Ian Lobley, 3i's head of venture capital, doubled for Simon Cowell. Hilary Blume, founder of the Charities Advisory Trust, did her best Sharon Osbourne impression. Sahar Hashemi, founder of Coffee Republic, was Louis Walsh in all but name.

But these panel members were not taking part in a strange rehash of ITV's popular X Factor or Pop Idol shows. Instead they gathered at Oxford University's Said Business School last week to judge Idea Idol, a competition to find "the brightest entrepreneurial ideas and successful entrepreneurs of the future".