The Smartest Brains in Business: 2010 and Beyond

what’s Where do you see the
biggest opportunities for

this?
entrepreneurs in 2010?

Welcome to Smarta’s first eBook. How will the successful
To mark the entering of not just companies of the next 10
a new year but a new decade
years differ from those of
we thought we’d ask 30 of the
smartest brains in business how the previous decade?
they thought the entrepreneurial
landscape would evolve over the This eBook captures their views not so
next 10 years. much for posterity, but as an act of
collaboration and inspiration. We’d like
Entrepreneurs, marketers, investors, to thank all our contributors and urge
authors, publishers, models-turned- that, should you find it useful, you share
retailers, Dragons, and Twitter royalty it by linking to this page, tweeting about
alike, we asked them two simple questions: it or emailing the link to your contacts
in the same spirit as the contributors.

smartest brains in business

highlights environmentally-conscious and sustainable; feeding off
transparency and trust, they’ll be pioneers of 24/7/365
customer service. They’ll be started and run by anyone,
Technology journalist Herb Brody once concluded: anywhere, of any age and rely on micro seed funding
“Telling the future by looking at the past assumes that rather than the hard-to-access cash of large institutions.
conditions remain constant. This is like driving a car
by looking in the rear-view mirror.” They’ll find opportunities in the emergence of a
burgeoning green tech industry and make headway by
Just one of the 30 contributors referred to the past embracing the convergence of mobile, ecommerce and
and anticipated little or no change – and even then enterprise as the mobile phone finally comes of age
they were referring to the human propensity for habit, for a generation whose existence is, as one contributor
not the technological or entrepreneurial capacity puts it, more ‘roam than home’.
for advancement. As you’d expect from a pack of
innovators, early-adopters and thought leaders, If you thought everyone was getting excited about ‘apps’
the rest are baying for change and see another because it’s cool to check the Tube on your iPhone, think
decade glistening with fresh opportunity. again – apps are on everyone’s lips and those lips are moist
with anticipation of a decade ready-made for entrepreneurs.
If it’s not the cloud, it’s the crowd that excites them.
In most instances, it’s both. It’s in these evolutions of With the barriers to entry practically blown right
the late noughties that our contributors have identified away, a recession rich with opportunity and where
the most untapped potential. As they see it, cloud entrepreneurship is decidedly en vogue (those greedy
computing, social media and the web as a whole, are bankers are the new fatcat villains, after all), 2010 and the
about to really start changing our lives and environments coming decade appear stacked in the favour of the small
– and will shape the way companies are structured, how man who can think big and move quickly.
they grow, the services they offer, how they behave and
how they interact with their customers. None of the above, however, sums up the sentiment better
than a reference by contributor and entrepreneur Michael
The successful companies of the future will be smaller, Smith. In the words of Michael’s favourite band, Bachman-
more agile, ultra-responsive to consumer trends and Turner Overdrive, ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet!’
their own eco-systems, ethical, socially responsible,


trend analysis
So what did the smartest brains in business
have to say? Well we’ll let you discover
that for yourself, but the following Wordle
provides a snapshot.


contents
Click on a brain to view each submission.
Once viewed, click smarta logo to return to this page

Doug Richard Craig Newmark Phil Jones Zee Kane Julie Meyer Sarah Beeny
Entrepreneur and investor, Founder, Craigslist Executive Director, Brother UK Editor, TheNextWeb Chief Executive, Ariadne Founder, MySingleFriend.com
founder of SchoolforStartups Capital and online Dragon and Tepilo

Michael Smith Ben Keene Alex Bellinger Dave McQueen Ryan Carson Stewart Townsend
Founder, Firebox.com Founder, Tribewanted Founder, SmallBizPod Founder, Magnificent Minds Founder, Carsonified Manager, Sun Startup
and Mind Candy Essentials EMEA

Caprice Sháá Wasmund Andy Mcloughlin Conrad Windham Basheera Khan Penny Power
Model and Founder, Entrepreneur, founder Co-founder, Huddle Entrepreneur and CEO Technology writer and user Founder and Community
By Caprice and CEO of Smarta of U308 Goldings plc experience consultant Builder, Ecademy

Brad Burton Paul Carr Simon Duffy Ben Way Richard Alvin Oli Barrett
Motivational speaker, managing Author, ‘Bringing Nothing Co-founder, Bulldog Founder, The Rainmakers Director - Capital Founder, Make Your Mark
director of 4Networking and to the Party: True Confessions Business Media with a Tenner & initiator of
author of Get Off Your Arse of a New Media Whore’ Speednetworking in the UK

Imran Hakim Lucian Tarnowski Amanda Rose Thomas Power Barry Vitou Matt Thomas
CEO, Hakim Group Founder and CEO, Creative Strategist, Founder, Ecademy Partner, Winston & Strawn; Editor, Smarta
BraveNewTalent.com and Founder of Twestival co-founder, Bootlaw


Whether you’re a musician, artist, author, want to do
video, travel, or you have a passion for making violins,
it’s going to become ‘nearly’ free to express that
passion in a profitable form – you’ll no longer have to be
passionate about what you do, you can solely ‘do’ what

Doug
you’re passionate about; and that is a reversal of history.

We’re entering a land-grab of expertise. Each individual
has the opportunity to be the brand or nexus around
something. Whether it’s depreciation of ancient violins,
1962 MGs or some sort of deviant sexual practice
- it makes no difference. The heart of it is that the

Richard
distribution of media and the conversation we’re
mediating through social media is going to require
arbiters and editors of taste. Twitter is the tip of the
iceberg and the true opportunity of 2010 will be to take
the passion you have and build a working world around it.

Business as an activity is going to be measured on other
metrics beyond short-term profitability. The notion of
ENTREPRENEuR AND INVESTOR, profitability is going to refer back to what it once meant,
fOuNDER Of SCHOOLfORSTARTuPS because we have a system now where the profit of a
www.schoolforstartups.co.uk company is not knowable in the time period when it is
www.twitter.com/douglasrichard earning. That’s the failure of the banks – they thought
they were making a profit, and they were not.
www.twitter.com/s4startups
Whether you like it or not, if you’re running a business
The number one opportunity for new you’re going to be held accountable. No one ever asks
you ‘what portion of the world’s natural resources you
entrepreneurs in 2010 is to take advantage used in pursuit of this outcome?’ If we burdened every
of the sea-change of diminishing costs of single thing in this world with its true cost, and we
asserted that the earth itself is a bank of irretrievable
technology. Everything you need to do, any resources that you have to contribute to as much to
creative endeavour, is becoming ‘nearly’ free. as you give up, then there’d be a marked argument to
measure things differently.

As we’re going to be held accountable as businesses
on measures we’re not held accountable for now, as
entrepreneurs we’re going to need bigger shoulders
than ever.


Craig
Customer service, done in good
faith and not lip service, will
provide a competitive advantage

Newmark
for any company .

fOuNDER, CRAIGSLIST
www.craigslist.org

The rank and file
workers in any
company know how
to fix a lot of business
processes, and need
only support from
management to make
lots of improvements. smartest brains in business

There’s never been a better Social media networks have opened up
global markets and customers are now
Hyper-speed is the new essence of
doing business. Blink and you’ll miss
worse time to start a business. only a keystroke away. Listening to the
buzz in the networks can create unique
out as fads explode and fade. New
communication platforms like Google

An oxymoron is undeniable if opportunities to meet the fast changing
appetites of today’s customers.
Wave will provide the platforms for
global collaboration at a personal and

you consider how different Time, attention and trust continue to be
enterprise level – business will be more
collaborative, less centralised, more

the landscape facing the big barriers for market penetration.
Time-poor people with low levels of
de-sensitised.

entrepreneurs looks now, attention and trust for what you have to
say or do. Opportunities exist for goods
Businesses will come and go more
quickly, by design. Businesses will be

compared to previous or services which assist in managing the
work/life balance. More people are roam
a cocktail of different ideas, delivery
mechanisms and origins.

recessions. (not home) working. They will need more

PHIL
cloud and mobile-based applications Massive change lies ahead, the
which allow them to run their virtual successful companies of the next
businesses and lives. decade will launch products highly
tuned to their market, needing lower
New decade businesses will harness levels of market development funding.

JONES
the power of the crowd. The key mantra: The crowd will take them to market,
‘collaborate, elaborate and adapt’. be their marketing machine and their
Those companies which listen will product development engines.
redefine the way businesses are run:
refining, reviewing and personalising
products or experiences quickly.

ExECuTIVE DIRECTOR, BROTHER uK
www.thecorporatebubble.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/philjones40
www.twitter.com/brother_uk


The perception of the mobile has An increasing belief that experience
changed drastically since the release (rather than extensive education) is
of the iPhone and it has opened more beneficial to success will see
people’s eyes as to how easy it now an entirely new era of successful
is to be mobile yet ‘connected’. companies and business leaders,
Therefore, I predict people will thirst with age and cultural origins very
for ideas that won’t require them to different from the CEOs and founders
be stuck behind a computer but rather of the past.
out there, developing their offline
community but still connected to the Small businesses and ‘personalities’
world via their mobile. will thrive – and it may only take a few
people, or even just one, to create
Seed funding took off during the latter a successful and highly-influential
part of the last decade and I see that company.
continuing to develop, producing and
funding increasingly innovative ideas.
We’ll see businesses and individuals

Zee Kane
explore unusual, innovative but
potentially lucrative business ideas.

EDITOR, THENExTWEB
www.thenextweb.com
www.zee.me
www.twitter.com/zee


There is a profound network-orientation to business
in 2010, and that goes further than just the fact
that social networks have become pervasive.
The winners of this next phase of business are
those companies who understand their role in the
ecosystem in which they operate and are able
to align the business model for the ecosystem.

JULIE
So the biggest opportunities are those where
the entrepreneurs are able to leverage what I call
‘ecosystem economics’.

The best companies ‘think big, start small, move
fast’. The successful companies of the next 10
years may be start-ups or established players,
but they will ‘think big, start small, move fast’ in
their innovation and growth. There is a new elite
being established globally who are fast-growing
companies.

MEYER
CHIEf ExECuTIVE, ARIADNE CAPITAL
AND ONLINE DRAGON
www.ariadnecapital.com
www.twitter.com/juliemariemeyer
www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/dragons/juliemeyer.shtml

The greatest opportunities will be towards social media-related
services and mobile applications. With the advent of social media
and apps, new services can be launched very quickly and can
also be readily monetised. Investors are looking for early returns
as the whole process of starting a business/service has shortened
– meaning only services with a solid revenue model can provide
adequate profits. As time to market shortens there is even more
pressure to get established quickly, which ultimately requires
revenue to put back in.

Mobile services are set to expand further and may be able to
cash in on the digital switchover, leaving more airspace for other
services. I think the mobile internet will expand significantly in the
next few years.

We came a long way over the last decade and I think it’s been
proved that large sites with huge registrations don’t necessarily
lead to huge profits – although they can generate significant
investment.

It’s becoming harder to come up with new ideas – so the most
successful companies this decade will still look to solve a genuine
need in an innovative way – rather than just do something better
than the rest.

Sarah Beeny
There’s been a huge shift towards online services and I still think
this is where the greatest successes will be seen – we may also
fOuNDER MySINGLEfRIEND.COM AND TEPILO see a ‘green shift’ to companies who take environmental issues
www.mysinglefriend.com seriously.
www.tepilo.com
www.twitter.com/sarahbeeny
www.twitter.com/tepilo


Michael
Smith
fOuNDER, fIREBOx.COM
AND MIND CANDy
www.mindcandy.com
www.twitter.com/acton

Social Gaming exploded in 2009. Over 60 million effects of disruptive technology, but underestimates its
people play Farmville every month, and a sizable long-term effects. This overestimation led to the dot.
proportion of them are prepared to pay cash for virtual com bubble of the late nineties and the subsequent
items. Zygna is barely two-years-old but is already financial meltdown. A decade on, we’re now starting
generating revenues of $200m+ and rumoured to be to understand the extraordinary opportunities the
eyeing up an IPO. internet has to offer. The most successful companies
of the next decade will be those that appreciate we’re
More than 10 million people subscribe to World of still in the early days of the internet revolution. There’s
Warcraft but the bigger opportunity lies with developers still a huge amount of opportunity for bold, ambitious
who can create fun, multi-player games that appeal to and innovative companies.
the hundreds of millions of people who prefer lighter
touch, more casual gaming. As Bachman-Turner Overdrive pointed out in the
seventies: ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’.
In 1998 when I left my job to launch Firebox.com my
boss told me I was crazy and the only people who’d
ever make money from the internet were porn moguls.
Historically, society overestimates the short-term


BEN KEENE
I see the immediate opportunities
as being green tech, 360 media and
fOuNDER, TRIBEWANTED crowd-funded start-ups.
www.tribewanted.com
www.twitter.com/benkeene However, the last great marketing
differentiator is business ethics. The
businesses that show clearly how
they are giving you value for money,
creating positive social impact and
minimising environmental damage will
be the global brands in 2020.


MONEY AND MOBILE HOLD
THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITIES.
FINANCIAL SERVICES ARE
RIPE FOR A REVOLUTIONARY,

ALEX
fOuNDER, SMALLBIzPOD DISRUPTIVE IDEA AND A DYNAMIC
www.smallbizpod.com
ENTREPRENEUR WHO THINKS

BELLINGER
www.twitter.com/alexbellinger
BIG. OF COURSE THE BARRIERS
TO ENTRY ARE HIGH, BUT
THEN SO ARE THE POTENTIAL
REWARDS. COMPANIES SUCH
AS MONETISE AND ZOPA ARE
ALREADY IN THIS SPACE, BUT I’D
HOPE TO SEE OTHERS TAKING ON
THE CHALLENGE OF CREATING A
NEW FORM OF BANKING.

In mobile last year it was very much the year of
the app and the App Store. In 2010 I think we’ll
see opportunities for entrepreneurs to sweep
up quality developers and build real businesses
delivering cross-platform mobile applications
that make a real difference to people’s lives and
businesses.

The most successful companies of the next
decade will be fast. Some say speed kills, but
the best businesses of the new decade will be
large, agile and swift to respond not only to their
customers, but to a world and circumstances that
I predict will be more turbulent than it was in the
2000s. smartest brains in business

I hate making predicitions about the future, but business is cyclical, isn’t it.
Evidently those who tend to stay around for a while really know how to manage

DAVE their talent. If you have a company, even if it’s a small concern getting those
who work with or for you enthused will help the company to be more resilient.

MCQUEEN
Of course, technology is making it so much easier to connect and improve
processes and these tools will be improved over the next decade, but more
importantly for me is getting companies to realise the value of their customers –
both internal and external.
fOuNDER Of MAGNIfICENT MINDS
www.davidmcqueen.co.uk
www.twitter.com/davidmcqueen

THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITIES FOR
ENTREPRENEURS THIS YEAR WON’T
BE INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC. IT’S MORE
ABOUT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF
THE FEAR PEOPLE HAVE AROUND
BUILDING OR DEVELOPING
BUSINESSES. WHILE MANY ARE
LAMENTING THE LACK OF FUNDING
FROM BANKS OR ANGELS, I
BELIEVE THE OPPORTUNITY LIES
IN BEING MORE CREATIVE WITH
OUR OFFERINGS. HOW DO WE
ADD VALUE TO EXISTING OR NEW
CLIENTS? HOW CAN WE DEVELOP
LONGER-TERM PARTNERSHIPS? HOW
CAN WE IMPROVE OUR CUSTOMER
LOYALTY? THOSE ARE WHAT I SEE
MORE AS OPPORTUNITIES, RATHER
FOCUSING ON AN INDUSTRY.


The successful small companies of
the next 10 years will be smaller and
more agile. The power entrepreneurs
have gained through hosted services
will grow exponentially in the next 10

RYAN
years - tools such as Google Docs
are only the tip of the iceberg.

C A R S ON
fOuNDER, CARSONIfIED
www.carsonified.com
www.twitter.com/ryancarson

I THINK NANO TECHNOLOGY IS GOING TO BE
HUGE IN FIVE YEARS, SO PEOPLE WHO ARE
TACKLING BIG IDEAS IN THAT SPACE NOW
COULD HAVE ENORMOUS POTENTIAL IN
THE NEAR FUTURE. I’VE BEEN READING RAY
KURZWEIL’S ‘THE SINGULARITY IS NEAR’
OVER CHRISTMAS AND IT’S BEEN BLOWING
MY MIND.


The biggest opportunities in 2010 are Large corporate entities are shrinking. Look at the
number of large IT companies – we’re now down to
going to come to those who wait – to Oracle, HP, IBM, SAP, and Microsoft. 10 years ago
the entrepreneur who doesn’t develop a we had 50-100 large IT corporations – so what we’re
seeing is a movement back to smaller, more agile
product for a market they think exists, organisations, with some larger powerhouses driving
the innovation, R&D and market, and buying up the
but for the ones who build a brand, deliver smaller companies as they solve problems the large
that to market and thus solve a problem ones aren’t agile enough to solve themselves.

better, more effectively or for a lower cost. Companies need to be more agile and aggressive to
market, less focused on fast growth and acquisition
If they convey that message simply to and more on solving problems, making our lives
simpler and creating new sectors. Who would have
the marketplace by fully understanding thought 10 years ago a phone would be able to
what business they are in, they can build play games, enable you to gamble and also send
messages?
a revenue stream quickly because they
understand the value of the problem they
solve and the value of that to the customer.

Stewart
Townsend MANAGER, SuN STARTuP ESSENTIALS EMEA
www.uk.sun.com/startupessentials
www.stewarttownsend.com
www.twitter.com/stewarttownsend


I see huge opportunity in eco-friendly products
and advancements. As far as retail is concerned,
which is my specialty, there’s still money to be made.
Once again this decade is about
However, we have to be much more original, work being a bit more innovative and
harder and offer more competitive prices. There isn’t eco-friendly. It’s also about
tightening up all the admin costs.
a lot of money out there so when the customer buys As entrepreneurs we cannot afford
they make a much smarter and premeditated choice. to overlook cashflows and
management of our companies.
Those who are aware of this, understand this and Overall it’s back to basics but an

Caprice
exciting time because it’s not about
adapt to this will be successful. luck anymore - it’s about good old
fashioned hard work. And those that
do it will prevail.

fOuNDER, By CAPRICE
www.caprice-online.com


Collaboration presents our Entire markets that we are yet
biggest opportunity in 2010. It’s to know we need will suddenly
simple really, but then the best appear. Over the last 10 years,
things are. It’s not just technology Apple has without doubt been
that allows people to collaborate the best at doing this: the iPod,
more freely, it’s people’s iTunes and the iPhone. For me,
attitudes. Social media has what is most interesting is the
gone a long way to encouraging App Store. It epitomises the
people to learn to ‘share’. opportunities for entrepreneurs
over the next decade. The App
As John Donne said, ‘No man Store provides applications for
is an island unto himself’. We products that 10 years ago we
simply cannot achieve great hadn’t heard of let alone knew
things by ourselves. Whatever we couldn’t live without. The next
we as entrepreneurs can achieve 10 years will be about being fleet

Sháá
individually, we can achieve of foot and collaborating.
tenfold collectively.

The internet will be at the heart
of everything we do this decade,
not just at the periphery. There
will no longer be a handful of
large corporations (although
those will of course still exist)
who have a monopoly on an
industry. Instead there will be
many, smaller businesses that

Wasmund
are swift to respond to changing
market and opportunities.

ENTREPRENEuR, fOuNDER
AND CEO Of SMARTA
www.smarta.com
www.shaawasmund.com
www.twitter.com/shaawasmund

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE
BIGGEST OPPORTUNITIES
FOR ENTREPRENEURS
IN 2010? CHINA, INDIA,
BRAZIL. SECTOR-WISE,
I THINK 2010 COULD
FINALLY BE THE YEAR FOR
MOBILE – SMARTPHONES
ARE BECOMING MORE
PREVALENT – ALMOST
UBIQUITOUS IN SOME
DEMOGRAPHICS –
AND THE SCOPE FOR
BRILLIANT, LIFE-
CHANGING MOBILE
APPLICATIONS IS HUGE.
We’ve all learned a lot in the last
two years. Successful doesn’t
necessarily mean big. Great
companies will be smart, lean and
collaborative – specialising in their
core competencies and partnering CO-fOuNDER, HuDDLE
wherever appropriate. www.huddle.net
www.twitter.com/bandrew


CONRAD
WINDHAM
ENTREPRENEuR AND CEO, u308 GOLDINGS PLC,
www.u3o8holdings.com

The biggest opportunities To reduce carbon dioxide
emissions we need to develop a
Climate change is an emotive issue,
and there is a growing audience within
for entrepreneurs in 2010 better understanding of energy. As the the UK and internationally that want to
London School of Economics stated do their bit to reduce their own carbon
lie within the ‘green tech’ in 2009, ‘if countries really aspire to footprint through introducing green
cut emissions, we suggest the motor technology products into their lives.
sector. The coverage given to of an effective mechanism is a direct

the 2009 UN climate change approach to the decarbonization of the
global energy system, rather than an
Self-reliance on energy will continue to
grow through the continued installation

conference in copenhagen was indirect approach via manipulation of
the economy’.
of solar panels, photovoltaics, and
wind turbines, over the next decade.
evidence in itself of the ever- It is for this reason that I believe
Without a doubt, 2010 will be a year
for entrepreneurs to tap into the green
growing global importance of there are a multitude of opportunities.
Entrepreneurs will lead the way
technology sector, which has an infinite
number of opportunities waiting to be
combating climate change. in providing solutions to reduce exploited.
carbon emissions through the
invention, improvement, marketing,
discovery, or otherwise, of products
and technologies that are more energy-
efficient and serve to decarbonise
societies.


Great opportunities lie in the convergence
of mobile devices, e-commerce and social
enterprise, and in creating participatory

Basheera
roles for consumers. Entrepreneurs
need to make it easy for consumers to
KHAN contribute to social good, either through
charity (by say, adding a small charitable
donation to a purchase they were
going to make anyway) or by bringing
social microfinance lending schemes,
such as Kiva.org, into the mainstream
consciousness.
I don't think we can overstate the impact of
people's awareness of climate change in shaping
the successful businesses of the next decade.
I predict that we will see a growing consumer
demand for companies to fulfil obligations in
transparent and ethical corporate governance.
The winners and leaders will be the ones that find
a way to capitalise on thrift and sustainability at
every point of the supply chain.

TECHNOLOGy WRITER
AND uSER ExPERIENCE
CONSuLTANT
www.basheerakhan.com
www.twitter.com/bash


Listening online is a skill that By the end of the 2010s we will
requires an open, random and see two sides of the business
supportive attitude, a non- world: Those that became
blinkered view that says to ‘networked businesses’ and
the world, ‘come to me and those who did not.
share your thoughts whatever
they are’. I have seen so many Those who utilise networks will
Ecademy members adapt their have several highly beneficial
products and services to suit features: They’ll operate a low
the words, phrases and needs fixed-cost business, low office
of the new economy. They and employee costs. They’ll
know how to do this because have fast access to many skills
they listen with the right intent, and resources. They’ll supply
they know what they want their services into a European
and they know to listen to the and global market. They’ll
needs of others. There is still adapt fast to market conditions.
significant money to be found, They’ll be highly sensitive to
but not if entrepreneurs use the customer needs. Their ability to
old way of hunting them out. support others will make them
highly attractive for others to
advocate and refer business to,
reducing marketing expenses.

PENNY
POWER
The biggest opportunities for entrepreneurs lie
within the networks of online conversations,
providing they learn to listen!
fOuNDER AND COMMuNITy BuILDER, ECADEMy
www.ecademy.com
www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=1001
www.twitter.com/pennypower smartest brains in business

BRAD
The entrepreneurs who will succeed in 2010 and
beyond are the ones who form the crowd, and the
only thing they sell to that crowd is themselves.

BURTON
In the next 10 years we’ll see more of what I’ve
been talking about for ages: ‘creating the conditions
where people buy, instead of you selling’. When
was the last time you went into Dixons and asked
the bloke behind the counter for the benefits and
features of an iPhone? Never – because it doesn’t
happen. Think about it: the sale has been made well
before you go to buy it.

MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, MANAGING It’s the time for the fleet of foot. Big ivory towers
DIRECTOR Of 4NETWORKING AND suck and conventional routes to market will
AuTHOR Of GET Off yOuR ARSE continue to be circumvented by social media. It’s all
www.4networking.biz about people, all about the internet, and all about
relationships. Get those right and the business
www.bradburton.biz
follows – providing you have a product or service
www.getoffyourarse.biz
people want.
www.twitter.com/bradburton
Trust in business is massive, never more so than in
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE INTERNET, BABY: GET APPROACHABLE. this next decade – would you support someone you
don’t like, someone you don’t know, someone you
SITTING IN IVORY TOWERS WAITING FOR PEOPLE TO COME don’t trust? The answer is probably no, in which
TO YOU? FORGET IT. MODERN-DAY ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS case the key to brand advocates, i.e. creating the
ABOUT GETTING OFF YOUR ARSE AND BEING ACCESSIBLE – conditions where people buy your products, rather
than you selling, is trust.
BE IT FACE-TO-FACE, DIRECT PHONE NUMBER, TWITTER,
AND, DARE I SAY IT, TAKING CALLS! The successful companies of the next decade will
be driven by leaders who embrace and truly live by
the trust and approachability ethos: selling products
because they believe in them, not because they
make you margin.


Paul Carr
The most interesting areas for me are local and mobile. Thanks
to the explosion of smartphones such as the iPhone, we’re
seeing services such as Twitter and Foursquare heavily affecting
AuTHOR, ‘BRINGING NOTHING
TO THE PARTy: TRuE
CONfESSIONS Of A NEW
If you’re not pushing out time-sensitive
offers on Twitter, or awarding discounts
to the Foursquare mayor of your bar/
how people socialise and shop. Smart entrepreneurs - be they MEDIA WHORE’ restaurant or shop then you’re already
technology innovators or shopkeepers - should be embracing that. www.paulcarr.com behind the curve. And if you have no
www.twitter.com/paulcarr idea what either of those two services
are, it’s time to hire someone who does.
Also, no one is going to go broke with
local, mobile dating.

The successful companies of this
decade will have personality. Our
obsession with social networks, blogs
and tweets means we expect to be
able to talk directly to companies and
have them talk back. The successful
companies will be the ones who seek out
our friendship rather than just our cash.
It’s hideous and cheesy, but it’s true.
In 10 years, Ryanair is toast.


All indicators point to a long and protracted period of recovery for the UK.
However, there are still plenty of opportunities for businesses to exploit.
At Bulldog we will be taking advantage of favourable exchange rates
to empower export driven growth in growth in 2010, for instance.

Simon The next ten years will see an explosion
of different ways for people to
communicate with, shop for, and learn
The key for succeeding in this changing
environment will be to empower people
with information about your products

Duffy
about goods and services. This will be and services, and making ethics central
primarily driven by the transformative to everything you do rather than limiting
power of technological change. At the this to the preserve of the CSR or PR
moment we are only scratching the departments.
surface of the potential of the internet to
change the way we work and live.

This transformation creates challenges
and opportunities for companies in
CO-fOuNDER, BuLLDOG equal measure. Large companies will
www.meetthebulldog.com have to deal with increasingly savvy and
demanding people who have a much
www.twitter.com/bulldognatural
deeper level of understanding about
what is going on behind the scenes.
Large companies will have to adapt to
consumers with many more options to
buy smaller brands outside of the regular
options at conventional retailers where
big brands traditionally dominate.


BEN WAY
The fundamentals
of business won’t
change – good
businesses are the
ones that adopt new
technology, innovate
and invest in their
people; I can’t see that
fOuNDER, THE RAINMAKERS changing in the next
www.makingrain.com 10 years.
www.twitter.com/benway
I would like to say
2010 presents a number of opportunities for smaller players where bigger that hopefully people
will have learned the
competitors have failed - and anybody with capital at the moment can make mistakes of the last
few years, but from
a killing buying insolvent companies at a bargain price. Technology is also my experience most
moving fast so a lot of action will be seen in the mobile / tablet market this year. people forget after five
years and then delude
themselves that yet
again the gravy train
is endless until it
suddenly falls off a cliff!


DIRECTOR, CAPITAL BuSINESS MEDIA
www.bmmagazine.co.uk
www.twitter.com/ralvin

The biggest opportunity for entrepreneurs
in 2010 is to be found embracing ‘apps’ and
technology. Computer applications, cloud
computing and new and innovative software
and systems allow entrepreneurs to start and
run businesses like never before. Embracing
these systems and engineering them into
their workflow allows smaller businesses to
punch far above the weight and operate at a
far lower headcount and fixed cost.
Success over the next 10 years will be measured by change and Success over the next 10 years
evolution. Businesses are required to evolve and react to change
and adapt their business models now more than ever before. will be measured by change
The world is far more immediate than the one which started the and evolution.
last millennium. Social media was primarily the telephone, news
was broadcast essentially in fixed time slots and you had to battle
VCRs to record television. Failure to embrace will see businesses
embracing failure.


The Top Ten Biggest Opportunities 1. Join scientists and politicians
to save the planet.

for Entrepreneurs in 2010: 2. Become the most trusted people

Oli
in the world as trust in everyone
else fades.
3. Talk to more people who are
completely different from you,
from different countries, places,

Barrett
ages and backgrounds.
4. Spend more time away from
screens of any kind.
5. Relax, sleep and laugh a lot more.
6. Reclaim the power of email
by communicating like normal
people and not in dreadful
corporate jargon.
fOuNDER, MAKE yOuR MARK WITH A TENNER 7. Reclaim the power of print
& INITIATOR Of SPEEDNETWORKING IN THE uK. by creating something worth
www.dailynetworker.co.uk receiving.
www.twitter.com/olibarrett 8. Save people money.
9. Help people filter information.
10. Give time doing what you do best
for a good cause.
11. Lend someone a tenner.


However, the first real recession of the
digital age has truly reformed opinion
with the masses now waking up to the
realisation that entrepreneurship gives
rise to innovation, employment, tax
revenues and, ultimately, wealth – and
that anybody can participate. You simply

Imran
need the desire, commitment and state
of mind to make great things happen.
CEO, HAKIM GROuP

Hakim
hakim-group.com Entrepreneurs in my experience tend to
www.twitter.com/imranhakim be optimists and as we kick off 2010 the
entrepreneurial landscape is littered with
opportunity. History again demonstrates
that recessionary times heighten the
demand for change and challenge
existing business models.

The focus on climate change has meant
that governments around the world have
Historically, entrepreneurs have a renewed focus on controlling domestic

been seen as risky and rebellious, and commercial carbon footprints which
presents unprecedented opportunities
like Delboy from Only Fools for innovators and entrepreneurs. The

and Horses or characterised as
convergence of technology and greater
awareness of cloud computing is also
everyone’s favourite villain like giving rise to a multitude of opportunities.

Michael Douglas in Wall Street.
And every industry is now truly global.

The success stories over the next 10
years will embrace this globalisation
ensuring that their proposition is resilient
in this new world order. When everyone
around them is risk averse, they will see
the obvious for being obvious before it
becomes obvious – and take action.


2010 will be a winning decade governments or corporations.
for the young entrepreneur – for Businesses this decade will
the first time in history, young be small, faster and more
people are an authority on effective. As we saw from the
something that really matters in last decade, we are living in
the economy: the internet. My times of exponential change.
advice to any entrepreneur first This decade will be the decade
starting out is to think about of the global entrepreneur.
what you know and think about The individual that now has
what you’re passionate about. the global marketplace at
Think about what you want to their fingertips.
change.
Brand is becoming more and
The other hot sector is green more important. People no
business. There will be many longer want to read corporate
new businesses created this jargon, but want to touch and
year around this sector and feel the brands they use.
I strongly believe innovation The personal brand of the
lies on the edge – because team behind businesses has
they’re so agile, startups have also never been so important.
a unique opportunity to react to The people in the team should
today’s challenges. Many global live and breathe the business
issues are likely to be solved values.
by individuals with innovative
business models, rather than

Lucian
Tarnowski
fOuNDER AND CEO, BRAVENEWTALENT.COM
www.bravenewtalent.com
www.twitter.com/luciant smartest brains in business

AMANDA
The biggest opportunities for
entrepreneurs lie in essential services
such as healthcare. As technology

ROSE
advances and more people have
online access, it is likely that we will
see more innovative ways to manage
and access these important parts of
our lives. Mobile is definitely another
huge area and we’ve only seen the tip
of the iceberg when it comes to how
location-based social networks or
mobile payments will have an impact.
CREATIVE STRATEGIST, AND fOuNDER Of TWESTIVAL
www.amandarose.com Customer service and communication
www.twitter.com/amanda will be key over the next decade.
Companies will need to stop
hiding behind a phone matrix that
prevents them from dealing directly
with consumers. Real-time, light
communication tools such as Twitter
have given people an expectation
for companies to engage with them
rather than waiting for the phone to
ring. The individual word-of-mouth
will have a lot more power when it
comes to promoting, questioning
and inevitably complaining. How a
brand handles this could make all
smartest brains in business the difference.

THOMAS
POWER
fOuNDER, ECADEMy
www.ecademy.com
www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=8
www.twitter.com/thomaspower
Networks are the new corporations.
Corporates as we know them today
will not exist. Their cost base is
way too high and their overhead

THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY
of buildings, pensions, health
care, PAYE and NI will become
unaffordable. Every employee will

IS TO BUILD GLOBAL become a supplier. There won’t be
employees by 2030. Jobs will be a

NETWORKED BUSINESSES. forgotten concept.


BARRY PARTNER, WINSTON & STRAWN;
CO-fOuNDER, BOOTLAW
www.winston.com

VITOU
www.bootlaw.com
www.twitter.com/bazv

The recession is a huge source of opportunity. The
costs of doing business have been driven down
across the board making life difficult for incumbents.
Technology has massively reduced the costs for any
entrepreneur starting up a new business and offers
the chance to communicate with customers and
potential customers on a massive scale.

2010 may also see a change of the UK government.
If so, new policies and changes in regulation
will likely create new business opportunities.
Entrepreneurs should keep their eyes peeled for new
government initiatives which themselves may create
business opportunities. Web and communications
technology is making our world smaller every
day. Over the next 10 years the really successful
companies will be those who have the aspiration
and ambition to engage with customers globally
and who do so. smartest brains in business

The biggest opportunities for 2010
and beyond embody the true essence
of entrepreneurship by presenting
themselves to those who listen,
observe and invent valuable and
disruptive solutions.

Convergence of technologies and
the power of the crowd will continue
to democratise knowledge and
empower the individual, the start-
up and the small business – yet,
conversely, the gap between small
and big companies will widen.

There will be fewer big companies
but those which survive will thrive
as Jack-of-all-trades and masters
of none other than price and branded
choice – and therein lays the
opportunity for everyone else.

Those companies which anticipate
and embrace consumer expectation
for immediate, personalised,
accountable product and service will
conquer the generic, pedestrian and
faceless big brands. Value will usurp
price and free for those that work
smart enough to prove they provide it.

Matt
All forms of collaboration – from
EDITOR Of SMARTA.COM networking to corporate partnerships
– will fuel the growth of the decade’s
www.smarta.com

THOMAS
most successful companies.
www.twitter.com/smartamatt


what is By business people for business people,
Smarta is the ultimate resource for
business how-to guides, features,

smarta?
exclusive video interviews with leading
entrepreneurs and is packed with helpful
tools and templates.

Smarta.com is a business
support and advice network for Visit to access
start-ups, small business owners all this free of charge and
and entrepreneurs. register your profile to start
Smarta provides independent, interacting and exchanging
entrepreneur-led support and is backed knowledge with the Smarta
by some of the uK’s top entrepreneurs
including Dragons’ Den’s Theo Paphitis network.
and Deborah Meaden.


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