“I am hardly proven as a venture capitalist as I have never funded a Google, a Cisco or an Apple. The more I am involved in venture capital, the more I am convinced that apart from the Kleiner Perkin’s and Sequoia’s of this world the single biggest factor I can see for success in venture capital is luck. Luck, luck, and more luck- trust me when I say I would much rather be lucky than smart in this business.”
But Guy concedes there is an element of creating your own luck in business, “if luck is the most important factor in making it then the willingness to grind it out is second. It seems to me that the people who get lucky grind it out and the people who grind it out get lucky.”
One of critical questions facing the technology sector both here in the UK and globally is the debate surrounding the emergence of a new dotcom bubble to rival that of 2001. Guy’s answer is surprisingly pessimistic, “the nature of business is that it is cyclical- it’s a booming time in the US for tech, just look at the latest strings of IPO’s and when you see a company get $40m to do a mobile phone app I would say things are getting a little frothy. What typically follows the froth is the bust. I hope its not as insane as the last time and I know a lot of people hope there’s one more bubble and that this time we’ll get out at the right time.”
One of the most notable developments of the post dotcom era is the emergence of social media as a mainstream platform for doing business, a tool which Guy has been quick to master. “Social media has further flattened the world. The A-listers, oracles, and power brokers have largely lost control of marketing. Random
people on Twitter and Facebook, together, wield more power than the ‘somebodies.’ What I’m saying is that social media means that nobodies are the new somebodies.”
“Social media has the power to persuade or enchant but there is a skill in it. Amateurs make the mistake of using social media simply for persuasion–often one- time transactions- ‘to make a buck’. Professionals on the other hand use social media to create enchanted relationships–a good example of this is how Starbucks uses Facebook to engage with their audience, today they have something like 23m ‘likes’.
These relationships are deeper, stronger, and more powerful.”
For a man who has spent most of his life evangelising and communicating, I was surprised when Guy told me that despite being a prolific author, with 10 books behind him and serial blogger, he hardly ever reads business books or blogs. “It takes every ounce of energy that I have to create the content I do, so I have very little time or energy left to consume content.”
Few things encapsulate the energy that Guy puts into his work than the launch of his new book, Enchantment. “The proper launch of this book is an all-encompassing effort. Gone are the days when you would do a two- week book tour, get on a few TV shows, and cross your fingers. This is hand-to-hand combat where every email, tweet, like, share, and update adds up.”
For Guy there is no sitting back, he’s a serial entrepreneur and investor who knows no different. He admits that now in his fifties, he does enjoy the simpler things in life like hockey and spending time with his family. It’s little wander then that when I ask who really ‘enchants’ him he fires off the Richard Branson’s of the world but pauses and with his legendary smile, beams with pride and explains that the person who influences, persuades, and enchants him the most is his daughter.
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