Julian Costley, Founder of E*Trade UK. Pic: Salim Matramkot/ The Peninsula
Qatar’s startup ecosystem has been gaining momentum, but needs all the right elements in place to complete the system, said a seasoned international investor.
Speaking to The Peninsula, on the sidelines of a recently-concluded Investment Forum, Julian Costley, who authored the highly-acclaimed book ‘How to Use Crowdfunding’ and who personally invested in 22 companies around the world, said entrepreneurialism and creating wealth is a critical part of any economy.
Costley, who is an occasional lecturer at the London Business School and other MBA schools around Europe, is also the Co-Founding CEO of the first internet stockbroking firm E*TRADE UK.
“The startup ecosystem is not just made up of investors and entrepreneurs. It’s all of the other things that support entrepreneurialism, which can be law firms, accounting firms, advertising agencies, software developers, and others. If the startup community sucks in these technical skills and competencies, and that’s what needs to happen because they’re just as important as the money,” he said.
Costley, who was the guest speaker during the event, also expressed his admiration for the participating startup companies that pitched their business proposals to potential investors. “I’m really impressed with all the 12 companies that we looked at now. They could be presenting in London, California, Sweden, or anyone of the European centres of sophisticated investment. These guys are investable. And this is what an ecosystem does, you create an environment where everybody is helping each other and pushing up standards and quality,” he added.
During his presentation, Costley advised entrepreneurs to offer something new and disruptive in the market, and emphasised that the top three players in the market usually take 60-80 percent of the market share.
“Get good at storytelling. When pitching and raising capital, take an investor on a journey to connection. And even if they’re not going to invest, they’re going to help you with introductions and lead you to other investors.
Also, get a mentor. So much evidence show that companies or chief executives with mentors have a three times increase probability of their own organisation as being successful,” he added.
Advising entrepreneurs to be ‘benign dictators’, he said companies don’t run by committee, but by an individual leader driving the business.
“In all the companies that I’ve run, I’ve listened to my Board and executives. But I’ve made the decisions. It’s a terrible failure to try and compromise everybody around you and it won’t work. The Board is there for you. You control it. You don’t want to be subservient to an organisation that you put together yourself,” he added.
He also reminded entrepreneurs to focus on the business and not to worry too much about the competition.
“If you’re doing all the right things when you’re running a business; which means you’ve got good proposition, good technology user interface, good user experience, a good price point, and you’re looking after your customers well. Then, don’t waste all your time looking behind you or beside you with your competition. Unless you’re in a totally price-driven product, focus on your business and don’t worry too much about the competition. Also, be truthful, and keep bouncing back from failures,” he added.
