Andrew Michael, from Cheltenham, (pictured on November 18, 2018) set up a website business offering email and web services to companies for an A-Level project in 1997
A web entrepreneur has revealed how he stole £30,000 from his mother's credit card to create his first business aged 17 - the first step in the road to creating a £150million fortune.
Andrew Michael, from Cheltenham, set up a website business offering email and web services to companies with his friend for their A-level project in 1997 - but needed fibre optic broadband to expand it.
Back then this required paying for excavations to lay the cables, which Mr Michael did over the phone without his mother's knowledge - gambling that his future takings would be enough to cover the credit card bill.
Thankfully it worked, and Mr Michael and his business partner Alex Wilding were soon cashing in.
'By the end of the month we had enough clients and money to pay for the internet line and the advertising,' Mr Michael told the BBC's The Boss.
He insists his mother forgave him - although it is not clear exactly when she found out.
Mr Michael attended St Edward's, a £8,270-per-year independent school that also has places for boarders, from 1990 to 1991.
After leaving, he decided to skip university to focus on growing Fasthosts.
Five years later it because a market leader in web hosting, Internet services for businesses and was listed as the second-fastest growing technology firm in the country.
Mr Michael paid £30,000 with his mother's credit card, but the gamble paid off and Fasthosts was soon booming. He is seen with Richard Branson (left) and posing with a helicopter
The entrepreneur has a Facebook account, and earlier this month showed himself with two dogs his mother was trying to sell. He is pictured on the right in another social media photo
In 2006, aged 26, Mr Michael sold it for a whopping £61.5m, pocketing £46m from his 75% share.
But he did not rest on his laurels, and in 2008 founded a cloud storage company called Livedrive, which grew to become the largest cloud storage and backup company in Europe.
In 2014, he sold it for an undisclosed amount, thought to be in the tens of millions.
Spurred on by his success, the entrepreneur regularly made the headlines for his lavish Christmas parties, which reportedly saw the likes of Sugarbabes, Girls Aloud and The Darkness in attendance.
The self-confessed party animal also paid for Usher to sing at his girlfriend's birthday.
Mr Michael was born in Cyprus and raised in Cheltenham where he still lives with his wife, Carolyne. They share a young girl and appear to have several dogs.
The entrepreneur has posted numerous photos of his pets on Facebook, along with others showing him shopping and going on climbing expeditions with friends.
Earlier this month, he shared a picture showing him with two puppies, saying they were on sale as his mother could no longer keep them.
Unsurprisingly, Mr Michael is a ferocious worker, and worked other jobs even as a schoolboy setting up Fastshosts.
That includes selling advertising for Carfinder magazine, which allows members of the public to feature their cars for sale.
Spurred on by his success, the entrepreneur regularly made the headlines for his lavish Christmas parties, which reportedly saw the likes of Girls Aloud in attendance. They are pictured in London on September 28, 2003
The self-confessed party animal also paid for Usher (seen at an LA gig on September 25 last year) to sing at his girlfriend's birthday
The entrepreneur credits his father for passing on his strong business acumen.
'My father came over from Cyprus, and was very much a small business man,' he says,' he said.
'Like many Cypriots, he opened up fish and chip shops and cafés, and so some of my childhood was spent driving around those sites, collecting takings, and discussing business ideas.'
Mr Michael's started his latest venture in April 2013.
Bark.com is a platform for people to book local professionals such as music teachers and personal trainers.
It now has 30 employees and more than 20million users worldwide.
He advises other early-stage businesses as an investor with AM Share Trust, a role he has held from January 2007.
Mr Michael is now working on his new company, Bark.com, a platform for people to book local professionals such as music teachers and personal trainers. He's seen at the company's headquarters on November 28, 2018
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/02/12/web-company-boss-stole-30000-from-his-mothers-credit-card-to-set-up-business/
Main photo article
Andrew Michael, from Cheltenham, (pictured on November 18, 2018) set up a website business offering email and web services to companies for an A-Level project in 1997
A web entrepreneur has revealed how he stole £30,000 from his mother’s credit card to create his first business aged ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/02/12/16/9726406-6695775-image-m-214_1549987478451.jpg
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