BBC News interview
Duffy appears on BBC News to talk about Entrepreneurial Spark.
We de-risk startups. We have three Hatcheries in Scotland, and we are about to open ten with NatWest and KPMG in the UK. We bring them into a space. There’s no cost for the space, so the entrepreneur keeps all that equity. We look at the mindsets and behaviours. We look at how they build teams. Their emotional intelligence and leadership. And through that 18-month program we make them investable, and it doesn’t cost them a thing…[We don’t provide funding] They have to have [their own] money to get started. But every entrepreneur thinks they need money, but what they actually need is customers, and a better validated idea.
One Is The Loneliest Number
Duffy appears on BBC2’s The Entrepreneurs, a two-part show that follows him and some of the Entrepreneurial Spark companies.
We are creating a new culture. A new way of doing things. Nowhere in Britain is giving entrepreneurs an opportunity like they are in Glasgow and Ayrshire right now. It’s disruptive. It’s creative. It’s all-consuming just now. Ideas are easy. People say entrepreneurs have got ideas, they take risks and they lose money. But the real entrepreneurs go for an idea and they bang it through right to the end. What I’m getting out of it is between age of 45 and 48, if I don’t drop dead of a massive heart attack, is a Wow Experience, what a journey.
Edinburgh Hatchery Launch video
Duffy reports for ESpark TV on the launch of the Edinburgh hatchery.
We have Sir Tom Hunter, Willie Haughey and Ann Gloag OBE, so a great cast.
Chief Executive Optimist video
Duffy introduces Entrepreneurial Spark.
We want to develop entrepreneurial mindsets and behaviours. The vision between Entrepreneurial Spark is a brand new group of people in Scotland, thinking differently, acting differently, doing different things in a different way, but collaborating with each other. Sharing ideas, sharing information, being more open, thinking global, looking at trends abroad. That’s what we want to do over the next three to five years.
Be A Mentor video
Duffy invites mentors to join Entrepreneurial Spark.
We’ve set up Entrepreneurial Spark in Glasgow. We’ve set it up in Scotland. We feel Scotland needs it. It will be good for Scotland. It will boost Scotland. It will collaborate with other businesses. But we can’t do it all ourselves. We’ve had fantastic support from Willie Haughey. Fantastic support from Sir Tom Hunter. And what we’re really looking for is — we want other businesses, other people who feel they could be ambassadors, other people who feel they could be supporters, other people who feel they could be brand advocates. Or simply a mentor. Someone to come forward and help. We’re reaching out to you to help us crystalize what we’ve started here.
Glasgow Caledonian University interview
Duffy talks to Glasgow Caledonian University about his career, how he started Entrepreneurial Spark, and the project’s aims.
It’s absolutely unique. We call them ‘Chicklets’ because Entrepreneurial Spark is the Hatchery. The Hatchery is the “hard” part. Within that we give free desks, free space, free printing, free computers, software, free cleaning, bins emptied, wireless broadband, printing, stationery, meeting rooms, ideation space, enablement. So it doesn’t get any better for a business to start up. That particular space has been provided, and paid for, by Willie Haughey OBE, a successful Glasgow businessman. I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you, if he hadn’t put his hand in his pocket. He was the first to do that after we got a donation from Tom Hunter. He’s opened up his business. He’s put us on his executive floor level. And these Chicklets can benefit from all that. The whole idea is the fail fast, they fail smart, and fail cheap…if they fail.
