Andrea Madonald, founder of ideaXme Ltd. interviews John Kershaw, founder of M14 Industries and bristlr.
For those of you who missed John Kershaw’s pitch presentation in Episode 15, Series 14 of BBC Dragons’ Den, it’s worth a look. He divulges more than he intended to, but it serves as a timely reminder, that in an era of fake news, it pays to be honest and it pays to be authentic!
John Kershaw on spilling the beans about his major partners to the Dragons:
“I try to be really honest. If I don’t know the answer I say. I am not trying to be a sales person. I am just trying to say it as it is.”
Why did you receive an unprecedented positive response and the support of all the Dragons in Dragons’ Den?
“That honest approach, combined with the fact that the business is in a proven industry where we have backers and have shown that our technology led to the Dragons being confident to invest.”
In the midst of his celebrations, ideaXme was lucky to be granted a quick half hour with John to discover more about his human story, his secret weapon and the big ideas which are, with the support of Dragons Nick Jenkins and Peter Jones, about to become a lot bigger!
Background
John Kershaw is the founder of M14 Industries and bristlr . Furthermore, he is an avid follower of the extreme contact sport Roller Derby, “a beard haver” and admirer of Alan Turing.
M14 Industries is a technology company which powers dating. It is the world’s first white label dating platform that “builds both mobile first websites and apps for any platform without hassle. There’s no infrastructure to buy, set up, or manage. You just sign up, bring your idea, and we do the rest.”
John Kershaw’s discovery of a unique proposition:
“In the process of building Bristlr we realized that it would never be that massive company that changes the world. But we discovered something very important, that there are lots of tools to build dating websites but none to build dating apps.”
M14 is your complete and managed toolbox, they build dating apps from the ground up to be “flexible, extensible and stylish.”
For just £99 to setup and £149 monthly (on a 12 month contract), you can have your own app.
Bristlr is a service created and owned by MI4 Industries. It is a dating app “which matches beard havers with beard lovers.
It started as a bit of a joke in October 2014. Yet, Bristlr has now created more than half a million connections between those with beards, and those who want to stroke them.
Bristlr is powered by M14 Industries, “the platform that allows anyone to have their own dating app.”
Bristlr is described as the “Tinder for beards.”
Covered in the ideaXme interview:
The human story
University
Roller Derby
What frightens John the most in life?
Influence of Alan Turing
Learning to be kind to himself
The big Ideas:
Why being your authentic self and really looking after yourself is so important.
M14 concept
Bristlr
Online security, user moderation and operational guidelines.
Preparing for Dragons Den
The Dragons Den pitch – the 2 turning points.
“Making all the Dragons laugh was an important turning point.” – John Kershaw
John Kershaw’s advice to technology students:
“If you want to do something like this. Start building stuff. Bristlr was about the 20th idea. Make something that you can put in your hand. Even if it is out of paper. You will learn more doing that than writing a business plan.”
Who would John Kershaw like to meet?
What question would he like to ask that person?
Questions from Ben Hammersley BBC correspondent and reporter, contributing editor Wired and Futurist and Alan Firmin, CVO Founder www.squirrol.com and Chief Marketing Officer Bridgeman Images.
Follow John Kershaw @wardrox
Follow ideaXme @ideaxm
Follow Ben Hammersley @benhammersley
Follow Alan Firmin @afirmin
*John Kershaw was not in breach of his NDA in the Den, as he received the approval from his media partners to discuss their participation in M14, if absolutely necessary.
Credits: Andrea Macdonald interview video, text, and audio
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