Business coach Dean Williams is all about the bottom line. But revenues and profits don't grow themselves. Here are his top three rules for engaging your staff: how to keep them motivated and happy - and make sure they don't run off to the competition, taking their smart, money-making ideas with them.

Dragons' Den investor Duncan Bannatyne has received a blackmail attempt via Twitter. The user, handle @YuriVasilev_, threatens to harm Bannatyne's daughter unless a £35,000 'investment' is made. Bannatyne has turned to Twitter for help, offering a £30,000 reward for tracking down the blackmailer's identity.

Victoria Novis launched Nuba Cocktails in March this year. Her range of premium ready-made cocktails may only boast three flavours - Cosmopolitan, Mojito and Mai Tai - but the firm is already winning plaudits (Best In-flight Food or Beverage Product 2011, no less). Ex-Innocent chairman Jules Hydleman recently joined the board. This is definitely one to watch. Novis has this 60-second business pitch.

Digital Sky Technologies (DST), the Russia-based venture capitalist firm, has just invested a reported $400m in Twitter for an undisclosed stake. Twitter updated its blog yesterday with news of the deal, saying "We will use these resources to aggressively innovate, hire more great people and invest in international expansion."

Another week, another jaw-dropping discount from Viking. This time around, we've got ten Niceday archive boxes for just £9.90, down from £37.99. Now that's a deal to take stock of.

Would you like Doug Richard to come round and sort your bills for you? Wouldn't we all! One lucky landladygot her wish. Victoria Kevans of the aptly-named Victoria pub in Hitchin put the ex-Dragon to work on her energy outgoings. He found a fair few savings for her, with a little help from Make It Cheaper.

The School for Creative Startups is a hugely ambitious project looking to arm London-based creative start-ups with the business skills and nous to really thrive in 2011. The brainchild of none other than ex-Dragon and School for Startups founder Doug Richard, this project needs help - your help. Programme director Medeia Cohan-Petrolino explains how you can get involved with the project as a mentor and why it will make a real difference to a new entrepreneur.

A human cannonball. A toilet splash-back preventer. A horn warmer. Dragons' Den is back and it's wackier than ever. Series nine kicked off last night with a new look intro (very Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-esque)  and a brilliantly entertaining (if occasionally daft) series of young businesses. Gravel-voiced new Dragon Hilary Devey showed her mettle, Duncan Bannatyne threw his toys out of the pram, while Theo Paphitis and Deborah Meaden snatched a lucrative investment from the jaws of their fellow Dragons. One episode in and we're hooked.

Business secretary Vince Cable has announced plans to cull around two-thirds of the 257 regulations currently imposed on retailers. As part of the Coalition's 'red tape challenge', 130 pieces of outdated legislation will bite the dust and a further 30 rules will be simplified to reduce the regulatory burden on small retailers. The first humdingers to go include the chocolate liqueur licence and the £35-a-year fee to sell fly spray, household bleach and other poisonous products.

Summer's been a bit of a washout so far. We haven't had much glorious sunshine but we've had hot, muggy days galore. August is set to be a scorcher, however. When human capital firm CareerBuilder quizzed 2,500 firms about the impact of summer weather on their businesses, one in four employers said that as the thermometer creeps up, productivity levels fall rapidly. Here's a nifty infographic showing just that. Everyone is either preparing for, recovering from or pining for a summer holiday. So how can you get the best out of your staff when temperatures soar? We have these top five tips.