A couple of years ago, I was briefly involved with Pitch@Palace – Prince Andrew’s initiative to link up fledgeling businesses with investors. On Friday, the Duke of York quit the project following a wave of criticism surrounding his connection to Jeffrey Epstein. But from what I saw of the scheme, the Prince has more questions to answer than just those arising from their friendship. Pitch@Palace appears to have been a vehicle for Prince Andrew to enrich himself at the cost of the hardworking entrepreneurs he claimed to be helping.
In 2014, I was invited to a networking reception at Buckingham Palace. The event was part of the Digital Nations initiative, an international network of governments looking to use new technologies. To this day I have no idea why I was invited. I’ve built and sold quite a few technology firms over the past two decades but this was completely out of the blue.
I enjoyed meeting some very senior foreign dignitaries from countries like Korea and Estonia. They seemed just as bemused as I was to be there. After pitching to the guy from Korea, I was met with a grim silence and an expressionless face. My embarrassment was somewhat tempered when I discovered he didn’t understand a word of English. So far, so weird.
Afterwards, I was invited to take part in a Pitch@Palace event, the Dragon’s Den-style business initiative that the Prince has just resigned from. I was asked to fill out an online application.
Now I’ve been in the world of business start-ups for a while and I know there are a few shysters scamming less experienced company founders. One of the obvious red flags is when these people ask for money in return for the chance to pitch to investors.
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