I must have been around 8 or 9 when I contracted jaundice. It was awful. I can still remember the horror of watching my eyes and skin go yellow, watching everything I touched stain yellow, feeling feverish all the time, unable to sleep, unable to relax.

A business needs customers – they bring purpose, ideas, and above all revenue. But not all customers are equal. Some companies focus on sheer customer numbers in much the same way they focus on turnover instead of profitability.

It looks like Crowdonomics will arrive with at least a small earthquake centred on Hatfield. Crowdonomics was only conceived at the start of January 2013 and is to be 'born', presented to the world, on 26th February, as a key part of the UKs first National Crowdfunding Conference entitled Crowdfunding: Deep Impact.

As a founder and CEO of a small business, I have spent a lot of time researching the best strategies to acquire online customers, but retain them too. This customer acquisition journey is crucial for our success and should be for every business.

I am fond of quoting that about 70% of my investment decision of an early-stage company is the team. My rationale is simple: everything goes wrong and only great teams can respond to competitors, markets, funding environments, staff departures, PR disasters and the like.

As Amazon’s Jeff Bezos famously said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Leading a dynamic, entrepreneurial SME is often akin to the battle of David and Goliath. To win against the big fish you need to be clever and exploit their vulnerabilities; their tendency to become slow moving, tied up in decision-making hierarchies and distanced from the customer.

Gen X, Gen Y, Gen i and other labels attempt to define a generation and their needs, wants, desires and thoughts.

Peter Ferdinand Drucker has influenced a great deal of my thinking, particularly about management, about about organisations, about all of business, but in particular, about the customer.