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Tech CEO Round Table Discussion

I (NS20) hosted a round table discussion yesterday at Horwath Clark Whitehill’s offices in Manchester. This was an by invitation only session with no none tech CEOs. Prior to the kick off, Ed French of EV Group (venture capitalist) dropped in to have coffee, and later on, Steve Livingston from HorwathCW dropped into join the conversation.

The participants were:

  1. Duncan Stockdill – Javelin CRM
  2. Katrina Delargy – Tiyga
  3. Craig Taylor – Thingymail
  4. Richard Francis – Makeurmove.com
  5. Manoj Ranaweera – edocr.com
  6. John Brickley – Whamoosh.com

Whilst the contents of what was discussed remains confidential, there are few issues worth bringing out in summary form:

  • Venture capital – one company is actively looking for capital, one do not want capital and others do, but feeling not ready to pitch.
  • Invstment readiness – everyone except the company who does not want capital, felt that an investment readiness programme would help them give the confidence to pitch and take venture capital seriously
  • Boot strapping – it came out some of us are experts at boot-strapping. There were lot of ideas exchanged including how to survive with small grants
  • Tool kits – More and more of us were using free and low cost  SaaS products to increase operational efficiency
  • Cash collection – paypal was seen as the worst solution for cash collection. Credit card payment seem to be the way forward, but recurring payments seem to be causing problems for some.
  • Everyone was willing to help each other.
  • Lack of a full management team seem to be a problem for most except in the case of one.
  • Some felt survival was the first objective, but all agreed that the focus this year is revenue growth.
  • All agreed the opportunity was worthwhile repeating

I (NS20) will be looking to host another simiar event in April. If you are interested in attending, drop me a line for consideration. Rules, if you are looking for them, here goes…

  • My decision is absolute, but I can be bribed – beer is not sufficient!
  • You must be generating revenues (that means clients and not advertising) and have a commercially available product
  • No NDA will be signed
  • What is discussed will remain confidential except a summary output such as above
  • It will help if you are a paying member of NS20
Published inTechcelerate