Elite Business January 2019

Stelios From coffee to hotels, the easyJet founder is taking off across many sectors with his family of easy brands

Quantexa

How this startup’s tech prevents terrorism funding and financial crimes

Boutiques bulking

The rise and rise of small studio gyms

Over the moon

The startups that quite literally aim for the stars

Alexa

772050 723000 01

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ISSUE 49 JANUARY 19 ÂŁ4.50

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How voice-controlled devices will change shopping

09/01/2019 13:46

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RingCentral Supports Rapid Growth for Optimum Credit Following the lessons learnt from the credit crunch of 2008, five colleagues working for a mid-sized financial services provider saw an opportunity to shake up the market for second charge mortgages. With investment from a private equity backer and funding lines from a major UK bank, Optimum Credit was born.

Based in Cardiff, Optimum Credit offers a range of variable, fixed, and discounted second charge mortgages either directly through its fully qualified mortgage advisors or via its Broker Intermediaries.

Its innovative approach to pricing delivers prices that reflect individual customer circumstances.

The company also offers flexible overpayment options, allowing clients to either reduce the term of their second charge mortgage or reduce monthly repayments to suit circumstances. “This agility and flexibility is something that we strive for both

commercially and in terms of technology. We are proudly a cloud-first business,” says Paul Strinati, Founding Partner & IT Director at Optimum Credit.

Strinati initially promoted the use of off-the-shelf software and a number of SaaS and cloud services to allow the firm to launch quickly with the minimum of cost, yet with the ability to scale as needed.

Within the highly regulated financial services sector, Optimum underwent significant due diligence examining each supplier for resilience, security, and compliance against best practice standards such as ISO-27001.

“We successfully paid out our first deal in June 2014 and quickly grew, but it was as a result of the need to comply with the requirements of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard that it became clear our existing telephony service just wasn’t up to the task, so we put out a new tender,” he explains.

Communications system requirements for a growing business Optimum had several criteria for the new communications solution: Absolute reliability with the option to scale with the growing business Ability to integrate with Optimum’s in-house Lending Platform Support for self-service functionality through IVR integration Omnichannel contact centre capabilities supported by granular MI The need to support a flexible and secure method for card detail capture whilst meeting the requirement to record calls

“We spoke to and had demonstrations from several telecommunication service providers, but what struck us most about the RingCentral team was their sheer enthusiasm,” says Strinati, “In many ways they are like us, a technologydriven business with a can-do attitude; even in our initial meeting when we raised issues that the incumbent service provider had said were difficult, and often expensive to overcome, they were already discussing solutions that they had previously deployed that they were sure would work for us—it was refreshing!”

Ability to adapt to future regulatory changes

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Ready for the challenge Optimum chose the RingCentral Office® and Contact Centre solution for its company-wide and customerfacing communication platform. The deployment focused on voice and intelligent IVR with self-service options to help customers connect more quickly to the agent best able to handle their needs along with integration into its CRM systems.

“RingCentral adapted its system to allow our clients to securely enter card details whilst still recording the audio portion of the calls,” explains Strinati, “It was one of a number of integration features and capabilities within the application that really impressed us and highlighted the ability to customise the solution to our needs; it also highlighted the potential for the future.”

Company profile Optimum Credit is a leading provider of second charge mortgages for homeowners in England, Wales, and Scotland.

Optimum’s innovative approach to the market has seen it advance funds totalling over £380m since launching in 2014, growing rapidly to 26% market share.

Year founded: 2013 Website: optimumcredit.co.uk Headquarters: Cardiff, Wales Size: 93 employees

Through the plethora of open APIs available, Optimum Credit’s application development team is constantly adding more automation features to its platforms to further enhance the customer experience.

“In RingCentral, we have a platform in which we have absolute confidence plus a shared ethos that believes that almost everything is possible!”

Recognising that customers are increasingly keen to communicate across different paths, Optimum Credit is embracing an omnichannel strategy that is adding elements such as webchat to its telephone service. “With RingCentral, we can manage different channels within a unified contact centre queue,” says Strinati, “this is a useful capability as we start to offer more direct-to-consumer products.”

In terms of deployment, the company has largely done away with traditional handsets with 95% of its employees using the desktop clients and a few executives using the mobile client. “We are now looking at flexible working patterns that could allow our mortgage advisors and call agents to work from home while still meeting our security and regulatory requirements,” says Strinati, “In RingCentral, we have a platform in which we have absolute confidence PROMOTION plus a shared ethos that believes that almost Call today on anything is possible!”

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Paul Strinati, Founding Partner & IT Director at Optimum Credit “RingCentral’s integration features and capabilities really impressed us and highlighted the ability to customise the solution to our needs but also the potential for the future.”

Paul Strinati, Founding Partner & IT Director at Optimum Credit

to start a 14 day free trial or visit ringcetral.co.uk

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22 easy

does it Driven by a desire to prove himself to his father, Stelios Haji-Ioannou broke all the rules with easyJet. Proving himself more than just a daddy’s boy, he’s now turning his entrepreneurial flair to many different sectors with the easyGroup family of brands 8

ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK JANUARY 2019

Contents THIS ONE.indd 1

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issue 49 january 19

REGULARS 11 12 19 82

From the editor Upfront The big idea The crunch

34

columns 21 Alanna Spencer 31 Anil Stocker 32 Gary Stewart

34 RUb it in 38 bootstrapping 42 Data with 50 Tell me Urban is catering to VS VC funding destiny what you want your massage kneads What’s the best way to Quantexa is solving Voice-controlled devices with its mobile treatments

finance your startup?

54 The rise and rise of boutique gyms

Revealing why entrepreneurs are so pumped about studio workouts

complex financial crimes with big data

could revolutionise online shopping. Are you ready?

68 Under the stars

The startups boldly going where only nations have gone before

60 Safety first How successful were SMEs in becoming GDPR compliant?

64 Going straight The case for hiring reformed criminals for your business

JANUARY 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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09/01/2019 13:58

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EDITORIAL editorial@cemedia.co.uk Zen Terrelonge – Editor Eric Johansson – Acting Web Editor Varsha Saraogi – Junior Feature Writer Angus Shaw – Editorial Assistant Anne Struijcken – Editorial Intern DESIGN/PRODUCTION production@cemedia.co.uk Darren Marriott – Head Designer Vrinda Sejpal – Designer Lizzie Thurgood – Designer Dan Lecount – Web Development Manager dan@cemedia.co.uk SALES Sam Deane – Sales Account Manager sam.deane@cemedia.co.uk Zane Zvirbule – Marketing Administrator zane@cemedia.co.uk ACCOUNTS Sally Stoker – Finance Manager sally.stoker@cemedia.co.uk Colin Munday – Management Accountant colin.munday@cemedia.co.uk DIRECTOR Scott English – Managing Director scott.english@cemedia.co.uk Circulation/subscription

UK £18, Europe £38, Rest of World £60 Elite Business Magazine is published four times a year by Channel Edge Media, 1st Floor, Regency House, 16 Victoria Road, Chelmsford, CM1 1NZ Copyright 2018. All rights reserved No part of Elite Business may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the editor.

Elite Business magazine will make every effort to return picture material, but this is at the owner’s risk. Due to the nature of the printing process, images can be subject to a variation of up to 15%, therefore Channel Edge Media, cannot be held responsible for such variation.

Correction

Christina Bechhold Russ, a VC at Samsung NEXT, was misinterpreted in our October 2018 issue. She actually said: “Unfortunately women are more likely to be criticised if they are unapologetically competitive. I would probably say it’s not disagreed by anyone that men are generally threatened by assertive women. I think it’s a balance. Behaving like a man is the best way to get ahead in this circumstance.” We would like to apologise for any confusion.

CHAPTER ONE N

EW YEAR, NEW ME. We’ll have heard someone utter that phrase in sincerity recently or at least witnessed memes with the cliche term on social media. And yet, 2019 is a fresh chapter.

It presents the opportunity for companies hunting talent to prepare for new jobseekers flooding the market, which MarketInvoice CEO Anil Stocker details. Meanwhile, RIG is prepared for consumers embarking on a health kick with its fitness class booking service, as detailed in The Big Idea.

Continuing on the theme of wellbeing, we’ve spoken with Jack Tang, founder of

on-demand treatment service Urban, which is out to revolutionise the long immobile massage market. There’s also an investigation into the booming boutique gym business, a sector that’s gained serious mass appeal.

And with mass appeal in mind, that’s something our cover star Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, knows a lot about. From taking off 23 years ago, he has since diversified his business portfolio to enter different sectors, covering everything from fitness and coffee to property and loans. Looking at his example, it would seem the sky’s the limit.

Zen Terrelonge - Editor zen.terrelonge@cemedia.co.uk

contributors

Alana Spencer Having won The Apprentice, Alana Spencer found life after the show wasn’t all sunshine and roses. But she’s never looked back, as she divulges.

Angus Shaw Shaw reached for the stars this issue as he takes a look at how the small satellite industry is beaming with successful startups – and for good reason.

Anne Struijcken Our editorial intern didn’t need to ask Alexa why voicecontrolled shopping is revolutionising retail – the results spoke for themselves.

Gary Stewart Theresa May’s tight confidence win wasn’t just a wake-up call for her party. It saw Stewart contemplate how hard it is to find the right person for the job.

JANUARY 2019

From the editor THIS ONE

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The investment rounds that rocked the startup community last quarter

Series

c

Ne s t ed

£120m

The proptech startup has raised £100m in debt finance and £20m in equity finance to continue growing in and around London. It aims to use the money to keep fixing the broken property market.

Series

a

Slow internet is still the b i g g es t h e a d a c h e f o r S M E s Along with phishing emails from fake billionaires, slow internet concerns count for most of SMEs’ inconveniences It’s unsurprising slow internet gives many entrepreneurs migraines, as waiting for a webpage to finish buffering when you need something is the most frustrating thing. Indeed, for 52% of business bosses it’s their biggest annoyance, according to new research from Q2Q, the North West managed IT support provider.

While cybersecurity accounted for 36% of management stress, the research also showed that scams from self-proclaimed

billionaires could force 38% to want to smash their heads against the wall. The most surprising finding was that there is still much confusion about GDPR compliance seven months after it sprung into action, with 41% still unsure about its rules and regulations, resulting in SMEs being fined.

Hiring IT staff to fix these problems can certainly help you solve those problems without popping a paracetamol.

V o s t ook P ro jec t

$120m

RED LIGHT FOR LATE PAYMENTS

Having only launched in April 2018, the startup offering a blockchain solution for scalable digital infrastructure impressively rounded off the year with a massive series A round.

The UK Small Business Commissioner recommends a traffic light system to warn SMEs about late payers

Series

B

S y n t h a ce

$25.6m

Automating and improving biological research is what this company is all about.

The successful series B round will help it create global awareness and drive continued product development.

Series

E

Gou s t o

£18m

With this backing from The Body Coach, the meal-prepping scaleup is set to serve up even healthier dishes to busy professionals.

12

No one is going to be shocked to hear most large companies don’t pay their bills on time. The SME community has struggled with this fact for years. But now the UK Small Business Commissioner is suggesting a new remedy by naming and shaming the ones who don’t pay their bills on time.

The governmental body has proposed the introduction of a traffic light system to warn

SMEs about offenders. The system would alert small-business owners about signing up to work with larger firms who are known to be bad at fulfilling their commitments on time.

Big businesses are already obliged to reveal their payment practices. So, hopefully, a system like this could provide another kick up the backside for them.

What’s the word Even if she wins, this duck is lame David Hanson, the former minister spoke out on Twitter about Theresa May just before she survived the no-confidence vote.

There are so many big questions about the world we want to live in and technology’s place in it After a year of unprecidented scandals, Mark Zuckerberg’s New Year resolution was to take part in the debate more.

A BUNCH OF SNOT-NOSED KIDS Gregg Jarrett, the legal analyst for Fox News, talked about the lawyers who wrote Michael Cohen’s sentencing memo.

ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK JANUARY 2019

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Words by Varsha Saraogi

Hu aw e i bl unde r s w i t h ne w y e a r w i s he s se n t f rom IPHONE

Alive: Digital Humans and their Organisations Novardo Publishing £17.99 OUT now

Employees from tech company Huawei made a big mistake when their New Years wishes appeared to be posted using the phone of their biggest rival 2019 didn’t start as well AS EXPECTED for Huawei, whose marketing employees sent celebratory New Year’s wishes to its users on the company’s Twitter account. Funnily enough, people were quick to spot the message had been sent from an iPhone.

The company was experiencing VPN problems and to ensure the message was online at midnight exactly the roaming function on the phone made by rival company Apple was used.

Two employees from social media company Sapient, who managed the Twitter account, made the mistake and are said to have been punished by Huawei, who moved the employees to a lower pay rank.

While most people could laugh about this easy mistake, we’re willing to bet it was no laughing matter at the Huawei head office.

Words by Anne Struijcken

January 18 China, Britain Trade Expo Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre London, SW1P 3EE

February 14 Manchester HR Summit Hilton Deansgate Manchester, M3 4LQ

February 27-28 Marketing Show North EventCity Phoenix Way Off, Barton Dock Rd, Manchester, M41 7TB

March 12-13 The Northern Business Expo Manchester Central Conference Centre Manchester, M2 3GX

March 28 BCC Annual Conference QEII Centre Broad Sanctuary, London, SW1P3EE

May 1-2 Accountex ExCel London 1 Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock London, E16 1XL

O

ver the last few years, digital transformation has been one of the biggest buzzwords in business, with organisations understanding technologies such as AI, IoT and big data analytics can bring improved efficiencies, cost reductions and improvements to business processes.

And the authors of Alive: Digital Humans and Their Organizations suggest we’re entering the age of the digital human – a revolution that will see people and machines become increasingly synchronised, transforming how we operate. Putting people at its heart, the book shows business leaders how developing a “digital spine” for their organisation, can elevate it to an evolving system able to respond and innovate for the digital age so as to capitalise on the upcoming tech revolution instead of getting intimidated by it.

Using concepts like ad-app-ability, theatres of work, the power of small things and targets and mirrors, the authors have included a well-analysed checklist that links how organisations were led in the past and what they need to do to thrive in the digital future.

Looking at how effective and influential it is for startups and SMEs to embrace digital skills, entrepreneurs must both establish the company in the virtual world and make themselves more aware of the ways they can capitalise technology for their enterprise. Even if chiefs think they don’t have the time, there’s no arguing that embracing digital skills is essential. Having a web identity isn’t just a component but rather your business’s raison d’être.

Paul Ashcroft and Garrick Jones shine a light on how to activate organisations so that they can transform themselves – and what digital means for the people who work within them.

And this book will teach as well as encourage you to go digital. Definitely a must-read for every millennial entrepreneur.

A full event listing is available on our website.

JANUARY 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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09/01/2019 15:33

Successful crowdfunding campaigns that have closed in the last quarter

macrebur

£3.22m 9.37% Equity

MacRebur is going down a new road by making sustainable highways from 100% recycled plastic to create more durable roads. And over 2,100 investors helped it pave the way for a better future.

Marcopolo learning

£1.36m 4.46% Equity

This early childhood education company came to the UK from the US in 2017 and has been growing ever since. With 215 investors backing it, MarcoPolo can continue educating even more kids.

Emily crisps

£1,047,110 20% Equity

This overfunded round breathed new life into Emily Crisps No wonder, the fruit and veg crisp company has taken the UK by storm with its crunchy offerings.

Sustainable accelerator

£847,700 FUND

With the goal of investing in companies that are all about supporting sustainable startups, this successful round will help Sustainable Accelerator make the planet a better place.

14

GOUSTO SECURES £18M IN FUNDING WITH NEW INVESTOR JOE WICKS hEALTH AND FITNESS COACH JOE WICKS HELPS TAKE MEAL KIT COMPANY GOUSTO TO THE NEXT LEVEL busy work schedules keep the best of us from making wholesome meals at home. And this is exactly the problem Gousto hopes to solve by offering the tools to make healthy meals at home without the hassle.

With 170% year-on-year growth, Gousto hasn’t only caught the eyes of many families, who account for two-thirds of orders, it also grabbed the attention of Joe Wicks, founder of fitness plan business The Body Coach.

Having joined other investors in its £18m series E round, this fitness supporter now aims to help the company improve the nation’s health. Wicks joins existing shareholders including Unilever Ventures, BGF Ventures, Hargreave Hale, Angel CoFund and MMC Ventures and will lend his expertise and influence to promote positive long-term eating habits with Gousto through new dishes and education.

With his support, the startup aims to serve up to 400 million meals by 2025. Maybe it’s time to throw those microwave meals out for good and start the New Year on a better, healthier note.

ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK JANUARY 2019

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NEW YEAR NEW CHALLENGES WE LOOK BACK AT A YEAR FULL OF HAPPENINGS that have proven to be a challenge for SMEs. In 2018, businesses emptied out their properties along the high street, data breaches left personal information up for grabs, staff walked out because of sexual harassment claims and the uncertainty of Brexit forced businesses to prepare for the worst. However, not all of 2018 was bad for companies, with technology more advanced than ever, mental health awareness on the rise and many businesses closing the gender pay gap. This new year brings new opportunities for SMEs and people who are looking to start a new adventure. In order to prepare you and your business we’re taking a look at what big challenges SMEs are going to face in 2019.

Words by Anne Struijcken

Julien Rio Head of Marketing at Dimelo

Chris Robertson UK CEO Creditsafe

Amidst uncertainties surrounding the UK leaving the EU, it’s clear that some dynamics are certain to impact the startup world. The UK has always been a great place for startups to launch and thrive but this is likely to change due to possible effects from a hard Brexit.

Entrepreneurs looking to fund or be present from outside of the UK will likely be dealing with reductions of capital investment, access to external finance could get tougher, and barriers to securing key talent from the EU could be a huge problem.

Sangeetha Narasimhan Regional marketing director, EMEA small and medium businesses, Ingenico.

Cybersecurity is one of the biggest things that is going to affect startups in 2019. For example, https is still not being utilised effectively on many websites. Now, this is not only bad practice but internet browsers are also severely against this. Google Chrome tells every user if a website is using http or https and informs them if the site is not secure, effectively ushering custom away from your business because of something that can be fixed so quickly. 2019 is going to see more businesses tackle ongoing online issues with technology.

2019 could be the year SMEs show their might in the fight against larger businesses. Shoppers have moved largely from the high street to online in recent years.

We expect to see them move closer to smaller e-commerce businesses. SMEs can now set up an e-commerce site, offer secure international payment options, and deliver worldwide – creating the ideal environment for growth. For example, the 2018 Black Friday sales week where up to a quarter of online shoppers intended to shop with SMEs instead of turning to larger players.

David Mills CEO Ricoh Europe Technology is developing faster than ever, while hype and uncertainty are becoming SMEs’ worst enemies. The good thing is this can force SMEs to reconsider the direction they’re taking and help them find a more successful route to market.

In particular, technological advancements can allow for progress across a range of sectors. Leaders are telling us that bettering product quality is key but so is lowering costs and improving agility. When reassessing their offering, it’s essential SMEs consider how they can work in more effective ways to strike the right balance.

JANUARY 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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THE RIG IDEA

As the guilt of Christmas indulgence hangs over us all, RIG, the fitness class booking service, has got the solution at the touch of a button

BY ZEN TERRELONGE

o

riginally launched as a social app for fitness in 2016, RIG was overhauled by founder Sam Harney and transformed into a service that allows people to book high intensity classes where they can work up a sweat. “Put simply, we’re an app-based platform that connects users with a variety of boutique fitness classes across London at unbeatable prices,” explains Harney.

Working with glossy fitness studios such as Sweat by BXR and F45, RIG is built to help users find experiences offering more than just a DIY run on a treadmill at their local gym.

Providing easy access to and discovery of the “craziest, toughest, coolest” options in the capital, the service is growing at pace as the general appetite for health and fitness grows globally. “We also plan to strengthen RIG’s position in the UK market and help the company’s international growth too,” Harney says, with both goals to be supported by investment.

And in time for the New Year rush of people kickstarting their diets and workout regimes to clean up the traditional Christmas

feeding frenzy and mass amounts of lazing around in front of the TV, RIG unleashed its strongest app to date towards the end of 2018. “The overall fitness market continues to grow at an incredible rate and there is a clear trend towards the boutique studio sector at the top end of the market,” details Harney. Although this is a common theme in affluent areas, RIG is designed to ensure competitive rates apply to classes so they’re not off limits to those with lower incomes. “January 2019 is a big month for us,” he continues. “We’ll be doing our utmost to bring new customers into our partner studios with some enticing deals and then work hard to get those users booking consistently.”

There’s a real opportunity to grow the RIG user base and gender appears to play a role in achieving that scale, with females aged 20 to 35 accounting for most active users and resulting in a ratio of 70:30 for women to men. “We’d love to try and get more guys booking into class but at the moment we’re predominantly targeting females,” says Harney. “With our pipeline of features I believe we’ve got the right tactics to help keep people motivated on their fitness journey with RIG.”

JANUARY 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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Make sure that you don’t take an unexpected fall One of the largest single dangers to your business is non-payment. An interruption in your cash flow means that you can’t pay your bills, which could have a serious knock on effect on one of your customers, potentially disrupting the whole supply chain. One domino falls and the whole row collapses.

So how can you protect your business?

I

t’s important not to think of bad debt and late payment as an unavoidable risk.

Unfortunately, many businesses believe they have no choice but to hope that customers are able to pay their invoices and adopt an overly cautious approach which inhibits their growth.

However, there is a way to seize the initiative and trade with confidence.

A credit insurance policy will allow you to manage your cash flow safe in the knowledge that you’re protected against unpaid invoices as well as insolvencies.

More importantly, credit insurance limits the risk of a bad debt in the first place by tracking the trading behaviour of companies helping you to evaluate the financial health of potential customers and alerting you to changes in the financial health of existing ones. This enables you to focus on the best prospects in the UK and beyond.

In addition to helping you to trade safely, a policy from a respected credit insurer provides strong evidence that your own business is a good risk. That should make it more attractive to banks, investors and suppliers, helping to improve your credit options and secure the best borrowing terms.

Amid the current economic uncertainty, it makes sense to protect your company from sudden financial shocks. By working with the right business partner, you can secure the future of your business, stay informed and ensure you’re ready to take advantage of new opportunities.

To find out how Coface can support your business call 0800 085 6848 or visit cofaceitfirst.com

Coface is authorised in France by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution. In the UK Coface is subject to limited regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and in Ireland Coface is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

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09/01/2019 14:08 1/3/2019 6:02:57 PM

ALANA SPENCER MANAGING DIRECTOR, RIDICULOUSLY RICH

BY ALANA

THE PRESSURES OF WINNING THE APPRENTICE

ALANA SPENCER’S WORLD WAS ROCKED AFTER WINNING 2016’S THE APPRENTICE AND JOINING FORCES WITH LORD SUGAR. HOWEVER, THAT DIDN’T MEAN LIFE WAS PERFECT

A

fter 12 gruelling weeks I came out on top – winner of The Apprentice 2016 and in a 50/50 business partnership with Lord Alan Sugar. You might expect at that moment my life instantly changed for the better, became more exciting and that my business rocketed to the next level. Well, you would be half right. The opportunities that came have been life-changing but there’s another side to winning The Apprentice which people don’t see.

I was just a two-man band after winning. And when the final episode aired, orders for Ridiculously Rich cakes went through the roof crazy fast – and I mean crazy. I’m not scared of a little hard graft but that was something else. We would be up at five every morning packing or baking and wouldn’t stop until midnight with innumerable boxes of cakes going out the door. It was fantastic but it meant I had no time to think, process what just happened or do anything other than bake, pack, sleep and repeat.

When Christmas came around, I finally had time to ponder about everything that changed and what was to come. Of course I was excited but it also brought a great amount of sadness. Weeks of being away from the world during The Apprentice with just challenges and tasks to focus on had been my everything – you become almost conditioned to life inside the series. It controlled me, kept me in limbo and occupied my entire mind and suddenly, it was over. No more Wednesdays viewing my journey when the show aired, no

more competing. Done. Finished. Over. Now, the only person I was competing against was myself and I had to prove to everyone I was worthy.

It’s funny – I spent the whole time on the show feeling like everyone wanted me to succeed. But when it’s over, all everyone wants to ask is “Are you doing well then?

Have you gone far?” In fact, the pressure of people watching you after the series is at times unbearable. I often wonder if stopping and enjoying the moment is hard for all the winners of shows like The Apprentice or if I’m an anomaly. Now I’m surrounded by other winners – people who are three, four and five years ahead of me – it’s impossible to not compare myself to where they are. It makes me wonder whether there should be more preparation for such a life-changing experience, one that leaves you confused, excited, nervous and completely unprepared for the whirlwind you’re about to face.

Having said this, it’s certainly not all negative. After all, people would kill to be in my position and I can’t deny the exposure I gained from The Apprentice has worked wonders for my business. Nonetheless, it’s good to make people aware of the pressures business people born from TV shows can feel. After all, once viewers have watched you fight for your position for weeks on the telly, the feeling never quite goes away.

January 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

21

STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU

22

ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK JANUARY OCTOBER 2019 2018

STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU

EASY AS PIE

By Zen Terrelonge

SETTING SAIL WITH SHIPPING AND TAKING OFF WITH AVIATION PUT HIM ON A JOURNEY TO WEALTH BUT 23 YEARS AFTER STARTING EASYJET, STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU HAS NO END OF INDUSTRIES TO ENTER AS HE FOSTERS RISING ENTREPRENEURS WHILE ALSO GIVING BACK TO SOCIETY

JANUARY 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU

“I guess I wanted to prove myself to my father and the rest of the world that I wasn’t just a daddy’s boy”

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btaining billionaire status is something many can only dream of. And there’s no question that plenty who would achieve such a net worth would be all too ready to put their feet up for early retirement to live a life of luxury – and who could blame them? But this isn’t the case for Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, who still has plenty more goals he wants to score.

Having made Monaco his home, Cyprus-born HajiIoannou can be a tough man for a UK-based journalist to secure face-to-face time with. But when the stars aligned in both our diaries and the opportunity presented itself, I made my way to London to meet Haji-Ioannou at the new Fulham site for easyHub, an all-new co-working space designed to provide business owners with an affordable workplace. The entrepreneur was in town to provide a presentation on the new site while giving interested parties a taster of what they could expect.

While Haji-Ioannou remains a shareholder of easyJet, he has his fingers in a lots of succulent deep-filled pies through the easyGroup, a private investment arm he owns. Through this, he partners with companies interested in leveraging the easy brand, either in an investment capacity or one where they can licence the easy name to get a headstart with their company – such as easyCoffee or easyHotel, both of which happen to be franchises. “I had one good idea which [was starting] an airline and I had the second good idea to own a brand,” says Haji-Ioannou, discussing his transition from air travel. “What I’m trying to do now is develop a well-

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diversified portfolio of ventures using the easy brand.

Some will be bigger than others but at the end of the day what I care about is this predictable income stream that all people in franchising know about. Being a franchisor is a good business.”

But what drives him? Where did Haji-Ioannou’s appetite for business come from? He didn’t have to look far – his father cooked up that hunger. A selfmade shipping tycoon, he created his own wealth, which helped lay a foundation for his son, the wouldbe aviation magnate. “[My father] helped me finance my early ventures, so he was instrumental in providing the money,” says Haji-Ioannou. “And he was also an inspiration [because] between generations sometimes you learn how to do things and how not to do things.”

With a 40-year age difference, the then-young HajiIoannou was keen to find his own methods of doing business. “I did things differently because of the generation gap,” he says. “I guess I wanted to prove myself to my father and the rest of the world that I wasn’t just a daddy’s boy. It’s a big motivator actually, to prove yourself to your father.”

Prior to the interview, it was obvious Haji-Ioannou’s time was precious. Between the speeches he gave on the day, his partners and prospects were all excited and eager to get time with him, whether for the opportunity to talk shop or snap a selfie. And having been in business for 23 years exactly at the time of meeting, a point he referenced in his presentation, it’s a milestone I was keen to raise. “You’ve been listening,” he smiles.

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STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU

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09/01/2019 14:40

STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU

“I had one good idea which [was starting] an airline and i had the second good idea to own a brand”

Discussing how the business and his interests have changed over more than two decades of operating, Haji-Ioannou explains building a brand around easyJet, which is effectively a lifestyle operation, and diversifying was pretty straightforward – at least when you compare it to what other businesses would have to go through. “McDonald’s had to build a brand out of one business – building burgers,” he reasons. “I’m in an unusual situation that I use the umbrella brand built primarily by easyJet but also other companies to enter new sectors. So that’s very interesting to me, very appealing.”

Continuing on the theme of his tenure and what motivates him to continue pushing on day in and day out, there are multiple drivers behind his reason to get up and crack on in the morning. “The easy brand is my pension fund,” he laughs. “It’s what I will retire on.” It’s not just about him though. On a more serious note, he points to his charitable project, the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, as something that ignites fire in his belly. “The way I think about my workload at the moment is I say I’m going to spend one third of my time on the easy family of brands,” details HajiIoannou. “One third of my time will be saved for investments – like real estate, shares, stocks, bonds and things like that. And one third will be charity –

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giving it back.” He expressed that it’s important not to have a single-minded approach in order to achieve his targets and also why profit is so important. “To give back to society, you need the income to come from somewhere,” he laughs. “So the easy family of brands is my income stream.”

Having already detailed that his father was the special ingredient to give easyJet lift off, he still encountered difficulties that helped inform what would become wisdom as time passed. “Starting an airline at the age of 28 as a poor little Greek boy with an unpronounceable last name was not an easy task,” says Haji-Ioannou. He notes that getting the airline in order was “a big uphill struggle” but clearly this didn’t hold him back. “The lesson has been never bet the farm. Never take a risk you can’t afford to lose.”

Looking at our surroundings, he points to the easyHub as a fine example of risk assessment and management. “Let’s say this building is a complete disaster and nobody wants to occupy this space, which is unlikely but, you know – I can afford to take that risk for a few years,” he offers. Continuing, he laughs: “But I can’t do that with a million square feet if you know what I mean.”

With his wisdom in mind and recommendations for anyone looking to follow in his footsteps, Haji-

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STELIOS HAJI-IOANNOU i nm oti on

Ioannou has a great suggestion. “One [tip] is get a rich father,” he chuckles. “If that doesn’t work, try and raise the money. Borrowing or raising money as equity with investors is the way you can build a bigger business.

For generations, you had to be born into wealth to have wealth. I think what changed in the last half a century or something is you can now raise the money from other people. There’s now enough of a marketing capital to grow your business.”

With easyHub, the latest project he’s been working on set for a grand opening in 2019, Haji-Ioannou is willing to bet – not the farm, of course – that it will go down well. “I think it will be a hub for the easy family of brands to come together,” he opines. “I think we’ll see

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many of our customers coming from the family. I think it will be a great hotbed of entrepreneurship. I think many entrepreneurial companies will find a home here and appreciate the flexibility and the good prices. But fundamentally it’s London real estate. Hopefully, if you don’t pay too much for it, it will keep going up [in value].”

Having already witnessed great progress over his 23 years in business and adapted with the changing times, Haji-Ioannou’s expectations for the next couple of years aren’t too wild. “I’m expecting to see incremental change rather than anything too dramatic,” he concludes. “So it’s about adding brands and empowering new entrepreneurs to use the easy brand in fulfilling their dreams.”

ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK JANUARY 2019

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08/10/2018 21:56

ANIL STOCKER CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, MARKETINVOICE

NEW YEAR, NEW STAFF

CULTIVATING A GREAT CULTURE GOES BEYOND INSTALLING A PING PONG TABLE OR MAKING SURE THERE’S ALWAYS A FULLY-STOCKED BISCUIT JAR IN THE KITCHEN – PREPARATION IS KEY TO RETAIN AND ATTRACT STAFF ALL-YEAR ROUND

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HEN IT COMES to job hunting, January can be somewhat of an open season. This can often make the new year a tough time for businesses as some of its best employees start looking for roles elsewhere. But for those actively scaling their teams, January can be a good time to capitalise on the influx of new job seekers in the market.

So how do you ensure your business doesn’t get left behind? The first and most important thing to bear in mind is that a great Christmas party in the last few weeks of the year isn’t going to be the deciding factor. Staff retention is driven by a company’s culture which is something that needs to be a priority 365 days a year.

A strong culture is about defining the values that really speak to who you are as a business and then using them as an anchor for how the whole team interacts and works together.

Having a clear mission and making sure you build your team with people who really believe in it is crucial. I’ve found what really motivates people is the opportunity to make a difference – whether that’s in a company, industry or the wider world.

It’s also about providing an environment where employees can grow and progress. When you hire talented and motivated people, it stands to reason that they’ll have big ambitions for their careers. Having a culture of developing and promoting great talent from within means they can reach or even exceed, those ambitions without leaving your business.

But what if you’re actively looking to scale your team with new talent?

Your employer brand should be a top consideration. This is an extension of your corporate brand, which focuses on how your business comes across to potential employees.

There are a lot of great employers out there so it’s essential to identify what sets your business apart. If your employer brand is true to your culture and values, it shouldn’t only attract the best talent but also the

right kind of candidates who will be a good fit with the rest of the team.

Whether you’re kicking off the new year with an established team or setting the tone for a great 2019 with new joiners, January is the perfect time to get everyone geared up for the months ahead. Use this as an opportunity to fuel excitement for the mission, build energy around the values and inspire those with big career dreams to make them a reality within your business.

JANUARY 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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GARY Stewart director, Wayra UK

Votes of confidence

after prime minister Theresa May survived the confidence vote in december, Gary Stewart reflected on the importance of equipping leaders from all backgrounds with the right tools to succeed and possess self-belief

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ews of Theresa May’s survival interrupted our Christmas festivities. Relief flooded over me. For whatever she might lack in Trumpian swagger, I trust May more than I do any of her opponents. To survive a vote of no confidence within her own party, she had to promise not to fight the next general election.

They want her to perform the thankless task of delivering Brexit and then be discharged. She has no champion.

There are probably many Theresa Mays out there, performing thankless tasks while ambitious colleagues eagerly lick their lips and plot their demise. But even more unsettling is that, in most cases, there is no conspicuous Rees-Moggsian plotting. There is often a lot more subtext.

I lived this recently when serving on a panel to decide the entrepreneur of the year for an international organisation. There were six candidates: a white woman, a white man, two African women and two Asian men. The panel consisted of a black man – me, a black woman, an Asian man, an Asian woman, a white man and a white woman. We quickly shortlisted the white man and the white woman and awarded the top prize to the former.

Afterwards, I unpacked the result. Why do selection processes always end up with diverse committee members, diverse rosters of candidates and a final

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result that still gives the top prize to white men? Had I suddenly become complicit?

The truth is more complicated. Firstly, the white man was the most authoritative candidate. He seemed born to lead. He was clear, confident and convincing, even though he freely admitted he didn’t meet all of the stated requirements. The white woman was the second most qualified candidate. She had the total package but her presentation lacked confidence and a big vision.

The minority candidates each had one “superpower” that no other candidate had but language barriers and misread cultural cues made it difficult to see them as a perfect fit. And unlike the white man and the white woman, none belonged to the social networks of the judging panel. No one could truly vouch for them.

The committee probably made the right decision.

Equality of opportunity shouldn’t mean equality of results. But diversity will continue to be a buzzword if we don’t do more to help minority and female candidates build and project self-confidence, teach them that it’s not unrealistic or problematic to be bold and visionary, support them become fluent in the rules and cultural signifiers of elite organisations and actively recruit them to social and professional networks.

In short, talented women and minorities need champions and votes of confidence.

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U R BA N

BY ANGUS SHAW

RUB iT iN

Thanks to his heritage, Jack Tang, CEO of Urban, was a regular at massage parlours. shocked by the conditions Britain’s therapists worked under, he launched an on-demand service to revolutionise the industry

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ack Tang was no stranger to entrepreneurship when crafting Urban, formerly Urban Massage, the mobile wellness treatment startup. While studying at university he created thestudentjob. com to help fellow students land career opportunities, the demands of which saw him follow in the footsteps of entrepreneurial giants like Bill Gates and quit his studies before selling to Jobsite, the job board.

His instinctual thrill for innovation kicked in once again when Tang realised just how much of a rotten deal self-employed therapists got across Britain’s wellness sector.

It wasn’t difficult for Tang to identify something was wrong, given his Asian background made receiving massages quite the ritual growing up.

“It’s something that’s habitual and you have that as part of your daily 34

lifestyle in a way,” he explains. That couldn’t have been more true during his uni years, where countless hours absorbing lectures and deciphering research naturally saw him booked into more sessions. “During university I had loads of treatments to help me balance my anxiety and the stresses of intensive studying,” Tang recalls.

During one of those much-needed treatments, Tang realised British therapists have even more to stress about. “Back in 2014 I paid £100 for a massage and from speaking to the therapist, it turned out she was getting paid around 20% of that,” he remembers. Indeed, thanks to rent, overheads and all kinds of demands from landlords, Tang felt selfemployed therapists earned scraps for their hard work. And considering about 53% of Britain’s wellness professional workforce adopt a self-

employed model, according to Tang, the issue is clearly widespread. “So that was obviously quite a shocking discovery, on top of knowing that the therapists were self-employed,” he says. Moreover, despite the price many freelance therapists were paid, Tang couldn’t believe their working conditions. “Ultimately, we just felt these professionals [were] working in lowly lit rooms for eight to ten hours a day without much of a break [and] getting paid approximately £12 to £15 an hour at most,” he reasons.

This is without mentioning the industry’s laborious and inefficient customer experience, which Tang endured first hand. “Personally, I experienced the friction and inconvenience of a consumer booking a treatment,” he says. Seemingly, all of the ingredients were present for a revolution to spark.

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One of them said to me ‘the money I’m making now I can actually put towards my mortgage and my deposit for a house’ Tang partnered with co-founder Giles Williams and hit the drawing board with two clear goals in mind. “We set on a mission to empower professionals to make that leap of faith into entrepreneurship and earn significantly more money from the sticker price of the treatment,” Tang details. “And on the customer side, to massively improve the booking efficiency and their experience.” Given today’s always-on working culture, that meant opening up the market to accommodate for the hectic lifestyles of busy city-dwellers who don’t have time to get pampered, yet certainly need it. “How do you enable a customer to be able to book a high quality treatment that’s affordable at the last minute, so you can request it as and when you need it?” he says. The answer was an on-demand service with tech at its core.

The model sees customers book a selfemployed therapist through the platform, who then turns up within an hour to wherever the customer is. It sounds straightforward but only came about after much market research. “We’re

running a marketplace with two classes of customers: the therapist and the end consumer,” Tang says. “So speaking to a lot of them and really understanding their issues made sure we are genuinely solving pain points of our target audience.” Indeed, inviting freelance therapists to take a step outside the normal model requires a lot of reassurance. “You must make sure you always have enough supplies and demand for therapists,” he adds.

Once the details were hashed out, Urban set sail in 2014 and quickly made waves.

“When [we] hit that point of actually seeing concurrent bookings at the same time, we knew that something was really happening,” Tang describes. And they weren’t the only ones – the startup bagged its first seed round of £190,000 just one year after launch. With it, Urban’s first prototype was made possible, which served as a basic website booking system without the bells and whistles. Nonetheless, it was enough to reap a £1.4m seed round only one month after that.

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U R BA N

What customers want and actually end up doing can be different things, so you have to test that before you launch it into the public technology that underpins the platform we see today,” Tang says.

Following a £3.5m series A in 2016 and £2.3m follow-up funding in 2017, VC firms were well and truly hooked.

However, the prospect of taking a different investment route presented unique potential. “We wanted to use crowdfunding as an opportunity to really bring our community closer together in a way that’s meaningful,” Tang explains. “We then basically said to our community: ‘Fundraising – would you be interested to own a piece of the success for as little as £10?’ And people said yes.” 842 backers later and Urban’s 2018 crowdfund closed with £3.5m – matching its series A from two years earlier. “The 842 people [were] made up of customers, therapists and also staff within Urban.

So that was something that was really important for us,” he says.

Indeed, while investments clearly indicated business was booming, Tang 36

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already knew Urban made it when therapists began describing how the platform changed their lives. “One of the therapists said to me ‘The money I’m making now I can actually put towards my mortgage and my deposit for a house,’” Tang remembers. “So by hearing that, it was a reflection point for us that in terms of how it was actually impacting people’s lives, it was actually happening.” And customers weren’t shy about telling Tang either. “People were saying ‘How did I live without this in the past?’ and

now it’s something they can’t live without,” he continues.

This energised Urban to cast its net further than just massages.

Recently, it launched facial, nail and osteopathic treatments based on community feedback. “We see a lot of our customers have chronic issues and osteopathy is a really good way to genuinely solve the problem at its core,” Tang says. Of course, a brand new offering called for a rebrand, so Urban Massage dropped the latter part of its name

We have very big plans and a very, very exciting long-term view

to become Urban. Now, there’s no limit to what kind of treatments will be on the company’s table in the future. “It’s purely based on what customers told us they want,” he explains. “However, also, what customers want and actually end up doing can be different things, so you have to test that before you launch it into the public.”

Looking back, Tang puts Urban’s impressive five-year progression down to the fact it’s solving a real problem for people. However, he admits it simply wouldn’t exist without a fantastic team at the helm. “You must make sure you find amazing people and surround yourself with [them],” he emphasises.

“Because ultimately, people, strategy and execution will make [a] huge difference to a successful business.” Furthermore, in this day and age, refusing to get to grips with technology is nothing short of a business death wish. “Finding a tech partner, co-founder or even having technical skills which are really useful in a way that’s meaningful can help you scale,” Tang advises. “We live in a world where technology is in every corner of our lives and a huge enabler to solve real, big problems.”

Moreover, as an entrepreneur, Tang believes endeavours must be viewed as more than just work to steer to Urban’s level of scalability. “Seriously, for me, it’s not a job,” Tang states.

“I’m here for Urban and it’s not a sprint for success.” Well, considering the startup’s been injected with funding year-on-year since it was launched, it seems even a walking pace will do just fine. “We have very big plans and a very, very exciting long-term view,” he concludes.

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When starting a business, a breakthrough idea and an efficient team isn’t enough. Entrepreneurs need money to manifest the business. But should they use their savings or approach VCs?

HEN SARAH JOHN WANTED TO TURN her beer-brewing hobby into a business in 2014, she faced the same deadlock which every entrepreneur faces – what would be the ideal way to fund the startup?

And after carefully weighing all options, John smashed her piggy bank, used her savings and gave life to Boss Brewing, the Swansea-based microbrewery. “It has been the best thing I ever did,” she says. “I believed in my vision and put my own resources on the line. I now have a company that is growing and has beaten the business plan and I don’t owe anyone anything.”

What she did is called bootstrapping, which essentially means she used her own personal finances to get the company off the ground. Where VC funding would mean entrepreneurs gave up some equity and control of their business, this funding route leaves founders with all the power. “Your destiny truly is in your own hands which for me was the whole point of becoming an entrepreneur in the first place,” John adds. “The fun of having your own business is that you don’t need other people’s permission to make decisions that you think are necessary – you’re accountable only to your staff, your customers and yourself.”

She is hardly alone to think so. In fact, figures revealed by Opus Energy, the energy supplier, showed that of 505 SMEs surveyed, 50% used their savings to finance the business while only 9% borrowed from family and friends. This is testament that many chiefs prefer to pump their money rather than use external forces.

Indeed, bootstrapping has been a successful strategy for many big businesses when they started out. From Microsoft and Dell to Apple and HP, the founders were the only ones on the driving seat as they used their savings to give these companies flight. Of course this means they often had to go without a salary for a few months until they saw profits.

Still John believes bootstrapping makes head honchos rise to the top purely on the strength of their vision and mettle – making the company more sustainable in the long run. “[It] forces you to really think outside the box and be more creative,” she argues. The limited amount of money also makes the owners as well as the employees increasingly frugal which then encourages them to reduce unnecessary expenditure. “The money will be limited, so if done properly you will learn to find ways to maximise every resource available to you and to become a pro at

limited resource utilisation,” she adds. “You quickly find alternatives, identify things that don’t work and find solutions as repeating the same mistake twice is costly for a bootstrapped business where funds are limited.” And these restrictions could encourage you to innovate.

However, while bootstrapping gives you the ability to take the reins, it comes with the burden of facing all the risks alone. “You’re putting your own money and resources on the line and there is [the] possibility of course that [you’ll] go into massive debt or that the money will simply run out,” John warns. Indeed, when flying solo, if the company runs into a crisis, inevitably the owner is solely responsible for the financial losses and other damages. And since every penny is counted, there is a bigger burden to make a profit.

“With limited cash, you feel the pressure to quickly become cashflow positive but the reality is that it can take years to break even in many sectors, so you need to be realistic about that,” she continues. “Don’t just think about startup capital and initial costs – be honest with yourself about the working capital you will need, which can disappear quickly.

When you’re starting from scratch, be very aware that [you’ll undoubtedly] need more money than you think.”

While bootstrapping is a great option, the money is clearly limited. And hence, many founders will seemingly agree that raising VC capital is a more viable option. One such entrepreneur is Polina Montano, co-founder of JOB TODAY, the job hiring app. She raised more than £60m via four funding rounds. “Yes, working with investors is demanding and sets the bar high but it’s definitely worth it,” she says. And it’s not just the money but also the guidance good VCs can give you on your journey.

“Experienced investors ask the right questions, they can be tough – these types of questions are the ones that will ultimately help you make the right decisions for your business,” Montano continues. Undoubtedly, VC investment is the quickest way to get a bigger amount of money as the VCs look for a return on their investment when executing the business plan.

Additionally, along with capital, VC investment comes with the venture partners’ network of people and their business acumen that entrepreneurs get access to. “There are definitely advantages to working with VCs and angel investors as they may well have experience and contacts that you can tap into,” says Frazer Fearnhead, CEO and

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I NVESTM E NT

s wayhan f o entyd more tup for l p e e e ar g an ere Theert fundiny out trhe are thg teams to g gh monheat’s ra amazin happen d hem DAY enoruabs. W deas ank t g eat i n ma aeno, JOB TO gr hat cana Mont t Poli

something to offer. “If you do decide to pursue VCs, make sure to approach them with as close to a working product or solution as possible, as it will increase their confidence in your proposition,” he advises.

While this path provides access to money as well as investors’ expertise, it also comes attached with a few caveats. For instance, VCs expect a say in all the business decisions and actively influence the dayto-day operations. Additionally, business owners are also required to give a certain amount of equity to the investors. By doing so, they let go of complete control of their business. And this is what stopped John from taking this route. “We have never gone down the VC route as firstly we didn’t want to give equity away when we are pouring our heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears into something,” she says. Indeed, a study by credit specialist Caple reveals more than half of 298 SMEs surveyed were unlikely to issue equity to fund growth. To add on, 76% preferred to raise money through long-term debt rather than give away equity in their business. “Of course it is in [VCs’] interest to see a return on their investment as quickly as possible, which might mean influencing decisions that are not best for the business growth overall,” John adds. “For example, they could pressure you to sell your

company should an opportunity come along even if exiting at that time was not part of your vision.”

Apart from giving away equity, another challenge which comes with raising money through VCs is getting too much money as it gives unviable solutions the appearance of being successful. For instance, Jawbone, the fitness tracker business, became the second most costliest startup failures, according to CB Insights after it raised $983m and was evaluated at $3.2bn. While it seemed the startup was on its way to compete with bigger players like Fitbit, it collapsed as its devices didn’t take off.

Looking at the pros and cons both the paths entail, it’s the nature of a company coupled with the founders objective which must be the deciding factor when choosing a funding method. “Every option carries different risks and there is no silver bullet or one solution that fits all and so with that, comes your first challenge as an entrepreneur: how will you pick the right way to finance your dream?,” Montano says.

It’s important for companies to understand that to be successful, not every company needs to sprint to a unicorn status. Gaining a level of confidence and comfort in a business model – whether it means being supported by all investors and advisors, or taking it slow by growing the business – is where scaling successfully comes from. Today, looking at the slew of options available for startup owners – from crowdfunding to bank loans – it’s imperative for them to analyse the best option for their business. “There are plenty of ways to get funding and more than enough money out there up for grabs,” Montano concludes. “What’s rare are the great ideas and amazing teams that can make them happen.”

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QUANTEXA

Data with destiny From preventing financial crime to driving customer insights, Quantexa’s tech is able to make sense of huge data sets. No wonder it’s one of the UK’s fastest growing scaleups

BY Eric Johansson

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T

he first emergency calls were recorded seven minutes after ten o’clock on June 2017. The callers reported how their Saturday night had turned into a nightmare when a van suddenly mounted the curb on London Bridge, ramming into several pedestrians.

When it came to a stop, three men exited and began to attack everyone in sight with 12-inch long ceramic knives. An eyewitness remembers screaming: “Run, run, run, they’re stabbing everyone.”

Less than ten minutes after the first alarm, the attack ended when police arrived at the scene, shooting the assailants. By then, they’d already killed eight victims and injured 48 others. That’s when Vishal Marria offered to help the authorities by providing them with Quantexa’s services. “The London Bridge attack itself was very personal to me because it was right outside our previous office when we were in Borough High Street,” he remembers. At the time, his startup had barely been up and running for a year. Still, it had already proved itself by using its technology to help companies like HSBC prevent financial crimes by providing a huge contextual overlook of not just a single individual’s finances but also the people connected to that person.

Now, the co-founder and CEO of the business believed the same software could help the authorities get a better understanding regarding the three terrorists. The tech allowed the investigation to get a better idea of who the men in the van had transacted, shared addresses and contact information with. “That’s really powerful,” Marria explains.

“When you know that this person is bad, knowing that all these other people are involved and that you 44

should be talking to these people immediately, that’s powerful.” While he’s conscious about not revealing too much of the investigation, the aftermath of the London Bridge attack shows what Quantexa is capable of.

No wonder the scaleup has had numerous successes since launching in March 2016. It has already raised $23.3m across two rounds, set up international offices in America, Asia and Australia, partnered up with heavy hitters like Shell and used its technology to interpret big data sets to prevent numerous complex financial crimes. Moreover, in June 2018 the company reported that so far in the year it could boast £5m revenue and 400% year-on-year growth. “I think it’s an understatement to say it’s gone above my expectations,” Marria says.

Now it’s gearing up to expand even further and grow its staff to over 160 employees across the world. “So it’s a very interesting six to 12 months ahead for Quantexa,” he predicts.

Even though he emphasises the success is thanks to the leadership team and the talent working for the tech company, Marria’s own background certainly paved the way for Quantexa’s skyrocketing growth. Having been raised in a family full of entrepreneurs, his own entrepreneurial instincts were sharp from a very young age. “I’m not shy of doing business,” he shrugs.

“I bought my first property when I was about 20 years old [after] I saw a demand in the market of buy-to-let student properties.” Nevertheless, he originally set out for a techie career by studying computer science and business information security at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The future founder soon found out he didn’t mind spending late nights programming in the computer lab.

“It was great fun getting a machine to

do what the brain wanted it to do, it’s fascinating,” Marria says.

Following his studies, the future Quantexa founder found himself spending the next decade of his life working with powerful players like BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, SAS and EY. “[I] learned so much about the industry, technology, delivery, consultancy, advisory skills, etcetera,” Marria reveals. “It was great.” Focusing on preventing financial fraud and other crimes, he soon realised the way most businesses prevented it from happening was very limited. Mostly, they seemed to only look at one person’s account, searching for anomalies. Equating the approach to buying a house after only peeking through the mailbox instead of clearly looking at all rooms and the neighbourhood, Marria realised there must be a better approach of doing it.

In his mind, the best way to reduce the number of false positives without minimising the potential number of risks was to take a contextual approach – looking at data about all the individual’s and their contacts’ finances. “This is why I created Quantexa,” he reveals.

Recognising the potential, Marria had zero doubt about whether or not he should go for it. “[There] comes a time in life when you have to back yourself,” he says. While well aware that quitting his job to launch his own enterprise was risky, the entrepreneur felt he didn’t really have a choice. “You can’t live a life of regret,” Marria explains.

“That’s the worst thing that you can have. I would rather do something and fail than not do it at all. I couldn’t live my life with the regret and say maybe I should’ve backed that idea in 2016. I think that would’ve eaten me up to be honest.” Said and done – he handed in his notice at EY and six months after the amicable split Quantexa was born.

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I would rather do something and fail than not do it at all In the meantime, Marria ensured he found the right people to launch the startup with. “Trust is a big word,” he explains. “It’s not something you do instantly, it’s something you earn over time.” Having worked with the members of the founding team across his different roles, Marria had had plenty of opportunities to build the trust necessary to convince them to join his venture. “It was a very simple equation – do you want to live a life of regret or do you want to come on the journey with me?” he says.

Deciding to bootstrap the company, Marria used £1.5m of his own savings to get the startup off the launchpad.

“It’s very hard when you’re paying for the company that you’re working for,” he says. Indeed, the CEO and some of his co-founders didn’t take out a salary in their first year of business. “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t because of my seed capital and for some of the other key people who joined the company at the beginning not taking salaries,” Marria continues. “Because [that’s] the true cost of business. We can talk about the office cost and so on but HR and salaries are

quite critical, especially when you’re recruiting some of the best in the industry.”

With the seed money secured, the founding team set out to create its minimum viable product. However, they had to work extremely hard not to get sidetracked. “One of the challenges of having very smart people is that you can diversify very quickly and lose focus because you’ve got smart people dreaming up solutions to a lot of problems,” he says. To ensure the team didn’t stray from the core issue, he repeatedly and consistently had to steer them right. “[Sometimes] you’ve got to ask yourself the question if that’s a problem that Quantexa should be solving or that somebody else should,” Marria explains.

But keeping focus wasn’t the only challenge – working long hours also put some strain on his family life. “The first year was very hard,” he says. “Was I doing crazy hours? Yes. Did my wife not see me for long periods of time? Yes. But those were the facts of life that I signed up to and as a family we signed up to it when I embarked on the journey with Quantexa.”

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I was in the very fortunate position of having five term sheets signed by potential investors to take a stake into Quantexa, which was a great place to be in such a short timeframe Overcoming obstacles like these was worth it when Quantexa signed up HSBC as one of its first customers.

Talking with his contacts at the bank, Marria found out the company was actually looking at similar solutions on how they wanted to tackle financial crime in the future. “So it was a meeting of minds,” he says. Fortunately, this meant the two organisations could agree to launch a pilot at the end of 2016. “[It] allowed us to deploy our technology in their infrastructure and to really start scaling our products within the bank,” Marria expounds.

The pilot was so successful that HSBC joined the VC firm Albion Capital Group when Quantexa raised its series A in March 2017. But they weren’t the only ones who wanted a piece of equity. “When we started the round, we [were] oversubscribed,” Marria remembers. “I was in the very fortunate position of having five term sheets signed by potential investors to take a stake into Quantexa, which was a great place to be in such a short timeframe.” Deciding to stick with these two investors due to feeling they shared his vision, Marria put the $3.3m to good use. “The money I received from investors really helped two-fold,” he explains.

“The first thing was more money into R&D to build up the platform, to start the multiple deployment methods and the software, the service, etcetera. It was our fallback journey.

The second thing was around international expansion.

Because at that point we were just in London, just in the United Kingdom. I wanted to go to the Americas. I wanted to go into Australia and potentially Asia.” Over the next year, that’s exactly what Quantexa did.

Key to making a success of these aspirations was to source talent for the startup. However, recruiting staff in the tech sector, which famously struggles with huge skills shortages, is far from easy. “There’s a shallow pool where a lot of people are fishing,” says Marria. Of course, finding workers is always possible through job sites and by using recruiters.

But that’s only half of the battle. The second part is about retaining talent “It’s one of my biggest challenges when my people leave at five or six in the evening – how do I ensure that they come back at 8am being pumped up again?” says Marria. “That comes down to the culture that we set.”

For him, this means celebrating success, rewarding and upskilling employees and ensuring everyone feels seen.

Similarly, Marria also set out to empower Quantexa’s C-suite. “One of the best things that I did 2017 into 2018 was hiring my CFO,” he says. Having a dedicated chief

financial officer meant he could delegate money issues and focus on scaling the business. To that end, 2017 also saw him recruit Nick Donofrio, the former executive vice president of innovation and technology at IBM, as his new chairman. His guidance helped Marria ensure that if the scaleup stopped expanding, it would be because of clients or the overall markets – things he couldn’t control. “I don’t want Quantexa to be the bottleneck for my growth,” he says.

With the funding, talent and even stronger leadership in place, Quantexa has been able to push the growth across the globe and keep developing its technology. This ability was made even stronger in August 2018 when the scaleup raised a series B round backed by the previous investors who were joined by the global management consulting firm Accenture and the VC firm Dawn Capital, which led the round. The money will be used to scale Quantexa’s operations beyond the current ones in Boston, New York, Toronto, Singapore and Sydney. “Further expansion and growth outside of the UK is critical as we become an international player in this market,” Marria says. Moreover, the scaleup will also use the funds to diversify the company from dealing with things like money laundering, fraud and terror financing. “Over the next three to six months there is going to be huge growth outside of financial crime as we become almost a nucleus of understanding your customer and their relationships for our clients,” Marria explains. “That takes us outside of financial crime into broader credit risks, customer insights, marketing and so on.”

More importantly, the company has now grown to a point where he can focus a bit more on his work-life balance, given that setting up the business impacted his loved ones. “You’ve got to appreciate what’s valuable to you and my family is very important to me,” he says. However, this isn’t always easy when his phone could receive calls from New York or Singapore at any time of the day. Still, as the father of a oneyear-old girl, Marria now tries to balance these two parts of his life. “When it comes down to my wife and my daughter I try my outmost to have that complete time with them, it keeps me real,” he says. “It keeps me human. It keeps me a better father and husband – it’s important. Not just to them but to me.”

Three years after Marria launched Quantexa, the scaleup has become a tech force to reckon with. In November 2018, Silicon Valley Comes to the UK, the not-for-profit programme, named Quantexa one of the UK’s fastest growing scaleups. Safe to say, his gamble really paid off.

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Make your web

address work

for you Having the right web address can make all the difference between people linking up with your business or going to one of your competitors.

Your web address is a portal to your business and will feature on all of your marketing materials so it’s crucial that you get the right one. Working out what web address to use shouldn’t be an afterthought but be a part of your marketing strategy, up there with deciding the name for your business and your brand identity.

What makes a good web address?

The ideal web address should be short, memorable and easy to understand. It should explain what your business is about, whether it’s your company name or a description of what you do. The more succinct it is, the more people will trust it. A long, wordy web address, or a vague one, can confuse some people and drive them to your nearest competitor.

The introduction of the new top-level domain names has given businesses more opportunities to get the name that they want. Rather than having ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’, there are hundreds of alternative names for you to choose from. These include generic domains such as .shop, .agency and .law, or city names, such as .london, .nyc or .paris.

Why be a ‘.com’ when you can be a ‘.london’?

You can now strengthen your association with the capital by using a Dot London web address. Join a thriving community of like-minded entrepreneurs and growing London-based businesses who are using Dot London web addresses, such as craft snacking brand Serious Pig, independent ethical fashion label Henri, and Michelin starred chef Eneko Atxa’s first London-based restaurant Eneko Basque Kitchen & Bar. You don’t have to be a new business to use a Dot London web address. Many of London’s most established businesses have moved their websites to the capital’s domain name, including international convention and exhibition centre ExCeL London, Prescott & Conran’s Group’s hotel and restaurant The Boundary Project, and award-winning independent multiplex cinema Peckhamplex.

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When searching for a domain name for your business it’s good to look at options beyond the obvious because there are a lot of names to choose from. Think about how you can ensure that your customers and investors understand your business and ultimately trust you and want to build a strong and meaningful relationship with you.

Use a web address that best suits your brand, that can be used across your marketing plan and can be easily remembered. Get a web address that’s an identity, a mission statement and a reference all in one.

Henrietta Adams, founder of ethical clothing brand Henri – www.henri.london George Rice, founder of craft snacking brand Serious Pig – www.seriouspig.london

Linking with the capital A great London business deserves a great Dot London web address. Here are three reasons why Dot London can be the perfect fit for your business: 1. You don’t have to compromise. With more new names available, you can get the right web address for your business.

2. Boost your brand. Be proud of your business and your links with London’s global reputation.

3. Target the right customers. Be relevant to your audience with a local web address.

Get your discounted Dot London web address Dot London has teamed up with leading global registrar GoDaddy to offer Elite Business readers a special 25% discount on all Standard Dot London domain names.

Visit www.godaddy.london and use the promotional code elitelon25.

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VOIC E C O M M ER C E

TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT, WHAT YOU REALLY, REALLY WANT

BY ANNE STRUIJCKEN

THE RISE OF VOICE SHOPPING IS COMING UP FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY THE WORD ALEXA, WITH ITS WORTH EXPECTED TO SKYROCKET IN A COUPLE YEARS. SO WHAT MUST BUSINESSES DO TO GET READY FOR THIS NEXT FORCE IN RETAIL?

A

lready, buying your next pair of Jimmy Choo’s might just be a shout away thanks to smart speakers like Amazon Echo Dot, Google Home and Apple’s HomePod having leaped onto the market in the past few years. And with it comes a great opportunity for small-business owners. “We are moving towards a more voice-centric world and retailers need to prepare,” says Higor Torchia, country manager, Vend, the e-commerce software company. But the question is what should SMEs consider before jumping on the opportunity presented by voice commerce?

To answer that, let’s start from the beginning. While voice recognition technology technically dates back to the late 1870s when Thomas Edison first unveiled the phonograph, it’s only 50

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in the last few decades that it’s taken huge strides forward, transforming it from the stuff of sci-fi movies to the next step in online shopping. Even though several huge tech titans played around with it in the 1990s, it was with the advent of virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri in 2011 and Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa in 2014 that things really took off. Today, many of these smart voice-controlled virtual assistants can be found in internet of things devices in many households and most new smartphones come complete with its own iteration of the software. Not only do these innovations enable you to control smart gadgets in your home – like lightbulbs or central heating – but it has also made the opportunities to shop by speaking to your belongings more plentiful.

VO ICE C OM M E RC E

SHOUTING ‘ALEXA, BUY MY MUM’S FAVOURITE COFFEE BECAUSE SHE’S COMING ROUND NEXT TUESDAY’ IS EASIER THAN WRITING A NOTE Higor Torchia, Vend

However, while ordering things via connected gadgets has never been easier, it seems many people have yet to discover this function. Indeed, British voice transactions are currently worth £200m, according to a recent report from OC&C, the strategy consultants.

Although, the same research expected this number to jump to £3.5bn by 2022. Indeed, Amazon’s hardware division is doing everything in its power to make it so, having unleashed a range of devices – including a lamp and a microwave – that all come complete with Alexa. “The power of voice-controlled commerce should not be underestimated,” argues Richard Willis, regional vice president at retail technology provider Aptos, the singular commerce platform. “It’s the natural next step for e-commerce as it taps into the modern consumer’s expectation of instantaneous need fulfilment. These devices will revolutionise customer relationship management as they offer personalised, engaging and convenient shopping experiences.”

But promising as voice might be, there are some concerns companies must recognise before jumping in the deep end – cybersecurity being chief amongst them. “The main potential problem is data privacy,” says Torchia. “Voice assistants can record people’s personal lives and understand them through AI language recognition.” This is no small issue as 85% of businesses believe that customers’ fears about the misuse of their data will slow the introduction of the voice technology, according to a survey conducted

by Pindrop, the information security company. And given how big companies have been lambasted in the news over the past few years, there’s definitely cause for concern. “Thanks to recent Facebook data privacy scandals, this could be a bigger issue for the public than payment security,” Torchia warns. On the other hand, fears like this also apply to devices like mobile phones and laptops, gadgets we still use every single day.

Still, these cybersecurity issues may make you hesitate before trialling voice commerce for your SME or think only big retailers could afford to ride the wave. However, Jonny Pennington, head of SEO at Visualsoft, the e-commerce digital marketing agency, argues smaller and nimbler firms have an advantage over huge high street brands. “[Voice] shopping could in fact benefit smaller, high street retailers,” he argues.

“This is because these brands are not bound by the strict tone of voice guidelines which often restrict the messaging and keyword visibility of larger corporates.

Local businesses can also be more easily found through general voice queries such as ‘find a shop that sells XXXX near me,’ allowing smart local brands to use voice to thrive on a regional level.”

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Key to ensuring this success are SMEs’ ability to recognise that shoppers may not know exactly what they want, except in general terms.

And this could play right into smallbusiness owner’s hands. “Because voice-led search results only provide the single most relevant answer to a customer’s query, businesses should therefore optimise their SEO strategies in order to stand out,” Pennington explains. But they have to act fast as this opportunity may slip through their fingers with 75% of chief marketing officers planning to change the SEO strategies for their brand in the future to appear in more voice searches, according to a report published by Queryclick, the research and insights company. “[If you haven’t already done this] it may be worth enlisting the expertise of external SEO and user experience design specialists, which will be an additional cost,” Pennington suggests.

Voice controlled devices could also boost your profits thanks to the knowledge of the consumers they generate. “The data produced by these transactions is helpful for retailers as it can allow them to predict consumer behaviour and create an even easier customer experience,” explains Willis.

For instance, retailers could create customer profiles by looking into other questions about the weather and local events. “If collected, processed and analysed, this data could offer insight into the potential customers’ habits and hobbies,” he continues. “Innovative retailers should utilise this rich data in order 52

We are moving towards a more voice-centric world and retailers need to prepare Higor Torchia, Vend

to offer personalised recommendations for the user and make their retail experience faster and easier.” Investing in v-commerce doesn’t have to be expensive. “The actual cost will depend on how much technical resource a business has in-house,” Pennington reveals. Listing your products on sites like Amazon where some voice devices get their products from will not be any additional cost – your products need to be listed in a certain way so voice devices can find them. “If a business has prepared ahead of time and has adapted their SEO strategies for voice queries, the work, and therefore additional investment, needed is fairly minimal,” he adds.

Voice-controlled devices may just not influence direct shopping but also help retailers in other ways. “Voice or conversational commerce allows

customers to add to their shopping or wish lists while they’re thinking about it as well as completing or changing orders, be it at home, on the move or elsewhere,” argues Sal Visca, CTO at Elastic Path, the e-commerce company. “As strange as it may seem to have people walking down the street blurting out something like ‘Alexa, groceries, add milk’ or ‘order Monday night’s dinner and have it waiting for me for pick up after work,’ this voiceenabled commerce tool allows for a much more seamless and intuitive experience for the shopper.”

Ultimately, the main reason why retailers big and small should think seriously about adopting voice controlled devices is they are undoubtedly going to make shopping smoother than ever before. “Shouting ‘Alexa, buy my mum’s favourite coffee because she’s coming round next Tuesday’ is easier than writing a note, jumping in your car and heading towards the shops, just to get a particular brand,” argues Torchia.

The same thing goes for ordering cinema tickets with Google, ordering a pizza with Siri or just bulking up on toiletries. “[Voice] assistants improve the shopping experience, particularly when it comes to practical goods because shopping for [fast moving consumer goods] isn’t necessarily [fun] – it’s usually just part of the daily grind,” he continues.

Just because it feels unnatural to shop via voice assistance now, it shouldn’t hold back retailers from getting your company ready for this next force in retail.

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B OUTIQU E GY M S

DAT BOUTIQUE THO FROM HEAVY HIIT CLASSES TO SPINNING SESSIONS, THERE IS SEEMINGLY NO END TO BOUTIQUE GYM CHAINS’ OFFERINGS. BUT THE QUESTION IS IF THEY’LL SURVIVE PAST THE “GOLDEN AGE OF FITNESS”

BY ERIC JOHANSSON

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“I

’VE ALWAYS BEEN A BIT OF A HEALTH AND FITNESS NUT,” says Caoimhe Bamber. And it’s difficult to argue against that statement when she starts listing the many marathons, radical races and eclectic events she’s embarked on in the past. However, despite her commitment to staying in shape, Bamber used to struggle to enjoy hitting the gym. It wasn’t just that the workouts offered varied from excellent to utterly abysmal but she also often felt that many centres were uninviting, huge and anonymous. “I think people sometimes feel a bit scared of the place and a bit unwelcome,” Bamber explains.

Tired of having these unsatisfactory experiences, Bamber and her husband Geoff – whom she met at a spinning class – decided to do something about it and launched Digme Fitness in 2015.

“I wanted to do something that really excited me,” she reveals. Inspired by similar boutique chains they’d visited in the US, the couple set up their first HIIT and spinning studio in Richmond and has since opened four more locations across Blighty. Focusing on ensuring a high quality and luxurious experience where clients could easily find a class to fit their hectic schedules, Digme Fitness has become extremely popular.

Taking extra care with the surroundings, the studios are designed to enable everyone to see the instructor who – unsurprisingly, given Bamber’s past experiences – have to be at the top of their game.

“Essentially, we try to have the best instructors, cleverly designed classes and the best technologies,” she says.

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The boutique market is [making working out] the new going ouT Chris Elms, YourZone45

Although, the Bambers aren’t the only ones launching boutique gyms. Over the past few years, UK entrepreneurs have opened several small independent studios across Britain. Moreover, bigger international boutique brands like Australian HIIT chain F45 and German electro muscle stimulation session supplier Bodystreet have set up shop in the country. “Boutique fitness has grown at a breakneck speed in the past five years,” states Steven Ward, CEO of ukactive, the non-profit organisation devoted to promoting active lifestyles. In other words, the dumbbell economy is booming.

Of course, staying fit is by no means a new phenomena. Just take the word gym, an abbreviation of the ancient Greek word gymnasium, which referred to a place where people exercised.

Still, it would take two millennia before two movie stars really kicked off the commercialisation of fitness. While some historians may point at the Cold War’s endeavours to make exercise a part of nations’ war efforts in both the west and the east or the launch of Jazzercise in the late 1960s, it’s clear the industry failed to make massive gains until Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jane Fonda’s training regiments respectively brought bodybuilding and aerobics to the masses. Together, they popularised the first real modern gyms in the 1980s.

Thanks to this increasing popularity the sector has bulked up ever since. “[There] was huge growth in the 90s and early noughties and arguably that led to oversupply,” argues Robert Rowland, co-founder of Boom Cycle, the spinning studio chain. The market 56

grew in the noughties with the sector being divided into low-cost chains like PureGym at one end of the spectrum and luxury brands like Equinox at the other. However, both relied heavily on mass appeal, offering everything to everyone, specialising in nothing. “This led to an opportunity for smaller nimble operators such as boutiques to come in and disrupt things even more,” explains Rowland. And thus, chains like Orangetheory Fitness and the Bar Method started to become popular across the US and subsequently around the world.

For savvy entrepreneurs, it’s clear why capitalising on this trend could powerlift their profits. “Obviously, there is less capital investment needed as a boutique facility will require less floor space, staffing and equipment, which is costly,” suggests Rob Deutsch, founder of F45.

At the same time there has seemingly been another boom in the industry. The UK wellness and fitness market is estimated to grow from £17.3bn in 2010 to £22.8bn in 2020, according to Statista, the statistics portal. Whether it’s because the 2008 recession opened up more real estate for new players or if it’s due to a jump in fitness awareness, it’s easy to see why LeisureDB, the leisure database, referred to this as “the golden age of fitness.” Today there are over 7,000 gyms across the UK and the market is only set to grow. “As such, there is more demand and a better chance of success as long as your offering is robust and delivers on its promises,” argues Deutsch.

It’s not just the actual classes and locations that draw in people. Boutique studios also offer something huge anonymous gyms don’t – a sense of community. “Everyone knows each other,” claims Chris Elms, founder of YourZone45, the HIIT studio chain. “It’s first name terms here. People come down, the trainers know you and that kind of friendly environment is appealing.” This is a recurring theme, with every outfit from CrossFit to Digme Fitness claiming they enable clients to feel that they’re part of a tribe. Many also encourage this by organising events outside of the centres, essentially transforming these high-intensity sessions to an alternative to hitting the bar to make new friends. “The boutique market is [making working out] the new going out,” suggests Elms.

So who goes to these establishments? “[Boutique] pay-to-train fitness has become increasingly more popular amongst a newly affluent audience of young, urban professionals seeking innovative and compelling workout experiences, which are not available at traditional gyms,” says Deutsch. In London, only 17% of

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boutique gym-goers are male, according to a study by Zingfit and ukactive. The same study found the average London client is 31 years old and eight months. Additionally, it’s possible to draw a parallel with the rise of boutique gyms and the fitness hipsters, or fitsters. While it might be a slight generalisation, the average boutique gym-goer is in other words the same kind of person who’d buy the latest health-trackers, Apple Watches and apps measuring the intensity of their exercises – affluent professionals looking to stay in top shape. “In general, they are committed exercisers and fitness fanatics who exercise multiple times per week and are willing to pay a premium for the experience,” says Deutsch. “They consider exercise to be part of their daily lifestyle and are looking to be constantly challenged to get the best results.”

While there certainly is a great opportunity for fitness aficionados to try their entrepreneurial chops and launch a boutique gym, it’s not for the faint of heart. “[It’s harder] than you think it’ll be,” says Rowland. Even though the spend per head is low, studio owners still have to worry about overhead costs like rent and the upkeep of the equipment. Additionally, there is a fear finding funding is becoming more difficult. “[It’s not easy] but there is capital out there and I think the appetite for the sector is still there,” Rowland believes. “Brexit certainly hasn’t helped the risk appetite of funders but if you can make your margins on a site level and show good site profitability then that’s the starting point to try to secure good investment.”

Moreover, while it’s always encouraging to see more entrepreneurs trying to realise their dream, it has also meant the boutique gym market is becoming increasingly saturated. “When Boom Cycle began [in 2011] you could count the number of boutique studios in London on two hands and now it’s in the hundreds,” suggests Rowland.

Indeed, up until October 2018, the number of boutique gyms in London had grown to 278, representing a 281% jump over the last five years, according to LeisureDB’s recent 2018 London Boutique Studio Report. And keeping

up with the others in the sector is expensive. “[There] are large costs now to compete with incumbents and there is a lot of competition,” says Rowland.

Additionally, it’s not just the rival boutique gyms entrepreneurs in the sector have to worry about. “Established gyms are increasingly recognising the value in broadening their appeal to boutique customers and many have looked at ways of diversifying their offering to customers,” suggests Ward. It’s easy to see his point. Recently David Lloyd Clubs launched a boutique-style concept called Blaze, énergie Fitness has unveiled its concept called the YARD and Virgin Active has attempted to engage gym-goers with its The Grid concept. Taking a leaf out of their smaller competitors’ book, many of them are also trying to engage their communities more than before. “Meanwhile, traditional operators have also looked to build partnerships with leading boutique brands, such as Everyone Active’s recent deal with MoreYoga to bring the boutique brand into its leisure centres,” explains Ward. “I expect to see more such collaborations, as the larger fitness chains look to offer a taste of boutique to a much wider audience.”

As competition intensifies, entrepreneurs in the field will have to step up their game. “The next few years will see a consolidation of the sector, as boutiques evaluate their position and the market matures from a quickly expanding boom into a sustainable long-term industry,” says Ward. To win, they have to ensure they build fast and strong. “The challenge for boutique studios [is to] build lasting foundations amid an everchanging fitness landscape,” adds Ward.

Despite these challenges, it seems as if many businesses are being bullish about their prospects for the next few years.

“The future of the boutique sector remains bright – health is the new wealth,” says Emma Barry, former director of group fitness at luxury exercise company Equinox and global fitness industry expert. She argues that savvy entrepreneurs can keep staying afloat if they scale fast and utilise the latest tech to secure satisfying services for their customers. If they do, she claims there’s only one potential outcome. “Boutique fitness will continue to capture the hearts and heart-rates of more consumers as the fitness and wellness purse continues to fill,” Barry concludes.

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09/01/2019 14:15

GD PR

SAFETY FIRST

By Zen Terrelonge

GDPR has been in place for over seven months but, considering how much worry there was about its implementation, how did companies find the process of getting up to speed?

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or all of the confusion, fear and discussion among business owners that surrounded the arrival of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), more than half a year has now passed by since the legislation came into action on Friday May 25 2018.

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Although Brexit has replaced GDPR as the hot topic on the tip of entrepreneurs’ tongues, the data protection act can’t just be forgotten.

Non-compliance comes with the risk of a ¤20m fine or 4% of turnover, whichever is highest, making it abundantly clear GDPR isn’t

something that can be swept under the rug.

But a study conducted by Imperva, the cybersecurity specialist, revealed 28% of organisations felt they weren’t completely compliant with GDPR. And alarmingly, this sentiment was in August 2018, some three months after its launch.

Terry Ray, CTO of Imperva, said: “Any company that put GDPR off until the last minute now realises

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GD P R

compliance cannot be achieved overnight. It does not surprise me that many organisations feel unsure about the idea of a GDPR audit. The truth is many would fail.”

Despite the seemingly lax approach that many firms had to get up to speed, it shouldn’t be forgotten the consequences are severe. And it’s not just that it could cost your business fines if you fail to comply.

Highlighting the importance of GDPR’s implementation, Phil Chambers, chief operating officer at Metro Communications, the dark web services company, says: “A recent FOI request to the Information Commissioner’s Office showed that the number of reported data security breaches had risen by three quarters over the past two years, with an overwhelming proportion being down to human error.” With employees responsible for such a broad spectrum of personal information being penetrated, as well as hackers actively looking to smash through companies’ closed digital doors, there is much to consider. “You can see why the implementation of GDPR was needed,” continues Chambers. “All companies, including smaller businesses, must approach information security as business critical.”

As Metro Communications operates in the cybersecurity sector, it was well aware of GDPR’s arrival, so much of the necessary preparation was already taken care of. “We’re relatively new, so all our marketing and data governance was developed with the knowledge that GDPR was coming,” says Chambers. “As a result

we haven’t had to make many changes to avoid GDPR pitfalls.” He concedes that other SMEs would have found compliance quite an uphill struggle though: “Many of them already have stretched resources and small teams. The strain was particularly felt by those B2C businesses – some had to completely change how they communicated with customers.”

The team at Find Me A Gift, the online retail company, knows all too well what an arduous task getting GDPR-ready was. Indeed, it was nothing less than a “massive undertaking” according to Adam Gore, director and co-owner of Find Me A Gift. “It’s taken a lot of time working through all the changes in how we hold, process and secure personal data,” he says. “Weeks of staff training not to mention the constant auditing to ensure our staff and customer data is safe and secure.”

Building on such challenges, Jon Cano-Lopez, CEO at REaD Group, the data communications company, says part of it has been down to misinformation surrounding GDPR both before and after its arrival.

“There are many intricate parts of the legislation, covering all aspects of data collection, storage and processing,” details Cano-Lopez. “It impacts on IT systems, data management, information security, website design, HR practice and more.” As there was never a requirement for companies to have such expertise within their four walls, it meant they would have paid out for external outfits to provide support.

“For startups, which typically will have a small group of founders covering

multiple roles and responsibilities, meeting new requirements represents a huge investment of time and money,” he adds.

It’s fair to say Cano-Lopez hit the nail on the head by discussing expenses.

Spending money has been the biggest downside to ensure Find Me A Gift’s compliance, explains Gore. “The biggest con to GDPR for our business has been the cost,” he says. With external training to educate staff in GDPR, joining the government scheme Cyber Essential to protect the site and give customers peace of mind, new IT developments to secure supplier access to orders and so on, fees have mounted up. “Data mapping also took an extremely long time to gather, analyse data sources, agree retention periods and record the reason for holding the data,” Gore adds.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however.

Find Me A Gift had also experienced benefits to offer some balance to the problems. “The pros have been added security of personal data to protect us, our customers and employees,” says Gore. He points to more understanding of where and why data is being kept and transparency with staff and customers about it as other bonuses. “GDPR helped us cleanse our systems and files of unnecessary data,” Gore continues. “It has been a cathartic process to go through as it has driven us to care more about personal data, how we process it and its retention. Overall this has been a positive exercise to go through as it has enabled us to manage risks to the business that aren’t normally given the focus they should have.”

JANUARY 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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09/01/2019 14:25

LEARNING TO LOVE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION There was a time when only the largest organisations with the deepest pockets could invest in the IT necessary to drive efficiency and innovation.

Thankfully those days are gone; cloud technology has made the same IT firepower that was once the preserve of only the wealthiest and biggest corporations available to SMEs. So, it’s no wonder so many SMEs are embracing the digital future and the amazing opportunities it brings.

Realise your digital potential A recent white paper by research firm IDC, The Road to the Digital Future of SMEs 1, involved a survey of 300 businesses and casts new light on the circumstances of British SMEs. But while there is much cause for celebration, there is still work to be done before all firms realise their digital potential.

Perhaps most concerning was that 45% of SMEs view IT as a necessary cost rather than a driver of competitive advantage. The truth of the matter is very different, so let’s take a look at what digital transformation can achieve.

35%

of respondents agreed digital transformation was one of the best ways to improve business efficiency.

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48%

of larger SMEs which viewed IT as an enabler of business efficiency also reported the highest growth numbers

Source: virginmediabusiness.co.uk/insights/transforming-business-whitepaper

08/10/2018 21:04

Standing up to the competition

Getting connected

Digital transformation is a way to increase competitive advantage and that first-rate connectivity is key in a world shaped by cloud and wireless/mobile technologies. Paradoxically, at the same time, a lot of SMEs are held back by a lack of willingness and knowledge to invest in ICT to drive their digital transformation.”

Having a fast, reliable internet connection means you can be more open to new ideas and technology – it’s about being ready for the future. The IDC white paper says, “UK SMEs run the risk of not having the right ICT infrastructure or internet connectivity and therefore cannot take advantage of the opportunities in a data-driven digital world.

Clearly, leveraging digital technology provides a distinct competitive advantage to SMEs willing to make the investment to drive future growth.

45% put innovating products and services among their key challenges

“From Voice-over-IP (VoIP) to accessing the cloud, the benefits of flexible working, improving digital marketing and enhancing customer experience mean that reliable, high internet connection speed is a necessity for the future. IDC believes that it is important for SMEs to embrace an investment strategy to drive growth.”

A growth sector In other words, investment is necessary in order to win market share against larger organisations.

To take advantage of transformative technology costs far less, thanks to the cloud and digitisation of telephony estates.

The big benefits of digital transformation

The customer is king

---------------------------------------------------------1. Improved customer experience

Digital transformation can improve customer experience. This could make a crucial difference to the 51% of SMEs that reported finding new customers was their biggest challenge. In fact, many SMEs feel their ability to provide excellent customer relations is a crucial advantage over larger organisations.

2. Reduced operating costs

So how can digital transformation help? In short, by giving customers what they want from a business’s online portal. That means a regularly updated website, customer support and social interaction.

IDC concludes: “All SMEs (and small SMEs specifically) should focus on improving their customers’ digital experience. For example, if small businesses are difficult to find online they are limiting their audience and thus growth.”

That sounds like sound advice.

7.

3. Easier to acquire new customers 4. Find and retain the right staff skills with more success 5. More innovation in products and services 6. Increased ability to manage suppliers and partners Faster adaption to changing

regulations --------------------------------------------------------

Ready to see how digitally transformed you are?

Take our test virginmediabusiness.co.uk/DigitalSurvey

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ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK january 2019

GOING STRAIGHT

E MPLOYIN G E X-O F F E ND E RS

BY VARSHA SARAOGI

While many entrepreneurs might harbour reservations against hiring ex-offenders, they’re indeed missing out on a potential skilful workforce

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ECOND CHANCES TO RESTART one’s career after committing a crime are few and far between. But of those who do get lucky, most inevitably prefer to capitalise on the opportunity and aim to change their lives for the better.

And to ensure they get this prospect, head honchos must encourage the recruitment of ex-offenders in their companies.

One such entrepreneur is Josh Babarinde, founder of Cracked It, the phone repair company, who staffed his firm wholly with ex-offenders after he realised the benefits of doing so. “It started from a place of supporting them away from crime,” he says. “What we know is employment is one of the single most effective means of reducing someone’s desire to commit crime.”

The figures have proven as much. A report by the Office for National Statistics revealed that employment was a major factor in reducing crimes and ex-offenders finding a job were 9% less likely to reoffend. This is why the government has been increasingly willing to help those with a criminal past to get their life back on track. In May 2018, justice secretary David Gauke introduced the Education and Employment Strategy to make it easier for ex-prisoners to hone employable skills and hence reduce reoffending. And since, more than 120 businesses have signed up to work with prisons. “The reason can be attributed to a number of organic incentives that encourage employees to comply with pro-social values,” Babarinde says. “So things like sensitive

communication, negotiation, teamwork – these are all things that you have to practice in the workplace to get paid so it’s a perfect way of fostering people who have offended in the past.”

The benefits aren’t limited to being a good cause for the community. Apart from fulfilling a business’ social responsibility, hiring ex-offenders can make all the difference as it opens a new avenue for employers. Given more than 11 million people in the UK have a criminal record, according to Nacro, the social justice charity, it’s a rather huge talent resource which business bosses must look into. Babarinde believes from exceptional skills to the desire to prove their worth, ex-offenders in fact have commendable work ethic when they’re in a professional environment. “For many of these individuals, once they actually get an opportunity, once an employer says ‘you know what let’s give you a second chance,’ a proportionate amount of these young people are determined they don’t make a mistake again,” he argues. “They’re extremely loyal and hardworking because they know this might be their last shot.” And Babarinde isn’t alone in this mission. Big businesses like Marks and Spencer, Halfords and Virgin Trains have utilised the talent of ex-offenders by recruiting them. “It’s a [win-win] relationship.” Babarinde declares.

Additionally, in the course of committing crimes, they’ve undeniably had to practice numerous abilities that may january 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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Em ploy i ng e x- o f f e nd ers

What we know is employment is one of the single most effective means of reducing someone’s desire to commit crime Josh Babarinde, Cracked It not seem obvious at first glance.

“For instance, as a drug dealer, you need a vast array of skills – building up a network of potential clients, keeping those clients happy, financial management [and] customer service skills,” Babarinde argues. “They might have developed these skills through illegitimate means but my goodness if we can harness those skills and direct them towards supporting the achievement of our commercial operations, that has benefits for both employers and ex-offenders.” And it’s easy to see how many ex-offenders today have continued to serve as stool pigeons or have become poachers turned gamekeepers. Just like Frank Abagnale, the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can, who has gone from con artist to security consultant.

Consequently, ex-offenders have been responsible for Babarinde’s booming business. “[It] has opened up many opportunities that wouldn’t have happened were we a standard business that had no special commitment to employing ex-offenders,” he opines. “For example, we have an arrangement with the Ministry of Justice where we go in and fix staff member’s phones and that’s an extraordinary opportunity for us on a commercial basis and the key thing that got us in the door is because we employ ex-offenders.” And research by Office for National Statistics said, a further 92% of inclusive company heads admitted to seeing an upward curve and scoring new contracts after they hired ex-offenders.

However, while there are entrepreneurs like Babarinde making an impact, many prefer not to take this route. The criminal record tickbox, often used on application forms, automatically freezes a majority of ex-offenders out of the workplace.

And as a result, only around a quarter of prisoners get employment after 66

release, according to government figures. The stigma of a criminal past is seen by employees too. For instance, Richard Cowlishaw, HR director at Clipper Logistics, the logistics firm, faced challenges from within his company when he proposed the idea of hiring ex-offenders in the warehouses. “There was some scepticism and nervousness at the board level,” he recalls. “In the early days it was the thinking ‘Is this a good idea, can we really afford to take that risk?’ The way I overcame that was saying ‘Firstly, we know what they’ve done and they’ve been punished for that crime. Secondly, they’re being monitored to keep their noses clean.

Thirdly, we’ve put a lot of people in our organisation, some of whom will be, on a daily basis, committing offences or breaking the law and we won’t know about those people.’” Now, having employed 50 ex-offenders already, he’s on a crusade to double that number soon.

The main step Cowlishaw took was to ensure all the ex-offenders employed in his warehouses were given support and training by Tempus Novo, the charity aid for prisoners’ employment, for six to 12 months. This gave him the confidence that they were ready to transition to the working life – a task which wasn’t on their to-do list when they were in the clink. From support with financial management to mental health, it’s essential for employers to invest in their overall wellbeing. “I wouldn’t recommend any employer engage in the recruitment of ex-offenders without a support mechanism like Tempus Novo – it’s a key ingredient,” he says. He advises that hesistant companies must “take that leap of faith” and see for themselves. “[Entrepreneurs] have got to speak to employers like me to understand it to get my experience

of employing ex-offenders and they’ve absolutely got to try to make sure it works in their organisation,” Cowlishaw adds. “Once the trial is successful they’ll have no hesitation.”

If an employer is still wary they must make themselves aware of the law.

It’s unlawful under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 to refuse to employ an individual with a spent conviction. And furthermore, job hunters who’ve had a brush with the law needn’t disclose this information when asked during an interview. “If an employer discovers that an employee has an unspent conviction, their dismissal may be fair but employers must remember that the usual rules of dismissal will apply,” says Michelle Tudor, an employment lawyer at Barlow Robbins, the law firm. “The employer must establish whether the unspent conviction gives rise to a potentially fair reason for dismissal and follow a fair dismissal procedure.”

Additionally, if companies do hire ex-offenders, they must be aware of the laws surrounding the industry they’re in. “There are some sectors with sectorspecific legislation and guidance where having a criminal conviction may be taken into account when assessing an individual’s fitness for work, such as financial services, law and accountancy or working with children or vulnerable adults,” Tudor continues.

Apart from these precautions, there exists a real opportunity to tap into a skilful workforce for employers.

And for the sake of society at large, employing ex-offenders may be the best opportunity to significantly disrupt recidivism. “There’s a huge investment to make but there’s also a huge return and what it takes are employers who are forward thinking and bold about their different means of staffing their operation,” Babarinde concludes.

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A dv ert i s i ng f eat u r e

The FUTURE OF THE WORKPLACE: MAXIMISING PRODUCTIVITY AND TACKLING DIVERSITY IN THE TECHONOLOGY SECTOR

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recent report conducted by Milkround asked more than 5,700 students and graduates for their opinions on career confidence, including what influences productivity and how employers can promote women in technology to help combat the prevalence of the gender gap in STEM industries.

Training and mentorship aids productivity Many businesses are now offering a variety of working arrangements in a bid to become more flexible for a wider range of employees. From office perks to remote working spaces, these elements are being introduced as a way of maximising productivity.

However, our research shows that students and graduates simply want their employer to be fair and agile when it comes to understanding how an individual works best, with 28% of students opting for training and mentorship as the top factor for maximising productivity.

Flexible hours appealed to 24% of students and 13% favoured fun work perks such as office pet days but overall, employers should be investing in the millennial workforce’s skills, setting clear goals and marketing any training

programmes available so that younger employees have something concrete to map themselves against.

Students and graduates also noted that mentorship and having open communication with an individual they can relate to is the most valuable factor in creating a productive environment. A previous graduate is an obvious choice but equally if another employee from outside the team possesses expertise your new starter is interested in, a few catch ups will inspire more out-of-the-box thinking.

Technology will shape the future but the gender gap persists Whilst diversity continues to be the number one challenge for employees across all industries, the gender gap is more prevalent in some sectors than others. Specifically, the technological skills gap continues to widen, with the prediction that by 2020, more than 60% of new jobs will require skills that less than 20% of the workforce possesses.

The landscape of careers is changing vastly and 92% of our respondents predict that technology will impact the jobs of the future. However, not all graduates are interested in choosing this career route.

Our research shows that only 49% of females would be interested in a technology-based career, compared to 73% of males. It’s therefore fundamental for businesses in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics industries to be celebrating, supporting and promoting women in younger generations. Sharing insights such as day in the life profiles as part of your recruitment process – either on your website or through social media – can highlight successful women and prevent a cycle of continued imbalance.

To find out more about how Milkround can help to shape your recruitment strategies, head to

www.recruiting.milkround.com

JULY 2018 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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08/10/2018 23:14

S PAC E TE C H

UNDER THE

STARS

BY ANGUS SHAW

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S PAC E TE C H

FROM MINING TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS, A VARIETY OF INDUSTRIES RELY ON SATELLITE DATA. NOW, SMALL SATELLITES SEE STARTUPS TAPPING INTO THE GOLDMINE

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PACE WAS ONCE a frontier only superpowers like the US or Russia could afford to conquer. But today, small satellite startups smash traditional barriers to the cosmos for many industries and increasingly court funding in the process. For as well as providing spacetech solutions for Earth’s greatest challenges, satellite data is useful for just about any business.

From Uber and Apple to Tinder and Strava, most modern companies need access to orbiting satellites when boasting things like location tracking. For some time, governments held exclusivity when only hefty and pricey satellites were available. In fact, they’re burning cash even to this day. “It’s still costing large government operators like Airbus a billion to develop and get a satellite into space,” says Rob Desborough, investment director at Seraphim Capital, the spacetech venture fund. Even if entrepreneurs get their hands on these costly chunks of metal, government satellites take roughly seven and a half years to develop and launch, according to The Aerospace Corporation, the research and development centre. So when finally finished, they’re already out of date. “By the time it’s up there the technology is potentially already ten years old and then you’re going to keep it up there for a further ten to 15 years as well,” Desborough opines. Talk about a bad investment.

Enter spacetech startups cutting the costs by developing smaller satellites for as little as $1m, according to Desborough. “The industry is making

previously extremely expensive and large satellite technology smaller in size, enabling more satellites to be launched due to lower mass,” says Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and co-founder of ICEYE, the satellite imaging startup. Indeed, with small satellites typically weighing under 500kg – and popular CubeSats even seeing below 10kg – they can be rolled out comparatively quickly, especially considering their low mass enables ride-sharing with other launches. “If you combine [low cost] with a new space approach of fast hardware development cycles, you can pump out satellites in a matter of months rather than years,” he adds.

Low cost and development time also make satellite constellations more achievable – in other words, multiple satellites sprawled across Earth’s orbit and linking up for consistent coverage. “When you have a much larger constellation with around 75 satellites you can really visit the same place on Earth every 15 minutes,” Desborough says.

Moreover, due to their numerousness and cost effectiveness, it won’t be a disaster if a small satellite bites the dust. “If I’ve only got four satellites and I lose one I’m going to lose the quarter of my coverage,” the investor continues. “When I’ve got 70 then it doesn’t have the same impact so you can get new tech up more quickly.”

But their coverage does far more than just facilitate ridesharing apps. In fact, small satellite data lets startups tackle hazards to humanity. “Big problems, such as illegal fishing, climate change and natural disasters, can be thwarted through the use of satellite data that is already being collected today,” explains Nick Allain, head of brand at Spire Global, the satellite data company. Satellite-harvested data is colossal and ranges from tracking weather patterns to mankind’s mark on Earth. The potential uses for this big data are so vast that satellite analytics will be worth $18.1bn by 2027, according to Northern Sky Research, the satellite and space market research company. “There is an infinitely increasing number of applications for the data that comes from satellites,” Allain promises. With small satellites, startups could be tapping into the goldmine.

WHEN YOU HAVE A MUCH LARGER CONSTELLATION WITH AROUND 75 VISIT ISATELLITES THINK MOREYOU AND CAN MOREREALLY NICHE APPS THE SAME PLACETOONKEEP EARTH EVERY 15 WILL BE CREATED UP WITH MINUTES USERS’ IDENTITIES AND INTERESTS Rob Desborough, Robyn Exton, HER Seraphim Capital January 2019 ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK

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SPAC ET EC H

Big problems, such as illegal fishing, climate change and natural disasters, can be thwarted through the use of satellite data that is already being collected today Nick Allain, Spire Global

It goes without saying the sky isn’t the limit in the tech’s funding landscape. “VCs are seeing the potential for a return on their investments and are eager to put their money into an industry that is seeing such dramatic growth,” Modrzewski says. In September 2018, for example, HyperSat, the small satellite platform, took home an impressive $85m series A round. Moreover, ICEYE bagged a $13m series A in August 2017 and a $34m series B in May 2018. “[That’s] largely due to our continued ability to deliver on our ambitious promises,” Modrzewski opines. Although most small satellite startups like ICEYE are yet to venture beyond their second or third VC round, it’s only a matter of time.

Through this prism, it seems big satellites are snookered by the benefits miniaturised ones bring and begs the question why they’re even still used. Well, given their size, small satellites can only pack so much punch. “For example, optical imaging like you see in spy movies requires a large lens and large sensor – which simply don’t fit into most small satellites,” Allain admits. Limited payload means small satellites can’t deliver quite the same results as larger ones, at least not outside constellations. “There are some cases where physics provide a unique challenge,” he says.

That includes finding ways to shrink even the most basic of satellite needs. For example, ICEYE tasked itself with rigging synthetic-aperture radar –Didier fairlyRappaport, commonhappn remote

Apps are imitating life and catering for all kinds of individuals with all kinds of backgrounds, beliefs, interests and desires

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sensing tech invented in the 1950s – to a satellite under 100kg and blast it into orbit. Not exactly rocket science by today’s standards but for a satellite that miniature, ICEYE say they were the first to successfully do it.

“Quite a few experts were telling us early on that what we were aiming for was flat out impossible – and for good reason, it absolutely was very hard,” recalls Modrzewski. It means designers have no room to be picky with miniaturised satellites. “Hard choices need to be made about what you’re making – not everything you would like to have will fit your mass and size limitations,” he continues.

Even if your small satellite’s perfectly equipped to brave space, it won’t fly anywhere without launch capabilities and they’re not easy to obtain. “I think there are only 80 startup companies within the launch environments out there at the moment,” Desebrough explains. “So the issue here is not actually ‘have I raised enough money to build my first CubeSat and get it into orbit?’ It’s actually then finding the capacity with someone like SpaceX as well.”

Brilliantly, Britain’s working to solve this problem. In July 2018, the UK and the Scottish government set aside £31.5m to construct Britain’s first spaceport in Scotland by 2020, with a view to launch 2,000 small satellites from it by 2030. “You’ve definitely got an industrial strategy around space in the UK,” Desborough says.

However, Britain isn’t the only power looking to claim a piece of new space turf. “Increasingly, we’re seeing the same in Luxembourg, Abu Dhabi etcetera where they’re looking to diversify the economy,” Desborough says. Sweden and Norway, for instance, are vying to steal the march from Britain and ease Europe’s blast-off challenges with their own spaceport in Lapland. Such global buzz is a result of nations realising the tangible benefits spacetech brings right now, rather than just for the future. “Whether you are powering real-time premium adjustments for the insurance industry, maritime navigation or mining for oil and gas, satellites affect all of these industries,” Desborough summarises.

From promising funding to Britain’s spaceport blueprints, the stars are aligned for small satellites to iron out their payload issues and become the go-to for many industries. “Based on what the industry is looking like right now, the future of [small satellites] will see growth, both from an investment side and launches,” Allain says. And by combining the power of traditional satellites and agility of small ones, the stage is set for the tech as a whole to reach some seriously impressive heights. “New space companies will join forces with traditional companies to drive innovation and build satellites that can change how we access space and deliver data to people all over the world,” Allain concludes.

ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK January 2019

Technology THIS ONE 3

09/01/2019 14:17

Top Digital Workplace Trends in 2019 Leading organisations have begun to implement a completely new working environment: the digital workplace. The rise of social, mobile, data and cloud technology has transformed every aspect of our personal and business lives, making them increasingly connected and digital. Some of the top trends that will impact the digital workplace in 2019 are: •

Businesses moving their communication and collaboration systems to the cloud to remain competitive in a fast-changing digital marketplace.

•

Employers prioritising offering their workforce flexibility to work from wherever they choose, whenever they choose.

•

Expanding collaboration capabilities outside of the physical office space to offer employees seamless ways of communicating and collaborating regardless of location, time and devices used.

•

Streamlining workflows to encompass the required toolbelt of apps and programmes to work efficiently and effectively.

•

Supporting global locations to scale effectively and maintain quality, reliability and performance standards regardless of where the business moves to next.

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The world is evolving; cloud communications enable businesses to transform to evolve with it. Read the full article here: https://www.ringcentral.co.uk/blog/digital-workplace-trends

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EUROPE’S NO.1 ACCOUNTANCY & FINANCE CONFERENCE AND EXPO Discover the tools, technology and ideas you need to future-proof your business.

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t g s e in nd er er e a d a m d s ov ak d le ce ou s1 m pe an ing vi cl y: nes ro s s r er t . s t c e r f ert pi ff y s ge en oda usi t e a p to o i t r v H ex y rs ur la y e et teB 0 ke ide sec K’s rit ick Eli t / 20 ng v r U u ri pro be he ec ree om f .c ve 0 cy t t r s co 15 d a be our xpo s n y er a on c r y ye o it ov d ti nd ou lu a er f cur cl so st se gi ud Re clo . w

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SECURING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Security is not just for the IT team: it now impacts everyone, and is an imperative consideration for the entire business. Join us on 12-13 March 2019 to gain knowledge and insight from industry leading security experts on emerging trends, tech deep dives, lessons learned and market forecasts.

Our 2019 speakers include:

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Shadow Minister of Industrial Strategy, Science and Innovation

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THE CRUNCH The stats that matter – and some that don’t

32%

of workers with a side hustle admit to pulling a sickie on their main job to further it

62%

90%

£23bn

of new mothers haven’t been offered any return-to-work support

was invested into European startups in 2018

37%

£6.7tn

of new mothers felt so unsupported and isolated on their return to work that they wanted to leave

is how big UK debt could be by 2023 – nearly 260% of GDP

40%

82%

of SMEs have fallen victim to a data breach

of Brits think tech addiction is comparable to drug and alcohol abuse

£527m

is how much Uber lost in Q3 2018

82

74%

of working professionals want a second Brexit referendum with the same amount stating they would vote remain

£39,500

is how much underperforming employees cost UK SMEs every year

Sources: Atomico, Kaspersky Lab, TechCrunch, CIPHR, Morgan McKinley, PwC, Robert Half, CV-Library, MMB Magazine, Sunflower Group.

of workers who have a side hustle admit to working on it during their regular job

ELITEBUSINESSMAGAZINE.CO.UK JANUARY 2019

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09/01/2019 14:15

Hungry to grow your business overseas?

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Join the thousands of UK businesses like Tangerine that are successfully selling overseas.

Visit great.gov.uk

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02/10/2018 12:08