Last Friday, Kate and I were at Scottish Television’s headquarters in Glasgow, checking out an event billed as Glasgow’s first BarCamp. The turn-out was great and the speaker list was impressive.
For those who missed the event, here’s a Twitter summary of the evening.
rohan_21awake (16:32): Hashtag for barcamp glasgow please.
Dlivingstone (16:58): At #barcamp scotland. Lots of people. Not much networking yet. Continue Reading »
Posted in Local News | 7 Comments »
Following more silliness this week, here’s the latest parody song about why we all want to be big “Tech Stars”. Skip to 45secs to get to the parody:
Posted in Humour | Tagged silly songs, tech stars, video | 1 Comment »
This week’s 60 second interview is from Phil Leggetter. Phil recently launched Kwwika, which allows you to publish real-time data easily. Kwwika is currently running a competition to win an iPad, using data from the current world cup. Go check it out!
Whats your Startup/Business?
Kwwika. It’s the real-time web. Delivered.
Give us your company culture in 3 words:
Flexible, honest, exciting
Whats the next big challenge or hurdle that the company has to overcome? Continue Reading »
Posted in 60 Second Interview | Tagged competition, kwwika, publishing, real time web | Leave a Comment »
Over the weekend, London saw the first ever Product Camp. From the camp, it looks like there is an interesting idea called the Startup Shuttle. The idea is to get Sir Richard Branson to lend a train once a month to travel from London to Glasgow, with free wifi for networking and general community building across the UK.
I obviously think this is a great idea, so if you’re interested too, head over to their facebook page and join!
Posted in Local News | 22 Comments »
Tuesday 22nd June: Launch Lab – Coaching Session, 9am at Renroc (89 Montgomery St)
The Launch Lab is a weekly session geared toward anyone who owns or is starting their own business. A highly varied group of energetic, intelligent people gather to exchange ideas, share critiques and encouragement, and feed each others’ vitality. Each week features a short talk at the beginning to kick things off, followed by general discussions and networking. This week freelance writer and coach Jane Adams’ short presentation will explain a basic and widely used coaching model and will give you a chance to try it out.
Tuesday 22nd June: Mobile User Experience, 6:30pm at Microsoft Offices (2-4 Waterloo Place)
As the products we create become more complex and rely on an increasing number of screens and platforms, accurately communicating the intended design to programmers and other stakeholders is becoming increasingly important… and challenging. This presentation will discuss the challenges inherent in communicating the user experience throughout an organisation using only wireframes and other paper based documents. With a particular focus on mobile devices, Bryan Rieger and Stephanie Rieger will present ways to rethink prototyping and better communicate, test, and iterate ideas. £10 for non-members, £5 for students and free for Usability Professionals’ Association members. Pay at the door. Continue Reading »
Posted in Events | 9 Comments »
Things in startup-land can often mean long nights and even longer days. Over at Startupcafe, we strive to make things a little lighter, a little quirkier and a bit more fun. If you’re running a startup, here’s some top tips that you might want to consider …
CUSTOMER SUPPORT: Reduce the costs of your customer support team by not replying to your customers. Soon, you’ll have even less customers to deal with and your support costs will drop to zero. Continue Reading »
Posted in Humour | 2 Comments »
Ever wonder what life in a startup is like? Hasan Veldstra – of Vidiowiki fame – produced this wonderful time-lapse video of him working on a new feature and implementing it. Reminds me a lot of this scene from Big Bang Theory.
Posted in Humour, Local News | Tagged awesome, time lapse video, vidiowiki | 2 Comments »
There’s an exciting new innovation blog in town, and this this week we are delighted to catch up with its founder Jane Adams. Jane is an Edinburgh based writer and coach, having worked as a freelance journalist covering the smart card industry for 15 years. It was wonderful to speak with her and hear about the new blog, Innovation Focus Scotland, which highlights and promotes a variety of innovative companies across Scotland. With its coverage of anyone from startups to SMEs or corporates, we are really thrilled to see the Scottish tech blogging scene growing and certainly encourage you to keep an eye on www.scotif.com too!
What’s your startup/business? I’m a freelance marketing copywriter for technology companies and coach and I also run Innovation Focus Scotland (www.scotif.com), a blog focusing on innovative Scottish companies.
Give us your company culture in 3 words: Keep it interesting.
What’s the next big challenge or hurdle the company needs to overcome? Officially launching Innovation Focus Scotland and growing its readership. Continue Reading »
Posted in 60 Second Interview | Tagged copywrite, Innovation Focus Scotland, Jane Adams, scotif | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday, Edinburgh-based startup Float opened its doors to a select group of alpha testers.
The service, an add-on to popular accounting SaaS and fellow Edinburgh startup FreeAgent, helps users predict future cashflow. It aims to take the guesswork out of everyday business questions like “Can I afford to take on a new employee?” and “If Sarah Palin doesn’t pay her invoice on time, will I have enough cash to pay the VAT man?”
Although only a few users are currently live on the system, the Float team reports that they hope to launch a public beta by the end of August. Continue Reading »
Posted in Local News | 3 Comments »
Sorry for being late this week, just been madness, but still a number of cool events to jump into…
The Launch Lab is a weekly session geared toward anyone who owns or is starting their own business. A highly varied group of energetic, intelligent people gather to exchange ideas, share critiques and encouragement, and feed each others’ vitality. Each week features a short talk at the beginning to kick things off, followed by general discussions and networking. This week IP consultant, lawyer, artist, and entrepreneur Hannah Alphey will be giving a talk about IP considerations for start-ups and growing businesses. Can you afford to miss it?
Thursday 17th June: Media140, 6:30pm in Glasgow CCA (350 Sauchiehall Street)
Social media enthusiast or cynic? Whichever camp you find yourself in, it seems that we are all still trying to find ways to use these technologies to grow and develop our organisations. We are questioning how influential and effective social media already is and we are wondering too just how powerful social media may yet become. In Glasgow on 17th June, a team of Continue Reading »
Posted in Events | Tagged barcamp scotland, Launch Lab, media140, moonwalk, royal society | Leave a Comment »
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