This week’s spotlight is on Jennie Lees, a jack of all trades in the developer and startup world. You may have crossed paths with her at Tech Meetups, Informatics Ventures happenings, Appleton Tower 6th floor parties, or other awesome events in London and San Francisco. She’s also an insightful blogger (trendpreneur) and much loved tweeter (@jennielees), and if you know about her company, you know she may just be listening to you as well.
Name: Jennie Lees
What’s your startup, and your role? Affect Labs, though we’re probably best known for FestBuzz (http://www.festbuzz.com). I’m anything, depending on what’s needed – from the suit to general dogsbody. Most of the time you’ll find me knee-deep in code though, as my ‘official’ role is CTO!
Give us your company culture in 3 words: Laid-back, quirky, connected
What’s the next big challenge or hurdle the company needs to overcome? We’re dealing with some potential legal issues around our next project, beyond those, finding a sweet spot for revenue – and convincing people to give us their money, of course!
What’s the personal dream (in one sentence)? To have the luxury to chase random thoughts down rabbit holes and see what happens. And to create a video game. And run a marathon.
And the professional dream (in one sentence)? To be the next Google, of course!
What do you do for stress relief? Games, especially Rock Band of late (I’ve already broken one drum kit).
Your favourite ’skint’ meal? Chilli – veggie of course!
How do you celebrate milestones or awards? Going out for a nice dinner with someone special… or buying new shoes (depending on level of skint-ness, maybe neither)
What’s your biggest guilty pleasure? Err.. Apple products?
And the coolest event you’ve been to? Being a CA (kind of steward) at the Games Developers’ Conference. Amazing.
Name a quirky fact about yourself: I used to have really huge feet (size 11-12) and was even on the front page of the Brighton Argus for it when I was about 15. Since losing weight my feet have shrunk to a far more annoying size 8.5.
Give the choice, would you prefer…
i) Truth or Dare? Dare
ii) Carrot or Stick Carrot
iii) Tea or Coffee? Both! Coffee if it’s proper or Starbucks – tea if the only coffee around is rubbish!
StartupCafe 
Leave a comment