The digital world scares big business and having a good idea isn't enough for budding entrepreneurs, Rita Clifton, chairman of BrandCap, told CNBC on Friday.
"It's easy to have an idea… any number of people have got great ideas," Clifton, who is currently acting as a mentor to businesses on CNBC's Pop-Up Start Up, said.
"The thing is – have you got the guts, have you got the drive and have you got the application to get on and do it and find the right people? And you've got to work, you know, X hours a day to make that happen."
Turning her attention to the online arena, Clifton went on to state that, perhaps counter-intuitively, smaller businesses can have a distinct advantage over larger competitors.
"The digital world scares big businesses," she said. "Because the thing about big businesses, sometimes on the inside they're not as good as people think they are on the outside."
"In today's social media you can find out about what big businesses are or are not doing from the inside out," Clifton added, before going on to say that there were "great possibilities for little businesses, little businesses that are loved by customers, that are loved by their own people."
"If you can get that kind of gossip out and amplify it, you know, it can really work."