Nothing ventured, nothing gained

by Kate Pritchard - Monday, 1st October 2007 -

Reluctant to give up a stake in your business? Scared of losing control? “Don’t be such a muppet,” says Jon Glas, founder of video recruitment site www.jobs2view.com.

31-year-old Glas launched the site in April this year with business partner Harry Vlahakis. They gave up a 50 per cent slice of the company in return for £200k of seed funding from specialist web investment firm Ventutec.

“There aren’t many opportunities where someone comes up to you and says they believe in your idea, they believe in your dream and they’re willing to fund it. Just watch Dragons’ Den,” he says.

“No one is going to fund your business for nothing. My view is that 50 per cent of something is far better than 100 per cent of bugger all.”

The website, an online jobs board, has so far attracted more than 4,000 registered job seekers. Users can download video profiles of themselves and send them to prospective bosses.

The company is currently running free trials but will start charging employers (£150 a month) from November.

Glas bemoans the cost of running a business. “£200k sounds like a lot in seed capital – but that was barely enough to build the website. There’s council tax, office rent, utilities, photocopiers, computers, salaries. Even with just the two of us, it’s costing us £10,000 a month to keep the business afloat.”

But he’s confident about attracting a second round of funding. “We’ve got people knocking down the doors to buy shares off us,” he says. “When you’ve not yet turned a penny over, that’s quite promising.”

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