 I'm currently reading Richard Branson's Screw Business as usual and I was just wondering if you could sort of give us your thoughts on the role of entrepreneurship in solving some of the issues that the global economy and the world's facing. Yeah good question. I've read the book and I think it's great. I don't think I can top Branson so I think you're on the right tracks. I certainly think doing what you know if you look at what Branson's done he's never made money his most important priority. He's got involved in a number of businesses that lost a lot of money to start off with you know Virgin Atlantic being one of them so I think I think really the the best advice I could give on that is make sure whatever you're doing is something that you really are passionate about and you really believe because that's what's going to give you longevity. The money's nice but if you know before long you I know I know I know people that have created businesses sold them retired to Spain to play golf for the rest of their lives and they do for about six months then they got to get back and do something so make sure whatever it is you do you're passionate about it and you know there's an element of giving back. Is that all right? Is that accurate? Okay thanks. Any others? One here. You say the best strategy for growth is acquiring businesses. What's the best way to get a start up capital to acquire a business then? 300 financial presentations over the course of 10 years is the easy answer. In reality though in the real the real answer to that question is this most people try and raise cash number one through presenting to the wrong people. These aren't qualified people that are actually decision-makers and secondly they go cap in hand as opposed to we're looking for finances and we'd like to to interview you as a possible candidate you know so you kind of turn the table. What you do in a bank don't go to the bank and say can you lend me 50,000 pounds. You go to the bank and say what we're looking for are a number of investors and are you the person that can qualify lending of up to 50 up to 50,000 or up to 100,000 if not you're wasting your time you know that you need to find out early and once you once you find that then move forward on that strategy. The other thing is banks represent maybe five percent of the equity that's out there. There is so much money available for deals there's more money chasing deals than ever currently now you would think it'd be the opposite because of the global economic downturn but if you've got a deal or if you've got something that is already got traction then it shouldn't be too hard. The real issue for most people is they just don't get out and talk to people. Is that okay? All right thanks any others? Yes. There's a lot of money chasing deals at the moment. Is that just in the UK or all parts of the world? I think there's pockets of it all over the world yeah I mean if you look at some of the VC firms and private investors they are flush with cash at the moment and the thing is though again you got to get around the right people you know talking to your mate who you grew up with as much as you love him is not the guy that's going to be the one to take you to the next level so it's about developing a level of seriousness about what you're doing and really saying this is my business and I need to see it go to here I need to get around some people that are going to be able to make that happen. One of the things I did when I went when I went back into business and started buying property we spent some time acquiring 270 private homes a few years back and one of the ways we did that was we went and we had 10 billionaires on our list and by the time we met the third one we had the money for the deal. Question over here? Do you think having an MBA helps you as far as getting credibility for raising money? Yes it does I don't have an MBA but what I do have are people on my board that are significantly more successful than me and I think if you can do that then you know there's nothing that can stop you from never feel like I haven't got the qualifications to make it happen because you can always go out and find someone that you borrow other people's credibility to make a deal work. Does that make sense? And so yeah if you haven't got the MBA don't worry about it just find someone who has already been successful in business or someone who does have the MBA but track record is more important than qualifications every time every time. Good question Thank you. Any others? Yeah sorry okay James if you see James at the back he'll sort that out for you we're happy to sign it and what have you there's a little bit of a discount off it but then all the money goes back to Sable and Stone anyway the publishers so but if you're interested have a look the other thing is write this down in your notes seven number seven laws of wealth comm if you sign up at that site that's one of my that's one of my websites if you sign up on that I'll sit you'll straight away you'll start to get some really great articles on on clear business thinking not the kind of stuff that the academics will write this is stuff that works in the real world but how to create value how to identify a value proposition you know how to raise cash all that kind of stuff that really really really takes that will really take you to the next level it's great reading all the self-help stuff right that's good but there comes a point where you like I need like tangible answers I need that I need to get to this step and then from that step to this step this is what we'll do that's what we've got in our books specific stuff one more alright so you've got your business idea and you don't have the personal money so you're looking for investors my fear has always been who am I to approach some business people with my idea why would they need me wouldn't they just go a great idea Seth I'll take that idea and we'll invest in that and thanks very much where do I add value to that relationship and how can I protect that yeah there are different ways of protecting obviously we can we can talk about that probably after looking at some of the IP issues but I think really took that the the biggest problem that a lot of up-and-coming entrepreneurs think is that they think their deal is so unique and it usually it's not if I'm honest usually it's been thought of before but the real issue is that getting getting the money from those people is going to be every single time is going to come as a result of the passion and the tenacity you've got let me let me give you a quick one quick example and then we'll be done Khan Academy how many of you have heard of Khan Academy Khan Academy online write it down have a look at it Khan Academy is a company it's a nonprofit that was set up by a guy who was a hedge fund manager and it's a learning website it's had tons millions and millions of hits millions of hits and it's relatively new and he decided after he he depleted 40 grand of savings he decided what he was going to do was get out and try and meet one person every day that would qualify that would be a quality a qualified prospect to get the money from and he did it for I think about two months and then the person that he thought would least get the money from was a lady named and door anyone know who and door is and door is the wife of John door funnily enough and John door is the the owner of the venture capital firm in Silicon Valley that took companies like I'm trying to remember I think it was some of the big some of the big maybe dropbox they're about to go public now a few other large companies I was going to say YouTube but that's not right that's a Sequoia but there is John door and and and or if you Google them you'll see who he is big VC company massive companies that most of the names you know the names of these are the people that and she he thought well I probably won't get the money off the wife after the meeting she said how are you how are you financing this and he said well actually here's a situation it's pretty bleak and she said okay well good luck and kind of he went off on his bike and she went off on his bike from from coffee shop and just before he got home you got a text she said I've just wired you a hundred thousand dollars right so never underestimate what can happen but it's only gonna happen if you execute execute execute okay just get out there and do it so I really really really want you guys to be successful and and self-actualize and I hope that you do that okay are we done great thanks