What’s it like to leave Google and join a startup?

In this episode I caught up with Alex Rose who recently left his role at Google to become the Director of Marketing at Who Can Fix My Car, an innovative startup that acts as a ‘compare the market’ for car servicing.

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

I spoke to Alex about all the differences you can expect when you leave a huge global company to join a startup, such as the new found thrill of making key decisions over Skype or Whatsapp and much more. There’s some great insights in the interview but he’s not the only person taking risks. Bee Berrie recently left her job in PR to open her own London bakery.

If you’re a startup owner considering investment, you may be interested in this interview with Citymapper investor Alex Dunsdon.

Some key learnings were:

• Taking a risk can be exhilarating but make sure it’s the right move for you
• Focus your effort on immediate returns and don’t be scared to ditch multiple activities if they’re not working
• Don’t let the ability to do something fast stop you from testing and learning (important if you’re not used to being allowed the freedom of making fast decisions)

Co-founder of The Bakery London & Citymapper investor Alex Dunsdon on investing, pitching & the PowerPoint problem

Investor Alex Dunsdon is co-founder of The Bakery London and Investment Director of SAATCHiNVEST. He’s also been lucky (or smart) enough to invest in the ever popular ‘Citymapper’ app, and he speaks to Breaking Biz about how startups should pitch to investors, what he looks for when making an investment and much more.

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

This interview offers valuable insight for startups thinking about investment and covers similar ground to my earlier interview with NY Times besteller and angel investor Tucker Max.

Some takeaways from the conversation were:

Pitching problems. Lots of startups mention irrelevant figures when investors just want to know who the target audience is, what problem you’re solving and how you’re talking to them

We’re about to see a car crash with companies that have accepted early stage investment with the wrong type of investors

Pick the right investment partner above the valuation

Don’t waste time with powerpoint slides. Start the conversation. Investors tend to have short attention spans (i.e they’re quick thinking..)

Locket- how an Investment Banker became an App Developer

To put it simply, Locket provides stuff you care about on your phone’s lock screen. The story behind Locket is less simple but a great one for aspiring entrepreneurs.

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

Meet Yunha Kim. Since co-founding Locket, she’s built up a strong client list, experienced sexism in a male dominated industry, and landed Tyra Banks as an investor.

Today we chat about Yunha’s journey since leaving her role in Investment Banking and what some of the most important lessons are when running your own company.

Battle of selling: Face to face vs Phone and email

When Henry Embleton first came on Breaking Biz we discussed his entrepreneurial journey with Xavy. Returning for his second episode, he’s back with the rebranded Catch Talk TV, and we’re talking about the power of face to face selling.

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

After attending the UK’s leading event for the meetings and events industry, International Confex, one thing became obvious. Phone and email was slowing Henry’s progress. Imagine if you could stop the cold calls, the speculative emails and actually meet the key decision makers in your industry face to face.

How much would a few days of this impact your brand awareness and overall sales?

Lessons from an idiot entrepreneur: Taking on Myspace

Due to illness we’ve been unable to have our scheduled guest on this week so I’ve decided to put together a quick fire (5-6 mins) episode outlining the simple ways you can fail with a startup. The example used was my first attempted ‘venture’ which was a music based website called Dogs Can Drive that was supposed to take on Myspace.

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

It’s strange, in my interview with NY Times Bestseller Tucker Max, he spoke about how he would never invest in a company where he feels the founder is ‘playing’ CEO instead of running a real business. I was guilty of doing this with Dogs Can Drive. A few pointers are:

Don’t waste time trying to build a fancy website. You’ll only risk losing a lot of money, as Joshua Palmer discovered with his first mobile app

If you’re going to start a business, you should at least know what your purpose or vision is

Don’t play CEO. Don’t do it for the bragging rights. Do it because you have a business that solves a problem.

‘Passion does not pay the bills’ – startup lessons from AppFog founder Lucas Carlson

Lucas Carlson is an entrepreneur featured in the NYT Bestselling Book, The Lean Entrepreneur. He’s also an author, speaker and leader in the cloud space. He founded the startup AppFog which was acquired by CenturyLink in 2013.

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

AppFog has signed up more than 100,000 developers, raised nearly $10M in venture funding and has become an industry leading Platform-as-a-Service. Today we benefit from his entrepreneurial knowledge with insights that include:

 Passion does not pay the bills

Why is ‘money’ the worst motivator for anyone starting their own company

The dangers of falling in love with your business ideas

Why every business owner needs to know their unit cost

Bee Berrie: PR girl turned baker and business owner

Bee Berrie  studied microbiology at University before embarking into the big bad corporate world. So how did she end up baking personalised treats for a living and is the reality as dreamy as it sounds?

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

Turning her back on a career in corporate communications left her trudging the wet London streets trying to find her first clients, and this interview gives a really deep insight into the realities of saying goodbye to the security of a pay cheque to go it alone.

Insights include:

Be careful with your ‘good’ business relationships. Money is still money and every small business needs to be paid!

A good mentor is worth their weight in gold

You’ll have bad days, but lots of people go through the same thing. Take advantage of a support network if it’s available

Tucker Max: Failure, Success and Investing in Flying Cars

He found internet fame writing about his drunken antics which helped put him in the position he’s in today, successful CEO of Story Ark, angel investor in over 20 companies and advisor.

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

In this interview, Tucker Max  talks about the mistakes he made with his first company, being a terrible boss and what he looks for when investing in a startup. In between there’s other stories, anecdotes and tips to take on board. If you’re interested in what it takes to be a tech investor here’s an interview with Citymapper investor Alex Dunsdon. If you’re more interested in building your own startup and want some real life lessons then don’t miss out on this interview with AppFog founder Lucas Carlson.

Some key takeaways were:

If you want advice, get it from someone who has both succeeded AND failed

If you hire someone you know is wrong for your business, fire them as quick as you can

The best idea on earth is worthless if you’ve got the wrong team implementing it

You don’t find your passion. You make it

Ashton Kutcher not interested in your startup? Just create a better one.

When Nathan first met Ashton, he saw an opportunity to gain the interest of a well known tech investor. Unfortunately things didn’t go as planned, but there was a key lesson to learn and Nathan came back (following a stint on the Obama re-election campaign) with Draft – a tool that’s designed to help people improve their writing.

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

In this episode Nathan chats candidly about his failures, the secret art of selling and the importance of keeping a disciplined blogging routine.

Some key takeaways were:

Sometimes people just don’t CARE about what you’re doing. Move past it, or improve the offering

The best way past your competition is to out teach your competition

Beware of the investors. They may expect a fast return of billions…

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!