Marc Worth - entrepreneur and investor

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Thursday, 08 October 2009 15:15

Written by David Parsley

fashion_sketch1 When you've sold your business for £142m and got tens of millions sitting in the bank it might be tempting to just kick back and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Not for Marc Worth.

Worth, the founder of fashion trend and analysis website the Worth Global Style Network (WGSN), is one of those true entrepreneurs. For him every morning is an opportunity to make the coming day the one when the next big idea comes along.

Worth didn’t bother with the academic route to business success as the spirit of entrepreneurship ran through his veins. He joined the family children’s wear business straight from school and for 20 years or so worked in and eventually ran it.

“I learned a great deal about the fashion trade during those years of manufacturing children’s clothes. So by 1997 I knew there was a demand for something like WGSN. Something that would tell the trade about what was going on in fashion all over the world.

“There was a lack of information about new innovations in fashion and we were lucky that, right at the start of the internet boom, we had the idea. It was the right idea at the right time.”

WGSN was in the game collating any news about new trends, designs and fashion innovations from around the globe and putting it all in one place, on a subscriber based website for anyone in the industry to access. It sounds like the most simple of ideas, but the good ones always are.

“Whatever we reported was always pretty much in the public domain, but not everyone knew about what was happening on the other side of the world. We gave them access to all the trends.”

When he sold WGSN to global media giant EMAP in 2005, Worth had built an empire employing 172 staff and profits of £4m on a turnover of £15m. Since then he’s been waiting for the next big thing, the next great idea.

But while it must be wonderful having money in the bank and a head full of new and great ideas, Worth does remember a time when life wasn’t so secure.

marc worth “In the internet boom we raised £19.5m and blew it all,” he says. “I remember being down to our last £800,000 and burning money at a rate of £200,000 a month. Everything was on the line. Our homes, our entire lives. Frankly, if it got any worse I wouldn’t have had a pot to piss in.”

But Worth’s determination paid off and there’s one day he still celebrates every year.

“I have to say selling the business was easily the best day of my career to date,” he says. “It was October 12th 2005, red letter day for me and my family. We celebrate that anniversary every year as it provided the security we now enjoy.”

While waiting for that idea to pop into his head he’s been running Aurelius Ventures, his investment firm. But, despite making a few sizeable investments the world of venture capital has not excited him.

“I’ve used Aurelius as a vehicle to invest in companies,” says Worth. “But, to be honest, I’m an entrepreneur, not an investor. I’ve put some money in a few businesses but it’s not gone very far and not truly satisfied me. Being a minority shareholder or a non-executive chairman just doesn’t really do it for me. I’m 48, I’m not retired. I need to build something myself and I’ve been looking for the next big challenge.”

Has he found that challenge? Something that really will get him excited again?

“Actually yes,” he says. “within the next two or three months I’ll be ready to tell you more.”

All Worth will give away is that his new venture will, like WGSN, occupy itself with the world of fashion and offer something unique to the industry.

So it’s a case of ‘wait and see’. But, is launching a business in the midst of a recession such a good idea?

“Absolutely,” says Worth. “Now is absolutely the right time to launch a business. We’re just about to get going with it and I’m confident that in a year or so we’ll be really well placed to benefit from an improvement in the economy. I’m a glass half-full type of person and I’m optimistic about things getting better soon.”

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Comments (1)

Launching an online business in a recession?

Launching an online commercial concern in a recession? in an environment where global GDP has not yet bottomed?...in an environment where global economic activity is in a clear down trend? in an environment where financiers/investors are de-leveraging the last 30 years of irrational exhuberance.... In an environment where the potential ordinary end users of such services are becoming net positive savers as opposed to spenders? In an environment where unemployment is set to continue to steadily increase easily into 2015? in an environment where home price growth has clearly stalled, and set to continue to decline as interest rates can only go up from here.

The over riding core motives behind such an objective can only be to profit from a spin off of such a going concern in the pending wave of IPO's, mergers and aquisitions, and general consolidations pipelined for 2010 to 2012.

It's true that the pursuit of wealth, fuelled by greed requires patsy's to create value for the entrepreneur...What better patsy is there than takers of IPO's in an economic downturn?

I don't think that the world is ready for anymore new big ideas!....entrepreneurs should all focus on bettering, improving & refining the existing ideas already out there rather than drumming up schemes to drain investors for new projects!

Worth & Co. came back from financial ruin only by selling out of the business...why would anyone in their right mind sell a commercial concern that was netting £4m on £15m....this doesn't stack up....in my opinion only crap gets sold off....true entrepreneurs hold on to the gold of any bright idea and scale up as organically as possible!...the worlds gone mad.

seanys , October 10, 2009