TRICKY BUSINESS 2

PROGRAMME 2: BOSO

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

00:00 – 05:17

Introduces mentor John Boyle and cousins Kulveer and Harjeet Taggar. They own Boso, an internet trading business. They share the same business ambitions and the perceived barriers to achieving them.

05:18 – 07:47

John visits and assesses Boso. He believes that the core business idea has a short shelf-life. He tells the cousins to look for a small amount of UK investment to increase marketing power, boost user numbers and pay the wages. He warns against seeking large foreign investment.

07:48 – 09:52

eBay launches a similar site and the cousins revamp their website.

09:53 – 13:54

Kulveer travels to San Francisco looking for large investors and discovers the hard way that John's advice was right.

13.55 – 16:24

John calls a meeting and gets tough with the cousins. He restates his key message – find some UK investment quickly or Boso is finished.

16:25 – 19:28

Harjeet takes his final exams. Kulveer lives off his savings. He manages to sell 1% of Boso for £16,000. The money kick-starts a marketing campaign. The campaign fails to attract any new users.

19:29 – 24:15

Progress review. Little has changed in three months. John is pessimistic about Boso's future. The cousins remain optimistic and determined to succeed.