Great interview with Warren East, CEO of ARM Holdings with our media partner Business Weekly in advance of this year’s BLN Growth Forum. Warren will be talking about what, ‘BIG’ actually means. Really delighted he was able to spend some time sharing some of his thoughts in advance.
Some selected highlights below but read the full article at Business Weekly:
‘East is a keynote speaker at the BLN Growth Forum in Cambridge on July 5 and has some stimulating experiences to share with delegates. His take on ARM’s status in the global pantheon and how the company has leveraged its low points to ensure it hits the highs will inspire and surprise in equal measure.
‘He said: “‘Big’ can be measured in a number of different ways. ARM has tremendous influence on a global scale; it has the leading architecture in the world. In terms of volume of chips shipped we are neck and neck with Intel.
‘“But ARM on its own is tiny. Everyone thinks we are a massive organisation and at one level, taking account of the ARM community, we are. We can stretch the world over. But we are still less than 2,000 people and less than $3/4bn revenue.”
‘He said: “I wouldn’t be human if I wasn’t proud of the fact we had matched Intel. But I am realistic. Intel’s marketing budget dwarfs our revenue. We have an alternative business model, great technology and a great team of people and it is by leveraging our alternative model that we can compete with Intel.”
‘“With the BLN Growth Forum in mind and the general issue of how big Cambridge companies may wish to get, I certainly think that executives should embrace the opportunity for growth. One of my sayings is that things get done by doing and failure to apply guarantees failure. There is nothing wrong in setting the bar higher so your people have something to attain to.
‘“You can’t get something for nothing in this world. Of course scaling up a company is difficult; of course it’s challenging and the difficulty is always finding the right balance.
‘“I appreciate I am talking from a position of relative strength – I’m in the best job in Cambridge. I am hugely fortunate because ARM is just such a great company to run. But other Cambridge companies can aspire to emulate our achievements and should be given every encouragement to do so.”’ Read the full article at Business Weekly.
BLN Growth Forum, 5th July 2011.
Themes:
- Making it big – targeting big markets and maintaining your lead.
- Successful sales– making profitable sales a core goal. How to sell against market leaders.
- Putting people first – creating a culture to attract and retain the people you need.
- Growth strategies – maximising value from startup to IPO and beyond.
Speakers:
- Jonathan Milner, Founder & CEO, Abcam
- Warren East, CEO, ARM
- Neil Gaydon, CEO, PACE plc
- Stuart Miller, CEO, ByBox
- Mo Bulbrook, Head of International, Cheapflights Media
- Tim Weller, CEO, Incisive Media
- Mary Turner, CEO, AlertMe
- Martin Leuw, NED, IRIS Software Group
- Mark Gerhard, CEO, Jagex Games Studio
- Ariel Eckstein, Managing Director EMEA, LinkedIn
- Peter Bauer, CEO, Mimecast
- Nigel Payne, Director and Prev CEO, Sporting Bet plc
- Andy Leaver, VP EMEA, Workday
Supporters:
- The Growth Forum is produced by the BLN in partnership with BDO.
- The Growth Forum is supported by BDO, Mills and Reeve, Kleinwort Benson, Intel Capital
- Media Partner Business Weekly