Startups

David advises startups as well as high-growth businesses in the fields of design, media, technology and other creative sectors.

He is also a keynote speaker on business models and business growth in the creative and digital industries at events and conferences for startups.

Hundreds of creative and digital start-ups have benefited from David’s creative industries business advice, coaching, mentoring, training workshops, books and presentations.

David Parrish. Serbia Startup Bootcamp
David Parrish at the Serbia Startup Bootcamp

 

“David´s engagement and visit to SPARK business park has been an amazing motivation to our startups (internal workshops) and general audience (open event – “Creative marketing”), with concrete outputs when it comes to them creating new marketing strategies, adapting the existing ones and forming brand new ideas with David. The startups have been talking about David´s amazing advice and encouragement for long after he left SPARK and he certainly made a significant impact on our community – especially through follow ups and being open to further communication and collaboration as a future mentor to our startups. We appreciate the enthusiasm and all the stories that he shared with us. Also, SPARK team had the pleasure to have very interesting conversations with David and his insightful observations improved our perspective on our startups, ourselves as a team and the IT eco-system as a whole.”
Sara Lerota. SPARK Business Park. Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
www.spark.ba

“David inspired fashion entrepreneurs with his masterclass at the beginning of the 2nd call final assessment event WORTH Weekend in Valencia, inspiring over 220 participants from 27 European countries. His entertaining message was that we can be creative in the way we do business, using creative business models, and he illustrated his points with practice-oriented examples from around the world”.
Zicri A. Montiel. WORTH Partnership Project. Spain.

“As we launched our creative incubator Artbox, David Parrish proved to be a powerful ally – working closely with us over several weeks and ultimately bringing his great insights and experience to a very important first session that set the tone for the rest of the incubator. Our 29 creative teams found him to be continuously inspiring, informative, and sensitive to the various needs and concerns of everyone involved.”
Creative Armenia
www.creativearmenia.org

“Being a start-up, these masterclasses were insightful and very educational. I loved how the presentations and the classes were conducted; one could openly and easily ask questions. Examples given by David made it easier to understand and relate to, and gave a deeper meaning to the topics discussed. David’s sharing of mistakes that he has made as an entrepreneur was a learning tool. Thank you. And David provided us with so much informative information, links, books, and materials to read. Wow! We are truly grateful. Thank you.”
Lorato Charlie. Gaborone, Botswana.

David works internationally helping creative and digital enterprises become even more successful. He does this by working with creative entrepreneurs to devise business models and marketing strategies that achieve success.

David advised Creative Armenia on its Artbox incubator programme for startups. He also delivered the project’s first workshop and provided further support for its 29 startups. (more…)

In partnership with the Tunisian Startups Association, David gave an interactive webinar: “Creative Strategies for Survival in a Crisis”. (more…)

David spoke at the WORTH Partnership Project Weekend in Spain. He gave a speech in Valencia for European startups in the designer fashion industry, presented as a Masterclass on ‘How to be a Successful Creative Entrepreneur’. (more…)

In a partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Madras, David delivered a workshop on Strategic Planning for startups (more…)

He was a guest speaker to startup entrepreneurs at the Futuremakers Programme at Young Africa Botswana, in Gaborone, Botswana (more…)

In partnership with Creative England, David delivered a ‘Jumpstart Your Business’ webinar for startups and early stage businesses (more…)

David worked with startups at E3 Youth Development Hub in South Africa, delivering a workshop for startup entrepreneurs and speaking at a creative industries event featuring startups (more…)

At the PODIM Startup conference in Slovenia, David delivered an interactive workshop “Doing Business in the Creative Industries” for creative and digital startup entrepreneurs.  (more…)

He spoke at the Digital Ecosystem Conference organised by EIKEN in Bilbao, Spain. He gave a keynote speech on New Business Opportunities in the Digital Age for AudioVisual and other digital, design and technology businesses, including startups. David outlined several business models used in the Digital Economy. (more…)

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, David gave a presentation to digital businesses, startups and other entrepreneurs on the subject of ‘Business Creativity Around the World’. (more…)

In Chiang Mai, Thailand, David made a business creativity speech to digital startups and entrepreneurs in the creative and digital economy: ‘How to Profit from Creativity in Business: Think Creatively to Achieve Success’. (more…)

In Kosovo, David spoke to digital startups and entrepreneurs about Digital Economy Business Growth at Innovation Centre Kosovo (ICK) in his speech: “Business Growth in the Creative and Digital Economy” (more…)

In the United Kingdom, David has made speeches, delivered workshops, and provided business advice to digital businesses in the business sectors of computer games, IT, apps, digital marketing, technology, animation, film and video.

In Bosnia & Herzegovina, David delivered a business growth workshop for technology, IT and digital businesses at SPARK Business Park in Mostar. He also gave a presentation about marketing for digital enterprises. David is one of the mentors for digital startups at SPARK Business Park. (more...)

In Kazakhstan, David gave an interactive workshop on business development to startups and other creative enterprises at Impact Hub Almaty (more…)

David is a startup mentor at SPARK Business Park in Mostar. He worked with the Swiss EP project at Swisscontact to deliver workshops for startups at SPARK Business Park in Mostar, Innovation Centre Banja Luka and at Networks in Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina,

In Serbia, he is a startup mentor and was a judge at the Serbia Startup event, which was also the Serbian national finals for the Creative Business Cup. (more…)

In Bulgaria, David presented an interactive creative business development workshop on Combining Creativity and Business for digital startups and other creative businesses at Biz Labs in Plovdiv (more…)

In the United Kingdom he has advised many startups in the creative and digital industries.

In Ireland, David is working with startups and other potential high-growth businesses in the creative and digital industries through the Generate Programme (more…)

In Malaysia, David gave a presentation on business models in the creative and digital industries to startups based at Startup Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

David Parrish speaking about Startups in Kuala Lumpur
David speaking about Startups in Kuala Lumpur at Startup Malaysia

 

“Great talk. David has a special talent to illustrate complex issues in very easy way, which I find very inspiring.”
Katka Letzing. Startup Malaysia
www.startupmalaysia.org

“Creative businesses and digital startups found David’s interactive workshop to be interesting, entertaining and inspiring. From my experience as a startup founder I think his knowledge and experience will help the businesses at Biz Labs achieve both creative and commercial success.”
Ivan Dzheferov
Co-Founder at Biz Labs. Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
http://bizlabs.eu/en/

“As a startup everything we do matters, every choice to do something is a choice not to do another and our survival as a company depends on us making the right choices. The choice to work with David was definitely the right one. We had a limited amount of time working together on our first project for the company and in less than two days time we had crafted a cohesive short term and long term strategy that provides for desired growth, protects our IP, enables investment, and allows us to retain creative control of our technology. David’s ability to listen to your situation, to understand it, and then determine a course of action based on your specific needs and goals is rare and a makes David a joy to work with.”
Aric Wanveer
Zero Gravity Creations LLC, Baltimore, USA
www.zerogravitycreations.com

“David is a great mentor and business coach. He is very responsive to our needs and understands the complicated business models of the Creative Industries”
Jon Wetherall
Managing Director. Cool Game Arcade Ltd
http://coolgamearcade.com/

“David is such an inspiration! Just when I ask countless questions like: What exactly have I begun? Does it make sense? Am I crazy? Will the forces reach me?… David appears with the right words and gives me enough strength and confidence to continue boldly. I’m happy to have met David and I’m lucky that he’s my mentor. Thank you!”
Sonya Pepelyashkova. The Motley Crow. Donegal, Ireland.
www.motleycrow.ie

“As we launched our creative incubator Artbox, David Parrish proved to be a powerful ally – working closely with us over several weeks and ultimately bringing his great insights and experience to a very important first session that set the tone for the rest of the incubator. Our 29 creative teams found him to be continuously inspiring, informative, and sensitive to the various needs and concerns of everyone involved.”
Creative Armenia
www.creativearmenia.org

David’s first book ‘T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity’ has been described as a ‘bible for startups’ and is also highly acclaimed by creative entrepreneurs in established and high growth businesses.

David Parrish with startup workshop participants in Bilbao, Spain
David Parrish with startup workshop participants in Bilbao, Spain

 

David’s startup workshops include ‘Designing Your Creative Business‘ and a range of other business development workshops dealing with marketing, pricing, intellectual property, financial management, business growth and leadership.

Successful creative startups integrate creativity and business. David’s T-Shirts and Suits® approach helps creative people (‘T-Shirts’) use smart business thinking (‘Suits’).

David’s work is internationally acclaimed. He helps clients by drawing on his own direct experience as an entrepreneur as well as his work helping hundreds of creative and digital businesses around the world. His direct experience is backed up by academic qualifications and professional accreditations.

David has helped hundreds of businesses (including startups) in more than 60 countries to achieve greater success on their own terms, using smart business development techniques that fit with their creativity, ambitions and values.

David is a popular and inspiring keynote speaker at startup conference and startup events world wide. He is one of the most respected creative industries keynote speakers on creative enterprise, the creative economy, and creativity in business. His speaks about startup management as well as issues for more established businesses. He specialises in speaking at conferences and events for creative, digital and cultural enterprises including design, media and technology businesses. David is listed as a TED Speaker and was the keynote speaker at TEDx Napoli on the subject of creativity.

David speaks at startup events, conferences, conventions and other meetings on subjects including:

  • Business Growth in the Creative and Digital Industries.
  • Creative Business in the Digital Economy. Creative business models for the digital economy worldwide.
  • How to be a Creative Entrepreneur. Combining creative passion with smart business techniques to achieve startup success.
  • Marketing Strategically. How to increase sales and profits by focusing on the right kinds of customers.
  • How to Make Money While You Sleep. Creating, protecting and licensing intellectual property to generate new income streams.
  • New Business Models in the Creative Industries. New ways to raise finance, engage with customers and sell creative products and services.
  • Leading and Managing Creative Teams. How to increase performance using six leadership styles to inspire and manage creative people.
  • T-Shirts and Suits: How successful creative entrepreneurs integrate their creativity with smart business thinking.

Contact David Parrish’s offices in London, Manchester or Liverpool to find out more about how David can help your startup business, conference, event or other project to help startups in the creative, digital and cultural industries world-wide.