PHOTOGRAPHS: JAMIE HUGHES MAKE-UP: RACHEL WOOD AT CAPE LONDON USING MAC LOCATION COURTESY OF THE HOSPITAL CLUB
THE ENTREPRENEUR
THE NUMBER ONE RULE
OF BUSINESS IS PATIENCE
As part of O2’s entrepreneur awards, we highlight Richard Woods, whose personal-energy
monitor ‘Wattson’ is warming up to be a gadget success of the future
ichard Woods, the co-founder
of DIY Kyoto, is on to a winner
with a gadget called Wattson,
which tells you how much
electricity you’re using. With time running
out for you to enter O2’s X Awards, we
suggest you sift his business brain for
entrepreneurial gold…
R
So, ‘Wattson’ – what’s that again?
It’s your personal energy monitor. It shows when
you’re saving money by glowing blue and then
red when you’re spending more than you usually
do. It came out of a project I was doing at the
Royal College of Art and is based on a project
that one of our fellow co-founders, Jon [Sawdon
Smith], did. We’ve made it a lot more suitable
for the mass market and it’s now on sale.
You also have a third co-founder – does
three heads make business easier or harder?
It has its pluses and minuses. We have a good
set of skills between us, which means we could
cover everything we needed to do so that we
could launch the business, but it does slow
down the decision-making process a bit.
We’re guessing that getting your doohicky
on to the market wasn’t a doddle…
It’s taken us nearly three years to go from set-up
to having our first stock. One major challenge
was to become business people, build a team
and then learn how to manage it. Cash flow is
another issue – as is having the belief to spend
money as fast as you need to. When we had our
first pot of investment we were nervous about
spending it but there’s no point having it unless
you’re going to use it to develop the company.
How do you convince yourself that signing
off a huge cheque is the right move?
It’s hard. The first batch of injection mouldings
came in at £25,000, and that took quite
a long time for us to sign it off, but we were
right to have waited, because we initially
got a quote for £100,000.
O2 has begun its nationwide search
for the finest small businesses in the
UK. The ultimate winner
will take away £10,000
and be promoted within
the national media.
Entry is quick and
simple and could lead to an
extraordinary profile boost
for your small enterprise.
The Wattson slaps your wrist
if you use too much energy
“THERE’S NO POINT
HAVING MONEY UNLESS
YOU USE IT TO DEVELOP
YOUR COMPANY”
What else can chip away at the new
entrepreneur’s resolve?
Every little step takes longer than you think
and you’ll find your deadlines are continually
slipping. We were late delivering our first units
because one of the parts that was supposed
WIN £10,000 IN THE O2 X AWARDS FOR ENTREPRENEURS
The O2 X Awards are set up to reward
inspiring, small enterprises and help
take them to another level.
We are looking for companies
with a technology or innovation
basis – inspiring enterprises
that change the way we live.
Time is running out
for entries (closing date is
1 September 2008), so enter
Richard Woods is part of the
three-headed team behind DIY Kyoto
to be easy to get hold of turned out to be
‘phantom’ stock – the computer said there were
5,000 of these widgets when in fact there were
500. We had to scour the world looking for
replacements, which delayed things by a month.
So how do you manage to keep on going
when the chips are down?
There are hundreds of little milestones
that get you excited. A nice bit of press, for
example, is a great morale boost. Then there
was the first unit we sold, the first time we got
a big order, the first time we did a deal with a
utility company… Psychologically, it’s what
you need to keep you going forward.
your business now for a chance to have
your achievements recognised at the O2
X Awards at The O2 in London in October
2008, where you could potentially walk
away with the £10,000 prize money.
How to enter: Fancy your chances?
Visit O2blueroom.co.uk/O2xawards and
download entry details, forms and judging
criteria. Terms and conditions apply.
What did you have to sacrifice?
Well, my work-life balance was shocking for
those first couple of years. We would work
weekends, be in the office most days until
10pm and sometimes do all-nighters if there
was a deadline. Things are better now.
Are you an email addict?
Communications are important to us. We
do phone conferencing quite a lot and we’re
all set up for roaming when we’re abroad.
Connectivity is a big part of any modern
business. These days, the world is your office.
Is life as a businessman nice and simple now
that your product is ‘out there’?
No, we keep thinking that things will get easier
once we’ve done this and that, but you get a
whole new set of things to deal with that you
weren’t expecting. It really helps to be doing this
for other reasons than just the money. We really
believe in the product and I think that passion is
a great asset to any entrepreneur because the
financial rewards can be a long time coming.
RICHARD WOODS’ CV
Born – Ampthill, Bedfordshire, June 1978.
Education – Firs Lower School, Alameda
Middle School and Redborne Upper
School, all in Ampthill.
Qualifications – 10 GCSEs and A-levels
in maths, further maths, design, general
studies and physics, a degree in mechanical
engineering, manufacture and management
at Birmingham University, and an MA
in industrial-design engineering at the
Royal College of Art.
2002 – Started working for a design
consultancy called Design Stream.
2004 – Set up DIY Kyoto (diykyoto.com) with
two fellow high-flyers from the Royal College
of Art. Its first product, Wattson, hit the
market last year in a flurry of rave reviews.
Watch Richard
online now
Life is short, so do
yourself a favour
and learn from other
people’s experiences.
Log on to ShortList.com and watch our
Richard Woods podcast, where he reveals
more about his rise to success, what his
average working day is like and his advice on
how to make it to the top of your business.
ShortList.com/o2xawards
SHORTLIST PROMOTION
To view a Ceros magazine you need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser and have the flash player 8 or higher installed. To install the latest flash player, click the icon above, install the flash plugin and then click here to refresh this page.