Cambridge Cluster

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Fred Wilson runs a post “The ‘We need To Own’ Baloney” stressing the only thing an investor, or I guess anyone else, needs to go for is a slice of a very large pie. InFred’s words:

The VC business is not about grabbing the largest slice of the pie. It is about getting involved with very big pies. If you let your need for the biggest piece keep you out of the pie eating contest, you will lose eventually.

So the VCs and other investors such as those on Dragons’ Den are barking up the wrong tree when they get obsessed about low valuations.  Will any of the investments made on Dragons’ Den make it very big?  But it is great TV.  Some will generate millions but Fred Wilson is building much bigger companies in a short time frame.  So the angel groups with which I co-invest are right to be generous to the entrepreneurs with high valuations in the early rounds because it gives the entrepreneurs a great start.  If the valuations drop later, it is never going to be a big pie so it never matters but you still need to think through your business plan resource.

Makes me sleep easier at night knowing that you do not have to be a pushy dragon to do well!

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Before dreaming of being an entrepreneur, it is worth looking at what is on offer from the public sector.  At last week’s Cambridge University Entrepreneurs Grand Launch, Matt Schofield, CEO of Cambridge Enterprise (and a guy in need of a good suit if he is to represent the private sector) said that Tim Minshall was unable to be with us as advertised because he had chosen to be with his family.  That is what we were told so assume it was nothing serious.  Tim is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Manufacturing and has every right not to turn up at an evening event even though he was advertised as a speaker.  However, entrepreneurs live in a different world where the work comes first as some of the panelists stressed.  If you do not love your work, do not become an entrenrepreneur.

A week or so ago, Dr Anne Dobree, Investment Business Manager of Cambridge Enterprise, sent out an e-mail with an advert for her job whilst she goes on maternity leave.  It is an exciting job as the lucky person may get the break to head the team which is why the job is being advertised nationally.  The salary on offer is £49k to £57k pro-rata for the three day a week job.  So you can earn a public sector salary of £30k working thee days a week with no traveling and no evening work.  I reckon that the self-employed have to earn 3x a public sector salary to be as well of so that is around £90k for a three day week.  That is around £90 per hour assuming all hours are charged and you are not sick for long.

An article in the papers said that employees will soon be able to recover days on which they are sick whilst they are on holiday.  But this is already true in the NHS where you have your holiday reinstated and work cancelled whilst you recover from your illness.  Understandable but when you go to countries where many people return with D+V, it takes the risk from the employee to the employer.

This is turning into a rant but one last bit of news.  Sarah-Jane Marsh (32) is the very young chief executive of Birmingham Children’s Hospital and is paid £155,000 of public sector pay with all the perks.  Not many entrepreneurs are going to match her earnings in a career.  At 3x that is an income of £465,000 per year and not many entrepreneurs will be in that league.  She is marrying the 52 year old head of the NHS.  He will soon be looking for his public sector benefits to kick in after 25 years service.

So if you have a degree and are ambitious make sure you look at your business plan and remember to build a global business quickly or else I will not see you walking on the lovely hills of the Lake District.

PS.  Do consider the Police where you seem to get full pension rights after 30 years service and lots and lots of paid overtime.  But go for the top job and earn serious money.  Sir Ian Blair, ousted as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner last December, retains his £295,000 annual salary until February 2010 and reportedly earned £580,000 in his final eight months in office.  Sadly his six figure windfall for publishing his memoirs has not happened and he has settled for a mere £50k or so.  Some job where you are eased out, paid to write your memoirs and then can collect on the advance as well.  I guess a bit like a management buy out when someone else pays for the development of the product and you take all the winnings.  Nice work if you can get it!