Page 10 - James Caan - The Real Deal

The Real Deal

A few months after I first appeared on Dragons’ Den, I went to
give a talk on entrepreneurship at a conference. I nipped to the
bathroom before I went on stage and this guy recognised me.
‘Hi. James, isn’t it? I’ve got this great idea for a business.
Perhaps you could give me some advice? How do I make sure it
succeeds?’
I was tempted to tell him it was all about timing but I didn’t
think he’d get the joke. The truth is there’s no quick answer:
success takes time, but there are techniques I’ve developed that
limit my chances of failure and vastly increase my chances of
success, so I started to think that writing a book would be the best
way to tell people about my career.
I’m surprised – shocked, even – how often fans of Dragons’ Den
come up to me and say that it must have been easy for me. It seems
that if you’re successful people assume you’ve always been
successful, and when I tell them I started my first business with no
money and no support in a broom cupboard with only the Yellow
Pages for company they are genuinely surprised. Anyone can start
a business the way I did. All it takes is a good idea and the
determination to tell people about it. It just requires you to be
willing to start out on a journey even though you don’t know the
destination.
Since my days in the broom cupboard, I have started more than
fifteen companies and invested in as many again, in industries as
diverse as recruitment, financial services, property and publishing.
I have started companies with small amounts of capital that have
gone on to deliver £100 million turnovers and then sold them for
substantial sums. Did I sit there in my broom cupboard and know
how it would turn out? Of course not. I just wanted to see what
would happen if I set out on a journey. Let me tell you, it’s been
quite a ride.
James Caan
London, June 2008