On February 19th I was tweeting in my official capacity as social media consultant for the Evening Standard Business Connections club at their Business Connections event entitled, ‘Richard Reed: The Ups and Downs in the Making of Innocent.’ Richard Reed was a co-founder of innocent. The No.1 smoothie brand in Europe and is now a co-founder of Jam Jar Investments, a Venture Capital fund that invests in young entrepreneurs. It was an inspirational night and the audience went away uplifted and enthused. What had they learned from Richard? This blog is read in 171 countries so I do understand that many of you were not able to attend. I captured many of his key points in the tweets that I posted on the night – repeated below for your convenience.
On starting your entrepreneurial journey…
” It’s absolutely worth it.” – #onsettingupabusiness
” Start small. Think big – but do get started.”
” There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” Quoting #FranklynDelanoRoosevelt
On seeking funding…
” We applied to 20 banks and got turned down 20 times.” #onseekingfunding
Email subject line – ‘Does anyone know anyone rich?’ #onseekingfunding
“Maurice Pinto…he put in £250K and got out £30 million.” #talkingabouttheinvestorwhosaidyes
On a direct approach to distribution…
“We went to independent retailers over a bank holiday weekend and gave them 3 cases for free…45 out of 50 reordered.”
” We just got started…We were hungover and we needed something to make us feel better. ” – #innocentbeginnings
On working with a team…
” The three of us (founders) take credit when it’s the team of 300 that should take the credit. ” #teameffort
On role models…
“Richard Branson …I think in Britain he made entrepreneurs sexy…” #rolemodels
On being focused…
” Write down the dream. When you write it down – the dream becomes a goal.” #startingabusiness
On amusing Plump nuns copy on the ingredients label…
“You must either take off the reference to plump nuns or put them in your fruit juice.” #Letterfromadjudicationjudge
On business owners & entrepreneurs looking for investment…
“If you are looking for investment check out – http://jamjarinvestments.com/”
I hope this has given you a taste of the evening. You can follow @richardreedinno on Twitter. The next event will be announced fairly soon. Please also follow @es_bc for the latest updates.
If you’d like to discuss any aspect of your marketing requirements feel free to give us a call on +44 (0) 845 226247 or drop us an email via mail@marketingfundamentals.com – We look forward to hearing from you.
We hope you have found this information inspirational.
Best regards,
Mike Pitt – Founder & CEO of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd
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