In 2010, media giant BSkyB won a five-year High Court legal dispute with IT company EDS who, BSkyB claimed, were unable to meet a contractual obligation to provide a customer relationship management (CRM) system. The case cost EDS dear – to the tune of some £318 million, a salutary reminder of the importance of remaining realistic when negotiating contracts with customers. Derek Brown, a 35-year veteran of the manufacturing industry explains how, while on a much smaller scale, his own company fell foul of an unrealistic supply agreement but managed to tun the siuation around.

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As a fan of adventure sports, London PR consultant Ross Williams was finding spare time to indulge his passion for thrill-seeking increasingly difficult to come by. Long working hours coupled with extensive travelling times meant co-ordinating action-packed weekends amongst his group of friends was becoming more and more problematic. Williams began to question whether other city workers looking to make the most of their weekends might be experiencing similar drawbacks and this led him to create sport, adventure and social club, 8th Day Adventure in 2004.

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Selling headshots from the back of a rusty white van isn’t the most glamorous job in showbusiness but for photographer Doren Gabriel it was the start of a career which would see him go onto picture some of our best known faces. He launched mobile headshot business image 1st in 2002 offering corporate style portraits for just £20 a pop on the streets of the City of London. He later developed the business into entertainment photography and, after opening his own luxury studio in London’s Farringdon in 2006, went on to shoot celebrities including boyband JLS, reality TV star Louie Spence and the Strictly Come Dancing cast.

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Jonathan Rose and Chris Hobcroft are the founders of TraderPeople, an online social gaming business that provides fantasy and simulated financial trading games. In this case study, Jonathan and Chris discuss what makes their business attractive and how they utilise its core worth to add further value.

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Mazuma Money is an innovative accounting company that successfully rode the economic downturn and now boasts several offices across the UK, from which the company offers a range of services to clients. inspiresme.co.uk finds out more about what makes Mazuma Money unique from founders Sophie Hughes and Lucy Cohen.

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For Russell Singler, the Director of Art You Grew Up With, his ‘magical’ career started when he was fourteen years old, when his parents bought him an original production cel of Baloo from Disney’s Jungle Book. ‘I couldn’t believe it,’ he said. ‘It was (and still is) my favourite film, and that kickstarted my collection.’ Skip forward thirty years and Russell is now director of the world’s largest destination for collectors of animation and character based fine art.

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Lisa Drummy is a director of Beanie’s Health Foods – for the last 10 years she has been importing and distributing Fry’s Vegetarian Foods with her business partner (and Dad!) Patrick Drummy. They started Beanie’s on an impulse when they discovered that Fry’s in South Africa were looking for someone to import Fry’s Vegetarian Foods into the UK.

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HAM Associates consider operational processes as a basis for their ergonomics design schemes. The development of their own internal processes has been a key part of their business success. John explains why companies should always follow processes to succeed.

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Philip Ercolano certainly showed early potential for success. In 1999, at the tender age of 17, he was signed by talent supremo Simon Fuller, the man behind such sensations as Pop Idol, American Idol, and So You Think You Can Dance? Just 10 years later, Philip struck out on his own and set up the now flourishing Cassius Management talent agency. But it hasn’t all been plain sailing...

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Green issues have become a hot topic in recent years and, as such, a number of environmentally friendly business start-ups have appeared, with varying degrees of success. Climatecars is one of the more successful examples due to their innovative use of hybrid technology to provide a taxi service.

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Conseal Security is a specialist data security company that aims to give a range of clients, including individuals, businesses and government departments, control over who accesses their data and when. Tom Colvin, co-founder of Conseal, tells inspiresme.co.uk what it takes to succeed in such a sensitive industry.

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Nick and Andrew are the founders of designmynight, a website that allows people across London to discover the best clubs, restaurants and bars based around their budget, and make use of discounts and special offers to ensure they have a fun-filled evening on the town. We talk to the entrepreneurs about their early experiences and the process of building designmynight into a popular online destination.

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Sergio Lopez says his company, Big Bang Lab, creates new value from the old and creates new connections across people beyond time and space. A quick glance at Sergio’s achievements reveals that Big Bang Lab is clearly making waves. We spoke to Sergio about his entrepreneurial journey and asked him to tell us more about his company’s innovative services.

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The Baby Loft is an online baby rental equipment service that offers parents a range of products for all stages of their baby’s life. Founder Denise Proctor, 36, talks to inspiresme about the birth of her idea and the challenges of being a Mumpreneur.

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Counterculture Partners provides advice and guidance to cultural, creative and third sector organisations to encourage them to plan, manage and thrive. Advice is offered on a range of topics including strategy, finance, governance and project management. The founders all have a wealth of experience in the cultural and creative business sectors and are now applying their knowledge to help other organisations succeed. Inspiresme.co.uk caught up with Tom Wilcox, Founder of Counterculture Partners, to find out more about the company and its plans.

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Vintage T-shirt vendor Truffle Shuffle started trading in 2004 and has grown to be a significant player in the retro t-shirt market. They implemented mobile payments just over a year ago with help from a graduate web developer for the grand total of £200. Now, their mobile customers’ conversion rates have increased five-fold and resulting revenue has tripled. Founder Pat Wood talks to inspiresme.co.uk about the history of Truffle Shuffle, and how mobile payments have helped them expand quickly.

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Former chartered accountant Andries Smit has always had an eye for a good business model. He started his first business age 14 and has since started 15 more, in sectors as broad as retail, consultancy, training, property, accountancy, investing and ecommerce.

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Sue Acton worked in banking for 10 years before starting Bubble & Balm. While most people were horrified at the thought of redundancies, Sue saw it as an opportunity to start working for herself – something she had always wanted to do. Now, Bubble & Balm has been trading for just under two years and has distribution deals with both Waitrose and Oxfam.

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In London, one startup is successfully using state-of-the-art technology to fine-tune the performance of elite cyclists. Here Richard Melik, owner of Freespeed, talks to inspiresme.co.uk about his growing company.

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Ben Wilson is the founder of FreshCig, a company that produces and markets electronic cigarettes. He talks to inspiresme.co.uk about the challenges of tapping into a new market alongside many competitors, and of developing a unique selling point in order to stand out.

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