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.
Elon Musk famously declared we are ‘summoning the demon’ with the development of artificial intelligence (AI), and cited it as the most serious threat to the survival of the human race.
Coming from someone famous for cutting edge technological innovation, Musk’s disturbing predictions were taken to heart, and have contributed to an overall view of AI as a concept that should be feared. Add in sci-fi themes from the likes of Blade Runner and Dan Brown’s novel, Origin – where autonomous bots threaten the human race, and it’s easy to see where the dread of AI comes from. As AI capabilities progress, fears grow that fiction could soon become reality.
Sarah and I met in a rainy playground three years ago when we were both getting to grips with having “two under two”. We were at the height of sleep deprivation and finding the long days tough (and lonely!) when that friendship swept in and saved the day. We hung out together all the time, and reflecting on it all a few months later, we wondered why there wasn’t a better way to find mum friends.
Any quick Google search tells you instantly that Barcelona, Siem Reap, Cape Town and so forth rank the highest as best cities in the world. So I guess the branding, PR and communications of these cities are getting the most positive messages across. Well done to their marketing teams. The objectives are simple, to make a city as aspirational as possible to the widest possible market. Solid communications plans are based on the obvious – what are you, what do you deliver and who are you for, who is your target market, who you’re trying to “sell” to. Furthermore, the consistency of messaging, a city hanging its proverbial hat onto whatever “hook” they decide upon and then sticking with it most often has better success. A good logo doesn’t go amiss either – a sticker of a city’s logo travels a long way.
