Dan out fundraising - Photos: Dan Swygart Last year, I hosted a panel of entrepreneurs for the NatWest Re-thinking Business video series, which included Dan Swygart, the founder of Alpacr, a next generation social-networking platform focused on connecting those with a passion for travel and...

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The Twitter network of UK MPs (Nesta) Until December I was a proud trustee of Nesta, the UK’s leading innovation foundation with a £450 million endowment that originated from the National Lottery. Nesta started as a government-controlled organisation called the ‘National Endowment for Science...

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Good morning. Nobody sets out to start a ‘startup’. Entrepreneurs take risk to develop a business with a sustainable and, eventually, a profitable business model. Technology is democratising entrepreneurship as almost anyone can access global markets and leverage the power of software and...

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I have not been able to discuss the election on social media due to purdah (the pre-election period), during which public servants are not allowed to comment on the election.This is because I am a Non-executive Director on the board of the government-owned development bank. I was very much in...

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If you are in the business is selling products or services that are delivered for a one-off payment, then at the beginning of each year your plan is to sell as much as you sold last year - and some. That is called growth. That is also called 'hard work'. You have to maintain a relationship with...

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I have been working on a new business and spending hours researching every facet of it.This has meant some late nights and me driving my potential business partners, team and suppliers bonkers with incessant questions.I am by profession a former lawyer and investment banker, so I can get into...

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Jack Welch is one of America’s legendary CEOs. He ran General Electric (GE) for 20 years from 1981 and during his tenure, its valuation increased by 4000%.Quite something given that GE is the industrial giant built around Thomas Edison’s electricity-related business and his most well-known...

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I have attended several recent events and had conversations with entrepreneurs thinking of starting a business or in the process of scaling up new businesses. I have been asked, “should I find a co-founder” and “how much equity should I issue to my new hires”. I have spoken to friends who...

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I was interviewed at a tech conference this week and we covered what you might expect – the evolution of AI, digitisation and the future of work. However, I also had the opportunity to touch on corporate responsibility as technology pervades our lives and hoovers up the data trail that we all...

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I have been looking at various markets over the last 18 months and for an opportunity to disrupt a large and profitable market by doing things differently and leveraging the power of technology. I have had the opportunity to speak to many disruptive entrepreneurs including on a podcast series I...

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