Entrepreneurs share tips for start-up success at Reading's Festival of Digital Disruption
New thinking, experience and sheer drive have never been more essential as we move into a recessionary period and there was no shortage of these three attributes at Reading's Festival of Digital Disruption (FoDD) which saw entrepreneurs share how they are using cutting edge technology to carve out new economic niches.
The Connect TVT event, held in November at the Reading Biscuit Factory, is now in its eighth year and saw a line-up of entrepreneurs give talks to an audience of business professionals and students.
The showcase was run in partnership with the Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship and saw Henley Business School students interview entrepreneurs on stage.
Jurek Sikorski, Executive Director at Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship, said: "Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship (HCfE) is proud to partner and support ConnectTVT and its promotion of all things digital and the start-up ecosystem in the Thames Valley for the benefit of all including the students at Henley Business School of which HCfE is part.
"The real value of the partnership, now almost ten years strong, is the learning experience students take away from attending the events hosted by ConnectTVT, the most significant of all is the Festival of Digital Disruption (FoDD) during which students get to interview entrepreneurs."
Here we look at the key insights and takeaways from entrepreneurs who took part on day one of the festival.
Altitude Angel's Skyway platform seeks to digitise air traffic control for drones.
Founder and CEP Richard Parker said the ability to take decisive action was one of the most valuable attributes that an entrepreneur can have.
"Many companies compete on press releases (saying what they are going to do) whereas we decided to go out and do it. We invested in the hard things to do and then showed them working, he said.
"Don't wait. There is never an appropriate time to start a business as there is always something that will get in the way.
"Get your plan together, get someone to help and get started."
ArchAI helps the construction industry find hidden archeological sites using AI to automatically detect archaeology on earth observation data.
Founder Dr Iris Kramer said it was important to convey the problem that your start-up was trying to solve to investors and not get too tied up in the technology.
She said: "When you are pitching for investment, focus on the problem that you are trying to solve.
"In our case, it was how helpful we were to the construction industry in finding archaeology.
"Don't talk too much about the technology and focus on what your market size is.
"Investors want to know what the opportunity is and how much can you address that market.
"They are also interested in what kind of team you have behind you and what the road map is going to be."
Baked In specialises in home baking and distributes kit boxes through retailers while also having an established subscription business.
Founder Joseph Munns, who was originally a software engineer, said there was value in running your start-up in tandem with a full-time job but the key was knowing when to make the jump.
He said: "It can be really tough having a demanding job and starting a business but the positive is that you still have some money coming in.
"I took a leave of absence from my job at IBM and after that year I gave my notice.
"Use your network to bring in investment. I had investors at hand before I left my job which helped."
James Doherty, founder of Plastic-i, started out his career as a lawyer in London where he studied physics at the Open University alongside his day job.
Plastic-i strives to create a sustainable marine environment by providing interactive maps of marine pollution.
James said choosing who you decided to go into business with a crucial decision.
He said: "Choose your co-founders wisely as you will make a lot of decisions together.
"Choose someone with the right personality type and someone whose skills complement yours.
"Starting your own business doesn't mean giving up your course or job straight away.
"You can test ideas with mock-ups and put that in front of people to see if they are interested as there is no point building something that nobody wants."
Shabbir Mookhtiar, founder of Cook My Grub, delivers home-made food from artisan chefs to its customers base which tops 10,000 and spotted a gap in the market which utilised the army of home cooks in the "cottage economy".
He said: "Our idea was always to try and solve a problem and find a gap in the market.
"We realised there were lots of artisan chefs out there and we spoke to many of them before
developing the app.
"We are doing this for the little guy and targeting it at the cottage economy.
"Anyone can become a chef and get on the platform once they have gone through the relevant training."
Double-Barrelled Brewery, Reading
Luci Clayton-Jones started Double-Barrelled Brewery with her husband after coming up
with a brew to mark their wedding with the brewery's name a nod to Luci taking on a double barrelled surname.
Luci says cash was king at start-ups and that carefully planning cashflow in business plans was essential.
She said: "The hardest thing in our industry is cash flow as you have to buy the ingredients up front, brew the beer then sell it onto pubs who won't pay for 30 days.
"Managing cash flow is key and something that, in hindsight, we wish we had a focus on ten years ago when coming up with the original business plan.
"You have to have that grit and determination to make it work and it can be hard in that stage when you have a job and your own business.
"When you take that leap, it is the only thing that can work. You have no other option but to make it work."
Day two of the Festival of Digital Disruption featured talks from SoundOut's Grace Hammond, Tepeo's Johan du Plessis, Jarvo's Daniel Hillman, Deep Planet's Natalia Efremova, jelly's Suzanne Stallard and Shan Beerstecher of AND Digital.
