What sparked that bright idea? We asked five SME owners what their motivations were for starting up.

1. How did you come up with your
small business idea?
What sparked that bright idea? We
asked five SME owners what their
motivations were for starting up.

2. I had an idea of what I wanted and
then I put in a lot of planning
• I wanted a business idea that really excited me. It had to be B2B as
that is my area of interest and had to do with scalable technology
that was markedly different to the status quo. For years I met a
small group of friends on weekends and evenings to throw around
ideas. I knew Wazoku was my killer idea as soon as we began to
flesh it out: the sector is really interesting and aligned with what I
knew and could see myself doing for some time. Even then we took
several months to research, learn, plan and revisit all assumptions
before doing anything concrete. I would say that all that planning
was really worthwhile and in those days you should be your own
harshest critic. Looking back I'm glad I killed other ideas early and
quickly and gave Wazoku the time to evolve and develop to the
great idea it was, and still is.

3. I was inspired by The Wright Stuff
• I came up with the idea for Direct Sitters after another idea I had for
a company didn't work out. I felt a bit depressed and was up early
one morning watching the TV show The Wright Stuff. They had a
segment in the show which was suggesting ways to earn extra cash.
One of the suggestions was to do "house sitting" for people who go
away on holiday. At the time I wasn't working and a few days later
my mother asked me to wait for a plumber. This got me thinking.
What do other people who have to go to work do in this situation?
How do they deal with waiting for plumbers, deliveries or engineers
and what sacrifices do they make? So I decided that instead of
doing house sitting for holidays I would start a company that would
solve the problem of people waiting for plumbers, engineers and
home deliveries.

4. I took inspiration from other online
retail sites
• In 2006 I noticed that consumers were
comfortable buying books and CDs online, and
presumed that with time they would become
comfortable ordering larger items like beds in
this fashion too. I'd always fancied running my
own business so after spotting this
opportunity, it was a case of now or never.

5. Inspirational ideas came from across
the pond
• I've been inspired for as long as I can
remember by Charlie Merrill of Merrill Lynch
fame, who was pivotal in bringing the huge
benefits of individual share ownership to the
masses in the USA. I could see the same
revolutionary difference being possible if we
could unlock the excitement available from
investing in startups for a much wider
audience than just the very rich to whom it
has been limited for so long.