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Sessions

Sessions are designed to be intereactive and we encourage your active participation!

We encourage you to submit questions and ideas for speakers before the event. While each speaker will spend some time describing their own experiences, we want to be able to harness the collective expertise in the room – from both speakers and participants – to help solve your problems. Over half the time in each session will be dedicated to answering your questions and solving your problems, so come prepared.

Alongside group sessions considering core themes, we are running some small, private, workshops for a maximum of 20 participants. These will explore key issues with expert facilitation under the Chatham House Rule. Participants will include experts in the field and a few select people that have had the experience before and bear the scars on their backs to prove it.

All delegates can apply to attend workshops and are asked to give their preference and a key question they would like to raise and discuss in the session, on registration. Workshop sessions will be allocated based on information received. No delegate can attend more than one workshop and not all delegates are guaranteed a workshop place, so it pays to provide great questions and background context to be involved.

The principle Session themes are outlined below but we would like to challenge you to share your thoughts and challenges with us. We would like to connect you to individuals that may be able to discuss your issues with you. You are never alone!

  • Keynote Remarks

    The BLN Growth Forum 2010 keynote remarks will be offered by Hermann Hauser – Founder, Amadeus Capital Partners.

    ‘Harvesting Hindsight – Hermann Hauser’s advice today for Hermann Hauser in 1978′.

    When
    09:10 – 09:35

  • Identifying & Targeting Big Markets

    Building strong, scalable businesses that dominate global markets from zero is a fundamental ingredient in the long term economic success of our economy.

    The first step is identifying the market you want to target and your entry strategy. The lessons learned from this process are often only clear in retrospect.

    They are as relevant to the owner manager who wants to move their business to another level as they are to the most ambitious venture and private equity backed CEO.

    Session Speakers
    Tudor Brown – President, ARM Holdings
    Al Gosling – CEO, The Extreme Sports Company
    Sherry Coutu – Angel Investor (session chair)
    Richard Longdon – Group Chief Executive, Aveva Group plc
    Henri Winand – CEO, Intelligent Energy

    When
    09:35 – 10:50

  • Building Great Teams

    Great companies are always built by great teams working together in highly productive and entrepreneurial environments.

    Building, developing and evolving your team as companies experience rapid-growth is a fundamental challenge to scaling effectively.

    We explore the pitfalls & best practice that have succeeded in developing some of Europe’s most admired organisations.

    How are successful partnerships between Senior Executives and employees formed? What are the key challenges that emerge as businesses scale?

    Session Speakers
    Mark Sebba – CEO, Net-a-Porter
    Jana Eggers – CEO, Spreadshirt
    David Soskin – Chairman of MySupermarket.co.uk and Swapit.co.uk; ex-CEO, Cheapflights Media (session chair)
    Mark Zaleski – Chairman, DVDPost

    When
    11:30 – 12:45

  • Workshop 1 – Scale

    Avoiding growing pains as you go global
    How do you assess the risks in markets you don’t know? How do you decide where to establish your beachheads? HQ – to move or not to move? What are the most common fatal mistakes made in expanding? How can you keep your senior team in synch? How can you keep your corporate culture as you grow? What makes a company scale brilliantly? What makes it fail spectacularly?

    When
    11:30 – 12:45

  • The Money Slot

    The rules of funding growth have been turned on their head in the past two years.

    We explore some of the alternative approaches to financing growth and the right time to think about exits. From organic growth, customer financing, to buy and build, selling equity to taking on debt, there are many ways of funding growth.

    We will explore some of the options available and consider their relative merits. We will also consider some of the critical issues that should be considered when planning for an exit, whether by IPO or trade sale.

    Session Speakers
     Terry Burt – CEO, 2e2
    Oscar Jazdowski – Senior Relationship Manager, SVB Financial Group UK (session chair)
    Ashish Patel – Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, AVG Technologies
    Stuart Paver – MD, Pavers
    Mary Turner – CEO, AlertMe

    When
    14:00 – 15:15

  • Workshop 2 – The Data Behind Social and How Your Marketing and Sales will Change

    Better data = better decisions, both for your customers and for your company.

    No two companies are alike – and their social media strategy shouldn’t be either. How do company values, key customers, and business goals transfer into implementation and success? How do you test, evaluate, and decide which programmes should continue and which should not?

    This workshop will explore a set of data driven methodologies that use data already available in an organisation, and online, and how to apply metrics and experimentation to drive successful social media strategy.

    The more you know about your own data, the more likely you are to develop programmes that your customers and employees will actually use.

    When
    14:00 – 15:15

  • Getting & Keeping Customers

    Attracting attention & creating ‘buzz’ is one thing. Converting noise into revenue, acquiring & retaining customers, & developing revenue-generating customer evangelists, quite another.

    Our experts explore, using their often painful & costly experiences, the good, the bad & the ugly marketing strategies that build B2B & B2C brands; & capture significant market share.

    They explore how to know if customers love your product or service, by encouraging feedback & referrals & by understanding which metrics to track, measure and value.

    Session Speakers
    Russell Buckley – Vice President, Global Alliances, AdMob Inc.
    Martin Leuw – CEO, IRIS Software
    Michael Ross – CEO, eCommera
    Ted Shelton – Founder, The Conversation Group (session chair)

    When
    16:00 – 17:15

  • Workshop 3 – Funding

    Creating deal tension in the fund raising process & thinking about exit
    How do you excite investors? How do you manage your time so you can keep running your business? What questions should you be asking to know if an investor is serious? What control do you have over investor syndicates? When to look at foreign investment? When does your growth strategy become your exit strategy? How can you attract the attention of, and engage with, potential partners and acquirers? When is the right time to talk about exits? What changes should you make to your board, your team?

    When
    16:00 – 17:15