Interviews
What does an entrepreneur look like? The UK’s 5.4 million small and growing businesses drive the economy forward with the ideas and innovations that can potentially change the world. We speak to some of the biggest names in British business and beyond in our attempt to piece together a portrait of today’s entrepreneur.
Stories that inspire: Founders Diaries
Starting a business is one of the riskiest things you can do today. Nearly all new businesses fail — some say four out of five, some say as many as 95%. Yet the UK’s economy runs on independent business owners facing those odds and taking those risks.
From the archives: An interview with Rupert Murdoch in Real Business 1997.
So what makes the likes of Innocent Drinks’ Adam Balon and Richard Reed, Piccolo’s Cat Gazzoli, and Pimlico Plumbers’ Charlie Mullins household names today? Is it that successful entrepreneurs have a different kind of DNA from the rest of us? Is it their appetite for taking risks? Knowing when to quit? From the gut-punch that made Richard Branson face his darkest day, to how Ruben Singh blew it, we bring you the dreamers, innovators, leaders, winners and even losers in entrepreneurship who share the good, bad and ugly side of growing their business.
The people behind the business: Black Cab Entrepreneurs
We jump in the back of a uniquely British black cab with some of the UK’s most inspiring business owners in a video series that asks the tough questions: who’d play you in a movie? Exploring the quirky, personality-led side of entrepreneurship, we get to know the serial entrepreneurs that are on the growth path and find out what makes them tick. From Apprentice winner Joseph Valente to Love Cocoa’s James Cadbury, dive into the archives to learn more.
Meet the UK’s Changemakers
Who are the women and men leading the charge for an entrepreneurial revolution? In our Changemakers series, we speak to ambassadors for a more diverse and inclusive business ecosystem. We also profile impact entrepreneurs that put people, planet and profit at the heart of their mission-led businesses.
Movers, shakers, money-makers: Hot 100 & Future 50 archives
Since 1997, we’ve compiled an extensive list of ambitious growth businesses in the first league table of its kind; the Hot 100. We’ve let the data do the talking in identifying the most promising entrepreneurs and the businesses that drive them.
A related list, Future 50, identifies early-stage growth champions, giving businesses like Bizdaq and SnapDragon the floor to share their business journey, targets and goals. Delve through the archives to find out more.
All’s fair in love and business
This year, we launched a new series of interviews in association with Business Advice, detailing the ups, downs, trials and tribulations of co-founders who are partners in business and life.
From the Beckhams of Italian cuisine to the aspiring duo from PressPlugs who identify with Bill and Melinda Gates, read through the profiles to learn more.
Dhiraj Mukherjee is the co-founder of Shazam, an app that tells you (based on an audio fingerprint from a time-frequency graph) the name of the song that's been bugging you all night. Acquired by Apple last year for 400 million dollars, Mukherjee takes us back to the early days of Shazam, and details how they raised 5.3 million dollars in funds by 2001 despite the burst of the dot.com bubble. But what about life post-Shazam? Mukherjee talks us through his new role as an adviser for entrepreneurs, including tips from his new book about the benefits of childish thinking in making business decisions.
15 min read