Off Balance #49

👋🏾 Hi friends!

As summer comes to a close, I’ve been battling the heat in Italy and, dare I say it, am now looking forward to getting a bit of cool weather back in London 😅

In the final episode of Nothing Ventured for the season, I had the incredible pleasure to interview Piers Linney - ex Dragon from the BBC’s show, Dragons’ Den. All I can say is that it was an absolute pleasure getting the chance to explore how Piers got to where he has gotten to and his thoughts on everything from exiting his first business (a newspaper round!), to appearing on the Den and his thoughts on AI and why we need to do more than pay lip service to DEI - you don’t want to miss out on this episode 💪🏾

I’m going to be taking a break for a couple of weeks so this is the last you’re going to hear from me for the rest of the month, hope you have an incredible end to the summer and I’ll catch you on the other side!

Ciao for now 😃 

I’m well underway writing about all the things I’ve learned from the last couple of decades as founder, CFO and CEO, so sign up for early access to Off Balance - The Book and feel free to share with anyone else you think might enjoy it 😄.

Now let’s get down to business…

In this weeks Off Balance:

🎙️ Ex Dragons Den Dragon Piers Linney on Nothing Ventured 🤯
📈 How to move from growth at all costs to the new holy grail of Efficient Growth

𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗗𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀... 🐉

As this season of Nothing Ventured wraps, I couldn't be more excited to introduce our final guest for Season 5, someone that really needs no introduction at all...

I spoke to Piers Linney, best known as an investor on the BBC show The Dragons’ Den in which budding entrepreneurs get three minutes to pitch their business ideas to five investors, he has also featured on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire.

But beyond the media, Piers has had 25 years across a variety of sectors, be it law, entrepreneurship, Venture Capital, investment banking, innovation or technology.

He has been a NED at the British Business Bank and is currently Adviser to Sky on their Diversity Advisory Council, Chair of Atherton Bikes whose bikes took both first and second place in the 2023 World Championships and is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Implement AI.

My top takeaways from this wide ranging conversation:

1️⃣ 𝗔𝗺𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗱: Piers talked about the importance of recognising that ambition knows no boundaries. Regardless of background or circumstances, ambition is a universal trait that can drive success in entrepreneurship and beyond.

2️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗠𝗘𝘀: Piers delves into the significance of integrating AI into small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). He emphasizes the need for businesses to adapt and embrace AI technology to enhance productivity and efficiency in the evolving digital landscape.

3️⃣ 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗜: Piers discusses the concept of augmenting human capabilities with AI technology. By leveraging AI agents for repetitive and mundane tasks, businesses can empower their workforce to focus on more meaningful and strategic work, ultimately driving innovation and growth.

We also talked about:

🗞️Exiting his first business - a paper round!
🧮 How there weren’t many business role models in the Lancashire mill town he grew up in, so he was told to be an accountant.
🔮 From hustling businesses, delivering newspapers, going into law then banking and into tech.
💃🏽 Why DEI is about both about being asked to the party but more importantly invited to dance.
📊 How ambition is evenly distributed.
🤑 How he got a 45x exit from on his Dragon portfolio.
🌎 How and why nation states are obsessed with AI and why we should be too.
⚖️ Equality of access to opportunity.

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Now let’s get into it.