I co-founded Marley Spoon in 2014 with the mission to radically reduce food waste and fundamentally change how grocery shoppers purchase food by providing access to convenient, market-fresh and delightful meals to millions of households around the world. The food industry is the last industry to move online, and as the inevitable next step, I saw this as a huge opportunity to move into that space and cultivate a company that creates solutions to the intrinsic problems faced daily by customers when purchasing and cooking food.

In my journey I’ve been through a constant and relentless mix of self improvement and consistent learning, from one iteration to the next. I can safely say I have the kind of self determination you need to have to be on this path. There are many ways into entrepreneurialism, even that much mailgned phrase ‘wantrepreneur’ – whereby people want to be company founders but don’t really have much reason why, other than it sounds cool.

I’d had an idea nagging away at me for years and I decided I was going to make it happen when I became a mother three years ago. It was as much about putting something right for consumers as it was about the future I gave my daughter and having the flexibility to be there for her.

Generally speaking, employees in the United States have unlimited freedom to move between jobs — that is, unless the employee signed a non-compete agreement.  These agreements – often used to protect a company’s trade secrets and client relationships — bar employees from engaging in competitive activities with their former employer for a fixed period of time post-employment.

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Awarding stock to employees, whether through a formal share plan or otherwise, can be a very powerful tool to reward and incentivise behaviour, playing a key part in the growth and success of a business. Of course, the incentive is only tangible if there is an opportunity to crystallise the value of the shares at some point in the future – normally at the time of an initial public offering (IPO) or trade sale. Equally, early investors will also want a plan so they can realise all or part of their investment.

London has an illustrious history as a global financial hub. But over the last decade or so, it’s pulled off a pretty impressive feat – one that few cities have been able to achieve.

Photo; Emilio Garcia

Aegean Summit: how to build a media brand:
Amid paywalls, platforms and advertising woes, few media outlets have cracked the code required to create a successful, sustainable and profitable business model. The Aegean Summit, a new conference in Athens, is looking to the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean for guidance on best practice. We meet with the event’s organiser, talk to the founders of media start-ups from Cairo, Kuwait and Beirut and visit the office of independent Greek media company AthensLive.

Having invested in Fyndiq, Klarna, Matsmart, iZettle, Spotify and Fishbrain, Northzone know the Stockholm ecosystem rather well! Jessica Nilsson, Principal at Northzone, gives her insight into the current Stockholm tech scene.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: 3 Crucial Tips for Running a Startup

If entrepreneurs had a dime for every tip they received, the entire industry would have been bootstrapping. And so, when I was asked to share a few tips of my own, I’ve decided to steer clear from clichés like “hire top talent” or “keep it lean,” and offer something new.

As a fund that has been setup in 2000 with offices in Munich and Berlin we have been able to observe the emergence of Berlin as one of the main tech hubs of Europe very closely. Most recently a report by Compass Global (http://blog.compass.co/the-2015-global-startup-ecosystem-ranking-is-live/) put Berlin as the 8th global tech ecosystem, but the 1st in terms of growth momentum. And that momentum is what can be felt every day if one goes to Berlin.