Like finding a suitable name for a new band that you are going to launch, much time is wasted in defining luck and the importance it plays in business success. I like the definition that luck is where opportunity meets preparation.

A successful friend of mine told me that he believes that most of us (but not all) get the same amount of luck in life. It is just that some people are able to take advantage of it and some people pass up on the opportunity.

When I purchased my very first property to rent out, I remember someone close to me at the time telling me not to do it because “if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it”. It is true that you should avoid acting with the herd, but equally, it is not a good reason to not do something.

If you pardon this ego-trip, I would like to share the history of my Canada experience with you and highlight the role that ‘accident’ has played in my latest venture which I am very excited about.

My good friend and business partner, Fergus got off a plane from Portugal and told me that he thought I should write a blog. This was over a year ago – and with a lot of help from him, I started writing a blog.

This blog got ‘picked’ up by some Canadians working at the National Angel Capital Organisation and a guy called Bryan Watson – started commenting on my blog and being very encouraging about the whole thing. Before his comments, the whole thing felt very lonely! I was as a result of this invited to speak at their Annual Conference in Halifax Nova Scotia, 11 months ago.

Whilst there, I met some very interesting people including someone who worked for a great University based there called St. Mary’s University. When I next visited Halifax in February this year, I spoke at the University to some business students. I also met a person there who invited me to have lunch with her and some of her business partners.

At that lunch on the last day of my trip some interesting discussions emerged and it seemed possible that there could be the makings of an interesting business venture between us.

Earlier this year, I was also at a European Angel Conference in Madrid and I met many of the Canadians I had first met in Halifax last October again, including the President of the Organisation.

I then went to Halifax for five weeks in May this year to start this business venture. It was obvious after just two days for reasons that I won’t go into (for fear of being sued!) this venture was not going to work. I then contacted my old friends from the conference and they invited me to a few dinners and networking events. By ‘accident’ at one of these dinners, I happened to be sat next to two company executives who were both looking at the UK market for their business. I was able to help them (and since then I have invested in one of them).

Because of this evening, I was also introduced to some local government officials who were able to put me in touch with other companies that I could help and as a result of this, I was able to get a lot of paid work to help local companies – and am now going back to Canada at least one week in four.

In the interim, I have been able to use this experience of Canadian and UK angels to launch a new venture with the head of the Canadian Angels called www.newmarketspartners.com

This venture will bring 25 of the most promising Angel funded Canadian businesses into the UK on September the 30th. These companies are looking for UK based angels with market expertise and contacts in their chosen fields to help them expand into the UK.

There is another trip taking place on November the 25th in Toronto where UK companies looking to expand into North America will be invited to present to North American based Angels with strong market expertise.

The partners in this venture believe that angels add most value when their money is combined with expertise and market know-how.

If you are an angel – please email me and I will be able to send you an invite to the event. If you are a company looking to expand into North America, please get in touch via the website.

Back to the point of the blog! When I talk to entrepreneurs, what strikes me is how fluid their plans were and what an important role accident played in shaping the way their business looks today.

The lesson here is to go with the flow – but always be looking for new ways in which you can help others.

I do hope you found this blog useful – who knows what this may lead to for me or for you!

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The recession has claimed many victims so far (a future blog will talk about my own loss) and it will continue to claim victims over the run of its course. However, there is something unedifying about the way Sir Fred Goodwin, the former Chief Executive of Royal Bank of Scotland has been made public enemy number one in the UK.

We all have a need to have scapegoats in situations and I cannot say that I have not been relieved in the past where my own culpability in a situation has been overlooked because someone else has emerged as a scapegoat. But having a scapegoat can hide something far worse than who is to really blame; it allows the problem to not be fixed.

For those of you who have not been living in the UK or reading the news in the last week, here is a summary of the situation. Sir Fred ran RBS for a number of years. During his years at the helm, he grew the business from a small business based in Scotland to a global leading financial powerhouse through a series of daring acquisitions which included NatWest (which at the time was far bigger than RBS). In 2007, at the height of the banking boom, Sir Fred oversaw the bank’s successful takeover of ABN Amro – a Dutch banking giant.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the whole thing went horribly wrong to the extent that the taxpayer had to bail out the bank. (UK taxpayers now own about 70% of the bank). The UK taxpayer has effectively had to bail out a bank to the tune of £300bn (amount that has been insured or has been used as capital). It has since emerged that Sir Fred, who is 50, is on a pension of £693,000 a year from now until the end of his life.

The government is now wading in with cabinet ministers saying he will not be allowed to keep this pension and that they will bring in legislation to prevent him from taking his pension. I understand the considerable anger that the public feel towards effectively having the public purse pay such a large pension to a person whose business mistakes have already cost hundreds of billions. But it is a dangerous and bad precedent.

Public opinion is a dangerous instrument for public policy. Like our brethren in the United States, we do not live in an Athenian democracy; we live in a representative democracy. The thought of the British Prime Minister with his heavy work load at the moment having the time to work out the pension arrangements of one person is simply terrifying!

No, I do not think Sir Fred should take such a large pension from the ‘public purse’, but I think it is more dangerous for politicians to get involved in a commercial contract which is not illegal.

The business point of all of this is that we must defend the right for private contracts to remain enforceable. It sets a very bad precedent when governments influenced by fickle public opinion seek to unravel private arrangements.

I am not defending Sir Fred, because I think he is right to take such a large pension after presiding over such a disaster. But it is a decision for him. I will defend his right to insist on the contract being enforced. Business angels will sometimes do very well from investments – but even spectacular home runs have the effect of merely averaging out the bad ones. What if the returns are seen as too good? Will we have legislation preventing anyone from making more than say 10% on investments?

The biggest danger of course with the scapegoat chasing is that we don’t look into the real causes of what went wrong. Blaming the state of the UK banks on one person’s over ambitious nature is frankly too simplistic an explanation.

To not understand what really got us into this mess would be a real crime.

Related articles by Zemanta

• RBS posts record $34 billion loss (cnn.com)
• HSBC chief executive to waive bonus (guardian.co.uk)
• Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension topped up to £16m (telegraph.co.uk)

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Adam Smith (1723-1790)

I have always been curious and fascinated by Darwin and the theory of evolution. Whilst, not universally accepted as an explanation of where man came from, it has always been the most plausible explanation for me. I feel that as nations, we have evolved distinct patterns of behaviour and taste that have given certain nations an advantage in certain business sectors.

The theory of comparative advantage in Economics (espoused by Adam Smith) holds that if each country simply focuses on what it is best at producing, the whole world will be a better place. This is a much loved theory by those of us who believe globalization to be a good thing (which I think it is!). However, if this theory was to have been put to practice by the whole world, the Japanese would still only be selling rice and silk to the rest of the world as those were the only industries they had a comparative advantage in after the Second World War.

However, with the help of central government direction and massive investment, the Japanese (and other far eastern countries following their example), have developed a population with a real passion for electronic gadgets. It is curious how in Britain we look to the East for our technology and the West for our social, political and cultural influences. The fact that the local population are always on the look out for new gadgets and technology allows Japanese companies to innovate and experiment and maintain their lead as they know the local population will purchase the results of this innovation.

The Italians, who have long been considered ultra fashionable, have for the same reason developed the worlds biggest fashion houses. Having a local discernible consumer base helps these companies try out new fashions knowing that if they succeed in Italy, they are likely to succeed in the rest of the world. And if any of you doubt this proposition, I suggest you take a trip to Milan to see this for real.

Because of the empire, the British have had considerable experience in exporting capital which is one of the reasons why London has developed such a sophisticated financial centre and leads the world in services around capital export such as shipping and insurance.

Finally, the fact that there is no speed limit in Germany, explains, why they have been able to develop such powerful automobile companies. The consumer in Germany will value speed in a car as they will be able to put this technology to good use. In theory, why would anyone in the UK need a car that can do more than 70 mph? (The maximum speed limit)

If you remember that great film, Cool Runnings, you will know that the central joke was that a team from the Caribbean would take part in a winter sport! In the same sense, when you are looking at starting or growing a business, you would do well to explore countries or cultures where your product may have a latent advantage.

I invested in a start up called ICUE, ( www.icue.co.uk ) which allows you to download books on to your mobile phone. It seemed like a risky business proposition, but what persuaded me was seeing the market that existed for this type of service in Japan.

My advice from all of this is to get you to look at markets where your product is most likely to already have evolved or is cutting edge. If you are in renewable energy - find out what is happening in California. If you are developing a fast food proposition, make a trip to New York. If you are starting a new fashion label, see what people are doing in Milan.

I hope this advice proves useful.

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I hope you do not mind me using this Blog to advertise a few things. Feedback and your comments will tell me whether I have succeeded or not!

Advert #1 - MD Position - One of the businesses I have invested in is looking for a new MD. It is a great business in the Telecoms sector based in Manchester (UK). The company is in a fast growth phase and needs someone with experience to help guide it through the inevitable problems of fast growth.

The business has a fantastic board and has proved its large growth potential. The package will be heavily biased towards stock options rather than salary and it is hoped that the candidate will be excited by the possibility of making a big difference to this business.

If you are interested please email me at pvalia@businessangelblog.com

Advert #2 - Business Angel Assistant - I am also looking to recruit someone who might consider working with me on a part-time or full time basis. The work would be varied and would have a bit of everything. I need someone who is very interested in business and would like to work for six months (and then we can see how it suits both of us) and would see this as an opportunity to learn lots about different businesses.

I would expect this person to manage my diary, the relationships I have with companies I have invested in and readers of this blog. You would also be assessing and screening a lot of business plans that I get. I will not be able to pay much but I would hope it would be a really interesting role based in London Bridge.

Advert #3 - Available Non-Execs - If there are equally any businesses out there looking for Non Executives - I have a few really good people who have contributed enormously to businesses I have invested in and either as part of their own career path or because they want to do it all over again they are seeking opportunities as Non-exec roles. Who knows I might be tempted!

Advert #4 - High Growth Program I should also mention a program that I am involved in for businesses based in London only at this stage (it is a pilot and if successful will be rolled out across the country)

The program is looking for just 35 businesses that are planning for high growth and have a turnover of £1m. There are a few conditions - but if you are interested, please do email me and I will be happy to send you more details.

I really hope you don’t mind this Blog post. I promise you these will be few and far between.

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