The secrets of our success: London start-up founders share their tips at Standard expo

ALMOST 5,000 founders of London's start-ups and scale-ups as well as senior business leaders flocked to this week's SMEXPO event hailed by retail tycoon Theo Paphitis as "inspirational and essential".

- Lucy Tobin

Entrepreneurs behind new and established businesses swapped practical advice to boost their profits.

Ready meal maker Charlie Bigham sells £150 million worth of food a year, but told the SME XPO audience that he started by cold-calling Waitrose's switchboard to pitch his idea. The foodie said he could "dispel the myth that it's very difficult for a start-up to get onto the shelves of a big retailer," adding: “Even the biggest retailer will be open to new ideas. Innovation is key to all businesses, or they wither and die."

Paphitis, who owns Rymans and Robert Dyas, was interviewed by Evening Standard editor-in-chief Dylan Jones - but confessed that he had not always been able to speak up. "I wasn't confident at school. I was dyslexic, and classified as thick," he said. "I was terrible at interviews, my mouth would dry up and I wouldn't be able to breathe properly, so I couldn't get a job."

Paphitis concluded that "the energy, enthusiasm and the hope that all these new start-up businesses at SME XPO have, continues to fuel me."