At this year’s MIPIM, BE News editor-in-chief Liz Hamson pitted ‘original’ built environment entrepreneurs against the new wave’ to find out how different their approaches to business are. We also asked them to reveal the defining entrepreneurial moments in their career and to give their advice to would-be entrepreneurs. To read the full report on the event, sponsored by Swish Fibre and Freeths, click here.
Michael Squire, senior partner, Squire & Partners
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
I don’t regard architects as necessarily entrepreneurial, but we have a little business called Urban Golf. If anybody really loves golf, go to Smithfield and go down into the basement where you can play any course you like in the world. It’s brilliant and enormously accurate. We’ve had this business for 10 years and I don’t I don’t think we’ve ever significantly lost money, but nor have we ever significantly made money. That’s fine with me.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
I think I always paid a little bit more for anything I wanted to buy than anybody told me it was worth. And I sold everything I wanted to sell for a little bit less than anybody said I could get for it. The point is if you’ve decided it’s what you’re going to, do it.
Mark Dixon, founder and CEO, IWG
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
I’ve done so many businesses. If you’re creative, you have entrepreneurial moments all the time. It’s not something that happens from time to time – it’s habitual. You’re either one of those people that can see what’s not there or you see what’s there. I see what’s not there and I want to try and fill the gap. Building businesses is my passion: building them up, selling them and doing something else.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
Just do it. People spend too much time thinking about things. Just have a go and do it.
Michael Dean, director and co-founder, Avamore Capital
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
The defining moments were probably when I bought a fire-damaged building in Southend on Sea and I had to take a bag of £50 notes in a plastic bag and give it to the guy who was illegally trading caravans on the site after we bought it. The site was was completely unmanageable and part of it was uninsurable because of the fire damage, and all the rest of it. And yet, months later, we we got a lease from the local YMCA, which wanted to put a free school on it. They bought the site from us three months later. That gave me the impetus to go on and do a number of other developments of that nature.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
Focus on the product and client outcomes, not on making money. The money will look after itself.
Sanmi Adegoke, CEO, Rehoboth Property International
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
We started out as a consultancy serving the massive need in the faith community. In the UK, there’s a massive gap in terms of churches looking for buildings. Churches struggled to find places of worship and what I was able to do was to start finding industrial buildings that we could turn into a place of worship. Then we started finding bingo halls and cinemas. We now have about 5,000 churches in our database actively looking for buildings. It’s a massive niche market. Not a lot of developers understand our market.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
Never give up.
Richard Jackson, founder and CEO of From Now On, MRICS
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
I remember somebody telling us that when they set up their business it took three three years to do their first deal. We walked out of the meeting and we said ‘it’s never going to take three years’. It actually took us nearly four. There had to be persistence and belief.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
I look at some of the lessons I’m trying to teach our kids and I want them to have confidence and belief in themselves. I want them to find something that they’re passionate about because the more passionate you are, the better chance you have of being a success.
Paul Singh, CFO, EEDN
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
We started the business in January 2020, which was not perfect timing. But we hit our targets in the first year and we hit our targets in the second year. And we’re on our third year now and I think we’re about 60% into our target, which is really great. That wasn’t easy. We niched into the life sciences area when we could have made loads more money doing normal residential and commercial, but we stuck to our guns and I’m very proud of that.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
Don’t listen to advice from people you don’t want to end up being like.
Tom Bloxham MBE, chairman, Urban Splash
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
The first building I did was an old chemical factory and nobody wanted it. I bought it very, very cheaply, so [I paid] about £200,000 for 400,000 sq ft. I spent a couple of million quid to do it up and sold the first apartments in Liverpool city centre. I made under £0.5m. Another guy bought the building next door for £10,000 10 years before and sold it for £2m a couple of years after I sold mine after doing nothing.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
Work out what your destination is, and what it is you want to do. And then just do it. Start somewhere.
Nadia Goshmir, co-founder and chief technology officer, PropTech.AI
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
One day, you get up and you have a technical breakthrough or you land a customer and it’s all about success and you’re on a high. And the next day it’s completely down; it’s all failures and nothing is working. So, every day you have to keep pushing and you keep going. There is no defining moment.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
Don’t be too in love with your idea. Also, always remember why you started, because otherwise you get lost. So always be focused.
Samantha Kempe, co-founder and chief investment officer, IMMO
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
It’s shameful that our housing stock in the UK is so poor and we’re very focused on bringing institutional capital to raise those living standards. As a business, we’ve been going for about five and a half years now and we’ve raised in total about $90m for the business and have about 200 people across Germany, Spain and the UK.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
Do it for the right reasons. And also, ignore the haters.
Conor Nolan, co-founder, Swish Fibre
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
I was in my mate’s flat in Milan at the age of 23 and I saw 3,000 Celtic fans trying to get into a bar. The barman said ‘you’re not coming in’. So, I set up events all over the place for Champions League final matches, putting on big screens, charging £20 for entry and putting on food and beer.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
Believe in what you’re doing and be flexible in your strategy.
Ami Kotecha, co-founder and group president, Amro Partners
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
We started off in PBSA [purpose built student accommodation] just after the financial crisis. It was a big pivotal moment for us as entrepreneurs because we were buying when everybody was selling as it was a distressed time. With entrepreneurial junctures, timing is everything. Being contrarian is a big part of being an entrepreneur. We know how to take risk and measure the risk for the long game.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
There’s a very fine margin between success and failure.
Liz Banks, Partner, Freeths
What’s been your defining entrepreneurial moment to date?
I think lawyers often seem to be almost about deal prevention. We try very hard to be lawyers that pick up the phone and speak to the other side and don’t rely on emails. We’re not keyboard warriors. One of my massive bugbears is basically lawyers who you ring and they don’t ring you back. Let’s just get this deal done.
What’s your advice to would-be entrepreneurs?
It’s not a sacrifice if you love what you’re doing.
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