My Experience of The Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards and Why You Should Enter

It was nearly midnight one evening, in January 2012, when I sent off a last-minute application to The Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards. I tapped out my entry in between mouthfuls of coffee and as I hit the big green 'submit' button, I had no idea what I'd just started. 

When an e-mail landed in my inbox a few days later informing me I had been shortlisted, I was struck by the feeling that every start-up founder knows well - one of simultaneous excitement and pressure. As I scanned the list of my fellow finalists, I spotted BrewDog on the list and felt a bit nauseous. BrewDog. Surely Scotland only had room for one trashy blonde? 

On the first day of March I headed to Edinburgh University to pitch in the eighth and final regional heat. Where I had two minutes to pitch to a judging panel comprising of local business leaders, Lloyds TSB professionals and advisors from business support organisations. Two minutes is not a very long time, so being concise and articulate was key. I had to get across where my idea had come from, what I'd done so far, and what my plans were for the future. 

When everybody had pitched, we were joined by more local businesses and other influential professionals in the region for a champagne networking reception and a three course lunch. I wasn't sure what I was more excited about; drinking bubbly in the middle of the day or having my very own Little Riot table. I mean, how cool is that?

After lunch we heard a brief speech from Fiona Godsman from the Scottish Institute for Enterprise about what define an  "entrepreneur". When it was finally time for the announcement of winners, everyone around my table wished me good luck. 

Incredibly, Scotland did have room for two trashy blondes after all, and Little Riot scooped "Best Start Up" and BrewDog taking "Best Enterprise", the award for more established businesses. What followed next was flurry of congratulations, press interviews and photographs.

As the Scottish heat was the last one, I didn't have long to wait until the grand final. Taking place in Liverpool to coincide with the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, I now had to pitch against the 'Best Start Up' winners from the other seven regions. The panel of judges this time was verging on intimating, with individuals including Kamal Ahmed, the Business Editor of The Telegraph and Jamie Murray-Wells, founder of opticians giant Glasses Direct. 

Having thought the regional heat lunch was impressive, I was blown away by the set up for the black tie awards dinner that evening. Sporting my first ever full-length frock, Lloyds treated myself and the other finalists (and guests!) like VIP celebrities all evening. Although, it must be said, having to eat whilst facing an Andy-Warhol'd picture of my own face was a little disconcerting!

Best Start-Up went to KwickScreen and Best Enterprise went to Yasa Motors. I was also still a winner that night, as I was lucky enough to win tickets to the Olympics in a prize draw! I met a lot of great contacts, loved every minute of socialising with other young entrepreneurs, and had a whale of a time with my Andy Warhol face.

The Lloyds TSB Awards are open to anyone who has founded or co-founded their own business, who is a university student or a graduate from within the last five years. You can check out the website and submit an application here.  You've got just under two weeks!

So why should you enter? There are loads of business competitions out there, right? What's so different about this one? This one is different because it's not just a competition, it's a gateway into an amazing networking and ongoing support. Lloyds TSB don't just give you a trophy and some cash and leave you to it, they actually care what happens to you and want to support the people they've gone to the effort of crowning winners.

What did I get from it? Of course, I got £1,000 cash, a weighty trophy and the accolade of being a winner. That is what you get from most competitions, but it was all the other things that really helped my business move forward. I received two incredible mentions in the Sunday Telegraph and the words written about me by the Telegraph's Business Editor still both humble and motivate me every day.

A few months after the awards, Lloyds TSB took all the winners to London and laid on an incredible day of workshops and training for us. We learned about recruiting people, intellectual property and how to conduct ourselves in media interviews. We had the opportunity to catch up with our fellow winners, swap stories and advice, and the day culminated with a drinks reception in the Houses of Parliament. What other competition has ever given you that?

Other benefits have included mentorship from a Lloyds TSB manager and being chosen as a 'poster girl' for this year's awards. I  had an exciting photoshoot day, the results of which are now on the business banking website and on posters and leaflets at universities across the country.

There are lots of reasons why you should enter, and if you get even a small piece of what I have from the experience, then you are a winner by any means.

(NB. This post wasn't sponsored by Lloyds - they didn't even ask me to do it - it was written off my own back and I mean every word :)

2012 In Review

Due to ongoing problems I've been having with Google Apps for Business, I have been unable to log into Blogger for ages. Even though it is now mid-January, I'm going to reflect on 2012, as I like to look back over a year and work out what it meant to me and recognise the defining moments throughout it.

JANUARY
January actually changed a lot of things for me. I was in a minor car accident and although this didn't directly have an impact on my life (just my poor car!), the events that panned out in the following hours/days - and the circumstances that evolved from the whole situation - altered the way I look at a lot of things. 

One of the positive things to come from the turbulence was that I moved Little Riot into its first office - the collaborative Ignite100 loft in Newcastle. I couldn't have asked for a cooler place, or a better bunch of people to work with. And the good news is, if you fancy it, you can come too. 

I was also video-interviewed for a feature on ABC News New York :) 

FEBRUARY
Well into my burst of Business-related productivity by February, I was lucky enough to be asked to go along to Entrepreneur Week in Athens, Greece. I was part of a delegation along with five other young entrepreneurs, several of whom have become good friends. 

MARCH
In March I won "Best Start Up" in the Scottish category of the Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards. I had a very exciting day in Edinburgh where I pitched to a panel of judges, followed by a swanky lunch at my very own Little Riot table.

A few weeks later, I attended the grand final in Liverpool, during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress. I pitched to a pretty cool bunch of people and wore a really epic dress to the black tie dinner, thanks to Coast :) 

APRIL

In April I continued to work really hard and also visited John in Dubai. Working hard was a lot easier with a cracking view of Dubai Marina! I had brunch in the Burj Al Arab, which was incredible. 

MAY

May was a cracking month for press. It started with a double page spread in Scottish newspaper The Courier... and ended up with a mention in Marie Claire magazine, in between a dildo and a sex chair. Sorry, mum. 

JUNE & JULY

Looking back now, all I did in June and July was work flat out. It was a critical time for the company and I gave 110% and then some to make sure everything worked out. The highlight of these months was one rare afternoon when I managed to get out in the sunshine and ride my horse :-)

AUGUST

At the start of August I went to the Olympics, after being lucky enough to win tickets at the Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards earlier in the year. It was really cool to be part of something so huge and Lloyds spoiled me as a guest.

I also closed  a pretty big business deal which has changed my life, business and personal, in both good ways and bad.

SEPTEMBER
At the start of September I visited three cities in Germany as part of a creative business exchange. Myself and Olivia from Blue Iris Films were shown round various agencies, businesses and organisations. The highlight for me was visiting the Red Dot Design Museum. 

I also spent some time in Scotland and celebrated my birthday early, with my best buddies :)

OCTOBER
I turned 25 on day three. Half way to fifty, gulp. Spent the day judging the Shell LiveWIRE Awards and then had a nice, albeit bizarre, night out with people from the office. 

Visited Liverpool again as a shortlister in The Pitch and met some cool people. 

Ran my first 10k adventure run!

NOVEMBER

Had a great day in London thanks to Lloyds TSB and their ongoing support of the winners from their Enterprise Awards. It culminated with drinks in the Houses of Parliament. Lovely wine, I can see where my tax is going ;-)

I was a finalist the the Woman of the Future Awards and got to met Dame Kelly Holmes and James Caan. Little Riot was also listed in the Real Business/Wonga 'Future 50'.

I also wrote my first blog for The Huffington Post which seemed to be well-received. 

DECEMBER
This month was busybusy and then I was wiped out by the flu in the run up to Christmas which was fairly inconvenient! December was the month I finally got to know this year's cohort of Ignite100 teams, which I wish I'd done sooner.

All in all, 2012 was a fairly positive year. A few ups and downs - as with everything - but I'll definitely always look back on it as a good one, overall. Here's hoping 2013 will continue in a similar way! 

Entrepreneur Week Greece 2012

An important part of being an entrepreneur is making sure you walk the walk, as well as talk the talk. Starting a business is always going to be hard - but the current state of the economy almost worldwide means that now is an especially treacherous time to be embarking upon such a venture. Sure, there are challenges - but none are unsurmountable. I am a walking, talking, high-fiving example of how other people's negative attitudes cannot and will not stand in your way if you want something enough. 

Whilst I defiantly went out and damn well made it happen, I recognise that such actions do not come easily to everyone. Sometimes people need a spot of encouragement, some inspiration, a little nudge to help them take those first steps. And - even once you've thrown yourself into it - running a start-up is an endless rollercoaster of mind-blowing highs and sleep-destroying lows. It never ends - even when you're a high-flying, successful business person, (I assume!) it's still not always easy. I guess what I'm trying to say is; sometimes everyone needs a little inspiration, support and motivation. And events like Entrepreneur Week are places for entrepreneurs new and established, old and young, to come together.

When Shell LiveWIRE asked me if, as a 2011 Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, I would like to attend the event as part of the UK delegation organised by Young Brits, I was really excited. I feel really passionately about both encouraging entrepreneurship amongst others and in widening my horizons. So a few days later, I was on a plane to Athens! A few of my friends and family raised concerns about the recent rioting and protesting in the city, but I figured if there was an Entrepreneur Week event running, there was obviously hope. 

The Entrepreneur Week website states; "We believe there is a mounting global shift toward placing entrepreneurship as the core focus of economic policy and programming in countries around the world. At more than any other previous time in history, entrepreneurship has eclipsed the world stage as central to most nation’s efforts to rebuild their economic stability. Leaders are eager to unleash entrepreneurial potential as an economic growth engine and source of job creation."

The Parliament Buildings from the entrance to our hotel

This is especially striking and relevant for Athens at the moment due to the recent aforementioned troubles, so the event was impeccably timed in that respect. It was strange to arrive at our hotel, located a mere hundred yards from the Parliament building, and see the city square I'd watched fill with angry rioters on TV only a few days before. But I witnessed nothing violent - I observed a few peaceful protests, frustrated citizens raising their concerns to their Government. At no point did I feel unsafe or in any danger. My experience as a visitor Athens as a city was a positive one. 

The event kicked off on Thursday. A really poignant quote I heard from during the opening speeches was; "The crisis in Greece is not a financial one, it is a political one". I really liked this as it felt optimistic and hopeful and, in my opinion, kicked the summit off to a really good start. We weren't there to talk about the Euro bail-out or the staggering GDP, we were there to discuss opinion and drive change. It lines up perfectly with my opinion of how entrepreneurship should be - get the passion, the people and the objectives right, and worry about the numbers as a secondary concern. 

What really stood out for me was the message delivered by Gary Whitehill, the Founder of Entrepeneur Week. He spoke about how passion is scalable - again, related slightly back to the point I made above. Get the drive and the determination there, and you are unstoppable. My favourite quote of his was "save the entrepreneur, save the world" - I felt it really drove home the message we were in Greece to share; that entrepreneurship can save a floundering economy and turn it into something incredible. He made the point that, if you take people who are passionate (but don't necessarily know what they are doing) and put a framework around them, amazing things can happen. More on this later! Gary also participated in panels on the second day; I found him very inspiring, he was definitely my favourite speaker from the event. 

Gary Whitehall, Founder of Entrepreneur Week. (Photo shamelessly borrowed from Osama Natto's Facebook album - lots more great photos there too)

After networking drinks in a somewhat eccentric Greek bar that evening, day two kicked off. The highlight of this day for me was one of the later sessions in which our UK delegate leader, Alex, was participating. It was titled "The Battle for Athens Centre: Turning a crime zone into a field of creativity". The panel sparked off a really interesting debate in which the audience engaged enthusiastically. How can something destructive be harnessed and then channeled into something more productive? And what steps do we need to take to begin implementing that shift in attitude?

This panel also featured Alvaro Cuesta, a Spanish delegate from Madrid who runs a business incubator. I'd been chatting to him earlier in the day and was really shocked to learn that, in Spain, business owners are charged €200 a month of corporation tax from the day their company is formed. Horrified, I tweeted about it and kicked off quite an interesting discussion on Twitter. A Greek business owner told me it was a similar story in Greece; entrepreneurs are charged €250 bimonthly per founder, which increases as the company grows in maturity and profit. One entrepreneur who responded is 7 years into his business and now pays €700 every other month in tax.

Alex Mitchell, leader of the UK delegation, delivering his session

Realistically I am not knowledgeable enough to comment on Greek politics, but I can't help but feel that if entrepreneurism is to truly flourish in Greece, this sort of legal structure needs to be revisited. In the 'crime to creativity' session I felt huge empathy for the people I'd seen on the street earlier that day who are troubled by the economic situation in Greece. If you are angered by financial cuts and similar, is entrepreneurship truly going to feel like a desirable and achievable avenue if you are instantly hit with a monthly fee of hundreds of euros? I can say with absolute certainty that there is absolutely no way I would still have my company had I been subject to a similar system. Can anyone truly drive change and hope for an entrepreneurial revolution whilst still allowing archaic and intimidating clauses to inhibit growth? 

This revelation has made me feel incredibly lucky for everything the UK affords me. I have been supported and encouraged on so many levels since I started out, and organisations such as Shell LiveWIRE and others add an extra framework around young entrepreneurs like myself. I believe Greece could really flourish if similar support was made available to young entrepreneurs. 

At the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Turns out I look even tinier than normal when standing next to ancient Greek ruins.

After a morning of power sight-seeing of Athens by some of the UK delegation Saturday afternoon held a few hours of B2B networking for the delegations from the UK, USA, Belgium, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Hungry, Australia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and of course, Athens. This was one of the best parts of the event for me - having the opportunity to network with such an eclectic and international collection of people is an opportunity which doesn't present itself every day. I met some incredible people whom I definitely hope to work with in the future. 

The things I am taking away from Entrepreneur Week Greece are feelings of hope, gratitude and the re-confirmed belief that passion is the key to driving entrepreneurial growth. One of my main observations from the experience was that there was an evident shortage of young people. The UK delegation was by far the youngest - to the extent people were commenting on how amazing it was that we were there. I would really have liked to have seen a greater youth presence because I think we could have really inspired them and encouraged them to think outside the box. Regardless, I am confident that the foundations are being laid for great things. I particularly enjoyed chatting to Stavros Messinis, founder of CoLab, a business incubator in Athens. He is an inspiration to his country and I believe he will be a driving force in enhancing enterprise in Athens. 

All in all, Entrepreneur Week Greece was an incredible experience and I feel really privileged to have been asked to be a part of it. I have returned home feeling completely exhausted, but my brain is buzzing and I have been inspired by both the people I met and the presentations I watched. My fellow delegates - Marty, Nathan, Glynn, Alex and Nathaniel, are an incredible bunch of people and I couldn't have asked for a better gang to network, explore ancient Greek ruins and shake maracas in questionable bars with. 

On the flight home, I was flicking through the Aegean Airlines in-flight magazine and was really pleased and inspired to see a feature on the recent TEDx event run in Athens. I mentioned earlier that Gary had said sometimes all it takes is a framework to bring out the best in people, and it made me smile to see that it's already starting to happen for Athens. Whatever the news channels are playing on your TV - entrepreneurship will prevail in Greece. I know it's there, because for three days, I was a part of it. 

The UK Delegation (and a sleepy Greek dog)

Many thanks to Dimitris Tsigos, everyone on the EW Greece team, Gary Whitehall and The Hellenic Start-Ups Association for making it all happen, and of course to Shell LiveWIRE and Alex Mitchell for the opportunity to go. You have inspired me, excited me and compelled me to work even harder. 

Enterprise in Athens

I graduated from university in Summer 2010. Unlike the previous year's cohort, I didn't quite walk into the darkest months of the recession - but I didn't exactly bound into the working world as a shiny new Bachelor of Science and drown in amazing job offers, either. My exit from education saw me enter a working world that was tentatively trying to keep itself ticking over, bravely trying to hold it's head above the water and prevent another downturn.

When I decided I wanted to start my own business, I was somewhat afraid to say it out loud. My fellow graduates were all frantically job hunting - some gratefully accepting any role they could get - so it seemed almost selfish and whimsical to confess I wanted to do something my own way instead. Truth be told, it received a mixed reaction. My parents, after patiently supporting me through my six years of university (yes, six, you read that correctly) looked like they didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Some of my friends told me it was a "great idea!!" but I could see the looks of "rather you than me, I'll keep job-hunting thankyouverymuch!" flashing across their faces. Sadly, a lot of people were negative about it. My product, Pillow Talk, is obviously very technology-driven and required a lot of initial development funding and I met many people who deemed this a good enough reason to not even try. "We're in a recession" they told me, "you'll never be able to make it happen".

Well, the joke was on them because within two weeks of officially forming my company, I had Government backing and the funds in place to develop a proof-of-concept prototype. Someone gave me a chance and it was all I needed - and that's how it works. I'm running a start-up now, but it is me - and others like me - who will go on to create jobs and opportunities.

This week I am visiting Greece as part of the UK delegation attending Entrepreneur Week Greece. I was offered the opportunity by Shell LiveWIRE and I couldn't say yes quick enough. I love enterprise events and meeting other young people who are facing the same challenges as me, so the idea of doing that in another country was naturally very appealing. It may sound silly, but having previously only networked a lot in the UK, having the opportunity to travel abroad feels a lot like I'm stepping up my game! I'm also very proud to have been chosen to represent the UK as an example of a successful young entrepreneur - it's a big honour and a big responsibility.

I am in Athens with four other young entrepreneurs; Marty Bell, Nathaniel Peat, Glynn Pegler and Nathan Dicks, headed up by Alex Mitchell, Co-Founder and Chairman of Young Brits. Starting today, we will participate in three days of panels and discussions about the positive impact entrepreneurship can have on an economy and how young people can be supported and encouraged in such a tough climate and when resources are limited.

I'm looking forward to learning more about the attitude to entrepreneurship in Greece and exploring any parallels to my experience of starting a business in the UK. It's an amazing experience to network internationally and I suspect the visiting entrepreneurs from around the world will be able to take a lot away from the event. Similarly it will be really interesting to see if, as young British business owners, we can share any of the lessons we have learned along the way with Greek delegates to give them the confidence to pursue entrepreneurship in tough economic times. Looking forward to being a part of it. 

Start It Up

At the end of 2011 I was trying to weigh up the pros and cons of accepting investment for my company, Little Riot. I didn't fully understand the ins and outs of such an undertaking, so my friend at Shell LiveWIRE, Paul Lancaster suggested I checked out Luke Johnson's book, Start It Up.

Like the keen bean that I am, I ordered it from Amazon. You can too, if you want, for only £8.60 of your hard earned cash. I know book reviews are generally something most people stopped writing after primary school (literature journalists excluded) so I'll try and keep this brief. In a sentence: if you're running a start up, or thinking about starting a company, read this book.

If you're still reading, I'll tell you a bit more. If you don't know who Luke Johnson is (I have to admit, I didn't either) I can't really sum his business achievements up in a paragraph, so all you probably need to know is that he took over Pizza Express and grew it from a collection of 12 restaurants, to 250. He's also a chairman of the RSA and the former chairman of Channel 4. And somehow, he has effortlessly channeled his many years of experience into one book.

The content is spot on. There's no messing around; the mix of guidance and practical advice is easily swallowed because it is peppered with real-life situations Johnson himself has navigated. His writing style is conversational, direct and down to earth. He doesn't throw around all those big words that strike fear into even the most budding of entrepreneurs.

I primarily read the book for for the financial advice, and it was a great place to start. There is a succinct but clear rundown of the common sources of finance available to most start-ups. At the time of reading, I felt the chapter was quite short, as realistically I was probably looking for a bit more detail... but then afterwards, I realised most of my confusion came from not really understanding what each of my options actually involved. So in hindsight, it was a great starting point - I found out what I needed to know and therefore which one I wished to research further (angel investment, if you're wondering).

My other favourite thing about the book is the way it addresses the "are entrepreneurs born or made?" debate; ie. can you teach someone to be entrepreneurial and business minded, or does it come naturally to a certain 'kind' of person. Johnson reckons the most important characteristic to have is the ability to make decisions, in a term he calls 'a bias for action'.

"They are not the same as other people. They have an ambition, a competitive urge and a lust to take risks that is way beyond the norm"

However, he then goes on to agree that nurture can too an entrepreneur make. He believes the key ingredients of a good businessman/woman emerge from a mixture of hard work, their upbringing and hands-on experience. Overall, he puts forward several compelling arguments for both sides of the endless debate, leaving the reader to ultimately make up their own mind.

Overall, the book was a good read and probably one of the better business books I have read. It was interesting, engaging and actually quite hard to put down. It serves its purpose as a motivating, all round  business book. If you take nothing else away from it (unlikely) - you will at least learn some interesting business facts. Did you know that KFC's "Colonel" Sanders' founded his chicken empire at 47, but it didn't take off until he was nearly bankrupt at the ripe old age of 66?

My 2011

I am aware that today, the 3rd of January, is decidedly past the date unto which 2011 year summaries are deemed acceptable. Fortunately, I don't mind being unacceptable, and I've had a pretty stellar year, so I've decided to blog about it anyway. Sorry :-)

January
- Saw in the New Year in Dundee with my best, Scottish, friends; Jen, Keiran, Carol and Paul
- Started developing Pillow Talk's first prototype after winning £25,000 at the end of 2010
- Was interviewed and accepted onto Cultural Enterprise Office's "Starter for 6" programme

February
- Went to Dublin! Few personal dramas.
- Secured £3k of funding to conduct an IP Audit on Pillow Talk
- Met Ben Folds in Glasgow

March
- This was a very stressful month, with subcontractors letting me down and lots of deadlines
- Finalist in Newcastle University's 'Enterprise Challenge'
- Did a pretty cool project with Newcastle Council looking at how to raise awareness of public art in the city

April
- Went to London to compete as a finalist in the "Disruptive Enterprise" category of NACUE's National Varsity Pitch Competition... and won! :)
- Won a scholarship to MEX Conference in London

May
- Pitched to an auditorium of people at the British Library as a finalist in the National Varsity Pitch Competition and won £10,000!

June
- Won a Shell LiveWIRE 'Grand Ideas' Award
- Got a pretty insane amount of press thanks to Shell LiveWIRE and Jonathan at Wave PR
- Found Meso, my amazing, amazing new product design company who have been a breath of fresh air in Pillow Talk's development process

July
- Reached the end of the six month 'Starter for 6' programme and pitched for funding
- 2 years with John. He was at sea, naturally.
- Went to T in the Park with Jen

August
- Went on holiday to Lanzarote
- Found out I'd secured £10,000 of funding after my pitch at the end of Starter for 6
- My car came back from a BMW service, started making a funny noise and they tried to get me to pay over £3,000 to fix it. Still haven't won that battle.

September
- Busy month!
- Won a Smarta 100 Award and hung out with Deborah Meaden at the awards ceremony in London
- Headed to Sheffield for MADE Festival
- Won 'The Pitch' competition at aforementioned festival
- Gave my first ever proper, teaching-y lecture at Dundee University

October
- I turned 24 and celebrated in Scotland with a nice meal with my closest friends
- Found out I was a finalist in the Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
- Worked with Snook on a project for people with Dementia

November
- Definitely the most exciting month of this year! Got so much press and publicity including three radio interviews.
- Travelled to London and spent an amazing few days being judged as a 'young entrepreneur' and experiencing Shell LiveWIRE LIVE!
- Also went to London to speak on a panel of young entrepreneurs during Global Entrepreneurship Week and met some pretty awesome contacts
- Pillow Talk was featured on CNN and my inbox reached a whole new level

December
- Pillow Talk properly entered its final phase of product design, the end is in sight!
- Inbox hit 20,000+ unread emails.
- Full page spread in the Daily Record
- One of my best friends, and the guy who introduced me to John, got married and I photographed his wedding.

2012 is going to be my year. Pillow Talk is going to launch and I'm going to go from running a small start-up to being in charge of a global, internationally-exporting company. This is the beginning of something incredible and I can't wait.

Shell LiveWIRE LIVE! 2011

(With YO! Sushi Founder Simon Woodroffe and Shell's John MacArthur)

Since starting Little Riot in September last year, one of the best business support organisations I have come across is Shell LiveWIRE. The longest-running enterprise support programme in the UK (30 years!), the organisation supports young people aged 16-30 who want to start, or have recently started, their own business. They are best known for their "Grand Ideas Awards", a monthly competition in which budding entrepreneurs can apply to be in with a chance of winning £1,000. If you make it through the first round of judging, you are then invited to submit a one minute elevator pitch video which is then subject to public vote via the Shell LiveWIRE website. They give away up to 5 awards of £1000 every month.

I won a Grand Ideas Award back in June and, at the time, had little idea of what was yet to come. In October I was honoured find out I'd made it into the "Hot 40" - a list of the top Grand Ideas winners from the past year. Never for a minute expecting anything further, I was amazed when I received a phonecall to say I was one of the 8 finalists in the running to become Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

(Article in the North East Journal, October 2011)

That day kick started an incredible few weeks for myself as a young businessperson and for Little Riot as a company. One of the greatest things about Shell LiveWIRE is the publicity they have the power to generate - I received a lot of press after winning my Grand Ideas Award and they certainly weren't holding back this time around either. As the only Scottish finalist, I was lucky enough to have Jonathan from Wave PR as my "right hand PR man" and he did an absolutely phenomenal job in generating a lot of buzz around both my company and myself as a finalist. If you you're based in Scotland, I genuinely couldn't recommend him enough - as well as being amazing at his job, he's also an incredibly nice person who is always at the other end of the phone whenever I need advice. I had a whirlwind time in the run up to my departure for London, squeezing in the submission of a business plan and other supporting documents to Shell LiveWIRE (for the judging process) around various radio interviews and photo shoots.

On November 7th, in quite a last minute aaah-what's-happening-to-me flap, I rolled into London, arriving the night before the judging day. I checked into The Bloomsbury Hotel - which I also highly recommend if you're looking for somewhere to stay in London - and the next day I headed off to the Shell Centre to meet the other 7 finalists. We had an intense day - we all had to deliver a 10 minute presentation to one panel of judges, and were interviewed for half an hour by another. With that all done and dusted, we were glad to spend the evening enjoying dinner and drinks with the Shell LiveWIRE team. With the decision made, we just had a nail-biting wait until the LIVE! event the following day.

(Will King from King of Shaves)

The day's activities, at the Southbank Centre, included talks from the likes of Will King (King of Shaves) and Brad Burton from 4Networking. As ever with Shell LiveWIRE, the content and speakers were spot on for the audience - relevant, interesting and highly motivating for the several hundred young entrepreneurs in attendance. The 8 finalists sat close to the front, torn between savouring the afternoon and wishing it away to get to the part we'd all been waiting for; the evening event and hence the announcement of Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

After Brad Burton wrapped up with his motivational "Get Off Your Arse" talk (also the title of his book!) everyone headed back over to the Shell Centre for the evening event. For the finalists, this was an amazing opportunity for us to network and make connections. Each of us had an exhibition table on which we could display our products or offer leaflets etc. I took the opportunity to showcase my Pillow Talk prototype - I do this at every opportunity I get, as it's really fascinating/inspiring to see people's reactions when they actually experience the product, rather than just read about it. Simon Woodroffe of YO! Sushi had lots of nice things to say about it!

After lots of pillows (but definitely not enough canapes or wine) we all took our seats and Oli Barrett took to the podium, cracking out several bad jokes over the course of the evening. Simon Woodroffe gave an absolutely hilarious talk - the man is wasted in sushi! Each of the 8 finalists then spoke to the audience for 60 seconds about their idea (Oli Barrett: "Joanna, when you ask for investment do people say "let me sleep on it?"")... and then came the moment we'd all been waiting for; the final announcement.

Michael Korn of Kwickscreen was announced as Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year - so well done to him! Definitely well deserved; he has organically grown his company from an idea to where it is now and is entirely self-funded. For the "unlucky" other finalists - well, what can I say? I don't really feel like I lost! I still came away from the whole experience feeling like a winner. I had an absolutely incredible time, met some amazing people, made some valuable connections - and I got a bottle of champagne for being a finalists! No one's a loser when there's champagne involved.

The other finalists - and now my friends - were Rosemary Francis (Ellexus), Isabel Lizardi (Bare Conductive), David Grimes (myParcelDelivery.com), Lawrence Kemball-Cook (Pavegen), Chris Dodson (Concept Cupboard) and Christopher Yeomans (Estriatus Energy). Stiff competition, and a bunch of people I'm happy to be placed amongst.

All in all, Shell LiveWIRE LIVE! was an incredible experience and I'll definitely be heading back next year to see what 2012 has to offer. Thank you to the Shell LiveWIRE team for treating us so well and making the whole thing so amazing - hats off to Stu, Anna, Erin, Mark, Paul and also John and Wendy. I'm honoured to have been a part of it all and I'm sure I'll be reaping the benefits of the event for many months to come.