On 12th January 2013 The Economist ran a piece ‘Has the ideas machine broken down?’.
The briefing said ‘a small but growing group of economists reckon the economic impact of the innovations of today may pale into comparison with those of the past…’. It went on ‘As Mr Thiel and his colleagues at the Founders Fund, a venture-capital company, put it “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters”’.
We asked eight entrepreneurs if they shared the pessimism.
With an attendee list that reads like a who’s who of the most innovative and exciting tech companies in Europe we caught up with Victor Henning (Mendeley), Raf Keustermans (Plumbee), Alice Regester (33Seconds), Alex Depledge (Teddle) and Nic Brisbourne (DFJ Esprit) and asked them a question often raised by entrepreneurs:
‘How fundamental is a great story to selling a vision?’
2012 was a busy year for Seedcamp: They hosted 10 events all around the world, made 23 new investments, took their startups on a four-week tour of the US and hosted the flagship week-long Seedcamp Week event in September.
Since launching in 2007, the Seedcamp portfolio now includes more than 80 of Europe’s most promising startups – all ambitiously building global businesses – and has seen several acquisitions (including Mobclix bought by Velti and RentMineOnline bought by RealPage).
Startupbootcamp Amsterdam hits London January 8th. Patrick de Zeeuw, Co-Founder of Startupbootcamp Global & Amsterdam, explains what makes this acceleration program unique and why you should apply!
Startupbootcamp Pitch Day comes to London on January 8th! – We pitch to you, you pitch to us! Your chance to get to know Startupbootcamp Amsterdam and some of its alumnus teams. But one question remains: How is Startupbootcamp unique from other programs and why should I – as a startup – apply?
To survey the skyline of Silicon Roundabout is to embrace a varied and growing expanse of building types. One should be under no illusion that the cranes will be descending upon the area in the near future as Landlords, inspired by their respective architects, set to work with rigour in transforming ‘redundant’ building stock. Sickening to some but illuminating and a glimpse of something better to others.
However the ‘noise’ from twitter and other media channels is growing daily as both existing occupiers and fast growing businesses are showing anything but systemic indifference to rising rental values allied to limited office supply.
You have secured funding for the business and now hiring a CEO, COO or CFO means it’s time to grow up fast for a tech startup. Rosemary Forsyth explains how to avoid a costly mistake!
“The founders have done a great job getting to the stage where an experienced investor will invest their time and firm’s money in the company. Now the founding team needs to be strengthened with one or more executives so that the company can scale to the next level.
As part of my job I get to see a lot of startups pitch their businesses. So what makes the best ones truly stand out? In my experience the most effective pitches share a few traits in common. I’m going to share eleven of them with you here (ten is no fun, eleven is one louder anyway). Crafting a pitch with these ideas in mind will hopefully give you a leg up when you are trying to get potential investors’ attention.
Last week the Financial Times ran a piece ‘Tech groups campaign for San Francisco tax reform’.
‘If passed in November the measure would relieve companies from paying corporate taxes based on the number of employees they have and instead levy taxes on gross sales’.
We caught up with several leading Silicon Roundabout entrepreneurs and asked them, ‘If you could launch a campaign tomorrow to help fast growing Tech companies in the UK, what would be top of the list?’
Chris Morton’s decision to colonise the fashion world as an innovator, whilst timely, represented a shift in career path for the former VC of Balderton Capital.
Launched in 2010 this success, having secured funding from DFJ Esprit and Accel, is growing rapidly with a confidence based upon the premise that fashion should be approached from a consumers perpective. It has to be relevant and engaging.
A social curation platform at heart, Lyst allows users to discover designers and fashion products in ‘real time’ and through a personalised experience, whilst focussed on generating sales.
