VENT: Lord Sugar - Easy to start a business

paddyrg

Oh dear, just because I don't think the self-proclaimed legend of Alan Sugar completely marries with the self-apparent evidence, I am called 'jealous'. Except I'm not. I wouldn't want to swap lives with him in the least. I'm actually a believer in entrepreneurial spirit, and have had a few companies over the years, some more successful than others, sure, but likewise AS's portfolio. You should see my generally positive and supportive posts over in the Small Business forum if you want to see my attitude. I don't begrudge him his money, I don't begrudge you yours either. Why would I? I just don't think he is the hero he's portrayed as. He has made many questionable decisions, some financially, some ethically. But it is not hard to make money if all you want to do is make money.

System

DebtHater wrote: »

To be honest, I think Lord Sugar is probably his own biggest fan. He bangs on about having all the skills and the knowledge, but I dont really see a lot of evidence of that? The biggest company he owns is Amstrad, but they arent exactly the best in their market.

Credit where its due, he has achieved a lot in his life but he seems to think he has done enough to then go on and make TV shows where he blows his own trumpet every chance he gets.

When the Apprentice first came about, I thought that Sugar could have been seen to be an inspiration. But every TV series that goes by, the more people are seeing him for what he really is. A fairly succesful business man who is trying to get more than his 15 minutes worth of fame.

But from an entertainment point of view, I do enjoy watching the show. But the contestants? Some of the most irritating people I have ever seen.

He sold Amstrad a few years ago for a very large sum of money. Amstrad I think make the majority of the boxes for Sky so in actual fact are very successful. I think people get confused because Amstrad pc's are no longer on the market, however they stopped making them years ago and switched to a far more profitable market. I'm not soo sure why I am defending him so strongly as personally I don't like the man! I just think you have to respect what he has done in business.

System

paddyrg wrote: »

Oh dear, just because I don't think the self-proclaimed legend of Alan Sugar completely marries with the self-apparent evidence, I am called 'jealous'. Except I'm not. I wouldn't want to swap lives with him in the least. I'm actually a believer in entrepreneurial spirit, and have had a few companies over the years, some more successful than others, sure, but likewise AS's portfolio. You should see my generally positive and supportive posts over in the Small Business forum if you want to see my attitude. I don't begrudge him his money, I don't begrudge you yours either. Why would I? I just don't think he is the hero he's portrayed as. He has made many questionable decisions, some financially, some ethically. But it is not hard to make money if all you want to do is make money.

It seems like you support small business's, however if a small business became successful and the owner became very rich off the back of it that you would resent it? I'm not sure that is a good approach to have in life. I don't see why you would have bothered to post negatively about a man whose success you claim you don't have a problem with? Like i keep on saying I don't like the man, however you have to respect the business knowledge and ability of a man who came from nothing to where he is now.

Mistral001

The Apprentice is just entertainment.

It is just show business and you should not take it at all seriously.

Afterall its never likely that people like Alan Sugar would get any say on how the country is run any more than Arthur Daley or Graham Norton would - its just entertainment.

Oh wait a minute .........

Thefelix

A friend at uni was put on the shortlist for this season. I'm sure he'd have made it if only it weren't for his lack of a ridiculous CV line or two.

"I'm like a really fine tuned switch. If I need to turn it down then I turn it down. If I need to turn it up then I turn it up" is my favourite. Thanks Natasha!

TheSaint_2

As others have said - he made his millions from property speculation, not "hard graft" as he would have you believe.

Amstrad was a joke, he did well to get the set top box contract from SKY (note he only made boxes for sky). Sky bought 50% of the company as a result, and then eventually bought it outright.

From a mixture of luck and some good decisions he has made his money - but to be fair that is how most people do it

What got my goat was that the boys lost with the app! They made a mistake on the description which lost them the downloads, but I would imagine if they had based the task on user rating they would have won. The girls app was sooo appalling!

Thefelix

Its definitely a show everyone loves to hate though. Without the amount of people who watch it only to get annoyed by all its failings or for the people who make idiots of themselves etc. it would never get any ratings

liam8282

TheSaint wrote: »

Amstrad was a joke, he did well to get the set top box contract from SKY (note he only made boxes for sky). Sky bought 50% of the company as a result, and then eventually bought it outright.

Was that deal done around the time of the football on tv rights deal by any chance, which was mentioned earlier?

He gave the info of a rival bid, so they used his company to produce the boxes?

DCFC79

liam8282 wrote: »

Was that deal done around the time of the football on tv rights deal by any chance, which was mentioned earlier?

He gave the info of a rival bid, so they used his company to produce the boxes?

before the bidding started some of the others who were to vote on the bids said sugar had a conflict of interest as he made the boxes for sky and sugar was still voted to have his vote, itv had put a bid in for about 300 mill and sugar contacted sky and said "look you have to up your bid" which sky did,

it was on that program sugar did about football and finance on bbc1

Azari

goater78 wrote: »

You can dispute his claims all you like but was this not how he started out? I admit the show is dumbed down TV e.g. "If the sky's the limit then why are there footprints on the moon". I think the girls made a profit of about £400 you do that 5 days a week that is over £100K a year. I believe you can easily cover the above mentioned costs and walk away with a respectable profit.

Except that they made nowhere near that profit.

There were eight of them and they were working for around 16 hours so even at minimum wage they made a loss. Not to mention all the things mentioned in the OP.