Business Angel Blog

There are two main reasons why I never pursued a career in finance (or the City as we in England describe it). One; the city would not have had me. Two; a career in finance appeared to be dull as heaven. (I have been told that heaven is only for people – so the idea of spending eternity as a vegetarian – sounds a bit dull)

Business to me has not been about making money; money is simply the measure of your success in a business venture. It is rather like saying to an athlete – why work so hard for a gold medal – I can buy you one off the shelf. It is about trying to persuade consumers to purchase your product because you have convinced them that your product/ service will be good for them.

People in the city tend to be obsessed about making money for the sake of making money. Don’t get me wrong; they are vital to the interests of the UK economy. The city generates some 25% of the tax revenues for the UK. This idea of introducing salary caps is too be resisted even if people and companies can not be persuaded to reign in their excesses. And the conservative party should be thoroughly ashamed for not defending the rights of people over the age of 18 and companies to enter into private arrangements over what they should be paid for a service that is vital to the national interest.

But the main thing I wanted to say was that people in the City tend to take themselves way too seriously. It must be all that training around money – and yet when they do relax and party – they tend to do so in the most obnoxious and loud way possible. It must be the Medical student syndrome. Those of us who went to University with medics will know what I mean. Because they had to study a fair bit, they had fewer opportunities to party – and they seemed to make up for it when they did party. Scary to think, that I now rely on those people to help me when I am at my most vulnerable.

As an entrepreneur your greatest asset will be your personality. Make sure therefore it is a good asset. One of the things that will help you is the ability to be able to laugh at yourself and not take yourself too seriously. I cannot stress that enough. Friends who have known me for a long time (or at least before I began my career as a business angel) are more important to me now than they ever have been in the past. They know the real me – not the person who writes business angel blog (although I try to be as honest as possible). And as soon as I do my pompous routine – they put me back in my place.

I always remember one day borrowing a car from the taxi business I had invested in. I went to pick up my then six year old son in the taxi. He was thrilled that his Dad was a taxi driver. He loved telling his friends at school about that. He is now nine and finds the idea of me being an international investor and entrepreneur really dull!