Entrepreneur Analysis

To understand behavioural mindset and physiological pattern of Entrepreneurs

GAVIN PRESTON
Submitted by

Abhishek Bose
02/01/2012

Table of Contents
Acknowledgment ....................................................................................................................................3 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................4 Overview .............................................................................................................................................4 Clients Details: .....................................................................................................................................5 Business Consultant Details: ...............................................................................................................5 Summary of Original Brief ...................................................................................................................6 Summary of Work Undertaken: ..........................................................................................................6 Recommendations ..................................................................................................................................7 Analysis of Entrepreneur Interviews .....................................................................................................10 Reference .............................................................................................................................................. 13

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Acknowledgment
I would like to express my gratitude to all the people that contributed their time and effort for this Project and mere words would not be enough. My special thanks go to my client, Gavin Preston. The support and insight offered helped in the smoothness and progression of the project. His comments, positive traits, encouragement, suggestions shown me the path in moving forward. Further, I would like to express my appreciation to Jackie Gregory and Imran Adia for offering their help and providing relevant contacts for interviewing entrepreneurs that was crucial for the completion of the project.

I would also like thank my friends for all their support during the course of the project and would cherish every moment spent with them.

Yours sincerely,

Abhishek Bose

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Executive Summary
Overview
Sector: Consultancy Ownership: Private Industry: Information Marketing Stage: Entry into Information Marketing Sector

The Company: The proliferation of entrepreneurs in the recent times have indicated vast opportunities for companies like Gavin Preston to offer their expertise in supporting business leaders and entrepreneurs in accelerating performance and increasing profitability. The increase in internet penetration enabled my client to tap the potential of using internet as a medium to communicate his expertise to thousands of people thereby expanding his consumer base. The project allowed me to conduct market research on different groups that would enable the client to target specific audience. As a part of the project I conducted interview of entrepreneurs as the client intended to publish a book that would contains analysis and strategies for entrepreneurs that would help them to achieve their objective. Eleven entrepreneurs were interviewed form different areas to obtain a diversified outlook including: equipment manufacturer, online entertainment portal, consultancy, print media, event organizer and theatre and movie production houses. This report also contains an initial analysis that reflects to understand the viewpoint of different entrepreneurs and the physiological and behavioural pattern that governs the success model.

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Clients Details:

Name: Gavin Preston Contact details: T- 0845 468 0271 Email- gavin@gavinpreston.com Contact Person: Gavin Preston Business Activity: The business model aims to offer entrepreneurs and business leaders with insights and strategies that would accelerate the growth of their business and would make significant contribution in taking to the next level.

Business Consultant Details:

Name: Abhishek Bose Contact Details: M- 07404577597 Email: abhishek.bose@live.co.uk Summary of Background: A graduate from Lancaster University in Advanced Marketing Management and gained experience in providing research and analysis to Microsoft Inc. as a part of my company dissertation during my degree. The assignment intended to evaluate the profit enhancing opportunity in the APAC region and presented a market mapping strategy for the public safety market. In addition, I also gained experience with ING Investment Management enabled me to establish critical partnerships with blue chip organizations developed interpersonal and communication skills.

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Summary of Original Brief:

The original brief involved implementation of marketing techniques and the increase of brand awareness across the UK through leading edge online and offline marketing strategies. The client was in the consultancy business and wanted to diversify in the information marketing sector that would enable the client to offer strategies and seminar using the world wide web as the medium to reach out wider demographics.

Summary of Work Undertaken:

The project was divided into stages:

Market Research on potential target market with recommendation of short list of potential target markets.

Development of marketing strategy in accordance with the niche market selected. Keyword enhancement to increase website ranking. Interviews of potential Entrepreneurs to support the client in writing his book.

The details are: Used Google Keyword tool to compile spreadsheet of words / phrases that would enable the client to incorporate words in the website to increase search engine ranking. Suggested 25 keywords / phrases from the list that I complied which would be the most relevant match to the clients products and services. Compiled a list of interview questions that could be used as a research project of Entrepreneurs. The aim is to learn about the mindset / the way successful Entrepreneurs think (differently to other people) that enables them to achieve significant business results. Interviewed entrepreneurs intended to inspire and provide some insight to Entrepreneurs running smaller businesses and wish to grow their business.

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Recommendations
The 2010 Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed the total population of UK to 61.8 million and statistics revealed that a staggering figure of 270, 000 businesses start ups every year dream of penetrating the market with their innovative product or idea, but unfortunately around 80% wont make their first birthday. But, these entrepreneurs determination and will power enables them to keep their adrenalin pumping to encounter success in the future. The office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed an estimated 48000 new start ups formed in UK for 2010, thereby increasing the percentage by approx. 19%. Moreover, UK has been established as a one stop destination for new age entrepreneur. The report (1) even unfolded the fact that a great deal of small business start ups are expanding and their growth projector is quite impressive (mainly due to recession and unable to fund huge projects). Moreover, the Experian report reveals that small business entrepreneurs have leapt by 117%, which has increased the number of companies in the UK by 41 %( 2). The figures reflect that even though the small scale sector has been hit by recession and people losing jobs, setting up an enterprise seemed the most viable option. Its time to start business, David Cameron- on his latest agenda to revive the economic growth of UK and help entrepreneurs in setting up their business. Accordingly, the numbers of small business enterprises are marked at 4.8 million that contribute around 49% of the UKs turnover. Despite the difficult economic turmoil, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) showed that there was a 1.1 per cent increase in private sector businesses from 2009 to 2010(3). The data highlights interesting facts about small business and they can be Gavin Prestons target market can be single point of contact for taking their business to the next level. SMEs are growing exponentially, as they account for 99% of all private sector enterprise and employ 59% of the private sector workforce and just under half of all private sector turnovers (4). Now, the question arises of how these enterprises would honour Gavin Prestons service- the new governments initiative and the mantra of economic recovery is by supporting the entrepreneurs to provide a helping hand in achieving their objectives. Statistics reveal that the UK new loans to SMEs are up 19% to 2.4bn and the total SME lending dropped by 1.6% as customers repaid (5). Moreover, due to the deep impact of the recession, university students are also finding it difficult to secure a job on graduation and according to government figures around 2.5 million are unemployed and the latest trend is to unearth innovative ways to survive. The figures are quite impressive; as statistics indicate that in the last six years self- employed university leavers have jumped to 46% (6).

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This is mainly due to support offered by the coalition government which launched the new enterprise scheme that provides mentoring and financial assistance to people willing to set up their own firm. Accordingly, a survey by Hiscox insurance indicated four in every 10 London graduates where either managing their own business or setting up their own companies, while still at university. The era of technological proliferation is offering graduates to unleash their ideas and this can be a potential area, where Gavin Preston can increase its presence. In addition, universities and colleges have put enterprise and entrepreneurship in their mission statement which has increased from 45 per cent in three years ago to 63 per cent today and moreover, educational institution are manufacturing 28 business start-ups a year on average an increase of about a quarter on three years ago, but still half the average number being generated by US colleges. But, again the feasibility factor comes in picture, to what extent the enterprise will be successful and how can Gavin Preston earn his revenues. Most Graduates, require mentors to travel to the next level, so Gavins webinar can act as mentoring advice on the dos and donts of start up business. The most attractive formation of an enterprise is through the world wide web and while Silicon Valley is known as the home of the start-up, UK is not lacking behind in terms of offering innovative products, as there are some motivated people with new ideas and push internet start ups. Accordingly, business in the e-commerce arena is considered to be one of the most significant forms of investment that would reap the benefits in the future. According to PayPoint.net, their research indicated that the around 50 percent of Britains office workers consider of setting up their own venture and the most popular choice being an online business (8). Moreover, a report commissioned by Google and produced by BCG states that UK internet economy is worth 100 billion a year, larger than the construction, utilities or transport sectors. Its growing at 10% a year and directly employs 250,000 people. This reflects that the enormous proliferation of entrepreneurs who have started their online venture and is estimated that 260,000 people are now running their own online businesses in the UK(9), which offers a wide opportunity for Gavin Preston to tap the market, as analysis suggests that there is a 15% increase in websites that offer support to new entrepreneurs. Again, if we consider the recession phase, which wiped out many organizations around the world, figures reveal that there has been a 6 percent dip in the number of companies been established as compared to 24 percent in the US (10). Focusing on the gender (in order to develop advertisements based on the target market), an analysis of over 4.3 million UK directors revealed that the increase in the number of entrepreneurs was spearheaded by young, male counterparts, but there was also a significant rise in the amount of female entrepreneurs up 72% over the last five years (11). This

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figure is useful for targeting right consumers. Gavin Preston should try to target all of the aforementioned audiences that would cater to its different range of products (from webinars to DVDs to annual consultancy). I believe it would be profitable for Gavin Preston to target internet entrepreneurs due to the increasing number of start ups.

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Analysis of Entrepreneur Interviews

The opportunity to be flexible, creative, and the possibility of shaping their own future makes an individual to choose the path of entrepreneurship. I believe that it is the business instinct that allows an entrepreneur to determine what works and what doesnt, allowing him to take calculated risks. Moreover, the path to entrepreneurship is also being supported by the fact that either you can spend your entire life working for other people or you could work for yourself (Iqbal) or you strive to curve your objective into reality. Paul, one of the entrepreneurs even mentioned that the main adrenalin comes from spotting an opportunity that would make a difference to the society; I believe that it is an effective process which begins with a learning curve and prioritizing your ideas and converting them into knowledge at the lowest cost to be consumed by your target consumers. Accordingly, Entrepreneurs are considered to be a great strategist and a master at getting others excited about helping them grow their business. In fact, apart from being a multi-tasked individual, entrepreneurs needs to motivate themselves in terms of driving their idea and constantly be tenacious and associate themselves around positivity, that grills their confidence to the maximum (Ali). Apart from driving yourself, the main challenge is to build competencies and discover market arenas which would support in pursuing their vision and mission statement. Moreover, the success and failure of a business also depends upon the deciding whether increasing or abandoning the commitment to business foray is key to gaining business or not, which Valeria and Iqbal emphasised and can be determined by talking to your customer and taking feedbacks and conducting your market research. This initiates an entrepreneur to enhance his opportunity by collaboration and inputs form other people and hence ultimately the probability rate of his venture success. I believe the significance of interacting and networking with people is to ultimately improve your product offering and build experiment (Iqbal) and analyze data which determines the market size of the product. This experiment should be conducted at every stage from idea generation to actual launch of the product or services and without shadow of a doubt- entrepreneurs need guidance to help evaluate how they are doing. Proper direction and review at certain stages enables an entrepreneur to eliminate error that would hamper his core foundation. From the interviews conducted most of the individual have all the qualities to be an entrepreneur, but most lacks the structure to organize the business that would generate profitability- in simple

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words planning. According to Ali, Its very important to plan ahead as well, even for early stage start up and their game plan is projected to be acquired in within two- three years. So, the services of professional person who has gained experience in transforming business and working with entrepreneurs is very essential to offer entrepreneurs directions that would lead them to the path of success. The most asked but least answered question in business today is What can entrepreneurs do to make their business survive and grow? According to Gulnaz, the most essential trait that an entrepreneur needs to have is the determination, adaptability and avenues to diversify your current offering that would enable the enterprise to meet the requirements of its consumers. In other words, the biggest part of developing an entrepreneurial mindset is being willing to give up some of your old habits for newer more profitable and productive habits. Globalization has increased the markets and opportunities for more growth and revenue and in fact, an entrepreneur should embrace change because companies need to survive and to react very rapidly to change (Christine). For instance, Ali mentioned that apart from financial support; it is very essential to align yourself with the right people and mentors who would drive those visions forward and they could anyone who supports to frame the organizations objective. A change in the organizational structure and adaptation to the newest technology is important survival technique and Gavin Preston can use his wealth of experience in behavioural change technology, organizational change strategy and problem solving techniques acquired from working in blue chip companies to initiate changes that would help clients to sustain in the market. The part of the Siemens' business strategy that relates to people management is referred to as People Excellence (11). Moreover, the aim of any organization is to build a high performance culture and the viewpoint shared by both management theorist and Gulnaz (interviewee); is motivation of staff depends upon the efforts valued by the organization. According to a model proposed by Nadler and Lawler, which describes the worker motivation and they have categorized different elements that forms the basis of their model; namely performance outcome expectancy, effort-performance expectancy and valance. The model sheds light on team participation and performance parameters as integral to an individuals success. In addition, majority of the entrepreneurs feel that an business minded individual needs to have certain sets of qualities like; tenacity, persistence, believe in self, people skills, patience etc that would enable them to achieve success. But, apart from the personal traits; the application of idea is very important and according to Gulnaz: I dont know the business gene is important there or not, but its your mind set thats important ( A proven research based on the law of attraction showed that what we think in our mind is exactly what we attract towards our 11 | P a g e

selves). Every entrepreneur would require some form of development programmes (for their team and themselves) in order to increase productivity and to ensure effective utilization of their talent base and also is quite important to be a good model and a mentor (Christine).

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Reference
1) Adrian (2010) Rise in Business Start ups in UK 2010, The Company Warehouse. Available from http://blog.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk/2010/07/06/rise-in-business-start-ups-in-

the-uk-in-2010/ [Accessed on 13/10/2011]

2) Venture Lab. Available from http://www.venturelab.co.uk/blog/2010/09/number-of-ukentrepreneurs-increases-by-117/ [Accessed on 02/11/2011] 3) Nearly 50,000 new start-ups established during difficult 2010 (2011), The Start-Up Donut. Available from http://www.startupdonut.co.uk/news/startup/nearly-50-000-new-start-upsestablished-during-difficult-2010. [Accessed on 03/12/2011] 4) Startups. Available from http://www.startups.co.uk/48-000-new-uk-start-ups-in-2010.html. [Accessed on 19/11/2011]. 5) HSBC Hits US $ 19 billion for 2010 (2011), newbusiness.co.uk. Available from http://www.newbusiness.co.uk/news/hsbc-hits-us-19-billion-2010. 13/12/2011] 6) Day, E (2011), the age of self starter, the guardian. Available from [Accessed on

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/06/young-entrepreneurs-business-internetstartup. [Accessed on 02/09/2011] 7) Norton, M (2010), starting up your Online business, Smallbusiness.co.uk. Available from http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/channels/start-a-business/setting-up-a-company/guidesand-tips/1308053/starting-up-your-online-business.thtml. [Accessed on 18/09/2011] 8) Azam, Interview with UK Internet Entrepreneur, Azam Marketing Inc. Available from http://www.azam.biz/uk/interview-entrepreneur/. [Accessed on 10/11/2011] 9) Hall, J (2010), UK start-ups defying global trends, Simplify Business. Available from http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/news/2010/01/2010-01-14-uk-start-upsdefying-global-trends/. [Accessed on 12/09/2011]

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10) Experian Study Reveals Explosion in the Number of Entrepreneurs in the UK (2010), Experian. Available from http://press.experian.com/United-Kingdom/Press-

Release/experian-study-reveals-explosion-in-entrepreneurs-in-the-uk.aspx?&p=1. [Accessed on 13/08/2011]

11) The importance of people in the organization, Creating a high performance culture. Available from http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/siemens/creating-a-high-performance-

culture/the-importance-of-people-in-the-organisation.html. [Accessed on 12/12/2011].

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