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The Next Thing that Will Unseat Twitter: Here is the Recipe
This is a guest post by Emily McDaid a BtoB and BtoC PR expert for the digital industries and telecommunications markets.
Emiliy McDaid
As Twitter becomes less and less conversational and more and more “one-way broadcasting”, a next Twitter needs to barge into the scene.
Take a look how the latest big Twitter stories were covered in mainstream press:
- Iran conflict – citizen journalism to get the word out when ‘real’ journalism was stifled – one way broadcasting.
- MJ death – yeah, sure, a lot of people Tweeted about it. A blog still broke the news, just like what would have happened with a big news event 8 years ago
- Habitat’s horrendous attempt at a social media advertising campaign, highjacking stories of human suffering to push furniture – one way broadcasting on crack
- Ashton Kutcher’s one million followers tirade – if he thinks it proves that he wants to converse with a million fans, rather than just broadcast to the world how ’special’ he is, his ego has damaged his ability to reason
Half the Tweets coming up are one-way thoughts rather than conversation starters or links to interesting stuff. And when finally an interesting two-way conversation does come up between two followers, you have to click into one or both profiles to see what they said first, then click back for the next comment, then so on. Its confusing, distracting and does not add to the conversation.
A lot of early Twitterers were worried that as Twitter became more mainstream, it would somehow ‘get worse.’ I’m starting to believe it is getting worse. But I don’t think the primary reason is that it’s becoming mainstream.
Twitter is a breakthrough tool and I’m still a fan. But the Twitter team should be busy with improving and evolving its UI to amplify the two-way conversational tools and steer it away from the one-way broadcasting direction.
The UI is clunky and lacking basic functionality. Sorry to be harsh Twitter, but you are one of the most talked about technologies on the market today and your UI still needs a Tweetdeck for people who want more? Houston, we have a problem.
Twitter has allowed a door to open for the next big thing to stir things up. Here is our recipe for The Next Twitter – a groundbreaking conversation tool, its a freebie, it’s brilliant:
1. Take the easiest web interface you can find, and make it interoperable with mobile (similar to what Twitter has done – we applaud them for their mastery of simplicity).
2. Shamelessly copy the follow / unfollow brilliance of Twitter. It’s subtle and it works.
3. Make search absolutely central to the tool. Don’t confuse ’simple UI’ with ‘featureless’ and don’t kid yourself that any feature is more important than search.
4. Combine microblogging with elements of old-fashioned message boards, being the best of both, minus the annoying elements. Give people the ability to see entire conversations in a single glance on one screen, using plus/minus buttons so you can dig further into the conversations you want to see, and minus out of the ones you don’t care about – all without having to navigate to a new screen.
5. Initially, focus on need to have instead of nice to have: convincing people how they can use it for their jobs and hobbies – Facebook’s already got the masses’ personal lives in the can
6. Excite and engage the media and PR scenes to get the word out most quickly
7. Shamelessly market yourself as the thing that will unseat Twitter. The technology business world needs to take more lessons from athletes when it comes to bold, brash, super competitive statements
8. Be really strict with bots and spammers to keep them firmly out
9. Shake up the above ingredients, don’t stir. Stick it in the oven and watch the world take notice
Do you agree with the recipe? Have other points to add? Let us know. We are dying to see this mystery tool be developed as we want to start using it now.
UK’s Most Influential Person in Online Fashion: CEO of Startup Koodos
Miriam Lahage (photo middle) of Koodos recently won The Online Fashion 100 Award, organized by Leon Bailey-Green (see photo left) and supported by The Independent. The guide is a who’s who in online fashion, with some of the most important people behind the UK’s online fashion industry included in the list. With the award Miriam is recognized as the most influential person in online fashion. The NextWomen asked her some questions:
What is the USP of Koodos?
“Koodos connects wonderful brands with customers who can appreciate them. We do so by helping brands to sell their excess in an upscale environment where they can be proud of the presentation. The brands can retain as much involvement over the process as they like. Because Koodos works on a percentage basis with the brands, it feels less like a buying and selling relationship and more like a partnership.”
Why do you think you got the Fashion100 prize?
“The role I play in the market is often as a connector—we at Koodos work with designers, manufacturers, retailers, photographers, stylists, journalists, and online media partners. We end up working and connecting with lots of players in the market. I am lucky enough to have met with and worked with many of the people in that talented Online Fashion 100 group.
I believe people root for the underdog. Koodos is a humble team that delivers a lot to our clients and customers. We have built a business without a lot of resources.
How does the organisation look like? Team, turnover, profit etc.
“We are 12 people, 4 in marketing and PR, 4 in merchandising, 3 in operations, and me. People are always shocked that the koodos team is so small. We don’t share financials but I can say that we have experienced healthy double digit increases.”
What distinguishes you from competitors like net-a-porter?
” I think NAP has done a beautiful job. The koodos customer might go to NAP for inspiration. She is more likely to watch how she spends her hard-earned money than the average NAP shopper.”
traffic netaporter/koodos
How do you deal with competitors?
“Execution of our core business strategy and focusing on delivering great satisfaction to our brand partners and our customers is how we at koodos measure success.
I believe the opportunity for discounted fashion is huge. The additional players in the market serve to legitimise the category. Making sure we execute a proposition with great Fashion, Brands, Quality, Price, and Customer Service every day is how koodos approaches the notion of competition.”
Do you look to startups in the fashion industry? For what reasons?
“We are a start-up, so we are a kindred spirit with other start-ups. Often we can find common ground where we can align our goals and help each other as we help our own start-ups to grow.
I find that start-ups are often more likely to look creatively at how to develop business than traditional companies.
What is your goal with the company? How do you achieve that?
“We believe there is a £100m opportunity in this space. Read more
Techcrunch’ Europas Celebrate Europe-wide Technology Companies: The Nominated Women
Techcrunch is celebrating the tech scene in Europe with the first Europe-wide awards for technology innovation: “The Europas” – The TechCrunch Europe Awards 2009 – that will honour the best tech companies and startups across the web and mobile scene from across the continent of Europe. And voting by the public, you! ends tonight. The Europas Advisory Board will advise on the selection of the top companies voted for per award category, winner and, only where appropriate, also advise on the selection of a ‘Highly Commended’ award finalists they wish to recognise. The awards ceremony will take place July 9 in London, UK. The categories are as follows and voting can be done HERE.
Award categories
Best European Web Application Or Service
Best Design
Best Bootstrapped Startup (less than 3 years old)
Best Social Innovation (which benefits society)
Best Enterprise Startup
Best Cleantech/Environmental Startup
Best Hardware / Real World Gadget
Best Entertainment Application or Service
Best Mobile Startup
Best Mobile Application
Best Startup Founder
Best New Startup in 2008/9
Best European Investor of the Year (VC or Angel fund)
Best Investor Personality
Best Overall Winner
Among the most compelling technology startups, Internet and mobile innovations of the past year, there are the following women involved (if you want to read about them, just search them on the website TheNextWomen, we have a profile on all of them):
Alicia Navarro, Skimlinks
Cary Marsh, Mydeo
Maria Sipka, Linqia
Martha Lane Fox, Luckyvoice
Rachel Armitage, Alistair Hann, jointly, Zoombu
Sarah McVittie, Texperts
Shaa Wasmund, Smarta
Sophie Cox, Worldeka
Wendy White, Moonfruit
Europas Best New Startup Summer 2009-2009
Smarta- Founder Shaa Wasmund
Amazee-Founder Dania Gerhardt
Dopplr-Founder Lisa Sounio
Hubdub- Founder Lesley Eccles
Myngle- Marina Tognetti
Stardoll-Founder Liisa
Webjam- BD Director Lexie Mendelsohn
MyFolia.com- Founder Nicola
Best Entertainment Application
Mippin- CEO Judy Gibbons
AudioBoo- Co-founder Karen Braber
Angel Gambino, Angel
Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp (she is also on the advisory board of the Awards)
Sitar Teli, Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
Sonali de Rijcker, Accel Partners
Amazee- Dana Gerhardt
Dopplr- Lisa Sounio
Worldeka-Sophie Cox
Nominate Your Boss for the Britain’s Best Boss Award
 Ruth Badger (Kip Carroll on Flickr) Ruth Badger, who famously went head-to-head with the eventual 2006 Apprentice winner, Michelle Dewberry, is urging employees to nominate their bosses by July 15 for the Britain’s Best Boss Award. Working Families and BT are looking for the unsung heroes of the British workplace – great bosses who help their winning teams achieve a healthy work-life balance. |
The winner of last year’s Britain’s Best Boss competition, NatWest North Regional MD, Chris Brindley explains:
“I think a great boss cares about his or her people and their immediate families – you can’t have a successful business unless you have good people. Looking after your people, listening to them, showing flexibility and helping them to be better at their job will lead to a better service for your customers and stakeholders.”
“I don’t believe it’s more difficult to be a good boss in a recession – to look after your people and say ‘thank you’ doesn’t cost anything.”
You can check if your boss makes the grade with the “Rate Your Boss” quiz at britainsbestboss.com, where you can also nominate them. You can also catch videos of what past winners and employees think makes a great boss, and – new on the site – Ruth Badger tells us what she thinks about working mums, exceptional bosses and, of course, Sir Alan Sugar.
So far – with under a month to go before nominations close – people from large and small organisations all over the UK, in the private and public sectors, have nominated their bosses.
Sarah Jackson, Chief Executive, of work-life balance charity Working Families, who organise the competition said:
“We want to hear about all the unsung heroes out there – the great bosses who make a real difference to people’s working lives and who prove month after month that a happy team is more likely to be effective and improve the bottom line.”
Suzi Williams, Director, Group Marketing & Brand at competition sponsors BT said:
“We’re delighted to be supporting Britain’s Best Boss competition 2009. At BT, we believe in the power of communication. The best bosses are usually great communicators who build engaged and effective teams by bringing people with them. We are committed to celebrating the exceptional bosses who really make a difference to the lives and the success of their employees.”
The closing date for nominations, which are free to submit, is Wednesday 15 July, 2009.
Britain’s Best Boss competition is run by the work-life balance charity Working Families and supported by BT. Working Families and BT are looking for individuals who run successful teams by taking practical steps to help their staff balance their work and home lives. They are creative about flexible working, understand about family emergencies and make sure no one is working long hours on a regular basis. Britain’s Best Boss competition was first launched in 2000 to celebrate the unsung local heroes who show other managers how a happy team with balanced lives makes for a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone.
Founders and Funders are Matched via Newly Launched Growvc.com
Grow VC launched today via invitation-only private beta to enable early stage mobile and web startups to match with investors. The company aims to become the web’s first truly international community-based, open and transparent matching website for early stage investing, answering the problem of traditional venture capital being locally-focused, difficult to obtain, uninterested in smaller investments and structured by a rigid model. Emily McDaid, Head of Communications gave The NextWomen access as follows:
For the readers of The Next Women readers there is an unique code with 50 invitations behind it for a free membership. The code is TNWO50.
Web entrepreneurs who are in the process of finding seed money ranging from $10,000 – $1m USD, should find in the website a community where investors and startups are equals without borders. Grow VC is a web service for private investors, entrepreneurs, and start-up companies, where they can meet each other, discuss companies, business plans, and funding, rate companies and investors, and use tools to help investment process.
Similar companies that have launched recently are TheFunded, Angelsden, CMYPitch and E-factor. In the Netherlands Equitalis and Videoo launched last year to match companies and investors. But these competitors do no seem to bother the new startup: “Cmypitch is only partly based on matchmaking between angels and startups which is Grow VC’s core area. TheFunded is more of a reputation and voting service on VCs, whereas Grow VC is all about early stage funding and much of this will be through angels, not VCs, since VCs are primarily interested in larger deals – this is one of the big barriers to obtaining funding in early stage and one of the problems we are trying to combat. The reputation / commentary part is similar in Grow VC though. VatorTV has similarities in that it also enables startups to gain visibility and build profile with potential investors.
Having a truly transparent approach, Grow VC is founded on the premise that financial investment should be rooted in the same interactive, community-mindset that the Web 2.0 world is noted for. Hence an open, information-finding and reputation-building source is the heart of Grow VC’s groundbreaking model, according to co-founder and CEO, Valto Loikkanen.
“We call it ‘venture capital 2.0’ because it’s the first service with a live, continuous, interactive, open approach to funding,” said Loikkanen.
“Anyone who is passionate about finding and growing the Internet’s next big thing can benefit from joining Grow VC. We are growing a quality, vetted, and respected community and sustainable business model to support the Web’s next rock stars by giving power to the people”.
“Any startup who has become frustrated with the one-sided VC process, as well as any investor who needs one place to find new innovative companies, now have a community to call home.”
And Emily McDaid added: “Grow VC is squarely focused on helping mobile and web 2.0 startup stars secure early stage funding for their business. We are the first to atttempt this startup/angel matchmaking service globally and at low cost (we are a lot less expensive than some of the alternatives). By globally we mean our initial focus is on Europe, US and Asia. Also, we are very pro startup and treat startups and investors as equals. The service is meant to be one community for both sides to meet.
The primary benefit to a startup would be that they can connect with investors who *they want* to work with, no matter where in the world that investor is based. At the heart of Grow VC is the ability to meet and invest with individual investors (people not companies or groups) from anywhere who might have experience or drive to invest, and who can benefit from global divestiture of risk, almost like a kiva.org concept. Angels don’t have to already be in groups. They form their own profiles and their own reputations based on experience and what they’ve invested in previously. This gels with the concept that angels are not who many people think they are: they are not always HNW, retired bankers – they are anyone with an interest in business, of any age and education level.”
UK Innovation Investment Fund for High Growth Tech Startups is Announced
After the Aspire Fund for women-led companies with only £12.5 million pounds, and the £75 million Capital for Enterprise Fund, the government has stepped up its generosity by launching a £150 pound government-backed UK Innovation Investment Fund to invest in technology businesses with high growth potential. In 10 years time, the fund can grow to a £1bn fund. Startups, small ventures and spin-outs, with a focus on digital services and life sciences, clean technology and advanced manufacturing will be able to benefit from the funds.
However, the new UK Innovation Investment Fund will most probably invest into other existing technology funds rather than invest in companies directly. This means that companies could not apply directly to the Fund.
According to theVNUnet news source, some £150m will be provided by a pool of backers comprising the private sector, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department of Health.
The new fund is part of the yesterday unveiled Building Britains Future policy programme of Gordon Brown:
“The fund will provide much-needed support for promising startups and small businesses at a time they need it most. Venture capital finance is the lifeblood of innovation and crucial to ensuring the commercialisation of the discoveries coming out of our research base. The fund will boost future UK competitiveness.”
The last couple of months, there has been much to do, about the diminishing activity of VC’s in the UK. According to Lord Mandelson, the fund is a challenge to UK venture capitalists to follow the governments lead in backing British entrepreneurs in building exciting new companies, investing in new technologies and creating jobs, he said.
Jules Pieri puts Products and their Stories at the heart of her Startup
Jules Pieri from jules.dailygrommet.com
Jules Pieri is founder and CEO of Daily Grommet, which connects shoppers with one unique product – a Grommet- a day by sharing the story behind its creation in a short video. Creatively, the definition of a Grommet reads as follows:
* It’s a wonderful product still waiting in the wings, just ripe for discovery.
* It has great utility, or style, or invention. Or, very often it has all three.
* It comes from a designer, or inventor, or artist, or manufacturer who is clearly passionate about what they create. Someone who loves to share their creations and talk to people about why they do what they do.
* It comes from a company that treats its customers well.
* Finally, like any intelligent or beautiful product, it has a great story, ready to be told.
Eventhough the company puts the product and the story at the core of their business, and thus says that those products, and their creators, and the people who love them (the products, that is) are the real heroes at Daily Grommet, it is Jules who came up with the refreshing concept, based on her long term expertise in strategic products development.
Jules has been building consumer brands and developing innovative products for over twenty years. She held positions in Strategic Planning at Stride Rite Corporation and in Strategic Marketing and Licensing at Keds Corporation. She also worked with Playskool as product strategy consultant, and at Design Continuum, a leading international product design and engineering consultancy. She lived in Ireland from 2001-2005, where she consulted to consumer facing enterprises. Jules’ expertise and enthusiasms span social media, retail, brand, and product strategy.
As a consumer products expert, she considers her core competency to be cultural anthropology; in other words, figuring out why people do the things they do, and making businesses and products that respond to real consumer behaviours and needs. Jules often writes about these topics on her blog, and also contributes to Intent.com, a wellness destination for capturing and sharing peoples’ intentions – personal, social, spiritual and environmental.
Jules studied Industrial Design, Graphic Design, and French at the University of Michigan, and was conferred an MBA degree by Harvard University, where she was selected by faculty members to receive the Ellis-LeBaron Fellowship. Following her blog gives you insight in the design, social media, cultural anthropology and her own start-up.
Vote now for the Addidi Inspiration Awards celebrating Female Entrepreneurs in History and their Modern Champions
Entrepreneur and Champion
Voting is open for the Addidi Inspiration Awards, celebrating business women living in times (1650-1950) when it was not common for women to be running businesses. The Award will be awarded to the Female Entrepreneur polling most votes in an online poll. The Winner will be announced at an Award Reception on Thursday July 2nd.
Five businesswomen in history have been short listed and five modern day entrepreneurs have been invited to champion each of these extraordinary women from history.
Vote online for your favourite woman entrepreneur. The closing date for voting is Tuesday 30th June 2009.
Beatrice Gordon Holmes (1884-1951), Britain’s first female stockbroker. She is supported by Modern Day Entrepreneur Judy Gibbons, VC at Accel Partners and CEO at Mippin and speaker at The NextWomen Kitchen dinner.
“I love that Beatrice did it on her own. She wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth. In that generation and even now, some remarkable women broke through, but very often you do find that they had the advantage of a high-class education and a social network of contacts. She didn’t. The male culture too made her always an outsider, but rather than be overwhelmed by the social etiquettes of the day, she didn’t assimilate. She did it without the clubs, without the advantages of that network, and she was probably twice as good.”
Eleanor Coade (1733-1821), Owner Stone Business.
She is supported by Modern Day Entrepreneur Lisa Tse, is a creative businesswoman and designer, and founder and CEO of the Lisa Tse Ltd design agency.
“Eleanor was also one of the first women out there who branded herself. She was aware of the ‘brand’ and how to put her own stamp on everything she did. She named the stone and the company after herself and then promoted it through her own life and hard work and networks, so that the two became synonymous and stood for quality. That was a very innovative and visionary thing to do and is one of the elements that set her apart from her counterparts.”
Hester Pinny (1658-1740), Successful lace trader, family banker, and financier.
She is supported by Modern Day Entrepreneur, Founder and Director of Buy:Time, a lifestyle management and concierge business.
Hester’s sheer achievements and abilities are outstanding even for today. The financial world is still male-dominated, but to go into the financial markets when it was brand new and actually advise people at a time in which it was just beginning, is incredible. But Hester recognised possibilities, and she made them happen. She didn’t have the education, but her social skills and her networking really took her forward. That’s a huge message to people now: to focus on your strong points and not let the uncontrollable get you down. She’s still such a relevant role model. Like so many women today, she felt the tug of her family, and she was torn, but what is amazing is that she found the balance.”
Rosa Lewis (1867-1925), a highly successful catering business and hotelier.
She is supported by Modern Day Entrepreneur Sally Preston, a qualified food scientist and Founder and MD of Babylicious Ltd
“Rosa typifies the can-do attitude of so many incredible woman – just because something wasn’t usual didn’t mean she couldn’t do it, she was determined, she worked hard, she acquired skills, and she innovated her own twist on her industry to make herself modern and relevant. She combined femininity with the grittiness of business in a way that’s so pertinent. Today, the power suits and shoulder pads of the 80s are gone, we know you can get the same outputs using the softer skills that women have. But Rosa realised this way back then.”
Margaret Haig Thomas, Vicountess Rhonda (1883-1958), director of 33 companies, member of the London Chamber of Commerce, and financier and founder of ground-breaking organisations.
She is supported by Modern Day Entrepreneur Shaa Wasmund, online strategist and Founder of Smarta and speaker at The NextWomen events.
“She ran multiple businesses hugely successfully – and through that women like Margaret made so much possible for women today, but even when one of her businesses turned into a loss-making venture, she stuck to her principles and didn’t compromise on what she believed in. The feminist movement was the single most important aspect of her life. It was what it was all for. Of course she wanted to be
successful, but more than that she wanted to change things for other women, particularly those who weren’t as privileged as she was.”
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The Award is the brainchild of Addidi to mark the opening of its private equity club, Addidi Business Angels. Currently less than 5% of business angels are women and the club has been launched as a vehicle to make angel investing more accessible, convenient and fun for its female members.
Anyone who wants to be part of the Awards night, mail simone[at]thenextwomen.com
Television’s Impact on The Status of Women in India
Co-author Emily Oster (Integral Options Cafe)
A recent study from the University of Chicago has shown that simply turning on the television can greatly influence a woman’s social standing in rural India. While the study’s focus did not include the effects found from access to the internet, it is clear to see that by providing a portal into a world across the globe, that women’s lives could be greatly improved.
June 2009. In their paper, “The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women’s Status in India,” University of Chicago Department of Economics professor Emily Oster and Robert Jensen of the University of California, Los Angeles, explore the effect of the introduction of cable television in rural areas of India on a particular set of values and behaviors, namely attitudes toward and discrimination against women.
Measuring the Power of Television
The authors’ analysis is based on a survey of 2,500 women in 180 villages in India; they were interviewed once a year for three years in 2001, 2002, and 2003. These years represent a time of rapid growth in rural cable access. During the three years of the study, cable television was newly introduced in 21 of the 180 participating villages. The analysis in the paper relies on comparing changes in gender attitudes and behaviors between years across villages based on whether (and when) they added cable television. The authors used several measures of the status of women. They began with two measures of attitudes: attitudes toward beating and son preference. Attitudes toward spousal abuse were measured by asking women whether beating is acceptable in six possible situations (if a woman neglects children, is unfaithful, etc.), and counting the total number of situations in which she reports beating is acceptable. Son preference was measured by asking women who want more children whether they want their next child to be a boy.
Jensen and Oster found large effects of cable on both of these variables. Women who live in villages that introduce cable see large declines in both the number of acceptable beating situations and son preference; villages that do not introduce cable see no change. This change happens between 2001 and 2002 for villages that introduce cable in 2002, and between 2002 and 2003 for villages that introduce cable in 2003. In other words, the timing of the change in attitudes lines up with the timing of the change in cable access.
How cable television affects status
Soap operas are among the most popular shows on cable: the most popular show in both 2000 and 2007 (based on Indian Nielsen ratings) is “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi,” (Because a Mother-in-Law was Once a Daughter-in-Law, Also), a show based around the life of a wealthy industrial family in the large city of Mumbai. Many characters on popular soap operas have more education, marry later, and have smaller families – all things rarely found in rural areas; and many female characters work outside the home, sometimes as professionals, running businesses, or in other positions of authority. By exposing rural households to urban attitudes and values, cable and satellite television may lead to improvements in status for rural women. It is this possibility that Jensen and Oster explore in their paper. In particular, they evaluate the effect of the introduction of cable and satellite television on a variety of measures of women’s status: autonomy, attitudes toward spousal abuse, son preference, and fertility. In addition, they explore the effects on education for children, which some authors have argued will increase when the status of women is higher.
“That simply turning on the television can improve a woman’s life as well as that of her children is particularly intriguing in light of the traditional and somewhat more complex approaches to promoting education and enhancing women’s standing in society,” said Oster. “For instance, calls to “empower women” are often vague. Reducing poverty, building schools, and improving teacher quality in order to boost enrollment may be as difficult to accomplish as the problems they are attempting to solve.”
Julie Meyer’s Entrepreneurs Country for European Entrepreneurs (re)Launches
One of our favorite Female Internet Heroes, Julie Meyer, has launched her website Entrepreneur Country during a conference last week we attended in London at the Institute of Directors. As owner of Ariadne Capital, Julie sees many start-ups, SME’s and other ambitious entrepreneurs who are rarely covered by the media.
If you open the newspaper on any day of the week, you’ll see that the media focuses on the FTSE 100 – old, established, “big business”, and on governments who are actively defrauding the “little guy.” The media don’t really start paying serious, regular attention to any emerging company until it has arrived in a big way.
However, as she says, the average company owner, the SME entrepreneur, the Individual Capitalist goes to work each day in a fictional place – let’s call it – “Entrepreneur Country”, which is hardly covered by the media. Entrepreneur Country’s mission is thus to become the entrepreneurial home – the must-read, and the must-contribute-to place – for Europe’s entrepreneurs. One of the first things, Julie had the following recommendations for a prosperous Entrepreneur Country:
1. Individual Capitalism has come of age
The rise of the serial entrepreneur, the micro entrepreneur, the young entrepreneur, the portfolio entrepreneur and the lifestyle entrepreneur has been unmissable over the past decade in the UK. The trend has arisen due to “Individual Capitalism”, a form of business where the basic unit is the individual rather than the corporation, and it has gained enormous momentum. And yet small does become big, and start-ups do change the world, in the process creating jobs, new industries, wealth and pride in our ourselves.
2. Reduce the size of government in order to reduce the tax burden on SME’s
The high PAYE and NIC amounts to HMRC are one of the most debilitating factors in running a private company.
3. Challenge the Media to step out of their comfort zone
Open any national newspaper, and count the number of articles on SME’s or start-ups, and you’ll have to look hard. As consumers of media, we must demand that more coverage of the emerging giants is given to high-growth businesses which are creating new industries.
4. Treat the SME as your corner store Read more
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