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Productivity
Presentations
Are you always switched on? How shorter working hours could lead to a more efficient day
T h e
How to win the pitch: Acquire the skills to maximise your future opportunities
I n f o r m e r Issue 04
April 2017
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THE FINAL FRONTIER
Meet our member who has launched the world’s first Space-tech fund, focused on fusing terrestrial technology and space applications
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INTRODUCTION
ADAM BLASKEY FOUNDER & CEO The Clubhouse
W e l c om e our tips for you to get the most out of your next investor or client meeting. We also want to make sure you get the best out of Mayfair or St James’s whilst you’re using The Clubhouse, so we’re delighted to have put together some exclusive member offers and benefits from a range of carefully selected partners; turn to page 8 for details. The range of offers is constantly growing, so please keep an eye on the members’ area of our website. I would also welcome any suggestions for other offers or benefits which we can seek to negotiate on your behalf. This month, we are very much looking forward to an Evening with Will Butler-Adams
THE CLUBHOUSE PRODUCTIVITY TIP
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OBE, MD of Brompton Bikes on Wednesday 19 April. Since Will took the helm of the business, which was originally founded in 1975, Brompton Bikes has grown into the largest bike manufacturer in the UK, producing over 45,000 bikes per year. Finally, this month’s Member In The Spotlight on page 5 is Mark Boggett of Seraphim Capital who has been a member of The Clubhouse for four years. Having previously worked at YFM, Williams de Broe and Brewin Dolphin, Mark leads Seraphim Capital where they invest in IP-led businesses and have recently launched the world’s first ‘Space-tech’ fund aiming to raise $100m.
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Words Not Just Numbers Many businesses are analysing increasing amounts of ‘big data’ but statistical analysis is only a part of the equation. To really understand your customers and make the right decisions, qualitative methods are also required. But don’t forget gut instinct!
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The clocks have changed and spring is in the air! With the first quarter of 2017 behind us, how do we stay focused and productive to ensure we deliver on those objectives we set at the beginning of the year? In The Informer this month, we hopefully have some of the answers for you with two must-read features: the first is on how we can regulate the use of email and whether working less rather than more could make you outperform, so if you spend most of your day managing your inbox and deleting emails that you have been unnecessarily copied in to, take note! The second feature is about how to win that all-important pitch and
WINNER Best Business Club
DESIGN & ART DIRECTION Christian Gilliham christian@cgcreate.co.uk 07951 722265 To promote your business in The Informer, please email adam@theclubhouselondon.com Copyright. The Clubhouse London Ltd
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PRODUCTIVITY
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ARE YOU ALWAYS SWIT CHED ON?
re you always switched on? Once you change your email Everyone of us has our own usage, it impacts your entire work Is it time to regulate your email personal chief communications flow. Sara Holoubek, CEO and use for a more productive work officer, also known as a smart phone, founder of Luminary Labs, day? Some of the leading global who sits in our pocket all day and a consultancy focused on corporations think so most often evenings too, pinging alerts operationalising innovation, says, with a regularity that is impossible “Eighteen months ago, I asked my to ignore. Now companies are team to do the unthinkable: stop understanding the damage this is emailing after 6pm and on the doing their employees and the negative weekends. Hailing from places effect it’s having on their productivity. such as McKinsey, Goldman Inbox The task of managing our bulging Sachs, Samsung, and Omnicom, 4,295 inbox has stopped us getting on with staff was somewhat skeptical that the work everyone is emailing about. everything could be done in a At the British Psychological Society’s 40-hour work week. But these are annual conference last year, Sir Cary clearly smart people, and so in short Cooper, professor of organisational order we prioritised tasks, rightpsychology and health at Lancaster sized meetings, and modelled the University who previously advised the behaviour from the top down. Government Office for Science about Nothing broke, and to this day, mental health in the workplace, said I start the day off getting work “A compulsion to deal with email done instead of answering email.” messages had caused the UK’s With a growing number of employees to become less productive Millennials accounting for the than many of their international working population, and therefore counterparts.” He referenced recent their desire for more work/life figures from the Office for National balance taking top priority, Statistics that indicate the UK has the employees are fondly looking back second-lowest rate of productivity out of the leading G7 industrial to the days of rigid working hours. Ideally an environment where nations – putting it behind the US, Germany, France, Italy and people can work when they are at their best – accommodating Canada, but ahead of Japan. both the night owl and the early riser – will be the most productive, For many people, an email sent is a job done – and we all love allowing core working hours to be set aside for meetings. Holoubeck ticking through a to-do list – but often an email is merely the highlights Arjun Arora, a serial entrepreneur and venture partner initiation rather the completion of a task, and can add unnecessary at 500 Startups, as having a workable, productive approach. She steps to a simple action. In 2011, French IT services company suggests you think like Arora and look to the why. “Backed by Atos hit the headlines when it banned the use of internal research and Arora’s own personal experience, a team emails altogether, encouraging employees in the same characterised by trust, respect, and admiration, building to get up and talk to each other (now, working 40-hour work weeks, will outperform a QUICK ST AT there’s a novel idea!). Atos’s chief information similarly competent team characterised by fear, officer Marc Mosthav recently told the BBC mistrust, and scarcity thinking, frantically ‘being the company had stuck with the idea. “And productive’ 80 hours per week.” So lockdown the whole practice of copying in everyone your email after hours, pick up the phone to RISE IN MOBILE into a message in order to cover your own reach out to external contacts, and get off EMAIL OPENS back has also been reduced – it really changes the your chair to talk to colleague next time you OVER T HE PAST T HREE YEARS way people think about work communications.” have a point to action. ●
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MEMBER STRAPLINE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
MARK BOGGETT MANAGING DIRECTOR Seraphim Capital
The f u n d a t th e f i n a l f ron ti e r Tell us about your company. Seraphim Capital is a London-based venture capital firm that invests in high growth, intellectual property-led businesses and disruptive technologies that have the potential to redefine large existing markets or create entirely new ones. The Seraphim team have collectively invested in over 180 companies across nine venture portfolios returning more than $1 billion to their shareholders. Seraphim’s investments include Artificial Intelligence (computer vision, neural networks, machine learning), Internet of Things (software, sensors), Advanced Materials (polymers, semiconductors) and New Space (data analytics, nanosats). What has been your biggest success so far? Last year we sold portfolio company Testplant banking a 13x return. The business uses graphic image recognition technology and clever algorithms applied to software testing applications. This business was special to us as we helped to initially create it. TestPlant was formed in 2008 and funded by Seraphim and the buy-in team to acquire the technology and develop operations. The company went on to acquire more than 350 customers in over 40 countries across sectors including financial services, aerospace and defense, TMT, retail and healthcare. We sold the business to leading private equity firm The Carlyle Group and it continues to grow rapidly.
What project are you most excited about right now? Last quarter we launched a new $100m venture fund called The Seraphim Space Fund. It’s the first fund of its size anywhere in the world to focus on investing in early-stage technology companies emerging from the ‘new space’ revolution. In the last decade, the cost of building and launching a satellite has fallen from c.$500m to less than $1m now. This change is largely due to rapid innovation in the smartphone market being applied to satellites to reduce their size, cost and weight by several orders of magnitude. A new breed of privately funded start-ups are emerging to exploit these cost advantages. The Fund will invest in these emerging market leaders that are using first mover advantage to build defensible positions. How has being a member of The Clubhouse contributed to the success of your business? We became a member in April 2013 and have extensively used The Clubhouse since. Raising $100m to invest into space technology is a tall order – it’s taken a lot of shoe leather meeting investors from the UK, US, EU, Russia and the Middle East. Many of these meetings took place at The Clubhouse. Our guests always commented on the décor and professionalism of the staff – these details count. Investors use all sorts of signals during their due diligence and choice of venue makes a difference. seraphimcapital.co.uk
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QUICK-FIRE ROUND
Favourite place to go in London? StreetXO, 15 Old Burlington St, Mayfair – try their violet cocktails that are served in a glass as big as a spacemen’s helmet. Who inspires you and why? I can’t choose between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos – I love that these guys are now privately financing the next space race. Best bit of advice you’ve been given? Never give up – it’s always darkest just before the dawn. If you were on a desert island, what would you bring? My family of course, we love a good beach holiday. Which super power would you like to have? The power to stem the flow of emails, even if just for a day! What is the worst business ‘faux-pas’ you’ve committed? As a career venture capitalist, I’ve been involved in a lot of failures, I mean a lot. In the past I’ve invested in people I didn’t rate – simply because the technology or proposition was amazing. Now I spend much more time evaluating the people – and, importantly I listen to my gut.
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EVENTS THIS MONTH
The Clubhouse
The Clubhouse
ST JAMES’S
ST JAMES’S
Multitaction MT Canvus Training Day
An Evening with Will Butler-Adams OBE, MD of Brompton Bikes
THURSDAY 6 APRIL 10.00 am -1 pm OR 2 pm -5 pm FREE FOR MEMBERS
Wh a t ’s o n ?
Join Jaypaul Barrow of MultiTaction for a morning or afternoon session to learn how to use the interactive video wall in The Greenhouse. The first hour will be a structured demonstration of the functions. The second hour will be free-form practice with participant involvement. The last hour will be creating a template canvus for each participant that they can use as the starting point for their future meetings. The MT Canvus wall will revolutionise your presentations, collaborative sessions and business pitches. Places are limited to five members per session maximum so book now to avoid disappointment.
WEDNESDAY 19 APRIL 6:30 pm FREE TO MEMBERS £25 FOR NON-MEMBERS The unique Brompton folding bike was designed and built in London in 1975 by Andrew Ritchie in his flat in south Kensington opposite the Brompton Oratory. Since Will Butler-Adams took the helm of Brompton Bikes in 2002 the business has grown from 24 staff to over 240. Still made in London today, Brompton is making over 45,000 bikes per year and is the UK’s largest bike manufacturer. brompton.co.uk
Will Butler-Adams
HOW TO BOOK: VISIT THECLUBHOUSELONDON.COM OR ASK AT THE FRONT DESK
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A group of Mughal cuerda seca tile fragments. Circa 1640 AD
Art
Food
Review
ISLAMIC AND INDIAN ARTS
MAYFAIR CHOCOLATE TOUR
BARBECOA
Roseberys London, a privately owned auction house operating at the heart of the fine art market for more than 25 years, will hold a specialist auction of Islamic and Indian Arts featuring nearly 500 lots of pottery, glass, paintings, manuscripts, bronzes and jewellery as well as Orientalist paintings and contemporary works ranging from £80-£5,000 at The Clubhouse St James’s. Exclusive previews will be held on 18 April from 2 – 6pm and 19 April from 10am – 4pm, before the auction itself on April 24.
For a twist on the usual Easter egg hunt, why not take chocoholics on the The Mayfair Chocolate Tour? Expect to experience the area’s finest chocolatiers where your expert guide will lead you on a gentle stroll to beautiful boutiques tucked away on gorgeous streets and arcades, sharing history along the way. Top-quality chocolate tastings on the walk could include the Queen’s favourite chocolates or contemporary combinations from award-winning chocolatiers.
At hot, new opening Barbecoa, Jamie Oliver has revealed his Argentine take on a steakhouse over two floors of what was the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. The fit-out echoes 1920s’ glamour, with an opulent bar on the first floor, leading to a cavernous Art Deco lower-ground restaurant. The rich interior is reflected in the richness of the menu. The flavourful steak was tender and perfectly cooked over smoke and fire, enhancing the quality meat.
ROSEBERYS.CO.UK
CHOCOLATEECSTASYTOURS.COM 25 BROOK STREET, MAYFAIR
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BARBECOA.COM 194 PICCADILLY
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PRESENTATIONS
How to w i n the p i tc h £
Life as an entrepreneur can mean taking on a number of roles, from CFO, to COO, CMO and CTO, often referred to as the CEO – Chief Everything Officer. One of the most important roles, however, is presenting to potential investors and clients. Here’s our guide on how to win that pitch
Keep it simple Don’t overload a prospective client with jargon that makes you sound clever and leaves them feeling confused – or worse, stupid. According to statisticbrain.com, the average person’s attention span is eight seconds (that’s a second less than a goldfish), so make sure your pitch is concise. To stand out from others pitching that day, you need to be dynamic yet simple, interesting yet succinct. Repeat key messages or words so they come away with a clear picture of what you’re offering. Do your homework Get to know who you’re pitching to so your brief is relevant and addresses all your audience’s needs and concerns. By scrutinising the instructions they give you, you can be sure you’re giving them exactly what they want. Offering up a fantastic presentation that isn’t tailor-made to their business will lead them to believe you can’t deliver what they want and are incapable of listening to and assessing their requirements. In-depth research shows commitment and understanding from the get-go.
pitch because it demonstrates you’re keen to understand their needs. Asking questions also encourages a two-way conversation which helps put everyone at ease. We all like to see people enthusiastic and excited about the prospect of a future business relationship so show your passion and they’ll be more likely to want to work with you.
Don’t be afraid to boast Anyone considering your pitch will want to see your track record. Share your history of relevant successes or how you’ve overcome difficulties in similar situations in the past. Take along examples of your work and demonstrate how you have proven yourself. Ask them questions Showing a curiosity and interest in their business is of paramount importance in a
Practise makes perfect No one wants to sit through a pitch punctuated with “errrs”, “ummms” and “hhhmmms”. Hearing high-profile people speak without notes is inspiring and hugely impressive – watch and learn from Obama (Barack or Michelle) or Simon Sinek. Don’t just check whether your PowerPoint presentation is running to form and your hand outs are in the right order; take time to learn your lines too. Being prepared helps dispel nerves and will create a better impression. If you’re a small business, you need to come across as professional as possible, so be prepared and show how them seriously you’re taking this pitch. ●
SET THE SCENE
Enjoy all The Clubhouse has to offer to make your pitch stand out. Book any of our individually designed, high-specification meeting rooms and boardrooms, or for the real wow factor, The Greenhouse. If you haven’t yet been shown how to use it, pop in to The Clubhouse St James’s for a tutorial on how to use the MT Canvus video wall.
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MEMBER STRAPLINE OFFERS
❂ Our ethos at The Clubhouse is ‘To make our members, and their businesses, more successful’. A major part of this is to provide members with exclusive offers and benefits from a range of partners 5
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Designated PA Up to 8 free hours per month with the purchase of a plan
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Mews of Mayfair 25% discount off lunch or dinner
Hush Mayfair 20% discount off your bill
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Goodwood Free additional membership with purchase of Corporate Membership
Mayfair Pizza Co. 25% discount off lunch or dinner
Hiscox Tailored solutions for all your personal insurance needs
Companybook 15% discount on subscriptions
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Little Emporers & Company 3 months complimentary membership
Gentlemen’s Tonic 20% off all services and a goody bag worth £26 on your first visit
The Athenaeum Exclusive access to corporate rates
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KPMG Here to help members navigate challenges – no matter the size of your business
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The Stafford London 20% off the best available rate