Introducing Kevin Ryan - you might ask who - but you shouldn't and won't soon.

As a British start-up or business owner, you may not have heard of Kevin Ryan. But in New York, he’s nothing short of a legend!

In this interview with the New York Times, Ryan is referred to as the King of Silicon Alley and his latest venture, Gilt Groupe, “the hottest start-up in New York city”. The respect is well deserved. This seasoned entrepreneur appears to almost effortlessly run multiple businesses and so I nicked this interview off Enterprize Nation - as it has some great key points on how you should approach work.

Product power


Kevin has a rule that none of his businesses advertise for the first 18 months. That way, he says, the company stands or falls by the worth of the product itself. Which is bizzarely what we have done with Great Marketing Works - my training company. He describes it as starting a business with one hand tied behind your back (ie no advertising spend; but this makes the free arm (product) much stronger and not too reliant on the other. Sounds simple/ makes sense!

Customers count

When asked how Gilt Groupe has moved from “a fashion business to a lifestyle business”, Kevin responds that growth and expansion into new categories (menswear, travel, homewares, food etc) has come from customers suggesting new ideas and asking for more. “Customers will come up with good ideas,” says Kevin. “They are well worth listening to.” Which is what we have done with @goaugmented - as we now are moving into retail mobile phone AR applications.

The power of photography

Gilt is renowned for using photography to, in Kevin’s words “make things look better”. It reminded me all over again about the power of imagery; whether it be the picture you use with your own biography (if you are the product of your business) or images of goods you want to sell. Imagery is powerful and top class presentation has secured Gilt thousands of happy customers. Perfect words for a company just going through a rebrand moment - which two of my 'clients / friends' are doing.

Focus on what you do best

I asked Kevin how he manages his time running three businesses. His reply is that he focuses on what he does best and delegates the rest to top teams of people. This completely chimes with our business mantra at Enterprise Nation which is ‘focus on what you do best and outsource the rest’ – or, in other words, choose trusted partners or personnel and let them do their job while you focus time and energy on yours. Love it as was losing faith with a couple of people today - but this reminds me - stay on what you are good at - and outsource the rest!


Experiment and move fast

A message and point of advice that continues to crop up; I heard it a couple of weeks ago from Erik Riesand today from a man who is putting it into practice every working day. “We try things a lot and we move fast.” Indeed, in a recent Forbes interview, when asked for his one piece of advice to start ups and small business owners, “Move fast” was the advice on offer from this man in a hurry who you just don’t want to ignore.

Facebook says the same thing - it's all about moving fast and being lean - even when big - perhaps the UK public sector could listen up, with a couple of personal projects for clients we are still waiting for answers some four months after pitching!

Which reminds me - I had best go ring them :)