Entrepreneurial Advice: Start Up and Scale Up

The Centre of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies hosted a group mentoring session with SPARK in order to connect our aspiring student entrepreneurs with our amazing ambassador community.  Students were able to talk to our ambassadors and were asked to prepare questions to ask regarding a business idea they had in mind, or any other business advice.  Many thanks to our ambassadors Richard Wright, Nina Aggarwal, Caroline Wherritt, Phil Wilson, Pete Mills, Paul Cartmell, Bec Evans, Sam Morgan, Steve Baker and Jonathan Straight for some great information and guidance offered to our students.  To find out more about our wonderful Enterprise Ambassadors click here.

Every couple of minutes a better idea was presented… it excites and motivates me hearing these as the potential in this room is absolutely outstanding.

Some amazing suggestions and opinions were put forward, which is exactly what our students were seeking. Nina’s tips for a small business wanting to start up was all about making it personal, focusing on quality over quantity sold and building relationships with both your customers and your suppliers, and advised

Be proud of your ambition, but don’t get carried away too soon.

Pete similarly advised a student on the marketing of her product and emphasised how important it was to narrow down where you might find your customers, so in that way you are able to target them in the most effective way. Because what’s the point in using social media if your target audience don’t use it? He further highlighted the importance of understanding how are you going to make a profit, “is your idea even profitable?”. Pete also suggested a book: Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore, so make sure to have a read!

Before you panic, take a minute to plan.

Bec noted that the most important thing to do was to begin with an idea that you are passionate about and which is also viable. She emphasised how important talking to people, networking and asking questions was in business. Get peoples’ honest opinions and listen to their advice! Most importantly “be prepared to fail” as everything is an experiment in practise.

If you happened to be one of the students that attended and have any feedback make sure to let us know in the contact details provided below! To keep up to date with events and sessions like this in the future make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook @UoLCEES.