Rowan Gormley, founder of Virgin Money and Virgin Wines, launched online wine retailer www.nakedwines.com with a group of 'passionate and deranged friends' in December 08, and has gone on to recruit 100,000 customers to date. Up for this year's Orange Innovation Award, the company invests in independent winemakers in return for exclusive wines at preferential prices.

ROWAN'S FAVOURITE SITES

Econsultancy.com - The world of online marketing is so full of hucksters and snake oil salesmen, but there is one site that is clear, bullshit free, informative, well written and well worth reading and this is it. The guys who run it just seem to have their heads screwed on right and put their members interests first. If you are in the online world and not on Econsultancy, you should be. And no, I am not on commission.

Jamie Oliver and BBC Good Food - If you want inspirational recipes that even a klutz like me can cook, these two sites have the market cornered

Crashpadder - Ever stayed in a horrid squalid hotel room? And paid more money than you should? Try Crashpadder and stay in someone’s spare room. For peanuts. Genius.

Zopa - I have to confess an interest here, I am a non-exec on Zopa’s board. That being said, what is not to like about a business that offers savers better rates than banks and borrowers better rates than banks, precisely because it is not a bank. Another idea I wish I had thought of myself.

Made - What Naked is to wine, Made is to furniture - getting people together, to buy designer stuff at a big discount to the high street, by cutting out a whole chunk of dead cost.

Boiler Juice - If you live in the sticks like me, and have to get oil delivered, until BJ came along, getting a good price meant spending an hour on the phone. Now ... 30 seconds, and hey presto.

The Daily Mash - And finally, when the world seems to have gone mad, the staff are revolting, the kids are mental and you just need a good laugh to remind yourself that you are still sane, you need the Mash!

31 August 2010