Ajaz Ahmed - creator of Freeserve

Phil Fraser speaks to Ajaz Ahmed who built Freeserve, a company that went from a 'eureka moment' to a multi-billion pound valuation in just three years. Ajaz tells us how he did it and the key ingredient that powered its amazing success. He also tells us how you can get amazing FREE marketing advice from supermarkets, why Simon Cowell is the best business advisor

and the secret trick to an effective business card.

INTRODUCING AJAZ AHMED

Ajaz is a well-known Business Advisor, Non-Executive, Chairman, and Business Speaker who has worked with companies of all sizes, including a couple of listed companies.

He will always be best known as the founder of Freeserve, the UK's first Billion-Pound internet company. Freeserve was launched in 1998, floated on the stock exchange with a market cap of £1.5bn, entered the FTSE 100, and then sold to France Telecom three years later for £1.65bn in 2001. As you can imagine, I left after the sale.

You can read the fantastic Freeserve story "Make Money by Giving it Away" on his website - sosavvy.co.uk

He now helps companies by challenging the rules to get results. If your company wants to improve and grow, please contact him for a chat.

He also gives talks to industry and academic audiences. His talk is called "Cut the Cr*p" because he got fed up listening to gurus talking about Cr*p.

He has been in the 'Yorkshire Business Power 100', and the Queen awarded him a British Empire Medal 'BEM' in her 2017 Birthday Honours List.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

[00:00:30] – the Eureka moment that launched Freeserve

[00:07:30] – the difference between an entrepreneur and a business person

[00:11:10] – the launch of Freeserve

[00:16:20] – the importance of acquiring customers for free

[00:18:17] – the floatation of Freeserve

[00:25:00] – the huge change - walled gardens and browsers

[00:31:00] – the key lessons business owners need to learn and understand

[00:36:30] – what should start ups be doing to court Angel Investors and ugly baby syndrome

[00:41:00] – losing money on failed investments and lessons learnt

KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS

* Apple stores have the highest sales per square foot compared to any other retail store

* Do the obvious before it becomes obvious or you will be too late

* Go to a supermarket and not buy anything. Look at how they market their products.

* There is no magic formula for business success

* Cut the Crap – keep your Powerpoint slides to a minimum

* If your business card is portrait they are more likely to turn it over

BEST MOMENTS

“Most people have a Eureka moment, and then don’t do anything about it”

“When Freeserve became the largest ISP in the UK we only had three staff”

“If you build it, they will come… no they won’t”

“Most of the companies that are looking for investment are pretty crap”

VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU

Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com

Website: http://www.sosavvy.co.uk/

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/ajaza

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ajaz_ahmed

Shout out tags: https://www.quba.co.uk/

Take a look at https://philfraser.co.uk/business-idea/

Want to watch instead of listen? Subscribe to our You Tube channel - https://youtube.com/@LeedsBusinessPodcast.

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