One of the highlights for me of last year was to successfully start up a fund management business – www.flightandpartners.com The company is now managing over £12m and is doing well (very well if you consider the way the markets are performing). In the process of doing this though, I realized how much I enjoy setting something up.

Since December I have been working on another start up business. It is so exciting – it reminded me why I got into this area of business in the first place.

I went to see my first potential customer in Manchester on Friday last week and when he said yes – the feeling of utter joy was marred with my nerves jangling because I realized I now had to deliver!

Starting a business is one of the best feelings you can experience (along with jumping out of an aeroplane – but that is for another day!) You realize that entrepreneurs don’t do these things just for money but for the sheer thrill. I have met many would be entrepreneurs seeking investment from me in the last few years. I do get turned off immediately if I suspect the only desire driving the team is money. It simply is not enough to keep you going.

I also remembered a quote from an entrepreneur that I had worked with on a project a few years ago. She said that you do not have a business until you have a customer. The events of last week brought that to life for me.

Many of us come up with great business ideas and some of us may do something with this idea (like form a company) but very few take the critical step of turning that idea into a business. That is truly the scary bit – but it is about emotions rather than money.

I will not invest in a business that cannot prove strong customer demand. Sometimes all you need is a letter of intent or pre-orders and you have transformed your idea into a business.

My advice in this blog is to all of those of you who have a great idea but have not done something with it….

Go for it – make it happen. I promise you that even if you crash and burn – the thrill of having gone for it will give you a smile that will last for eternity. To misquote Dickens “Better to have loved and failed, than not to have loved at all”

All the best, and as always, I am happy to help.

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