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The woman thing

13 June, 2010 by Hilary Singer

This shoe means business.Where are all the women? Let me paint the scene: it’s Wednesday evening and Edinburgh TechMeetup is in full swing. Because of a projector mishap, we all crowd into a small conference room to see the presentations. I suddenly notice I’m the only woman in the room. When the guy next to me ignores the ten other bodies crammed around him and asks me to hold his beer, I realise I’m in trouble.

In general, I don’t like to talk about gender issues. Highlighting disparities between the achievements of men and women feels unproductive, and like a cop-out. Why were there no other women at TechMeetup that week? Perhaps they just had more demanding social calendars than me and the 50 men who attended.

Then again, maybe there is something more perverse than the release of SATC2 at work. On Friday, Informatics Ventures hosted “New Approaches to Leadership for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs, Managers & CEOs”, a workshop with an exclusively female guest list, headlined by three powerhouse women from the States.

Two things made this conference different from other “women in business/entrepreneurship/tech/science” events I’ve been to in the past. Continue Reading »

Posted in Events, Local News, Opinions | 6 Comments »

Ode to a developer and a developer’s retort

10 June, 2010 by Bela Hamid

I wanted to do some serious writing yesterday but try as I might I could not get past an alternative form of writers block. It wasn’t like my mind was blank.  If only! Nope, I had hit a wall of rhythm and random phrases that would NOT let me pass!  This stupid rhythm & some silly phrases tiresomely followed me around ALL day.  Finally, on my home I decided to give the nonsense some expression by allowing it to be dumped onto my notepad, in the hope that the mental spillage would clear my mind for more serious works.  Here at Startupcafe we do promise a side helping of silliness with our other content. So, ready to see what landed on my pad?

Ode to a developer Continue Reading »

Posted in Opinions | 14 Comments »

1 Weekend, 5 Startups, Unlimited Potential!

9 June, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

Edinburgh was well represented this weekend at Launch48 in London, and the journey was absolutely worthwhile. Over the course of 48 hours, teams of developers, designers, marketers, and business savvy individuals came together and created 5 exciting new web applications. Skills and experience were mixed, but one belief was the same – that a huge amount could get done in a short space of time. Our mission was to brainstorm, build, and launch a web app between Friday night and Sunday evening.

25 assorted ideas were pitched by participants, whose suggestions ranged from political lobbying to kid-authoured dummy guides to customisable legal documents. Attendees narrowed it down by way of democratic vote, and we all then chose which project we wanted to dedicate our hearts and minds to. Continue Reading »

Posted in Events, Local News | 3 Comments »

18-25 and under-employed? Join the club!

8 June, 2010 by Hilary Singer

This just in: University of Edinburgh alum Tom Rendell is launching a new online platform dedicated to helping young people find work. The project, called Slumpwise, is the brainchild of Open Society, a collective of 18- to 25-year-olds that seeks to generate work and develop first-hand experience for participants through collaborative projects.

The Slumpwise launch event is Saturday June 12th 14:00-16:00, and includes an online panel discussion with 16 selected experts on “Creative Solutions To Youth Under Employment”. (See the full expert panel on the Open Society blog.)

To ask a specific question of the panel, Continue Reading »

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LAUNCH.ed is hiring

8 June, 2010 by Hilary Singer

LAUNCH.ed, the University of Edinburgh’s support service for student-entrepreneurs, is recruiting a new intern for the 2010-2011 academic year.

This position is only open to current students at the University of Edinburgh. A full job spec has been posted on SAGE under the job title “Part-time Student Intern (September – April)”, and company name “The Edinburgh Technology Transfer Centre (ETTC)”. Here’s a teaser: Continue Reading »

Posted in Jobs | Leave a Comment »

Voice-over artists for your promo videos!

6 June, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

Need a voice-over artist for a video? We would love to hear from you asap! Tweet @42Voices or email info@42Voices.com and let us know what sort of thing you’re working on… Or have a horror story of doing your own voice-over? Sorry it didn’t work out, but would be interested to hear about that for testimonials too!

We are running at full speed at Launch48, and with one morning and one afternoon to go, we are nearly ready to launch our snazzy web applications. I’m on a team developing 42Voices, a marketplace to match projects needing a voice with a relevant voice-over artist.

If you’ve ever made a demo or promo video for your startup, then you’re probably familiar with the problem we’re trying to solve. Instead of having to record the voice yourself, or getting your flatmate’s friend or aunt to do it, we’d like to give you access to real voice-over folks in a very quick and affordable manner. Our announcement below! Continue Reading »

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Top 5 iPad apps that people haven’t written about

5 June, 2010 by Kate Ho

For anyone that’s seen me in the past week, they’ve known how much I’m loving the iPad. As someone who is passionate about UX, the iPad provides this wonderful vehicle in showcasing great, user-centric designed software.

Now, this isn’t the ordinary “Top 10 iPad apps that you should get” list. There are plenty of those around. If you are interested, common apps on those lists include – Things, Pages/Numbers/Keynote, Evernote, InstaPaper, GoodReader, iBooks, Flight Control, Bento, TweetDeck, Mirror’s Edge, Wall Street Journal, Guardian Eye Witness, Financial Times. Continue Reading »

Posted in Opinions | 5 Comments »

60 Second Interview: Alex van Someren (nCipher & more)

4 June, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

This week we were delighted to interview Alex van Someren, a repeatedly successful entrepreneur in IT software and hardware. Maybe you got to meet Alex last month when he spoke in Edinburgh, but if not, you should know he’s a very cool dude. Having founded nCipher and ANT Software, he’s now helping loads of other folks get their companies soaring. One of the most amusing personal challenges, we’re cheering for him!

What’s your startup/business? Right now I’m an Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Cambridge, and Dealmaker for UK Trade & Investment’s Global Entrepreneur Programme, and I’m also consulting for several IT industry clients!

Give us your company culture in 3 words: My personal culture is about Action, Instinct and Informality.

What’s the next big challenge or hurdle the company needs to overcome? My next big challenge is to get a proper job and prove to my wife I’m not unemployable! Continue Reading »

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Grassroots help with Seedcamp Applications

3 June, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

Local help is being offered on applications for Seedcamp, the wildly popular seed investment and incubator programme in London. If you are interested in attending Seedcamp Week in September, then get an application in now for mini Seedcamp in London to earn a spot. The mini precursor event takes place 27th July, and applications are open now until 30th June.

Debating if this is a suitable opportunity for you? Want help on the application? Well I’m delighted to see this offering and call to action from Gordon Guthrie of Hypernumbers, thanks very much Gordon! Tweet @hypernumbers (see email below) if you want to join discussions.

    Folks

    The way Seedcamp works this year has changed. All teams for the final Seedcamp week will have come through one of the mini-Seedcamps which have been running all over Europe.

    The last of these is the London Mini-Seedcamp:

    http://seedcamp.com/pages/london10

    So if you want to apply now is the time. I know at least one team from Scotland is Continue Reading »

Posted in Events, Local News | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments »

Women and Finance: What do they have in common?

2 June, 2010 by Jessica Williamson

They are both topics of upcoming workshops, with fully subsidised spots on offer from Informatics Ventures!

If you are a founder/director of a startup or SME with ‘high growth potential’, then you’re in luck. You’ll need to confirm eligibility with Andrew Mitchell – andrew.mitchell@ed.ac.uk – but the workshops truly are free for you and even meals are included. I’ve attended these two workshops in the past, and can vouch they were great both for the content and for the chance to meet other attendees. So have a look, sign up, and spread the word to anyone else who should take advantage!

10th-11th June: New Approaches to Leadership for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs

New Approaches to Leadership for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs, Managers & CEOs by Professor Fiona Murray, MIT Sloan School of Management, Laura Barker Morse, Managing Director, Entrepreneurship Ventures, Inc. and Continue Reading »

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