StartupCafe

Email us at hello@startupcafe.co.uk!

Thomas is a cheese-consuming, beret-wearing, onion-hanging frenchman. He knows how to enjoy life and can often be found at Potterrow, Appleton Tower and Why Not. He’s recently finished a BSc(Hons) in Computer Science and Management Science, but leans towards the business side. He’s not your usual computer science geek. Ask him a question and you’ll get well-thought out, carefully considered answers. He looks like he’s been tangoed due to his orange uniform as a Scottish Institute of Enterprise intern, and you’ll usually be able to spot him at formal business events as the guy with torn jeans and an iCUE hoodie.

Bela Hamid (@ecobela)

Bela is our resident yoga expert, and she has strong feelings on Twitter and text etiquette. Her guilty pleasures include watching The Apprentice and eating crisps and chocolates for breakfast. She’s an Ecology graduate, but more curious about human behaviour than tree-hugging. She was seduced into the business world in her 2nd year, and once worked alongside a Dalmation at a design and digital marketing agency. Bela has a low threshold for nonsense and is hugely results oriented, enjoying the sales and business development side of business. She isn’t afraid to tell it as it is, and doesn’t mind being unsuitable for mass consumption. She’s strong-willed and doesn’t like to be told what to do; she’s a rebel looking for a cause!

Kate is a serial MD & captain having headed CompSoc (Edinburgh Computer Society), iCUE (Innovative Consulting, University of Edinburgh), and the Girl Geeks’ Dinner to name but a few of her many accomplishments. Her passion for entrepreneurial initiatives is matched by her passion for rugby, where she is a force to be reckoned with – so don’t mess or she’ll tackle you into next Tuesday! Her background is in Technology and Innovation Management having gained her MSc at Manchester and is finishing her PhD in Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Currently, she resides on Level 6 in Appleton Tower as part of Interface3. In her free time she can be found organising pig races and rescuing small animals. She once found a small hedgehog curled up in a ball on the road – she picked it up, wrapped it in her fleece and released it in a local park. She currently lives in the Kingdom of Fife, across the bridge North from Edinburgh – just in case you want to stalk her.

Jessica is super-friendly, and she’s so approachable she makes friends everywhere she goes. She came over from the States for her 3rd Year in Economics and decided to live here forever! To get a work visa, she did her MSc in Science and Technology Policy and Management when she came back. For some, Silicon Valley is the place to be, but she’s all about Silicon Glen. She’s so innocent and naive, she responded to an ad for glamour modelling thinking it meant “40s style glamour” rather than topless (ah, bless). However, she is shameless enough to read Mills and Boon in public! Jess is currently working for local mobile security company TenBu and educating us all about the importance of keeping our information safe! She is the one responsible for taking Guy Kawasaki to the only place in Edinburgh with more drunks than Teviot for breakfast: Snax Cafe. You’ll often find her tweeting from the Meadows or local cafes. Most importantly, she’s got a mean left hook (guys, behave!).

Hilary Singer (@hilarysinger)

Hilary is our favourite bear eating, fish loving, survival trained Alaskan. She drifted south and across the Altantic a few years ago on an exchange programme and  ended up staying, switching her degree from International Relations to Physics. For the last two years, she’s been encouraging students into entrepreneurship at Launch.ed and SIE – so aggressive is she in this endeavour, that she’s known to attempting to coax students on internships! She is also an avid cyclist and tweeter – but does not recommend both at the same time. On most days of the week you can find her hanging out at Negotiants or Illegal Jacks having a burrrrrrito or nachos. Two more exciting facts about Hilary is that she has met Kofi Annan in Washington D.C., and she believes that “capitalistic communism” doesn’t work.