Young, successful and rich - Piers Daniell, the 26 year-old managing director of telecommunications provider Fluidata, is the kind of person that should make you feel sick.

But rather than feeling the penetrating force of the green eye of envy, Daniell makes you feel at ease - which is nice. The amiable entrepreneur has some interesting stories about his current business, the computer firm he set up at 15 years of age, and other opportunities for fame and fortune.

One such opportunity was when Daniell made the short-list of the final 40-or-so candidates for the first series of BBC TV programme 'The Apprentice'.

Making it to the last 40 meant Daniell was involved in the final elimination day, where potential candidates completed a series of tasks. He says the decision to select candidates was based purely on the opinion of TV executives - and perhaps unsurprisingly, Daniell says the "noisy and obnoxious candidates" were selected.

But what of Alan Sugar? Daniell says the business tycoon was not involved in the initial selection process. And would have been keen on working for Sugar?

"I didn't even know who he was," says Daniell - but the Fluidata chief says his mother did once own an Amstrad PC.

Further reading

• 'The Apprentice' + Aston Business School = hype
• Men like women in short skirts, says research
• "Glamorous" PR tarred with IT nerd brush
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• IT skills crisis not solved via death by Powerpoint
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels