Doing Things Differently

Every year Entrepreneur Country puts on two fantastic forum events. While I am an insider (i.e. part of the Ariadne team of which Entrepreneur Country is a part) I really think these events are totally stand out – and this is why. Yes this is slightly sales oriented – full disclosure…

1. They are charged – The Buzz is huge
2. They showcase success stories by amazing people
3. Deals get done

So after 5 years of these events, with the most recent attracting 400 people, keynotes from BBC Dragons and successful entrepreneurs – what makes Entrepreneur Country different?

1. They are charged – The Buzz is huge

At the last event in the autumn of 2011 there were just about 400 delegates during the day and there was such a tremendous buzz in the corridors and main hall. It was always so hard to tear people away from their conversations during the break out sessions or breaks to get them back into the keynotes.

A surefire way of high engagement was seeing how so many people were quoting the speakers all day – taking the examples in the presentations and making them relevant to their own businesses and ideas.

Entrepreneur Country last autumn was trending across Twitter across London and had a huge series of parallel conversations driven by the content and speakers as it was live.

I think the best part of the day happened when I had a conversation with an entrepreneur who said “I cannot tell you how exciting it was to hear how these success stories actually relate so closely to me and my business. Hearing Will King (King of Shaves) talk about his approach was absolutely enlightening and I feel completely reinvigorated!”

I think the next event on Feb 21 is going to be the same – especially when you have the line up that is planned:Russ Shaw (ex Telefonica and Skype), Martha Lane Fox (LastMinute.com, Race Online, Lucky Voice), Paul Lindley (Ella’s Kitchen), Marcelle Spencer OBE (LocalGiving.com), Ashley Faull (BidUp TV, Discovery Channel), Linda Cheung (Cube Social), Caroline Rowland (New Moon) and Peter Cunningham (Input)

2. They showcase success stories by amazing people

The keynotes are people we know about, read about and look up to in the start-up world. Successful business builders and agents of social change who open up and share their stories in a way I don’t see happening elsewhere.

When Martyn Dawes speaking of his experience in building Coffee Nation – his trials and tribulations of a massively changing market, being a tiny company and facing the challenges of growth. These were so tangible and you could feel the audience drawn into the story and how he overcame challenges only to move onto overcoming the next, and the next.

At another previous event we had Edward Wray talking about Betfair and the struggles and near death experiences they had in the early days of raising capital. This was before their subsequent IPO which was a superb moment for the business – a true digital enabler in the gaming space led by a visionary team.

3. Deals get done

This is the part I love! Last year we heard about partnership deals, distribution deals and business changing deals that came out of the event. Investors love the event because they get to see the entrepreneurs in a way that is more real than a one hour pitch, they get to know the entrepreneurs through a more ‘real’ conversation which is less pitch and more proposition.

I was advising a company on investment and business development a couple of years ago. We were trying hard to get into Nokia and to show them what this company was doing and how they could be a transformation opportunity to consumer engagement for Nokia. Despite great access to the Nokia management team, getting onto their priority list was tricky. It was however at an Entrepreneur Country event that Nokia met our client and portfolio company and they managed to refocus priorities after that meeting, signed a deal and started working together – all of which was brilliant to helping the capital raise process where we subsequently closed two private investors off the back of the deal.

So, if you have not been or seen anything about the events Entrepreneur Country run, I think you should… Their next event is Feb 21 in London and all the information is here: Entrepreneur Country Forum: Turbo Charge your Business