I gave a presentation at my old high school on the topic of "things I wish I'd known back then". It was part motivational, part educational. The slides don't tell the full story, but hopefully they'll be useful to someone.

1. I wish I knew… Will Critchlow Founder, Distilled (2005-) Alumnus, St. Aidan’s (1991-1998)

2. This is my best friend – we met playing basketball at St. Aidan’s in 1991

3. This is my brother – he left St. Aidan’s in 2001

4. Somehow, we’ve grown a decent business

5. It wasn’t always this way – back in 1997, we made £800 and got sued.

6. In 2005, we made a go of it – we made £36,000 in revenue and learnt the value of getting things in writing

7. Overnight success takes years It’s really easy to stop here

8. We didn’t make a business plan – we got talked into college, then “sensible jobs” – which earnt significantly more than the business initially http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianvisits/5458806574/

9. Can I have some advice please?

10. Stop worrying what others’ think. Things don’t always work out great for the cool kids

11. Hang out with people who are smarter than you: you will come to resemble the people you hang out with

12. Business friends rock – you don’t get a network at “networking events”. Just like you don’t make friends at “friend events”

13. No, you can’t have a pony – you aren’t owed anything. Make your own way. Lead without permission Not yours Idea unashamedly from: http://media.b-list.org/presentations/2008/djangocon/reusable_apps.pdf

14. Curiosity is your best asset – I learnt Python and Django to (help) build our video store. It made $15,000 in its first month

15. NBED How to get hired – example of Ed Anyone can get hired – don’t scatter-gun CVs. Choose where you want to work and impress the hell out of them A guy younger than you lot made this to impress us

16. “For everyone who comes in here talking about the team they are going to hire, there are three others out there that did hire people” http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/01/28/on-leadership-teams-success-happiness/

17. Read these books: http://dis.tl/j53cJghttp://dis.tl/kgbEqrhttp://dis.tl/mqxG0j

18. “You need to make cold calls every single day otherwise your business will wither and die”. We didn’t. It didn’t.

19. Once you leave college, it’s not cheating any more – attribute sources, but copy away. Give yourself unfair advantages http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/05/whats-high-school-for.html

20. From here on out, do something you love– if you don’t, you’re “doing it wrong”

21. I hope I’ve given you some useful advice. Remember as you make your way into the world that most people don’t know what they’re doing “Never compare your inside to someone else’s outside”

22. Will Critchlow, Head of R&D Feel free to give me a shout with any questions or for any further advice you need.

23. Credits Bothsidesofthetable.com Failblog.org media.b-list.org/presentations/2008/djangocon/reusable_apps.pdf Sethgodin.typepad.com www.flickr.com/photos/ianvisits/5458806574/