The Future Focus Event 2009 Blog

Richard Farleigh – what do we know of him? Well we might have seen him on Dragons Den UK and perhaps have enjoyed how he has made decisions on who he invested in such as Reggae Reggae sauce by Levi Roots.

He started the day with sharing his story; he had us hooked. Growing up in an underpriviledged family of 11 children with a background that was troublesome, when he was just 11 years old the family were split apart.

While he did not cover the real impact that had on him I am sure that it informed him and must have made him resilient.

Richard shared his journey in entrepreneurship and what particularly struck me were his comments about the fact that “management is more important than the product”.

Some of his companies have failed spectacularly, but when they have succeeded he comments that he had not always known that they were “winners” he was backing, but when he took his eye off the ball in terms of managing the business they did suffer.

But if you are looking to Richard Farleigh to be an angel investor, he is rarely convinced with web businesses as “most don’t know how to market”. One company who changed his opinion though and  was a worthwhile investment was Net A Porter in which he invested £10,000 and before the recession was said to be worth %500 million.

And a final word from Richard: “analysing and copying the success of other people can be a waste of time – just trying to model Richard Branson will not ensure your success. You also need to look at those companies that failed and learn from them”.

Author: Krishna De speaks, writes and consults on brand engagement and communications to build your visibility, reputation and profits through traditional and social media;  follow her on Twitter @krishnade.