Cybercrime is on the rise, and small businesses are increasingly being targeted. Whilst it can be easy to imagine that only large corporations fall prey to cyber attacks, do not be fooled. A small business is just a likely as a large multi-national enterprise to be the victim of cybercrime, but because these incidents do not receive as much media coverage they can easily go unnoticed. In fact, recent data shows that more than 50% of small businesses have experienced a cyber attack. Whatever size your business is, a cyber attack is like a wildfire that can spread through your system rapidly if you aren’t vigilant enough. The consequences of cybercrime can also severely affect your businesses reputation, finance and productivity, as well as putting you and your customers at risk. 

We want to help small businesses to be informed about the risks of cybercrime, and what they can do minimise the threat to their business. That’s why we’ve teamed up with top IT support company Lucidica to deliver a new series of cybersecurity seminars giving you the lowdown on how to identify, protect and prevent an attack. 

The first seminar takes place on January 25th, 2018 and we’ve caught up with Josh Evans – one of Lucidica’s top tech engineers – to tell us more about the murky world of cybercrime and give you a sneak peek of what you can expect from the session.

1. Josh, thanks for partnering with us to guide small businesses through the world of cybercrime. Could you explain more about what actually happens during a cybercrime event?

Basically, there are essentially six keys steps to a cyber attack that business owners should know about. It’s vital that small business owners understand how hackers are spying into their systems to help them identify potential breaches. These six steps are:

1. Information Gathering: this is where your potential hacker is spying on you and exploring what sort of data you are likely to hold.
2. Network Mapping: at this stage, the hacker begins studying your connectivity online to paint a fuller picture of your network and reach; this might include looking into partner organisations or collaborators.
3. Vulnerability Identification: hackers are super skilled at finding the unprotected spots in your network and exploiting these.
4. Penetration: once a hacker has identified a definite weakness in your system, the initial attack commences.
5. Privilege Escalation: once the hacker has penetrated your system, the virus or bug can begin replicating and spreads, compromising more and more of your precious data as it grows.
6. Maintaining Access: as soon as the bug is in your system, it’s too late and resolving the issue is likely to be costly in terms of times, money and resources. The key thing to remember is that prevention is always better than cure, so it’s essential that small businesses understand how to protect themselves from the risks, especially at the earlier stages. 

2. So how can a small business actually identify where the weaknesses in their system are?

This does differ depending on the type of business as well as the IT set-up and the way that business processes data and information. In addition, attackers are constantly evolving and advancing to find more sophisticated and discrete ways to breach into IT systems, so even if you have taken steps to protect yourself it’s really important to stay up-to-date. That said, the key areas of any IT system which tend to be the most vulnerable to attack are:

• Configuration issues
• Cross-site scripting
• Information disclosure

In the seminar we explore these areas in more detail, including how they might apply to individual businesses and systems, as well as discuss strategies to mitigate risks and stay safe.

3. What kind of threats are currently on the internet that small businesses should know about?

Again, this is evolving all the time as hackers become more sophisticated and skilled, but the main current threats include:

Ransomware – this is a type of malicious software that steals your data and holds it hostage, usually on the threat of publishing it or perpetually blocking access unless a payment is made. Ramsomware has been in existence since 2005 and continues to be a major threat, especially to companies that hold sensitive data.

 Wannacry – this well-known attack case study affected 230k computers in over 150 countries. Wannacry works by bypassing the firewall as a trojan, most likely as a phishing or spear phishing attack. It then exploits gaps in the system to spread inside the network like a worm, meaning any unpatched systems can be affected without user action and prompts, which makes it especially difficult to detect.

Social Engineering – Social Engineering modes of attack rely on human interaction and essentially ‘trick’ people into breaking normal security procedures. They use techniques that appeal to vanity, authority and greed and include various subcategories such as baiting, phishing, spear phishing, pretexting and spam.

At the seminar we share hints, tips and strategies to help you stay aware and spot the tell-tale signs of various types of cyberattack, and what to do next if you suspect you have been hacked. We will also look in more detail at how baiting and phishing scams work as well, as how future tech and IT developments (such as Bitcoin) might affect cyber risks to your business.

Being aware of how cybercrime works is the start of keeping yourself and your business protected online. The key to keeping your data and assets safe in the digital world is to stay one step ahead of the game so that you can treat any vulnerabilities in good time to prevent attacks taking place, or act quickly when they do.

You can book your place at our ‘How to stop online hacks’ seminar here for just £15. With the average cost of a cyber attack on a small firm now standing at over £400,000, it could be the best £15 you’ve ever spent!

Come and join us on January 25th, 2018 and let’s fight these online attackers together.

The Lucidica Team - helping you protect your business from cybercrime

 

 

How to use events to market your business

Contemporary marketing talk is all about marketing automation, content and sales funnels. There’s a significant amount of value to be gained from streamlining your marketing and sales processes – but there’s one thing all these marketing tactics and strategies are aiming for: to get you in front of your potential customer/partner/lead.

Marketing is about relationships, and however fabulous your website and digital marketing are, you’re ultimately aiming to have a personal conversation with the right person to buy your product or service or build a partnership.

And that happens in person.

In-person marketing is the future (as well as the past). As people increasingly hide behind their multiple work communication channels – email, slack, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram – it seems like it’s hard enough to get someone on the phone, let alone meet in person.

And that’s why events are the heart and soul of building an effective sales and marketing strategy.

You’re either at someone else’s event – as a speaker, sponsor, exhibitor or just plain participant – and if you’ve selected the right event they’ve brought your market to you. Or you host your own events – which needs careful and targeted marketing – and position yourself in the middle of your market sector and the business potentially comes to you.

Sasha Frieze, a visiting lecturer in Event Management at Westminster University, is leading a 3-hour Masterclass: How to use events to market your business at 10am on Thursday 30^th November at the British Library Business and IP Centre in Kings Cross, where she will leverage her 25+ years’ experience in the events industry to walk you through 8 strategies to help you harness the power of events to market your business.

 

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During 2017’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, The Business & IP Centre hosted our flagship Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Question Time event. Amongst our panel of innovative entrepreneurs was Polly McMaster, the co-founder of The Fold, a contemporary womenswear label created for the professional woman. Founded in 2012, Polly’s vision for a feminine brand that created stylish yet appropriate outfits for the working environment and smart evening wear has gone from strength-to-strength. Today this high-growth brand can be found in over 20 countries and counts the Duchess of Cambridge and Samantha Cameron as customers. With such impressive progress in just five years, we caught up with Polly to hear how The Fold has been able to achieve much traction in the market in such a short space of time.

Polly McMaster, Co-Founder of The Fold

The Fold is described as ‘a contemporary new label that embraces and inspires the modern, professional woman’. How did you identify this gap in the market?

This was me! I worked in consulting and private equity – where a suit is the dress code for men. I really struggled to find clothes that made me feel confident, stylish, smart and contemporary. I did a lot of research with other working women and found that this really touched a nerve with so many of them, so it was a very compelling thought to create a brand that was relevant to women like myself and addressed that problem.

Have you always had a passion for fashion? And if so, did you think this passion would eventually become your profession?

Absolutely, way back to school days where I did dress-making classes in the evening, and made my own clothes, to Art A Level and work experience in an amazing couture brand. However, I am definitely quite left-brain / right-brain and also love problem-solving, analysis, etc. – so I took an unconventional route to fashion via science, business strategy and investment. It’s helped me have a more rounded view of the business, but it’s amazing to be able to bring together so many areas that I’m passionate about.

Polly wearing one of her designs

Fashion is a consistently popular area for new start-ups, but starting and growing a successful fashion business is tough. Whilst the UK is a centre of design creativity, fashion businesses often face a high failure rate. If you could give one piece of advice to a budding entrepreneur entering the fashion world what would it be?

I entered this world with a completely different perspective, and I think that has been helpful. I approached it from quite a commercial angle – which was to provide an amazing product to a niche group of women after identifying a gap in the market. That has influenced everything in the business from both the creative side through to the business side. By having that clear vision, it’s helped us to be more competitive. It is a very tough industry, and it also takes a lot of resource in terms of both cash and expertise to navigate it. As we’ve grown, I’ve certainly leant on the support of very experienced Chairman, investors and advisors who’ve helped us learn, adapt and survive!

What has been your proudest achievement in your business journey to date?

Recruiting a great team and great investors have been the most important thing in the business. I’m really proud that we’ve created a brand that has attracted so many talented people, and that I get to work with them every day. That feels like huge progress and makes the future very exciting.

I’m also really proud that we dress amazing women for work every day – it’s very inspiring to receive messages from them to say that they nailed a job interview, or gave a powerful presentation and felt that they’d had an extra confidence boost from wearing The Fold. That’s when I know we’ve done what we set out to do.

What do you think the future holds for The Fold and Polly McMaster?

The Fold still feels like it’s at the beginning of its journey! We have a lot of exciting plans – we are opening a new store concept next Spring, and also continuing to build our online presence in both the UK and the US. Our customers are truly international so we are excited for The Fold to become a global destination for working women. For me personally, I’m learning every day, and loving balancing being a mum with running the business. I’m excited to grow with the business through the next chapter!

Watch Polly's talk at Global Entrepreneurship Week's Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Question Time here:

We Built This City is a London-based business that specialises in selling unique souvenirs that represent the famous city. Their mission is to revolutionise souvenirs by giving London's artists and designers a platform to showcase their talents and provide customers with creative and long-lasting souvenirs. Having grown at an incredible rate at the very beginning, We Built This City quickly made its mark on the souvenir market but founder Alice Mayor was still ambitious and wanted more. With the help of Innovating for Growth programme, she was able to achieve her scale-up wishes and went from a pop-up to having a permanent home on Carnaby Street in London's trendy West-End. We caught up with Alice to talk a little more about her journey from idea to super success and how the Innovating for Growth programme helped with this.       

How did the idea for a new kind of souvenir shop in London’s famous Carnaby Street come about?

In 2014, London was still basking in the glory of the Olympics and had just become the most visited city on the planet with the annual tourist footfall figure at over 16 million. With so many international visitors heading to the capital for creative and cultural experiences, my lightbulb moment was riding past one of the many souvenir stores in London on the bus and thinking ‘surely we can do better than that!’

My overriding priority in bringing to life the concept of ‘Revolutionising London Souvenirs’ was to find the right location for the store. I really wanted to avoid a scenario where we had the very best artists & designers to represent but didn’t have the footfall to prove the operation a success.

As such, I was determined We Built This City should be established in the West End. I walked the streets on the weekends to try and identify the best location but each time got more fearful about the barriers we were going to face with rents and rates. At the end of what seemed like a very long 4 months, I finally tracked down a landlord on Carnaby Street.

I created a detailed pitch outlining my vision for the product, interiors, and marketing campaign. Within a matter of days, they offered a 2 floor - 3000 sq ft store on Carnaby Street with just one caveat… we had 3 weeks to bring it all together and would need to launch for Christmas!

 

What challenges has the business faced along the way?

The main challenge for us at the start was being a temporary pop-up shop and having to move stores over 6 times in 18 months. We were always moving to a new store on Carnaby, so the location wasn’t the issue, it was just the sheer labour involved in moving shops and setting up processes all over again. Luckily we have an amazing team who stuck with us no matter how many times we told them we were on the move!

More general challenges are that at any one time we can be working with 250+ London artists, designers and makers - with so many partners and suppliers on the books the sheer volume of admin involved can be a daunting daily mountain to climb! It’s worth it though, to see so many artists represented and supported in store.

Lastly, our core mission is always to support London’s creative community to drive sales and sustainable careers in the city. Running the business from a prime retail unit in the West End isn’t always an ideal marriage as it can be difficult to achieve margins which are complementary to both scenarios. We wouldn’t change the exposure Carnaby offers our artists for the world though!

What has been the business’s biggest achievement so far?

Our biggest achievement to date has undoubtedly been securing a permanent lease on Carnaby Street. We’re very proud to have made the transition from pop-up to a permanent retailer in one of the world’s most iconic shopping destinations in such a short window. A permanent unit for us has freed up so much resource and time to focus on growing the business. As a result, we’ve been able to grow the consultancy arm out to helping other London landmarks open including a major curation project for Battersea Power Station’s new Design Store.

Picking up awards for the shop along the way has been an unexpected and exhilarating experience too - when we were awarded ‘Best Shop in Soho’ by Time Out readers in our first year of trading, we spent the next week pinching ourselves!

What advice would you give to any small business owners thinking of going into retail and even opening a shop?

Having a unique point of difference is critical for a new retail brand or business - especially if you’re joining a competitive market (fashion, food etc.) You need to work out the one thing that’ll set you apart and work out how you can tell that to your customer at every part of the journey - and even before when selling the concept to a landlord, investor etc.

I would also highly recommend creating a pitch presentation to set out your vision and to share it with anyone who can help you make it happen. It’s easy to become scared of people stealing your idea, but I found it incredibly helpful to get early-stage feedback and access to new contacts - many of whom ended up becoming our artists, advisors, partners and even our shop team!

Lastly, really interrogate whether you need to open a physical bricks and mortar store at all and what you want to learn from even a temporary pop up shop. It’s important to establish your objectives early on and stick to them. My parting advice is to never romanticise the idea of a shop as it’s an unbelievable amount of work, money, and energy - and if you’re open 7 days a week the sheer volume of operations can easily leave you with little time to nurture the creative side of the business.

What are the challenges of growing a business and how has the Innovating for Growth programme helped?

When I applied for the Innovating for Growth course, I was really lacking the headspace to work ‘on’ the business - not just ‘in’ it. The programme has been indispensable in giving me the opportunity to stand back from the day to day and take time to start strategising from afar.

An invaluable learning from joining the programme has been the opportunity to look at all factors that contribute to the running of a successful business - not just those that are in your existing skillset or comfort zone! Deep diving into these elements with the guidance of the coaches, guides and guest lecturers on the programme has been invaluable to analysing the business’s strengths and weaknesses in equal measure.

The real take away from the programme for me though has been the opportunity to meet entrepreneurs at the same stage - going through the same issues, problems and being able to share advice. It can get lonely and especially tough when you’re scaling - mentors are great but it’s meeting and sharing with those sat next to you on the same rollercoaster that gives you that belief to keep building!

* Innovating for Growth is a free three-month programme to help you turn your growth idea into a reality. Find out more information about the programme here.

This programme is fully-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the British Library.

At our 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Week we caught up with one of the panellists from our past event, Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Question Time, which was set to be the flagship event for that year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week at the British Library. Anthony Eskinazi is the founder of the car parking app JustPark, an amazing tool that allows drivers from all over the United Kingdom to choose from millions of available spaces quickly and simply using their smartphones. With 1.5 million drivers already enjoying the benefits of JustPark, we spoke to Anthony about how he did it.

1.The JustPark app promises drivers a hassle-free experience that also saves them money. It sounds amazing but how does it work?

It’s quite simple, to be honest with you. When creating the JustPark app, I really wanted to consider the thought process of your average driver. From planning their journey to reaching their final destination, to eventually finding a parking space and paying.

As most drivers know all too well, parking can be quite a stressful experience when you’ve travelled a long distance to find out that you cannot park your car or have to pay an absolute fortune to do so. With JustPark we eradicate this stress by providing drivers with an easy to use app that finds available parking spaces depending on their location and distance settings. The app will also tell you whether space is going to be available and how much it will cost (if applicable). You can register via your Google or Facebook login and pay using Apple or Android Pay saving you time and taking less than one minute to log in, pay and have your parking space confirmed.

2. JustPark has proven to be a huge success in the United Kingdom. Do you have any plans to expand internationally?

Yes, we do! The aim for us was to test the market in the UK and ensure that we had the right product and service before entering the international market. Since JustPark was founded, we’ve been able to develop a product that is efficient and really does solve a pressing problem for drivers across the world.  However, we strongly believe that the UK is one of the best markets for our service and therefore wanted to cement our position in the UK first before going anywhere else.

3. Did the idea for JustPark originate from a bad personal parking experience, or did you just spot an obvious gap in the market?

I would say both. It really stems from a frustrating experience I had driving with a friend in San Francisco when travelling to watch a baseball game. We arrived in good time for the game but ended up wasting a lot of time searching for a parking space. After searching high and low for space and not having too much luck doing so, I thought about asking a homeowner who lived nearby to the stadium if we could pay $10 to park in their driveway. I didn’t do it but the idea for JustPark had been born.

I knew that this was a common theme at events in the UK, especially focused on major events such as Wimbledon, where people would rent out their underused parking spaces. The big difference for me is that the gap was really in the online transactions market, which would make life much easier for drivers, taking away the hassle and guarantee a stress-free experience.

4. With the tech industry constantly evolving at an incredible speed, how do you ensure JustPark stays ahead of the competition?

In an industry like ours, it is very important to continuously invest in research and development. We make sure that the team are up-to-date with the latest technologies and able to learn and develop their understanding of what is happening in the technology and parking industries. It is vital that all of us are involved in this process as it allows us to share knowledge and continue to be at the forefront.

5. Having founded JustPark and seen it grow into a huge success, could you see yourself doing it all over again with a new company?

As things stand I am really enjoying the work I’m doing with JustPark and haven’t thought too much about what comes next. I’ve started investing in interesting high-growth tech start-ups to help me understand different sectors.  It would be exciting to try something new but we’ll just have to wait and see.

6. If you could give a young Anthony some advice, what would it be and why?

My first piece of advice would be to have fun and make sure you don’t miss out on life’s enjoyable moments. I think it’s easy to get caught up with your business and forget that a new feature or opportunity is likely to still be there tomorrow. Relationships with close friends and family are important. These are the people who will build you back up and give you a hug after a knock-down and cheer you from the rooftops when things are going well. It is important to find a work-life balance that works for you. Becoming an entrepreneur is a lifestyle, not a career choice.

The second piece of advice would be to work with other people. It makes the entrepreneurial experience much more enjoyable and although you may have to share a piece of the pie, you will benefit from the shared knowledge, experiences and ideas. You don’t have to do it alone!

If you’d like fire some of your own questions to some of the UK’s top entrepreneurs during Global Entrepreneurship Week and thereafter, don’t forget that the Business & IP Centre will be hosting a range of similar events exploring the theme of entrepreneurship and others. Click here to rewatch the event: Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Question Time 2017, on our YouTube channel.