Martha Lane Fox, Lastminute.com and Lucky Voice
The government's digital champion on working with Brent Hoberman and the challenges of raising finance from VCs.
Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of Lastminute.com and Lucky Voice,
is one of the UK's most successful female entrepreneurs. Her and
business partner Brett Hoberman set up Lastminute.com which is an
online travel agency and e-tailor which became an icon of the UK
internet boom in the late nineties and early noughties. The company
caused huge controversy when it floated in 2000 and was sold to
Travelocity for £557 million. Martha Lane Fox has gone on to set up
Lucky Voice, the karaoke chain bar and Antigone.org.uk, a grant
giving foundation for start ups or early stage charities in
healthcare, education and criminal justice.
In this video interview the famous entrepreneur talks about her
days with lastminute.com and her successful business partnership
with Hoberman. She talks us through how the partners secured
finance through VC's, how taking a risk can pay off and the
importance of spotting web trends. She also speaks about how she
dealt with the backlash from the shareholders when the company
floated, and her portrayal by the media and herself as a successful
business woman.
Martha Lane Fox also speaks of her latest business venture Lucky
Voice and how Karaoke shouldn't be popular in just Asia. She
details her plans for expansion, concentrating on the hybrid
business model and she gives expert advice on how even off-line
companies should pay close attention to their web based
activity.