First Footing In The North East

The momentum behind the Connect network was given a lift in the North East with an inaugural Investment Conference held in Newcastle. Glenn Collinson, a co-founder of Cambridge Silicon Radio gave a keynote speech. CSR was a spin out from Cambridge Consultants in 1998 and was lucky to raise their seed funding before the technology bubble burst.

He emphasised that they started out with global ambitions and always believed as a team they could win against the likes of Intel by being more fleet of foot and innovative. They benefitted from Bluetooth being a royalty-free open standard and, as such, a great market to go for (and never having less than $30M in the bank having raised a total of $85M in VC funding!).

Glenn commented that being first is not necessarily good. Those that follow learn from your mistakes and the education/development of the market. Market pioneers take most of the arrows!

Creative Finance & Risk

The Creative Industries sector lies at the intersection between business, the arts, and technology. The innovative marriage of technological advances and intellectual capital provides the main source of sustainable wealth creation in this sector. Learning from experimentation and failure are key to achieving success and sustained growth. Many Creative Industries participants are subject to shifting fashion and new technologies pose a constant threat to existing activities introducing a high degree of business uncertainty. At the same time, this inherent dynamism and change is constantly opening new opportunities and threats. As a result, the Creative Industries tend to be viewed by investors as inherently high-risk while potentially offering high rewards.

We are currently undertaking a project to identify the specific risks relating to investing in the Creative Industries and how they can be mitigated. If any creative types (either brave investors or bright entrepreneurs) out there might be interested in participating in this research, please get in touch...