COLUMNISTS
Resources
Principal content

Mike Southon is a serial entrepreneur and co-author of four books on starting and growing businesses.
During the 1980s he co-founded The Instruction Set, a computer services company, which he later sold to what is now Cap Gemini. He worked with 17 start-up ventures during the 1990s, two of which, Riversoft and Micromuse, later listed on the stock exchange.
Mike is a visiting fellow in innovation and entrepreneurship at London South Bank University and a fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and the Professional Speakers’ Association.
www.beermat.biz - -
The pains and the gains
With recession looming, perhaps now is the time to dust off that business plan and start a new venture.
The pains and the gains
With recession looming, perhaps now is the time to dust off that business plan and start a new venture.
Love your customers
In a large organisation you can at least look forward to the monthly salary cheque. But in a small organisation the buck stops with you.
A heart in the right place
Finding the right property, but in the wrong location can lead to misery and bankruptcy. I have a better model, which involves the aspiring entrepreneur test-driving their idea before they get their premises.
Mike Southon: It’s not all give and take
If you’re struggling for a business idea, here’s a suggestion: why not save the world?
Mike Southon: Reputations precede you
Coutts’ network of more than 18,000 entrepreneur customers has identified business reputation as a key issue
Mike Southon: Double acts with one vision
We are all familiar with the great double-acts in popular culture: Morecombe and Wise, Lennon and McCartney, even Del-Boy and Rodney; complementary characters who play off each other’s strengths, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Business is exactly the same.
Mike Southon: Recruit well to get a head start
I always thought Keith Haviland was going to do well. Back in 1989 he was one of the shocked faces in the Slug and Lettuce when we announced that we had sold our company, The Instruction Set, to what would soon be part of Cap Gemini Ernst and Young.
The rewards of going it alone
I expect some of you are still looking at the detail of the chancellor’s Budget, wondering whether it has been good or bad.
The pursuit of happiness
Have you ever wondered what makes very rich people happy?


