Member Article

Start-ups too concerned with sales instead of how to run a business, warns Penny Power OBE

Start up businesses risk failing before they’ve even started by spending too much time thinking about sales without making sure they’ve got their business running effectively, claims UK SME expert Penny Power OBE.

Speaking ahead of her speech at the upcoming International Conference for Startups, London on the 13th and 14th March, Penny, who co-founded the UK’s first social network for business, Ecademy.com in 1998, has voiced concern that many start ups are ill-equipped to manage the early stages of their business and as a result, miss out some of the key pillars of creating a successful and sustainable brand.

Penny commented,

“I am very passionate about supporting startups, not just financially, but emotionally. Setting up a business is a courageous journey, but they will only succeed if those of us further down the line give them the right skills.

Peer to peer mentoring and being able to reach out to people is so important and often ignored when it comes to start ups. When you’re running a small business, the emotional impacts of your life have as much effect as your financial. So much so that it can rail-road you, so teaching people how to create friendship is really important for startups, so that they don’t feel isolated.“

Penny currently focuses on helping other companies and institutions grow communities, as well as helping young people into jobs. Her success came from concentrating on ‘the softer side of business’ in which she see’s human interaction and relationships to be equally as important as the financial aspects of business. She believes if you get people to care about you, they will be interested in what you have to offer.

“At The International Conference for Startups, I hope to help people understand the softer side of life when you’re a startup, how you motivate your staff and how you build that attraction, so that other people care about you and care about what you’re doing, as you then and you generate that viral effect through that friendship,” adds Penny.

The International Conference for Startups

The FREE event is organised by Room in the Moon, a community website that connects people who are moving or living abroad. http://www.roominthemoon.com When: 13th & 14th March (9am – 6pm both days) Where: London, UK. The event will also be streamed live on YouTube. Why the event should be attended: The 2 Day International Conference for Startups aims to help new businesses manage their day to day activities. During the event, attendees will learn from experts who will all share valuable information on how to run their own business. Speakers are also giving away prizes to the audience. Speakers:

• Tim Kay – Leader of KPMG High Growth Programme, KPMG
• Matt Shearer – Innovation Manager, BBC News Labs
• Gareth Capon – Product Development Director, Sky
• Fernando Kimura – Marketing Manager Brazil & Latin America, Oracle
• Bill Morrow – Founder, Angels Den
• Penny Power OBE – Author, Entrepreneur & Speaker
• Darshana Ubl – CEO & Entrepreneur, Entrevo UK
• David Slocombe – Head of Mobile & Innovation Hustler, Lastminute.com
• Ha Smith – Incubation Manager, Ravenbourne
• Kevin Cavana – UK HR Director, Amazon.com
• Justine Priestley – Really Bright Media, Founder and MD
• Daniel Browne – Author of ‘Energy Equation’
• Rachel Elnaugh – Former Dragon’ Den ‘Dragon’ and Co-founder of Source TV
• Namita Kapila – MD, Interlanguage London
• Stuart Honey – Representative from City University

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Media Jems PR .