People are your biggest asset
Once your business has taken shape, and the plans have become a reality, tech start-ups must face the challenge of expanding their talent pool. New recruits are not just filling a role; they will play a vital part in growing your company, helping you to scale-up. Like anything new, it can take time for somebody to settle in and learn the ropes but as a start-up, the first few years are a critical period.
Just last week, Echo was featured in the NHS Digital Annual Report for 2017-18. This landmark caps a stellar twelve months for the business, during which time we’ve trebled our numbers; appeared on the official NHS Apps Library; been named ‘Best British Startup’ at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona; and received £7 million in Series A funding – with backing from the likes of White Star Capital, MMC Ventures, Public.io, LocalGlobe and Global Founders Capital.
VoxSmart is a privately held UK limited company who pioneered a unique method of recording BlackBerry devices in 2011 for UK Banks under strong regulatory and political pressure following the 2008 financial crisis. Whilst the company enjoyed some early success its failure to invest in technology and meet the evolving requirements of the market caused it to stumble and nearly fall.
Prior to Peanut, I was Deputy CEO at Badoo, the European dating behemoth. I joined Badoo at a time when dating ‘online’, was, let’s say, niche. People would talk about it in slight disbelief, “and you know, they met, ON THE INTERNET!”. Laughable to think about those times and how far we’ve come. We all know how the evolution of mobile, social, and the need and want to make connections has been transforming over the past 8 years. Indeed, to think about a dating app where women would do something as simple as sending a message first, and the impact that would have not just on the dating industry, but on social norms as a whole (I was formerly on the board of Bumble), is remarkable. So, thinking about social, and the impact of social networks on motherhood was somewhat of an inevitable step.
We celebrated a milestone at Yoti HQ last week. A pretty big milestone too. Our app reached 1,000,000 downloads, being installed by people from 201 countries around the world.
You might say that’s fantastic news for myself, the other co-founders and the team at Yoti, and you’d be right – it is. But more importantly, it’s a significant moment for the future of biometric digital identities.
Whether I like it or not, I’m sometimes referred to as a serial entrepreneur. And as TravelPerk gains more and more traction, I get asked more frequently about my perspective on entrepreneurship.
It was only three years ago that this chapter as CEO started. I distinctly remember the day my cofounder, Javier Suarez, and I put pen to post-it and filled his kitchen with ideas.
Old Street Roundabout has faced strong criticism over the years: It has been remembered more for traffic congestion rather than its rising fame as a technology hub. The roundabout has continued to be a prominent strategic site in London and yet the space offers very little to the public realm; the island site has largely remained inaccessible to the public and the entrance to the underground station causes daily confusion for commuters.
By any number of metrics, the UK’s tech industry is flourishing. Within the past 10 years, we have rapidly emerged from the technological shadows to become one of the three most important digital hubs in the world. The sector in this country is now larger than the rest of Europe combined and we are home to an impressive 40 per cent of the continent’s ‘unicorn’ tech companies. Against the US, the powerhouse in this sphere, we are also becoming increasingly competitive – even out-stripping our transatlantic counterparts in terms of start-ups per capita.
On the week that Toys R Us announced it is to close its doors for good, the Financial Times warning for leading consumer good groups back at the beginning of March reads all the more poignantly. The toy store’s plummet into administration has been coming, but its final collapse serves as another timely warning for top retail brands to stay on top, and far ahead, of the trends.
Finance and technology are almost indivisible. Nowhere comes close to London in terms of dominance as a financial centre and, by extension, a fintech hub. 
