Julie Meyer, founder of First Tuesday, Ariadne Capital and online star of Dragons' Den talks New Business through what skills a successful entrepreneur must have, how to attract investment and why all business owners must not underestimate the importance of planning.
How to receive funding
"When it comes to attracting funding from investors, the most important thing is to have already built up contacts before you need the cash. The first thing you have to do is to seduce them by the concept of who you are and then you have to de-risk it.
"You've got to anticipate those reasons why, once you've pulled them in, they might move out again by saying ‘you're probably thinking x, y and z is going to go wrong. Let me tell you why I don't think that is going to happen.'
"It's helping an investor understand the way you think because that's ultimately going to affect the way you run your business. There are all sorts of things that you can inadvertently tell your investor as he or she is prompting you and you can give a lot of signals that you might not necessarily want to."
Being a successful entrepreneur
"The key to being a successful entrepreneur is to be a great leader. One of the best definitions of leadership I heard was from Colin Powell and he said ‘Leaders are people who create the conditions of trust so that great things can happen.' If they're not leaders I wouldn't bet my money on them creating a great business."
Being an optimist is also vital, as is dogged persistence, the ability to work with imperfect information and either having - or hiring - managerial skills. "Not all entrepreneurs are great managers but great entrepreneurs will find a great manager to work with them."
The importance of planning
When it comes to running a business, a proper plan and accurate financial forecasts are essential. "You have to know whether or not you're getting better or worse at forecasting because if you're really off then you've got to look at what's wrong.
"Have you got the wrong business model? Are people not buying what you're selling? I've seen companies that were not led by dumb people not keep their balance sheets up to date. They check after six months and find they're insolvent. In this kind of market, weekly cashflow and monthly financial accounts are vital.
"I often see entrepreneurs who go out getting revenue in from wherever they can, which is understandable, but as a result they get into lots of different businesses and there's no thread that holds them all together," she adds. "So they're a three-man band which is going off in nine different directions as opposed to a core team that is taking Normandy and then marching to Paris and from there straight to Berlin."
Taking responsibility
"Entrepreneurship is all about accepting accountability. The world moves better when the unit of accountability is closely tied to yourself and when the risks that you take and all your dreams are driven by yourself. If you make good decisions you benefit; if you make bad decisions they hurt you. That makes the whole world go round and entrepreneurship is that squared.
"We all start with different kinds of strengths and weaknesses but we all have a unique contribution that we are meant to make. If I can help more people find that unique contribution that would be a great thing to have done with my life."
For more information about Julie please visit www.ariadnecapital.com
