Simon Dolan

Simon Dolan
Born 20 May 1969
Occupation Entrepreneur
Known for Twitter investor
Net worth £187 million (Based on Sunday Times Rich List 2015)[1]

Simon Dolan (born 20 May 1969[2]) is a British businessman and entrepreneur. Dolan's businesses include SJD Accountancy, Contractor Umbrella, Jota Aviation and Jota Sport.[3]

Businesses and investments

Dolan's first major business was SJD Accountancy, which was among the first accounting firms to offer a money back guarantee.[4] It is the only accounting firm in the UK top 100 owned by an individual rather than a partnership.[5] SJD Accountancy was acquired in 2014 along with accounting practice Nixon Williams by Sovereign Capital for over £100m .[6]

Dolan began investing in new start-up companies via Twitter in 2010, initially offering a £5 million investment pot for successful business pitches on the social networking site, earning himself the nickname "Twitter Dragon".[5][7] Dolan's investments via Twitter have included Global Moguls,[8] and mental health magazine Uncovered.[9]

Motor racing career

Dolan's interest in motor racing began in March 2007 before creating his own racing team, Jota Sport, in 2008. In 2010 Jota Sport signed a multi-year agreement to become an Aston Martin official partner team in motorsports.[10] Jota initially competed in an Aston Martin V8 Vantage at the 2010 24 Hours of Spa where the team won their class.[11] Dolan and co-driver Sam Hancock participated in the VdeV series with a best finish of third at Circuit Paul Ricard. Dolan made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2011.

Dolan's career highlight was 1st place in the LMP2 class at Le Mans in 2014 with Harry Tincknell and Oliver Turvey replacing Marc Gene after he was recalled to Team Joest Audi Sport LMP1 team following an accident in practice for Loic Duval.[12]

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2011 Jota Sam Hancock
Chris Buncombe		 Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 GTE
Pro		 74 DNF DNF
2012 Jota Sam Hancock
Haruki Kurosawa		 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 271 DNF DNF
2013 Jota Sport Oliver Turvey
Lucas Luhr		 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 319 13th 7th
2014 Jota Sport Oliver Turvey
Harry Tincknell		 Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 356 5th 1st

Publications

How To Make Millions Without A Degree: And How to Get by Even If You Have One is Simon Dolan's autobiography.[13] It tells the story of how he built his £70 million empire after leaving school at 15.[14] In the book, Dolan offers advice to business owners and those considering starting their own business instead of going to University.[15][16]

References

External links