Name: Andrew Pearce
Age: 40
Company: Free conference callprovider Powwownow
Turnover: ?7.6m
First job: Vegetable seller
Dream job: England rugby team manager
Car: Range Rover Sport
Economy, business or first-class: Business
Most extravagant purchase: Audi R8 Spyder
Most played song on your iPod: “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol
Business book: I enjoy reading other entrepreneurs’ biographies and autobiographies. Jack Welch’s and James Dyson’s are especially good.
Worst business moment: When running an earlier company, we auto-dialled the directors of T-Mobile and tried to sell them the O2 contracts. We were given a list of “leads” that weren?t checked properly. Needless to say, it was both embarrassing and stressful.
Proudest business moment: Creating a business (telemarketing firm Inkfish) that grew from scratch to £26m, with over 2,500 staff in 7.5 years.
Business mentor: My first FD John Firley, who was also our business angel. He taught me the basics of business and was a great support in the early days.
Next big thing: Linking social channels with collaboration tools so businesses can better communicate both internal and externally.
