Social entrepreneurship: Making money vs making a difference

In this episode we speak to Jack Graham, the CEO and founder of Year Here, a postgraduate leadership programme that challenge Britain’s brightest talents to a year of tackling society’s toughest problems.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/breakingbiz/BreakingBizYearHere.mp3 ]

The more you learn about Year Here and its mission the more you might consider what would happen if the same energy & talent that goes into traditional tech startup was thrown at social entrepreneurship instead.

If social innovation/entrepreneurship interests you, check out the following resources recommended by Jack:

YearHere.org

TED

Year Here’s Golden List

Lauren Maillian Bias gives advice for startups seeking investment

After selling her first startup (a boutique winery), Lauren Maillian Bias moved on to become the founder and CEO of Luxury Market Branding and founding partner at Gen Y Capital Partners.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/breakingbiz/BreakingBizLaurenMaillian.mp3 ]

Lauren gives us some great insight into what she looks for in a company before investing and what she looks for in a pitch. In addition to this, Lauren has also released her new book ‘The Path Redefined’ which is definitely worth checking out.

“It’s a synthesis of my story of an entrepreneur and I hope people will learn to embrace what makes them unique”

Although we originally wanted to talk about the book with her, it was just too tempting to squeeze out some advice for startups who are preparing to pitch to experienced investors.

How investors think, what makes a great pitch & the way to become an investor

Alex Dunsdon returns following his first episode on Breaking Biz to go into further detail about the world of startup investment.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/breakingbiz/BreakingBizAlexDunsdon2.mp3 ]

Alex discusses the ways in which investors tend to think, what makes a great pitch and how he made the bold transition to become a full time startup investor after 10 years at M&C Saatchi in London.

All Breaking Biz ‘investor’ interviews can be found here, and interviews with startup founders are here.

Some takeaways were:

• As a founder you must never get bored of telling your story
• The most attractive setup for a tech investor is a CTO plus a Business Development professional
• Investors love founders who clearly demonstrate strategic thinking as far as 3-5 years ahead, regardless of whether the predictions come true or not.

CampusBoard.io : Connecting startups & entrepreneurs in Campus London

CampusBoard.io has changed the way startups and entrepreneurs connect with each other at Google’s Campus London. It’s a simple improvement of the communal noticeboard, an online destination where people can post jobs, events and opportunities.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/breakingbiz/CampusBoardBreakingBiz.mp3 ]

When Anthony Francis started spending time at Google Campus, he was developing his own app which by his own admission was not a great success. It’s always challenging to create an app with no experience and Anthony found himself spending too much money on a development team in China, without any money coming back in. He decided to learn how to code himself, and started working on his CampusBoard idea for fun.

Now Manuel Frigerio has joined forces with  Anthony and the pair of entrepreneurs are working together to make connecting at Google Campus an easier experience for startups and entrepreneurs

Takeaways from the conversation include:

If you’re not disrupting someone you’re probably not doing something worthwhile

Hiring developers from overseas via services like Odesk always carries a small risk. Protect yourself in advance and stay in control. Here’s 7 tips from Anthony

If someone offers to buy you a coffee for your service, you might be able to make actual money!