CHAMBER FEATURE: STEVE GARNETT
Dr Steve’s top tips on the menu at breakfast event
In an event co-presented by Devon and Plymouth Chamber and the Millfields Trust in late September,
dot.com multi- millionaire Dr Steve Garnett gave a fascinating insight into his tips for creating business success – and enjoying the journey.
Given that Steve Garnett sold his software business shares in Fairsail 18 months ago to Sage for a reported £100m, his philanthropic approach to sharing his outstanding success and experience with other businesses and his agreeing to visit Devon was a real coup for the Millfields Trust. Speaking to a breakfast audience of 70 people at the
Millfield Trust’s Genesis Building in Plymouth, Steve explained how from humble beginnings he developed a passion for developing businesses and their staff by putting solutions for customers at the heart of his work. He described his journey as being from ‘the top of Everton Valley to the top of Silicon Valley’. Steve engaged the captive audience with his ongoing success stories and words of wisdom: “If you surround yourself with great people, if you are in the right place at the right time, then you can achieve almost anything. I put my extraordinary success down to luck, and to being in the right place at the right time.” The audience were left feeling inspired and motivated
after his fascinating insight into his successful journey. Feedback was positive, with comments from guests such as ‘I’ll be reflecting on your talk all day’ and ‘Best event the Trust has organised.’ Born in Liverpool, Steve lost his father the age of eight and his mum, who cleaned the local school,
brought him and his sisters up single-handed. After passing the 11 plus, one of his teacher’s noticed he had an aptitude for maths and encouraged Steve to such an extent that he eventually studied for a PHD in Theorectical Physics at Manchester University. A job writing computer programmes led to a 12-year
career with Oracle, the second biggest software computer after Microsoft, followed by a stint at Siebel Systems, before joining
Salesforce.com – where the company grew from 100 employees to 25,000. While at Salesforce, Steve got to know the founder
of Fairsail which was developing a human capital management system utilising software built in the cloud and he decided to invest in his business – eventually leading to the sale to Sage. Today, Steve is an angel investor, helping software
businesses to fulfil their potential. During the breakfast event at the Millfields Trust, he outlined his top ten tips for businesses and lessons learnt to an audience which hung on his every word. After the speaking event, Steve went on to spend the
rest of the day seeing and advising individual business owners based at the Millfields Trust business premises, which houses 130 businesses.
Visit:
www.millfieldstrust.co.uk
L-R: Deputy Chamber CEO, Lesley Shorrocks, Steve Garnet, CEO Of The Millfieds Trust, Roger Pipe 26 Chamber Profile November/December 2018
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