Friday 23 December

You may have spent 2011 working hard on boosting sales from increasingly reticent consumers. Or your main focus may have been starting your business.

Maybe you’re silently seething at work, wondering when the best time is to take the leap and go it alone.

Whatever your situation, it’s imperative that you take a well-earned break over Christmas. Many start-ups burn out after pushing themselves too hard, too early.

But, while you do so, it’s worth keeping your mind engaged for new opportunities. To mark another great year of innovation, we’ve compiled a list of the 10 best start-up ideas of 2011.

Hopefully, these ideas can spark some of your own.

StartupSmart will return from its Christmas break on January 3. Have a great Christmas and a prosperous New Year.