Great entrepreneurial qualities include being fearless. There are many barriers to success but fear doesn't have to be one of them, as David Spencer-Percival explains in this TV show.

Winning entrepreneurial qualities

Characteristics? I am fearless, I have no fear about anything. I mean when you’ve, I’ve not worked for a year, I’ve been low financially and I think when you have had that sort of experience you’re no really afraid of anything. I have always been very confident, my father was an incredibly gregarious confident individual. I had a good education so I was bright enough to make decisions and really assess situations. I just felt confident so I think that is probably the main thing, confidence and lack of fear. I don’t really fear anything, I don’t fear failure. Inside Finance is very interested in what entrepreneurial qualities can lead to success. Find more great tips for entrepreneurs in our briefing No Fear – Entrepreneurship strategy for new starters

Becoming an entrepreneur allows you to be more in control of your future, as Mike Bacon explains in this video.

Becoming an entrepreneur will always involve taking risks. In this video David Spencer-Percival explains why he went for it.

Leaders will make many strategic decisions during the development of a business to ensure growth. In this video Martyn Dawes discusses how this can effect the exit process.

In this video Richard Alberg explores the dynamic between a company leader and management team when a business is sold.

In this TV show Martyn Dawes discusses a successful exit he has made and has advice on what entrepreneurs should consider when exiting their business.

In this video Richard Alberg discusses the two triggers of a business sale and compares the strategic planning process for each and explains why selling a business isn't easy.

Strategic planning process for a business exit

It’s not easy. It can be easy but often if it is easy you are leaving money on the table. In our experience there are two triggers for an exit. The first is, someone comes to you and asks, would you be interested in selling? You suddenly scratch your head and think maybe I would. Then you need to decide whether you are going appoint advisors and go towards an auction process where you offer the company to others. The second alternative is where you decide in the very beginning that now is the time to come to market and indeed you actions over the preceding year, two years, have all been about insuring you are ready to come to market, that means anticipation of a due diligence process, so everything being in order, that means having a management team in place so that any acquirer knows that if they buy the business and you, with your pockets full of money decide to go off into the sunset, the still have a business that is going to be effective. So all of that thinking has to take place before hand. Then when you do go out to market, then it’s nerve wracking, then it’s the big stakes outcome, so your meeting people who can transform your life through their decision to buy your company and buy it at a value that you’ll like. That process can take months and months, if you are running an auction, there is going to be a little bit of brinksmanship between the different participants, you’re going to want to push for maximum value, that means at time you’re going to risk the deal itself. So all of these elements are nerve wracking on top of the day job of running a company. And then, at least in my case, the day I sold the business, the day I went to my lawyers office to sign the paperwork, it was a very odd day. On the one hand this was everything I had worked towards, on the other hand it was also selling my baby, and that was a very emotional process to go through. It was the right thing to do but it wasn’t an easy thing to do.

If you are interested in the strategic planning process for exits, you can watch the full briefing here - The Exit – Preparing your business for sale

New technologically innovative transport company Uber have turned the taxi industry upside down. Tech expert Robert Scoble explains what happened.

Uber disrupt an industry

They have to be scared that they are going to be put out of business. You better be paranoid. Things like Uber came out four years ago and now it's everywhere. You need to understand the innovators that are changing your business. Uber knows where you are standing, that's why it serves you better than a taxi company, they have your credit card details and we can talk to each other. He doesn't have my real phone number but he can message and call me through and app. Our briefing Uber Disruption – The reality of innovative technology   has more information on Uber and more expert discussion on industry disruption.

Strategy development for investment was what Envestors was created to teach. Founding Director Oliver Woolley discusses the importance of preparing for investment in this TV show.

Investment strategy development

One of the reasons we set up Envestors is that we thought there was a bit of education needed on both the investor and entrepreneur side. So we provide training for investors. We produce a guide to how to invest as a business angel and we do a seminars for investors. So our idea is to educate both the investor and the entrepreneur and try and get them close enough so that we can get good deals done. So we find that a lot of companies aren't particularly well prepared so we run an investment readiness briefing on a Tuesday morning every two weeks, which is free. It is essentially a two hour seminar about the practicalities and realities and the obligations of raising external equity finance. We find that at the end of that, that the company has though a lot about their business plan but they haven't though enough about it from an investment perspective. So we will then work with a company to make sure that there is a full and detailed investment proposal.

If you are interested in strategy development for investment then take a look at the full briefing Cashed Up - How to attract business funding.

In this business growth show David Spencer-Percival explains why it is hard to get investment without a track record.

Business growth show - Investment

You need to have a track record of what you have been doing, I think to get investment. I think it is awfully hard to get investment for something that is a completely new idea. The thing about investment is, getting the money is only half the trick, the other bit is actually using that money to create value. So I think you can go and get investment for something, but you have to deliver on it, it’s too hales to one piece. There’s no magic trick but if you’re good at something, I am sure you can convince somebody to give you money to do it again. It’s just how you, what you do with that money. Keep browsing Inside Finance for more business growth shows, and why not take a look at the full Cashed Up briefing on attracting business funding.