Sarah McVittie and Thomas Roberts

"We went from earning a big, fat corporate salary to cycling everywhere and living off beans on toast." Motorbike fanatic Sarah McVittie and self-confessed “mobile phone tart” Thomas Roberts tell us why they quit their high-flying City jobs to set up question-and-answer SMS service Texperts – and why they still don't flash the cash.

Charlie Mullins

"I'm very fussy about who I employ. I want top plumbers, not layabouts. Let's face it: no one wants a sloppy bastard with his arse hanging out his pants wandering around their house." Charlie Mullins, the founder of £15m-turnover Pimlico Plumbers, talks about builders' bums, female plumbers and unblocking Gordon Ramsay's drains.

James Caan

"I didn’t have a lot of money. I didn’t own a house. And I didn’t have any savings. So I went to the bank and tried to convince them to give me a loan. They turned me down."

He's a serial entrepreneur, a venture capitalist and the multi-millionaire star of Dragons' Den – but even the smooth-talking James Caan had trouble funding his first business. Here the CEO of private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw talks about start-ups, set-backs and success.