James Caan

It's been a while since we last spoke to James, since then he has added Chairman of The Big Issue to his CV - not bad. James talks about adapting to his new role and gives some sound advice to start-ups. He also discusses the iawards, which provide a platform for people to showcase their talent in business technology.

How have you been and what have you been up to?

Since we last spoke I was invited to become Chairman of the Big Issue magazine, so I have been quite busy settling into my new role. It's most definitely been an interesting change since I last spoke to you guys. My experience of working with the Big Issue and just being able to see some of the challenges that people are facing in this country has really been quite enlightening. Going forward - I think this will be something that will most certainly be taking up a lot more of my time. We're also currently in the process of filming the new series of Dragons' Den, so we're just in the studios doing that, which has been amazing. Tell us more about the new series of Dragons' Den. We've seen an incredible line up of new entrepreneurs, which is surprising since I expected this year's market (with the current economy) to be quite tough and I therefore predicted that we probably wouldn't seal that many investments. But in fact, it's been the total opposite.

Can you reveal any of the best ideas so far?

Unfortunately not, you'll have to see the show. I've certainly made a few very good investments so it's been very positive from that point of view.

If you had to become another Dragon for a week, who would it be and why?

The Dragon I probably admire the most is Deborah. She has a fantastic ability to really understand businesses very quickly. Her questioning techniques are amazing and when you've only got literally 20 minutes to unravel a business, I would say she probably is the most competent at doing that.

Have you experienced any conflict with any of the other Dragons as yet throughout the new series?

The Den is a very competitive environment with five individual entrepreneurs who are all looking for the next best idea. When an opportunity arises, it's understandable that there's always going to be competition from each of the Dragons who want the deal or want to maximise on the equity. Business itself is competitive and you immediately enter into a competitive environment where everybody wants to win. But that's part of the appeal of the show.

What advice would you give to business partners that have fallen out over conflicting opinions relating to business?

The only advice I would give is that if you're working with strong individual entrepreneurs who are successful, you must understand that by and large strong individuals are not 'yes' people; you can never always be right and everybody's going to have a strong point of view and opinion. The thing to remember is that ultimately you can't win every battle, what you want to do is win the war. Tell us more about the iawards whose aim is to identify and promote new British technologies. The iawards is really a celebration of some of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs in businesses and to demonstrate that the UK is actually a very innovative and creative country. I was working with the minister for science and technology – Paul Drayson whose primary objective was to try and expand the acknowledgement of science and technology. There are so many very interesting projects that are out there that we just don't talk about or celebrate. So the iawards was really an opportunity to showcase some of Britain's talent in business technology.

In your opinion, what is the most innovative British designed and manufactured device that has failed to receive acclamation in this country?

One of the things that probably surprised me the most was just how many technology based manufacturing businesses were British. For example, The Vertu phone, which is probably the most expensive phone in the world, is made and manufactured in England. It's a beautiful device and expensive (it retails roughly between £5,000 and £50,000) but probably the most successful and well-regarded phone in the world. But the astonishing fact that you just wouldn't imagine is that we're actually manufacturing phones in this country.

What has been your biggest setback so far and how have you managed to overcome this problem?

I think the last couple of years have been very challenging and I have invested quite a lot of my time trying to steer businesses in the right direction. There have been so many businesses that I'm involved with who have found it extremely difficult to overcome the recession. So many of the people I have invested in have now started to cut back by reducing their staff numbers, cutting their cost base, having to find new markets for instance, force themselves to maybe expand into exporting and I think, in that respect it has been an incredibly challenging experience for a lot of businesses.

What do you think has been the most useful advice that you've given to businesses that have experienced suffering as a result of the recession?

For a lot of businesses the advice that I would give is to make sure that they've got their pricing right, look at their cost base, make sure that much of their cost is variable rather than fixed and also to make sure that the business is productive in the current environment. If there are parts of the business that are not productive or profitable then you've got to take a very rational view on that.

Which key factors do you believe have made you such an inspirational and successful role model to aspiring individuals?

I think that you've got to believe in yourself and you've got to recognise that life is a journey so there's going to be plenty of ups and downs. I can remember those periods in my business career where I didn't have enough money to pay wages and the business nearly collapsed. I think the lesson really is that you've got to be able to understand that business moves in cycles, you're going to enjoy some really good periods, but the true estimate of an entrepreneur is not how you perform when things are going really well, but also how you perform when things are really tough. It's about remembering that ultimately success is not about you, it's about the people that you have around you, because although entrepreneurs create vision and direction, they ultimately need good people to help execute those visions. Having the ability to attract the right people who you can build good relationships with is absolutely critical and assists in securing your vision and executing your ideas.

What motivates you and where do you get your inspiration from?

My father was very much my mentor, I looked to him in times of difficulty and times of need, where I may have lost direction or found that I had hit a dead end. Personally, my motivating factor is probably the fear of failure. When you are fortunate to have done well, typically there's only one way to go, so I suppose that once you've arrived in a position where you feel that you've achieved something, the motivation is then not to drop the ball.