Sam Rowe, CEO of exhibition, event and experience specialists Ignition, discusses the mindset needed to drive a successful business
It may not strike some people as the optimum time to start a business right now, but then it might also be perfect. It all depends on your idea. That’s what makes entrepreneurs different after all – seeing what others don’t. We founded our own company, Ignition, right in the midst of the economic crash of 2008. Now we’re twelve years old and thriving – though we’ve certainly learnt plenty of hard-won lessons along the way!
If you’re looking to start a business right now, my first piece of advice would be to find yourself a seasoned mentor; someone who’ll tell you straight away if your ideas stack up. As Forbes reports, the hard fact is that nine out of ten start-ups will fail, so think carefully about risk and make sure your initial investment isn’t too high. Secondly, simplify and clarify what your proposal is so others can understand it too, whether you’re proposing a new value, service, product or a way of being more innovative or efficient in an existing sector. If you can’t explain it, it’s unlikely to be a winner.
After that, you’ll need to work out how to commoditise your vision. For this, you need to be more than just motivated – and certainly more than a dreamer. How fearlessly do you respond to the unexpected, for example? How capable are you of acknowledging – and examining – failure?
A key attribute of being entrepreneurial is the willingness to collaborate. This means not only taking advice from above but working alongside other people. Everyone in business likes to think they’re good at collaborating – taking as easily as giving and letting the best idea win. But the truth is that collaboration can be a painful – and surprising – process. Sometimes, quieter technical and process-driven collaborators are more valuable than visionary, narrative-led originals, for example. The biggest factor in making collaboration work is selecting partners who share your values. Collaboration works best when there’s a clear understanding of the business case, as well as genuine openness about what can be learnt.
When it comes to which character traits will serve you best, tenacity is an asset, though stubbornness is not. Networking skills are useful, of course, along with a certain personability. Judgement and circumspection are important too, meaning that you’re prepared to look inwards as well as outwards to find out what you’re good – or less good – at. It’s vital to complement your own skillset at the earliest opportunity. Having brilliant people around you makes all the difference. It’s important to expect differences in approach from these people too. Don’t forget there are many ways to reach your goal.
To succeed, you have to be prepared not only to work hard, but to do plenty of homework in advance. We work internationally and make sure we always do our homework on protocol, for example, with those who’ve already worked in other regions briefing the rest of the team. Small courtesies count in business and discourtesies can be very jarring.
It can be hard – and lonely – to be an entrepreneur. Ignition’s parent company – Istoria Group – has therefore created an Incubator Hub to help with and invest in other people’s ideas. There are currently two businesses growing alongside our three core creative companies. These two ‘Incubator Hub’ companies are offered mentoring, free premises, regular monthly salaries and centralised systems until they get on their feet. Whilst Istoria Group is obviously looking for a return on investment, it’s not just an exercise in venture capitalism. The process is also aimed at giving our other agency teams the experience of helping take an idea from seed to market. When the yield finally comes, the originators’ share buy-back will begin.
We still have plenty of ambitions of our own, of course. The entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t stop once you become established. One major goal is to open a mainland European office to join our UK and US bases in order to help reduce logistical costs for international European clients – especially post-Brexit. I’d also like us to win a handful of new clients. We have some amazing ones right now and a few more of their ilk would be perfect! The most important thing of all, however – and my personal mantra – is never to give up. We’ve had difficult times before Covid-19, but we kept going. You just have to keep punching!
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