Mike Southon (writer)

Mike Southon (writer)
Mike Southon
Born England, UK
Occupation Entrepreneur

Mike Southon is a British entrepreneur and author.[1]

Mike Southon was educated at Papplewick School, Ascot (where he was a contemporary of Richard Curtis) and Wellington College, Crowthorne (where in 1967 he met Chris West, who was to become his co-author). He subsequently attended Imperial College London to read mechanical engineering, but left after a year. He worked at Tate & Lyle Research in Reading for a while and then went on to the University of Bradford to read chemical engineering and economics.

Southon has started a number of companies, the most successful of which was The Instruction Set, a Unix training company that was bought out in 1989 by Hoskyns (now Cap Gemini Ernst & Young). He was involved with 17 startup companies during the 1990s, including Riversoft and Micromuse.

More recently, he has written books aimed at entrepreneurs with Chris West, the first of which was The Beermat Entrepreneur.[2] He gives presentations on entrepreneurship and sales and has written columns for the Daily Telegraph, featuring interviews with well-known business people, and now has a weekly column every Saturday in the Financial Times.[3]

Southon is a Visiting Fellow in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at London South Bank University and a Fellow of the Professional Speakers Association.

Mike's alter ego is Mike Fab-Gere, a 60s and 70s rock star.[4] He was also previously the front man and singer for The Oxcentrics, a Dixieland jazz band based in Oxford, in which Chris West also played on drums.[5]

Books

  • The Beermat Entrepreneur: Turn a Good Idea into a Great Business, Mike Southon and Chris West. Prentice Hall, 2002. ISBN 0-273-65929-4. Also 2005, ISBN 0-273-70454-0.
  • The Beermat Entrepreneur — Live, Mike Southon and Chris West. Financial Times / Prentice Hall, 2002. ISBN 0-273-66379-8. (Audio CD.)
  • The Boardroom Entrepreneur, Mike Southon and Chris West. Random House Business Books, 2005. ISBN 1-84413-818-6.
  • Sales on a Beermat, Mike Southon and Chris West. Random House Business Books, 2005. ISBN 1-84413-819-4.
  • Finance on a Beermat, Mike Southon and Chris West. Random House Business Books, 2006. ISBN 1-905211-03-1.
  • This is How Yoodoo it: Great Advice from Some of the UK's Top Thinkers on Entrepreneurship,[6] Mike Southon. Ecademy Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1905823987.

References

  1. ^ About Mike Southon.
  2. ^ The Beermat Entrepreneur.
  3. ^ Mike Southon column, Financial Times.
  4. ^ Mike Fab-Gere.
  5. ^ "The Oxcentrics". Internet Archive. 27 June 2006. http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20071201104837/http://www.jpbowen.com/oxcentrics/. Retrieved May 06, 2011. 
  6. ^ Yoodoo.

External links

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