17 minute read
Tony Elliott CBE: Taking time out with Tony
Time Out London was started by Tony Elliott CBE in 1968 as a guide to the emerging music and cultural scene in London. Today, it has grown into a global media and entertainment company with an audience of around 217 million worldwide. In London, it has been the go-to guide for everything for the last 50 years. Tony came to speak at King’s in June 2018 and Ana Hernandez, a King’s Masters student, caught up with him beforehand.
lliott has always been keen on publishing and media generally. During his time at Keele University (1965–68), he took over a dense and quite serious student publication, Unit, and made it much more contemporary, increased its circulation and improved its advertising revenues. This short grounding in magazine publishing proved very successful when setting up Time Out.
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STARTING TIME OUT
While he was living at his parents’ South Kensington home after leaving his boarding school, Stowe, in 1964, a year early to study for his A-Levels in London, Elliott started hanging out with an eclectic hip crowd that was ‘culturally progressive’. Through them he was introduced to international cinema, places like the Tate Gallery, the new groundbreaking British music scene, experimental theatre, and so on.
He was excited by this emerging arts scene, which was sometimes hard to find out about, and felt a desire to promote it: ‘It was, in a sense, an entrepreneurial kind of activity, as it also had a purpose; I thought people ought to know about this.’ This initially got fed into Unit at Keele then was the driver for Time Out.
And that’s why Elliott sat in his mother’s kitchen in the summer of 1968 with £70 of 21st birthday money from his aunt, and created Time Out, a publication listing concerts, plays, films, exhibitions and many things not found in the mainstream media. Six months after launching the first issue in August 1968 Elliott was phoning Keele to tell them he wouldn’t be returning to finish his studies.
He went to King’s Road in Chelsea on Saturdays, a popular destination for young people at the time, to sell copies personally to people there. The response was extremely positive from the start: ‘They’d always go: ‘Oh why hasn’t anyone done this before? It’s great!’ And they’d buy a copy.’
Distributing the magazine himself was something Elliott felt key to Time Out’s early success, as it also became a form of data-gathering and instant market research allowing him to shape his publication in response to feedback.
Time Out quickly signed up with the alternative distributors Moore-Harness, who were meticulous about making sure that it was on sale where it needed to be in London. This move proved crucial: ‘You can’t sell anything unless it’s available, and then it only sells if it is any good.’
Elliott’s aim for Time Out was for it to be more than a guide and instead to be regarded as a highly curated publication offering an ‘informed inside view’ of what was happening at any moment – everything from gigs at the Roundhouse to anti-Apartheid marches. It swiftly became a comprehensive counterculture weekly guide that touched on many non-mainstream issues, such as where pregnant women could safely get abortions.
TIME OUT TODAY
Elliott attributes his success to what he terms ‘pragmatic confidence’, where he trusts that everything will fall into place in the end. ‘I never hesitated to put my assets as collateral for funding with our bank,’ reflects Elliott, adding that he knew it would be worth it in the long run.
The entire premise of the Time Out brand is to reflect the culture it covers and evolve with it: ‘That’s innately what people who are entrepreneurs are able to do: to adjust to things,’ he says.
Yet Elliott asserts adjusting should never mean losing your edge, and Time Out prides itself on sticking to up-and-coming new and alternative people and events. Although aware of the selling power of having someone like Beyoncé on the cover, Elliott strongly believes in remaining loyal to his audience and philosophy, rather than overt commercialisation for the sake of sales.
FIVE FEATURES OF A SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR ACCORDING TO TONY ELLIOTT
1. You need an idea first. You can learn how to run a business and how a market works, but you can’t learn an idea.
2. Once you have set up, hire the right people. I attribute a big part of our success to the quality of the people working for Time Out.
3. Be adjustable. In other words, responsive to your audience and to what is happening in your surroundings. This is where a lot of ventures fall behind, but what has made Time Out a major figure for half a century.
4. Never sacrifice quality. There will be many sacrifices to be made when setting up a venture, but quality is priority.
5. Be patient. Time Out is 50 years old, and I consider the first 20 years ‘the start-up stage’ before everything got stable and took off.
THE BUSINESS
Elliott never started with a business plan. If he had done, he considers that it would probably have been stressful because the focus would have been to reach financial or circulation targets instead of delivering a quality product.
For the first three years or so, Time Out ‘muddled through’ financially. When Elliott realised the magazine had built up a deficit of £39,000, he brought in a business manager and became much more focused about the business, reducing the deficit from £39,000 to £9,000 in one year by streamlining processes, becoming more cost efficient and increasing revenues.
GOING FREE
The Time Out London magazine as a weekly, free publication is a fairly recent development. Going free in 2012 was, Elliott reflects, ‘The best business decision we ever took.’
Circulation had fallen to between 50,000- 60,000 paid-for copies in 2012, roughly half of what it was at its peak. Financial struggles driven by declining revenues together with the need for significant investment in online activities, guidebooks and other ventures eventually forced the company to sell 50 per cent of its shares to Oakley Capital.
Elliott released the first issue of the free Time Out in September 2012, and circulation reached over 300,000 copies (with over 600,000 readers) during the first months. Circulation has remained at this level which is more than six times higher than before the magazine went free. Suddenly, Time Out had thousands of new readers, especially young people.
Today, the Time Out brand spans a variety of mediums in addition to the magazine, including apps, a website and, most recently, a Time Out Market in Lisbon. The market functions as a sort of living Time Out magazine, where the best chefs, baristas and restaurateurs gather in an old marketplace in the heart of Lisbon to deliver the highest quality foods and products, and live events. As the magazine did in London in 1968, the market does today in Lisbon: shed light onto the new, up-and-coming talents, giving them the exposure needed to break out.
The brand has partnerships worldwide and licenses the name for use in other Time Out ventures, but never dilutes its core philosophy and mission: ‘It all started because I genuinely thought people ought to know about new people and things,’ says Elliott, explaining that he had a purpose before he had an enterprise.
ABOVE Time Out London: Winston Churchill (1974). Cover by Pearce Marchbank, photographed by Roger Perry. BELOW Time Out 2139: #ilovelondon (2011). Both courtesy of Time Out.
RECOMMENDED READING
Time Out 50: 50 Years, 50 Covers published by Unicorn Publishing Group
Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
There is a TED Talk on the same theme as the book: bit.ly/TedTalkSS
TAKE ACTION!
Be the first to find out about other great speakers coming to King’s, sign up here: bit.ly/EntEngage
WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?
The books, films, buildings, fashion, technology, businesses and services that we frequently come across didn’t just appear out of thin air. They all started out as an idea in someone’s head. You can find inspiration for ideas in many places but are they any good? This is your crash course on how to get ideas, how to develop them, and how to communicate them to others to win their support.
WHERE DO GOOD IDEAS COME FROM?
FIND YOUR INNER DETECTIVE
You have a problem to solve that will potentially affect thousands or millions of people – you need to find out as much as you can about this group of people so that you can best serve their needs. Think of yourself as an investigative journalist who will not sleep until you know enough to write an in-depth article about it. Do research, speak to people and keep an account of everything you find out.
The best ideas are thoroughly researched and well thought through.
Jeremy Shorter runs the Entrepreneurship Institute’s Skills programme. He shares tips from his experience with ideation.
SHARE YOUR IDEA
You’ve done your research and the possible solutions are starting to form, but what next? Use and extend your network to gain valuable insights that will ultimately strengthen your idea. Speak to people who are experts in the field and start to map out how you might approach building your solution.
I have an idea and it’s going to change the world, trust me! These are some really exciting words that I love to hear. However, sometimes a person’s passion and enthusiasm for their idea can take over a more objective view of the reality of the idea. To keep an objective view, it’s important not to forget that world-changing ideas are more likely to succeed if they have strong foundations and solve real problems.
Ideas can come in all shapes and sizes – an idea that you may think has little potential could grow and develop with some hard work and careful nurturing.
It’s also important to remember that if we pace ourselves and really think about what it takes to make an idea different, strong AND interesting, we might just end up creating something mind blowing.
Here are three things that I like to keep in mind when generating ideas:
PROBLEM POWER
A great idea solves a problem. For an idea to be useful it must help people, and the more people the better. If you think of a problem that only affects you and three of your closest friends, but not anyone else, you will find it incredibly hard to build a user base. Ask yourself: Who suffers from this problem? What are their pain points? How are they currently dealing with it? Can I think of a different or better solution?
Don’t be afraid to think big from the outset and develop a long-term goal or vision. Just remember that there will be a number of steps to get there.
HOW TO PUT YOUR IDEA ACROSS
To get an idea off the ground, you’ll need to be able to talk to others about it in a way that is concise, clear and compelling. Julie Devonshire OBE, Director of the Entrepreneurship Institute, gives you her top tips.
I love hearing about new ideas. They can be inspiring, exciting, funny and ground-breaking. They make you feel optimistic.
I hear hundreds of new ideas each year from innovators and entrepreneurs inside King’s and outside. These come from all areas of knowledge and expertise; they are ideas for research, for start-ups, for the application of new technology, for creative concepts or simply to solve problems.
If there is scope for improvement or for development, there’s opportunity for new ideas.
TAKE ACTION!
Take part in Idea Factory, the Entrepreneurship Institute’s flagship idea generation competition. It’s a hotbed of innovation and can support you if you’re struggling to come up with new ideas. It includes ideation workshops to help you generate ideas and opportunities to network with others.
Also sign up to the Skills programme and come along to our events to get inspiration. www.kcl.ac.uk/ EntrepreneurshipInstitute
However, often ideas fail not because the idea itself is bad but it has been badly communicated. Someone will not be able to support an idea and help get it off the ground if they don’t understand it.
No matter what type of idea you are discussing, and no matter what the context, these are my top tips, distilled from the real endeavours of others: their meat yield. Complicated, yes, but this is how he introduced his new business idea to the audience:
‘I have built a gym for fish.’ Those listening were utterly intrigued and off he went from there, reeling us all in.
1. Be welcoming, positive and professional. Think about your demeanour, what you are wearing and how you might come across.
2. Know who you are talking to. Knowing who they are and what they want from you will help you to decide what to present to them and what to leave out. You’ll be more likely to compel them if you understand who they are.
HOW TO GET GOING ON YOUR IDEA
3. Present the problem first. Before you dive into your idea, set out the problem that you are trying to solve, preferably with a real example of someone or something that suffers as a result of this problem. Doing this creates empathy, it brings to life the area that you are talking about, it helps people to buy into and identify with your topic.
4. Set out your solution but ‘sell’ the benefits rather
than the features. Talk much more about the endgame than the tactics used to get you there. Save the details for their questions or for your next discussion.
5. With confidence, set out why you and your team are
uniquely qualified to deliver this idea. Talk about your combined qualifications, experiences and skills that make you the best team to deliver.
6. You don’t need to tell them everything in your first
pitch. Tell them only what they need to know to understand and to be compelled, and be comfortable leaving lots of the details for another time. Your job is not to explain it all – your job is solely to get them to want more. Don’t over-stuff the cushion.
7. Finally, practise pitching your idea beforehand
repeatedly. Imagine that you are explaining your idea to your 10-year-old self or to your great aunt and uncle. If they get it, others will too.
Oh, and have a great opening line. My favourite pitch opening line ever was from a super-smart, entrepreneurial marine biologist who had a very complicated, new business idea that used lighting systems to make farmed fish shoal and so increase
You’ve got an idea but not sure how to get started? Theo Ohene has some suggestions for you. Theo is a ‘growth hacker’ supporting ventures to scale up and get to the next stage in their development. He mentors entrepreneurs in the King's20 Accelerator. Here are his suggestions to get your idea going.
When working on a new idea, your goal should be to find out: Do people want/need my future product, service or community? You need to know your idea is worth pursuing. So, in the early stages, your goal should simply be to speak to as many people in your target audience as possible. You don’t need business cards or a fancy website – just the willingness to listen and ask the right questions. Here are some steps to get started:
CREATE SOME EDUCATED ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT YOUR IDEA
Every product, service or community has started with the assumption that ‘the world needs this idea to exist’. However, you should be seeking to make assumptions about your idea as accurate as possible as early as you can. Among the assumptions you need to make are: • Who wants your idea to exist (this is your target audience)? From Future Learn: bit.ly/FL-Communication
• How much are they willing to pay to use your product or service? • What problems does your target audience face? • How big are these problems? • Why would they use your product or service?
Let’s say you are making a revolutionary hair brush for dogs. Here are some assumptions you could make: • Most dog hair brushes are too rough on the dog’s hair. • Dog owners of smaller dogs who spend regularly on high-end grooming products will be my target audience. • Dog owners will pay £25 for my hair brush. • Dog owners will use my product because it helps them to maintain their dog’s hair better.
Profile
• Mary, 45. • Has a Yorkshire Terrier. • Spends £80 monthly on hair products for her dog. • Visits dog blogs and is a regular contributor to dog-related Facebook and Pinterest Groups.
Problems
• Struggles to find suitable and quality products (including hairbrushes) for her dog. • Must get a new hair brush every few months.
Motivations
• Wants her dog to look well-groomed. • Doesn’t want to hurt her dog when brushing hair.
TRY IT YOURSELF
Write down the 5–10 main assumptions you have about your idea.
TRY IT YOURSELF
Create 2–3 personas (profiles) for your idea.
REDEFINE YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Your next step is to narrow down who your target audience is and why they want or need your idea to exist.
The best way to do this is to come up with 2–3 personas (mini-profiles) about the people who you think will benefit most from your idea. Give them a name and think from the perspective of your personas. Assume some characteristics about your persona and provide details about: • Their background. • Where they hang out online/what they read. • What their general motivations related to your idea are. • What their problems/frustrations are.
SPEAK TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND ASK THEM QUESTIONS TO FIND OUT ABOUT THEIR PROBLEMS
Your next step is to talk to people about your idea. Don’t just speak to close friends and family – they’re more likely to give you biased answers as they want your idea to succeed.
Find 5–10 people who match your assumed personas and reach out to them. This is where you’ll have to be creative. They may already be in your network or you may have to use Twitter, Facebook groups or LinkedIn. Reaching out to your target audience is something you will need to do a lot in future – so don’t skip this.
Hey there, I’m working on a new project about hair brushes for dogs and I wanted to connect with dog owners like you. I’d love to ask you some questions about your experience of dog grooming – do you have 15 mins to chat? Cheers, Theo
Your goal here is to learn about your target audience’s problems to see if there is a need for your idea. So, don’t sell or talk about your idea, just listen. Really listen and take lots of notes. You are using these conversations to figure out if you should spend your time working on this idea and confirming you’ve picked the right audience to target. Some of the questions you could ask are:
• Have you ever bought a hair brush for your dog before? • How much do you usually spend on grooming products for your dog? • How do you usually deal with grooming your dog’s hair? • What are the biggest issues you face around grooming your dog’s hair? • Tell me about the last time you groomed your dog’s hair? • How much time do you spend on grooming your dog’s hair?
ASK FOR A COMMITMENT
As an entrepreneur, you have to make bold moves. So, if during a conversation with your target audience you conclude that the pain around the problem is big enough, ask them to commit to your future idea. Tell them you’re working on this idea and, if they’re interested, they can be the first to be a part of it when it’s ready.
Ask them to make a commitment of some kind – sign up for a waiting list or refer you to others. If you’re really feeling confident, ask them if they want to make a deposit for when the product is ready. You can get some of your first customers doing this.
By doing this you are really finding out if there is a need for your idea. After all, people are willing to commit before it’s even ready!
Try it yourself: Ask at least three of your target audience for a further commitment. What are you asking from them?
CONCLUSION
Good ideas are hard to come by, but time isn’t something you can ever get back, so it’s important that you pursue only the ideas that will have an impact in the world. By taking these steps, you should be confident about moving your idea forward. Most importantly, you will have found out if people really want your idea to exist.
@TheoOhene www.skyamo.com
TAKE ACTION!
Come along to one of the Entrepreneurship Institute’s monthly drop-in sessions and test your idea out with the team. You can sign up to them here: www.kcldropin. eventbrite.co.uk
Develop your ideas through our workshops and Idea Factory competition: www.kcl.ac.uk/entrepreneurship-institute
RECOMMENDED READING
Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick
TRY IT YOURSELF
Speak to 5–10 people in your target audience.
