20 asks from Chiclets



ASK: Stormburst Studios are looking to speak to people in telesales about their engagement and incentive platform, Spirit

COMPANY: We are a games developer specialising in mobile games and gamified technologies


ASK: ABA Tutorship are looking to speak with an educational psychologist, or the Commissioner for Children with Special Educational Needs

COMPANY: We provide tutors for families who are implementing Applied Behaviour Analysis programmes


ASK: GenRev UK Ltd are looking for an introduction to service/field engineer/technician based businesses within the Home Appliance Support and Vending machine industry

COMPANY: We provide a wide range of services tailored to meet our customers’ requirements, including same day, next day, overnight and palletised delivery services


ASK: Renovate Me are looking to talk to manufacturers of products within the home building industry, to create a buyers group of people who are renovating properties

COMPANY: Renovate Me seeks to make it easier for investors, developers or first time buyers to find their next property project


ASK: PitchForMe are looking for SMEs who would like to pilot an innovative recruitment solution for free, for two months, to help find the best people

COMPANY: We provide employers with an easy and effective web-based solution which allows them to find people who truly fit their firm’s culture. Our intelligent screening, with personality profiles and video pitching, reduces the time and costs spent finding the best hires


ASK: Football Road Trips are looking to speak with somebody who is experienced in dealing with travel logistics, especially involving European travel

COMPANY: We create tailor made road trips to some of Europe's most exciting football cities


ASK: Move it or Lose it are looking to speak to people who have licensed their business model, particularly one that is based on either fitness or other instructional classes

COMPANY: We are a social enterprise leading the way in improving the health and wellbeing of older people through effective, fun and inclusive exercise


ASK: Plato Solutions are looking to speak with a HR Director in a FTSE 250 company

COMPANY: We have developed Plato, a web-based idea and knowledge sharing tool that companies use to promote improvement of processes and systems, whilst developing engagement and creating a culture of innovation.


ASK: The NUBI Hub are looking to connect with companies like Adidas, Nandos, and any other brands trying to reach the young, millennial market through media campaigns

COMPANY: We are NUBI. A creative collective, online magazine and a design, web & production company


ASK: Miss Macaroon are looking for an introduction to Network Rail CSR and sustainability leaders, or station managers, to help them take their Miss Macaroon luxury hand carts to key stations across the country

COMPANY: We create the very best, hand-crafted, premium macaroons in our Miss Macaroon shops, while also providing employment and work experience for young people not in employment education or training




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skyscanner.net

Graze shipped its first boxes of healthy snack food the day that Lehman Brothers collapsed. It wasn’t the ideal start for a company that was aiming firmly at the office workers’ market, even if it could avoid the financial and funding calamity that was about to befall many firms.

At that point, the firm was being staffed and run by seven innovative and enthusiastic friends who had quit their jobs to start the business. Its current chief executive – Anthony Fletcher – had yet to join them. According to him, the spiralling financial crisis was the least of Graze’s problems.

When he first encountered the original product shortly after, in 2009, Fletcher felt that the box containing apple slices and cashew nuts was “terrible”. However, he was impressed by the idea behind Graze, and using his charm and experience at fast growing soft drinks brand Innocent, he talked himself into the job of getting the product right.

Despite a few years working on smoothie recipes, and a masters in chemistry from Oxford, Fletcher

wasn’t planning to rely on his own good taste or technical knowledge. He knew that the customer was key, and Graze’s system meant it had access to as much feedback as it could take.

“It’s important to remember that things didn’t take off for us at first,” he said in a recent mentorship video. “But the advantage of being a technology business is that we get a lot of feedback from our customers, and that helped us to get it right.”

Fletcher, who took over the business in a private equity-backed management buyout in 2012, believes that technology will play an increasingly key role in the food industry in years to come for exactly that reason. So far, it is perhaps the sector which has least been disrupted by the digital revolution, but direct sellers like Graze are showing just what can be done when the vast volumes of consumer data now available are harnessed.

“In order to fully leverage the opportunities of the online food market there needs to be a clearly defined strategy around building your brand, as well as

Despite experience devising smoothies at Innocent, innovative chief executive Anthony Fletcher knew that Graze customers were the key to good taste. He says listening and adaptation trump conviction every time.

@AnthonyBFletch

50 SHADES of GRAZEFive minutes with Graze CEO ANthoNy FletchEr

I LOVE BEING A GRAZER

AMAZINGGRAZE!


listening to and understanding your customers,” Fletcher has written. “At graze.com we have developed our brand through direct interaction with consumers, building a strong identity despite having no storefront or traditional retail presence.

“Our in-house developers and engineers have designed proprietary technology that analyses data collected from customers and responds to their needs and preferences by continuously creating new and innovative snacks.”

Hiring top talent out of some of Britain’s biggest tech and consumer firms, Graze has developed its own “taste algorithm”, DARWIN (Decision Algorithm Rating What Ingredient’s Next), which tailors each customer’s box and uses customer behaviour and feedback to determine the combination, type and portion of snacks.

The company receives more than 15,000 product ratings every hour, and its algorithm can second guess a customer’s

tastes and dietary requirements as it builds up a picture of them. The data is constantly being used to create new snacks, designed with the customers (or “grazers”) in mind. Such a product has a huge advantage over one designed conventionally without the benefit of feedback, and this innovative use of data is the way Fletcher feels that the market is going.

“Our vast bank of customer data analytics has helped us to produce products which are not available from traditional retailers and allow us to deliver new products fast,” he said. “It allows us to enhance our customer experience by taking risks and surprising our customers with a product selection that they might like but not necessarily choose. This ability to respond quickly and engage with customers is one of the crucial benefits of having an online channel.”

The data-based approach forms a virtuous circle, as customers learn that feedback leads to new and exciting snacks that fit their personal tastes. At the same time,

with a company like Graze the feedback process itself is fun, almost part of the product.

Last year the concept proved crucial to Graze’s hugely successful US launch. Within hours, Graze had at least one subscriber in every state, starting the feedback and social media loops that powered it to a sales rate of $35m a year after twelve months. The firm says its US operation is already profitable, despite the high-profile failure of UK retailers such as Tesco to make the American market work for them.

It is a reminder, if ever one was needed, that the customer is always right. Fletcher feels that adapting to the market, rather than obstinate perseverance on an original idea, is the key to entrepreneurship. With the data available from the digital channel, there is now no excuse for not giving a customer exactly what they want.

“No matter how passionate you are about it, your first idea might not be right, and you’ve got to be prepared to change,” he said.

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The Spark Magazine

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Transcript of The Spark Magazine