Article Readers since February 8th, 2017:

Monday 2 December 2019

Affordable advice for the World’s smallest business


Interview of Duncan Collins, Founder of Runagood by Christian Dillstrom



Interview of Duncan Collins, Founder of Runagood by Christian Dillstrom



My name is Christian Dillstrom and I am an international growth hacker with over 10 years of experience. Also, I am the most read business article author in the World for fourth year running.

My tens of millions of monthly global business readers just love to read interviews about their peers and therefore I started an article series in which I interview interesting business people around the globe.

Please enjoy my interview of Duncan Collins!

-- Christian Dillstrom

- - -


WHO IS DUNCAN COLLINS?
Duncan is 73 years old Founder from London, UK.
He works at Runagood.com Ltd in AI-driven Business Consultancy industry.


ESSENTIAL 11 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. What is your education?
I was expelled from the UK’s top state grammar school for being a poor student caused by spending so much time with classmates out of school who became Pink Floyd.

I joined a motor parts business to be trained as the founder’s childless successor and embarked upon a three year management development programme at a top business school. It was the precursor to what is now a practical MBA, if there is such a thing.

2. What is your work experience?
  • 7 years managing motor parts branches
  • 3 years managing Volkswagen UK motor parts distribution
  • 13 years in the Mazda Cars UK start up first, setting up the dealer network, then directing the after sales service operations
  • 3 years directing MCL Group’s £20m diversification strategy, including Ferrari cars acquisition
  • 22 years leading UK government multi £billion small business performance improvement strategy that raised international competitiveness from 21st to 7th place
  • 10 years building artificial intelligence (AI) to make business advice available to, and affordable by, the world’s smallest businesses

3. What other kind of experience do you have?
  • Franchising
  • Import/export
  • Network management
  • People management
  • Financial management
  • Technology development
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Start ups
  • Fundraising

4. What are your strengths?
  • Visioning
  • Invention
  • Product development
  • Leadership
  • Persistence
  • Problem solving

5. What are your weaknesses?
  • Idealism
  • Perfectionism
  • Refusal to quit
  • Risk taking
  • Impatience

6. What can you do for an organization?
I can turn any professional services firm into a profitable ‘Whole Business’ Centre able to solve every problem for any business affordably yet profitably.

7. Why are you better than your colleagues in other organizations?
I have no competition. And actually that’s a problem because what I’ve invented doesn’t fit any recognisable box. It’s a ‘new box!’

8. What are the biggest challenges in your work?
Persuading accountants to convert their practices to Runagood® Business Centres. This is tailor made for them and they know it but their standard personality profile conflicts with the need to do something that will rescue them from decline in compliance work. It’s a paradox!

9. What does your organization do in its industry?
Makes affordable advice available to the world’s smallest businesses by reducing costs by 99%. Yes that’s not a a misprint! And despite that it’s still profitable for accountants to deliver. They are the most logical distribution method and are badly in need of diversification into ’whole business’ advice.

10.What are the unique selling points of your organization?
  • The speed and low cost of providing performance and value improvement to any business, anywhere, anytime
  • Democratising business advice

11.What are the biggest sales challenges in the industry of your organization?
  • Conservative attitudes amongst accountancy practices
  • Scepticism in the business advisory community, institutions and government, despite my offering free usage of the online technology.
  • A desire to shoot down anything new
  • Fear from lenders and investors.
  • Having to finance everything myself
- - -

You know, we are born with a five-million-year-old reptile brain which is programmed to instantly decide when confronted with something new:
- ”Can I eat this?”
- ”Can it eat me?”
- ...If in doubt, run!

The trick I need to master is how better to engage the recent homo sapiens brain, and for long enough, to evaluate the sheer scale of the opportunity. In the UK alone this is a £16bn per annum market for the taking. Worlwide, more than £250bn pa.

So what does Runagood® AI technology do?
For any business, anywhere, anytime, in 10 minute bites, it:
  • Analyses current, detailed performance and value for every activity stream
  • Forecasts future, detailed performance and value for every activity stream
  • Compiles detailed plans for specific and detailed performance and value improvement
  • Identifies the practical actions to take
  • Provides implementation support through a local, certified, AI Business Advisor®