The accidental entrepreneur

The star of the online version of Dragon’s Den says he bluffed his way into business. But his £82 million fortune, made through property and computers, suggests that perhaps Shaf must have been doing a ‘wee’ bit right.

Shaf tells the story of how his first job after having just graduated from Strathclyde University in Glasgow was not a prelude to the success he would later enjoy.

“After I left university, I had a job for about an hour and a half,” he says.

“I turned up for work on my first day there, and I didn’t like it, so after an hour and a half I literally just walked out.”

Shaf had his eye on doing a post-graduate degree, but the university year had already started, meaning he would not have been able to enrol for his course until the following year. He was on a train, contemplating his future, when a chance meeting turned his life around.

“I started speaking to this chap, and he was a purchaser for an IT company,” Shaf recalls.

“On the train journey home, I picked his brains for about 45 minutes on what a purchaser was looking for when it came to buying IT equipment."

By the time he stepped off the platform, he knew everything about how purchasers operate. His decision was made – he was going to start up an IT business.

“At the time demand was outstripping supply, so I decided just to go for it.”

In the first few weeks of operating, Shaf tendered for a number of contracts, and then a rather substantial one fell into his lap. With the amount of money he had at the time, Shaf didn’t have a chance of being able to fulfil the contract. So, he borrowed, and he was able to close the deal. After becoming an approved supplier for the government, Shaf was able to grow his business from there. And, the rest is history...

Shaf has most recently been employing and mentoring a team of young apprentices, and will be soon sharing his secrets of success with the public, as a presenter at Business Startup, the UK’s biggest event for people starting or a expanding a business, being held later this year.

Shaf’s best advice he has for up-and-coming entrepreneurs is to make sure they do their homework.

He says: “People come up to me and say, ‘Shaf, I’ve got an idea for product X,Y and Z,’ and I say, ‘have you done any research?’

“They say, ‘yeah, well I’ve asked my mum, and I’ve asked my girlfriend, and I’ve asked my auntie...

“And you just look at that product and you’re thinking, ‘God, that’s never going to work!’

“The best advice I can give startups is, before you start a business, always do your research.

“Get yourself down to a shopping centre, ask 100 random strangers ‘would you buy this product?’ and if they say ‘yes’, you know there’s a demand for it.”

Business Startup is a free event, taking place at Earls Court 2, in London, on 30 November and 1 December, 2010.