Karen Hanton
Karen Hanton MBE is a British entrepreneur formerly founder and Chairman of Toptable, a restaurant booking enterprise in the United Kingdom.
Hanton is a native of northeast Scotland, but moved to London soon after her Highers. She pursued a career in training and human resources, but at age 29 founded the IT staffing firm Mortimer Spinks. After selling the company to FTSE 250 Executive Search firm Harvey Nash in 1997, she bought and staffed a restaurant business in Fulham, which in 1998 inspired her to found Toptable.[1] She owned just under half of the company's shares.[2] The company became profitable in 2005, after surviving years in the red, which Hanton attributes to the rise in consumer broadband accessibility.[3]
At the 2005 Institute of Business Advisers Annual Conference, Hanton presented closing remarks about the four principles of successful of business management to which she ascribes: "keep it simple, have clear objectives, don’t confuse reasons with excuses and be prepared to tweak your ideas."[4]
toptable.com was sold to Nasdaq listed Opentable.com in 2010 for $55m.[5]
She is currently an Investment Partner at ProfoundersCapital and investor in JustAddRed, where her investments include Hire Space and Pets Pyjamas[6]
Awards
Hanton has received significant public recognition including:[7][8]
- Financial Times/Moet Hennessy Extraordinary Achievers Award
- Named as one of today's top 30 entrepreneurs in New Business Magazine
- Named one of the top 100 most influential people in the first decade of the internet in an NOP/e-consultancy poll
She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours.[9]
References
- ↑ "Karen Hanton". E-consultancy.com. 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-27.
- ↑ Moore, Charles (2007-06-07). "A taste for the top". Telegraph.co.uk (London). Retrieved 2007-02-27.
- ↑ Jonathon Moules (2006-04-14). "No reservations about the future". Financial Times. Retrieved 2007-02-27.
- ↑ Edwards, Trevor (2005-11-11). "Future trends in business". People*Spark. Retrieved 2007-02-27.
- ↑ "OpenTable to buy toptable.com for $55 million". Business Week. 2010-10-15. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
- ↑ "Karen Hanton - Investor". 2011-10-03. Retrieved 2011-10-03.
- ↑ Hanks, Abby (March 2004). "What makes a successful entrepreneur?". AllBusiness. Retrieved 2007-02-27.
- ↑ "Women In Business Seminars". Women In Business. Retrieved 2007-02-27.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59446. p. 17. 12 June 2010.
External links
- Just Add Red
- ProFounders Capital
- Hire Space
- Pets Pyjamas
- toptable
- E-consultancy profile
- Interview & Biography
- Interview with Startups.co.uk
- Interview with Womenzone.com
- I'm a dot com success - interview with The Sun