LastWord
“ Q
What was your first job and what was the pay packet?
My first full-time job was designing and programming fruit machines. I was paid £125 per week.
Q
A professional sportsman. When I was younger I competed in motorsport, and worked my up to Formula 3, before running out of funds due to lack of sponsorship.
Q Q
What do you always carry with you to work?
If you could do another job what would it be?
As a business person, what are your three main qualities?
Creativity in developing new ideas
I take my dog Baxter to work every day if he
Being calm under pressure
counts! He’s become a bit of a legend in the
Being a team player
office.
Q Q
What is the biggest challenge facing your business?
Finding talented IT staff - there seems to be a shortage of experienced IT staff. Our close proximity to London makes it tougher too, as it’s
In 1999 at the age of 22 I founded LCN.com Ltd and over the course of nearly 14 years I grew the company to become one of the largest web hosting companies in the UK. LCN currently manages over 350,000 websites and has more than 200,000 customers.
often hard to compete on salary.
Q Q
Patrons
50
INSPIRE
If you were Prime Minister, what one thing would you change to help business?
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Have absolute belief in what you can achieve. If you work hard and aspire to reach for your dreams, you’ll be surprised at what you’re capable of achieving.
I’d like to see bigger tax breaks for smaller businesses and young entrepreneurs.
Q Q
In 2005, the demand for enterprise hosting solutions grew rapidly within the UK. In the same year I responded to this demand by launching ServerChoice, which provides clients with highly secure managed/cloud hosting and data centre services.
I can’t think of any big mistakes that stand out. Of course there are things that I have done which didn’t work out for one reason or another, but I always try to take a positive view and ensure the same mistake doesn’t happen again.
What can you see from your office window?
Nothing exotic unfortunately; just other offices in the business park where we are based.
Who do you most admire in business?
There is no one person who I admire above all others, but there are lots of people who inspire me in different ways. I’d recommend people read Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, which is a particularly inspiring story.
“
Mark Boost ServerChoice Ltd / LCN.com Ltd CEO and Founder
What was your biggest mistake in business?