Читать книгу Wake Up and Sell the Coffee! - Martyn Dawes - Страница 35

Things were now moving fast and there was a terrific momentum building. Derek thought it would be a good idea to hold an annual AGM with our business angel shareholders. We arranged for one of our new machines to be powered up in our lawyer’s offices so everyone could try the coffee and see the progress we were making. The night was a great success. I did a presentation, Derek fielded questions about future fundraising and there was some food and wine laid on. Martin – my first angel investor – was there too.

Two recollections stand out from the evening: being so nervous just before my presentation I had to run to the loo to throw up – funny how now I actually had the investment I got nervous – and Derek asking Martin if he thought I could make it as a CEO. I didn’t like the question but I knew it wasn’t personal. I had convinced people to back me with my business but there ultimately comes a time when the start-up entrepreneur has to grow into the role of CEO. I needn’t have worried; I was to lead the company for the next eight years.

By now we had set up proper monthly board meetings at Baker Tilly’s offices. The board comprised Derek (chairman), myself (founder/CEO) and Martin (non-executive director), with Christine from Baker Tilly in attendance. Right from this early stage I was exposed to good management disciplines which were to prove invaluable.

I wanted to test out the new concession design and espresso machine on the public before installing it on a customer’s site. We couldn’t build one – as a one off it would cost too much – so instead we had a full-size mock up created out of foamex and installed it for a day in a busy shopping centre in Leicester. We used a professional retail consultancy to ask passers by what they thought it was. Most people understood that it was a self-serve coffee machine. They said they thought the design looked high-quality and virtually everyone said they would be prepared to pay more than £1 for a coffee from such a machine.