I support David Chassels' comments about exploitation of innovation (Tough nut to crack, Letters blog, letters.computing.co.uk). As an observer of the market for innovation in the UK who regularly engages with high-growth small businesses, the most common complaints I hear are the difficulties in raising finance as these companies move to market, and also the problems of establishing stable revenues.

The typical story is: "We cannot raise finance without sight of sales, but the sales cannot come until the finance is in place to create and market the product." It is almost inevitable that companies fall short on their sales projections, even once they have raised funding, leading to disappointment and stress for the entrepreneurs and their investors.

In the UK we tend to be weaker in our sales focus than in the US. This is particularly because we do not focus hard enough on quarterly sales targets. However, we also suffer from very long buying cycles by potential customers and long decision chains. We would like every larger corporate to appoint a principal (or a team) to front their effort to engage with innovative businesses.

Modwenna Rees-Mogg