BQF Innovation Blog » start-up

10 Questions to Ask Yourself before you start Your Own Business

Paul Sloane — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:04:17 +0000

Paul Sloane

If you are a brilliant innovator or a budding entrepreneur then you are probably thinking right now about starting your own business and making a great success of your wonderful idea. If you are then please read my list of 10 Questions to ask Yourself.

As a taster here are the first three:

1. Am I good at this? Do I have the skills; talents and experience that will help me succeed in this venture? Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Does this venture play to your strengths? How can you compensate your weaknesses?

2. Do people really need what I will offer? Who will buy it and why will they need it? If there is no customer need then the business will fail.

3. Can I make money doing this? Once it is up and running will it make a good profit? If not, why bother?

Good luck with your new venture!

Paul Sloane

Three things the Government can do to boost Innovation

Paul Sloane — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 11:37:54 +0000

I was recently asked in an interview what advice I would give to an incoming government on how to increase innovation in our economy. Here is what I would recommend:

1. Make it as easy as possible to start a new business. Most radical innovations come from start-ups and we need a lot more of them. It is already reasonably easy to start a new business in the UK. However, we could further reduce administration and tax on new businesses e.g. no corporation tax for the first two years trading.

2. Increase the availability of loans for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). At the moment many smaller enterprises cannot raise the finance they need to expand. We need to encourage venture capital funds, business angels and banks to invest in or lend to start-ups and smaller enterprises. This is risky so the government can help lay-off some of the risk.

3. Tilt higher education towards Science. Somehow our country has lost faith in Science. The media is cynical about Science in general. It is no longer seen as something that can solve problems and make life better. We need to rediscover the belief in Science and Engineering displayed by the Victorians. Many valuable high-tech start-ups come out of PhD studies or University research departments. We should encourage more bright students to take degrees and further degrees in Science based subjects. We should say that a degree in Physics is more valuable than a degree in History. One way to tilt the playing field would be to make tuition fees lower in science and engineering courses and higher in arts subjects.

We need more innovation in all parts of the economy including large corporations and the public sector. However, I would start with the SME sector. These three proposals would cost little but over a period they would encourage more start-up businesses and more high-tech businesses. This will help fuel innovation.

Paul Sloane

Trends that will increase or inhibit innovation.

Paul Sloane — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:50:08 +0000

Today I attended a business breakfast hosted by the Institute of Directors West Surrey branch in Guildford. It was run by the indefatigable Chris Ragg. You get a good breakfast and plenty of lively business people to network with. One of the topics we were asked to review was ways in which the future will be quite different. Among the many things that came up there were some that will promote the need for innovation and some that might well inhibit innovation.

Some of the forces that will increase the need for innovation were:

1. Increased competition – particularly in services.

2. Increased consumer knowledge and choice.

3. Demand for sustainable green solutions.

Some of the forces that may inhibitit innovation and entrepreneurial activity were:

1. Higher levels of taxation will deter risk taking and start-ups. Why leave a comfortable job and risk starting a new business if the government is going to take over half the profits?

2. Banks will remain cautious about lending for some time.

3. With higher taxes and lower pension pots many people will defer retirement and work into their 60s and 70s. This could lead to an older generation of leaders who are more cautious and risk averse.

4. General uncertainty about the economic and political outlook.

I believe that innovation is imperative in private and public sector organisations. It remains the best way to cut costs, improve services, increase competitive advantage and to survive. However, we need to recognise and counter the forces that will increase caution and deter risk taking and entrepreneurial activity.

Paul Sloane