live every last minute

Have you ever been stuck in the office on a weekend and think to yourself, next weekend will be different.

Last night at the business school, we were treated to a talk from a man who is probably one of Britain's most successful modern entrepreneurs. Breat Hoberman, who co-founded the travel and retail website lastminute.com spoke briefly on the journey of the company from it's inception to where it is today.

As an entrepreneur, he spoke of the need to have "smart luck", "good timing" and a focus on "consumer need" in order to make a success in todays environment. "Investors are like sheep" he says as he recounts his discussions with VC's at the early stage of the life of the company.

Today he is still the CEO of his baby, and excited about the future of his company.
* he has even made it to Wikipedia
* he has done very well for himself through selling the company to Sabre Holdings

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the dinner afterwards which was hosted by the beautiful Exeter college. There I had the pleasure of speaking with Ian McCaig who is a lovely Scottish man and Managing Director of the lastminute.com group. He told me the other side of the tale of working with an entrepreneur, the thrills of being surrounded by innovation, the challenges of integrating so many acquired companies in such a short time and the fun of working for such a dynamic company.

The overall sentiment from this presentation is the same message that I've been hearing time and time again. It's know your customer, make an effort to understand your customers needs, then go meet them.