Steve Lindsey, CEO of Lontra and the innovator behind the revolutionary Blade Compressor, spoke last night at Nottingham’s Entrepreneurs Exchange to urge entrepreneurs to back their ideas and not talk themselves out of success. The speech where Steve spoke alongside Craig Sams, founder of Green and Black’s, was part of a nationwide evening of speeches backed by the Prime Minister. Other speakers across the nation include fashion label founder Anya Hindmarch MBE and Tangle Teezer founder, Shaun Pulfrey.
The initiative aims to support and inspire entrepreneurs across the UK to grow their business and boost overseas exports. The Entrepreneurs Exchange is a one day free event across 20 cities with 40 of the UK’s leading business founders. The event was announced in March this year by the Prime Minister.
Steve Lindsey, Founder and CEO of Lontra, speaking to a capacity audience at The Council House in Nottingham urged attendees to back their ideas:
“Resist the voice at the back of your head that says you’re not qualified to succeed. Big ideas aren’t the preserve of big companies, and success is far more likely if you share and build ideas with a wider support network.”
As Lontra’s founder, Steve conceived, built and licensed the company’s signature Blade Compressor® – the first genuinely new design of the compressor in 80 years. Today Lontra is working in partnership with local firm Shield Group Engineering to boost efficiency in the UK manufacturing sector. Lontra’s first product, has been licensed to Sulzer, a global engineering firm in a multi-million pound deal that will see the Blade Compressor® sold across 150 countries.
Lontra is challenging established market preconceptions about air compression and delivering superior energy saving innovations to support the development and growth of British businesses in both engineering and manufacturing sectors. It has already won numerous awards and has attracted support from Carbon Trust, Innovate UK, Royal Academy of Engineering, IMechE European Union and Warwickshire Growth Fund.
Lindsey added: “It was an honour to be invited to speak at the Entrepreneurs Exchange and inspire the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Inventors tend to be too secretive. We often start conversations too late when the finished product is “done” and money and resources are almost exhausted. This doesn’t leave much for tweaks or feedback which can mean a massive financial and time setback.
“I’m urging entrepreneurs to help themselves by starting conversations as early as they can with potential customers, partners and those with experience, rather than second guessing. Provided you’ve protected your ideas, early contact will give you a much better end product and, ultimately, shorten the time it takes to get it out to market. In short, get as much help and input as you can to give your idea the best possible chance.”
Entrepreneurs Exchange supports the Government’s existing initiative ‘Exporting is Great’ which aims to help 100,000 additional UK businesses to sell their goods and services overseas by 2020.
