How did you come up with your small business idea?

What sparked that bright idea? We asked five SME owners what their motivations were for starting up.

I had an idea of what I wanted and then I put in a lot of planning: I wanted a business idea that really excited me. It had to be B2B as that is my area of interest and had to do with scalable technology that was markedly different to the status quo. For years I met a small group of friends on weekends and evenings to throw around ideas. I knew Wazoku was my killer idea as soon as we began to flesh it out: the sector is really interesting and aligned with what I knew and could see myself doing for some time. Even then we took several months to research, learn, plan and revisit all assumptions before doing anything concrete. I would say that all that planning was really worthwhile and in those days you should be your own harshest critic. Looking back I'm glad I killed other ideas early and quickly and gave Wazoku the time to evolve and develop to the great idea it was, and still is.
I was inspired by The Wright Stuff: I came up with the idea for Direct Sitters after another idea I had for a company didn't work out. I felt a bit depressed and was up early one morning watching the TV show The Wright Stuff. They had a segment in the show which was suggesting ways to earn extra cash. One of the suggestions was to do "house sitting" for people who go away on holiday. At the time I wasn't working and a few days later my mother asked me to wait for a plumber. This got me thinking. What do other people who have to go to work do in this situation? How do they deal with waiting for plumbers, deliveries or engineers and what sacrifices do they make? So I decided that instead of doing house sitting for holidays I would start a company that would solve the problem of people waiting for plumbers, engineers and home deliveries.
I took inspiration from other online retail sites: In 2006 I noticed that consumers were comfortable buying books and CDs online, and presumed that with time they would become comfortable ordering larger items like beds in this fashion too. I'd always fancied running my own business so after spotting this opportunity, it was a case of now or never.
Having worked for a bed manufacturer for five years, my knowledge of the market meant I could capitalise on the growing trend towards stylish bed frames and buying directly from overseas suppliers. Keeping true to our early principles of providing the latest trends at great prices – supported by friendly, efficient and speedy service – has enabled the business to grow steadily in spite of the recession.
Inspirational ideas came from across the pond: I've been inspired for as long as I can remember by Charlie Merrill of Merrill Lynch fame, who was pivotal in bringing the huge benefits of individual share ownership to the masses in the USA. I could see the same revolutionary difference being possible if we could unlock the excitement available from investing in startups for a much wider audience than just the very rich to whom it has been limited for so long.
I met my co-founder Carlos Silva on an MBA course we were both doing, and we quickly realised that his technological genius could deliver against my ambition. The rest is history. A number of years and a lot of hard work later, we had built a very successful startup to help other startups get the funding they needed.
Every cloud has a silver lining: I founded Cyclehoop Ltd in 2008. I was inspired to design the Cyclehoop after discovering my bike had been stolen by a thief who had lifted it over the top of a signpost it was chained to. The Cyclehoop can be retrofitted onto signposts, lamp posts, bollards and railings within minutes creating secure cycle parking spaces without the need for digging and concreting. The design has since gone on to win the Reinventing the Bike Shed competition and has been adopted by more than 30 local authorities within the UK and overseas. Five years on, Cyclehoop Ltd have designed more than 15 cycle parking products which are made in Britain and sold worldwide.

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