Venture capital meets Pop Idol

Entrepreneurship does not seem to get a very fair run on our main terrestrial television channels, as far as I can tell. The BBC is a particular offender. So credit is due to the BBC for a programme that shows how contestants with business ideas compete for money and interest from a panel of venture capitalists.

I watched the programme on Tuesday evening, and after my initial reservations about the format I became pretty engrossed. At the end, the final contestant, who eventually negotiated a deal where the others had failed, came across as such a smart fellow that I would have invested my own meagre funds in his idea.

The impression I got was that the producers asked the panel of VCs to play the role of flint-faced, capitalist bastard. They certainly succeeded. I disliked all of them intensely. No doubt that was the goal of the producers, but despite all that, I could not fail to be impressed by the enthusiasm of the wanna-be entrepreneurs.

The BBC may not fully realise it, but it is spreading the entrepreneurial meme.