Interview with serial entrepreneur Mike Harris

by James Agate

Mike Harris is a serial entrepreneur who founded First Direct, Egg and has successfully grown a number of large businesses. He currently runs Garlik, a semantic web company and has recently written a book – ‘Find Your Lightbulb‘. Buy it here >> Find Your Lightbulb: How to Make Millions from Apparently Impossible Ideas

Mike Harris has written for WeLoveBusiness.co.uk in the past and now we get a chance to dig a little deeper…

What age did you start your first business?

I was 39 when I began work on Firstdirect

Did you go to university? If so, what course did you take?

Yes , Chemistry at UCL

Do you think education or experience is more important in the world of business?
Experience beats education easily (Branson, Sugar, Jobs, Gates – not a degree let alone an MBA amongst them , need one say more)

You are a serial entrepreneur, some people only have one great idea that makes money in their entire life so how do you come up with your business ideas?

I listen in almost every conversation I have for somebody expressing an unmet need ie something they or someone they know is trying to get done either at home or at work and which isn’t working or is really hard or to which there doesn’t seem a solution at all.

If you were to share one bit of advice on growing a business rapidly, what would that be?
Get clear on your mission or brand promise – ie this is what you want to be known for and how you want to leave people who interact with you. Line everything up in the design of the business so this mission is fulfilled

I read on your blog post on the 17th February about FirstDirect and how the principle of excellent customer service which you established when you created the business had survived for over 20 years, do you think customer service is important in business and why?

In most businesses these days it is the only real differentiator and if a business is not set up to serve its customers what use is it (it needs to make money of course , otherwise however a good job it does for customers it is not sustainable)

How do you feel the internet has changed customer service? (is it for the better?)
Lots of pluses and minuses. In a nutshell the more confident and self directed a customer is the more likely it is that the internet has increased their perception of customer service. The reverse is also true.

Your book “Find your lightbulb” is a step-by-step guide to building billion dollar businesses from nothing more than a simple idea. Do you believe the simple ideas to be the best? Or is there some merit in an idea that no other competitior has the tech or expert know-how to do?

Both work. My point was that the idea doesn’t have to be complicated to win big

Furthermore, do you believe that everybody has it in them to build a billion dollar business? Or just some people?

Not everyone no, but many more people are capable of it than is generally thought. If you have  a decent  level of intelligence and motivation, a willingness to listen to others and to learn and most of all a resilience under pressure and adverse circumstances then you are in good shape . You have to be prepared to think big and not be frightened about the prospect of taking that on.

I see from the workshops you run that you try to change the way people look at things, do you believe you can nurture an entrepreneur or is is something that is innate?

Given the basic characteristics I have listed in the previous answer then you can definitely nurture an entrepreneur.

If you had to make a list of 5 things which every entrepreneur most be what would that list include? (e.g. determination, ideas etc)

Enthusiastic, resilient, somewhat belligerent (when necessary) , open to new ideas, creative under pressure

Which of your current projects dominates your time?
Garlik right now but that will change over the next 2/3 years and the Difference Engine will dominate

Do you have any other projects in the pipeline or secret projects on the horizon?
Not as such, although I see lots of exciting ideas for new businesses – some of which I introduce to people who can give them more time , some of which come under the Difference Engine wing.

There are some pretty big names (including yourself) who sit on the Garlik board, how did you get these people on board? Do you think that’s a key skill of an entrepreneur (the ability to persuade others of your vision) ?

Yes – getting other people as enthusiastic as you are (sometimes even more enthusiastic) about what you are up to makes an enormous difference

How did the Garlik project come about? And what is it you are aiming to acheive with the business (both personally and in terms of an impact on society) ?

Tom Ilube, who had been CIO at Egg came to me with the thought that the digital world was creating numerous new threats to individuals and their families due to the sheer volume of information about them available on the internet (partly due to the growth of social networking and blogging). This was going to be exacerbated by the fact much of the information was being published in machine readable form (the so called semantic web) and thus easier to find. We put our heads together with semantic web and security experts and came up with an idea of a service to give people more control over all the stuff out there about them. Hence our flagship product datapatrol which protects people against criminals using digital  information about them to commit financial fraud or identity theft. Before I’m done with it I’d like Garlik to make further progress on giving people more control in areas like reputation management and social empowerment (ie how can individuals use their digital presence to their advantage) . Oh and making a spectacular return for investors (including me) as well of course!

What’s it like working with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the internet?
He’s full of ideas and insight and very challenging .

What do you like most about running a business?
Doing every day what I enjoy.

Which stage of business do you most enjoy (startup, small growth business, large maturing business etc)?
I like the growth stage .

What do you love about the British business system and why? And what would you change if you were in control? and why?
Well it is reasonably entrepreneur friendly compared to  some countries , although the credit crunch has worsened that significantly. The government’s efforts to support early stage venture capital (which has been decimated by the credit crunch) are too diffuse and difficult to access. That wouldn’t take much sorting out but you would have to cut through some horrendous bureaucracy. An agenda for a fresh and energetic new administration maybe?

Thank you for your time Mike.