10 Oct 2014 An unusual convergence – P2P and slot machines
What links the P2P Summit in Vegas later this month and the entrepreneur of the year award?
The P2P Summit, (which by the way you should attend – see here) is one of the most important dates in the calendar but, being very honest, I struggled to see the connection between Las Vegas and P2P until I saw the announcement today about the London AIM market entrepreneur of the year award.
Las Vegas seems like an unusual venue for a serious business conference. Purchase to Pay, Accounts Payable and all that, is all about control and compliance. It’s about sensible business practice, running a tight ship – “look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves”, as my Mum would say. So why have a convention on P2P in Las Vegas? For the irony?
Of course not, the hotels in Vegas are great venues for conferences but there’s another connection between P2P and gambling that many people are not aware of.
Now, I like to think that I can spot a winning business idea – who doesn’t – and I like to think I can spot a bad one too. The internet of things is one such bad idea. Take the Internet fridge. You may well think that the idea of Internet fridge is a little passé – a bit 2008, but it isn’t – it’s very passé and a bit 1995. It was a stupid idea then and it’s a stupid idea now.
But only a couple of weeks ago, I heard of an application of the concept of the “Internet of things” and I thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” The Internet of things applied to slot machines. Instead of managing slot machines manually, connect them via the Internet and you can manage a global slot machine estate from a PC. Who was the genius that thought of that in 1998? Only the person who thought to turn OB10 into a bank!
Edmund Truell is a phenomenon. So many people label themselves as entrepreneurs – or worse, serial entrepreneurs – but true entrepreneurs succeed, big time, more than once and Edi Truell deserves the recognition he’s got today. He’s “Entrepreneur of the year”
The AIM Awards, sponsored by PwC, rewards companies and individuals who have harnessed AIM to fuel growth and fulfil strategy. Edmund was recognized for his, “vision, flair, drive and business acumen to take his business forward, via an AIM listing, at a pace impossible without access to public funding.”
Tungsten Corporation was admitted to AIM in October 2013 following its acquisition of OB10, a leading global electronic invoicing network. The Placing of £160 million represented the largest trading company IPO on AIM since 2008.
“This is a prestigious accolade and testament to the efforts of the Tungsten team that I’ve worked with to build this company,” says Edmund. “Uproar is the music of capitalism and the economy needs entrepreneurs to take risks and disrupt the status quo, which is precisely what I’ve tried to do throughout my career.”
“I see this award as recognition of the success and potential of the entire Tungsten business, which is empowering the global supply chain through electronic invoicing, supply chain finance and spend analytics.”
Pete Loughlin can be found on twitter @peteloughlin
