Wired has just ran an article everybody interested in Scotland’s innovative history should have a look at: Nov 30th: A St Andrew’s day salute to Scottish inventors. Scotland was indeed a nation of inventors: Watt (steam engine), McAdam (macadam), Bell (telephone), Blyth (windmill) and Napier (logarithm) just to cite a handful of them. Scotland’s world ranked universities are certainly the legacy of these industrial and intellectual inventions. For those interested in learning more, the book How The Scots Invented The Modern World is a good read. An interesting read is also Boycott Scotland (.co.uk).
Posted in Local News | 1 Comment »
Showcasing Scottish Mobile Talent: Monday 30th Nov, 6:30pm at Informatics Forum
At this special Mobile Monday event, MoMo Edinburgh is holding a series of short pitches by companies wishing to represent the group at the Global Peer Awards in Barcelona in February, followed by a series of short demos showcasing the capabilities of the companies involved. Will be lots of cool stuff being demonstrated. Looks like tickets are sold out, but you may be able to squeeze in if there are no shows.
Elevator Networking Event: Monday 30th Nov, 6:30pm at Why Not Nightclub (George St)
A free business networking club for folks 18-30 years old, these events are pitched at young entrepreneurs and people who are considering setting up their own businesses. Continue Reading »
Posted in Events | 4 Comments »
You want to write the perfect application; so you don’t apply.
You want to produce the perfect article; so you don’t write.
You want to make the perfect pitch; so you don’t take up the opportunity to present.
What’s the difference between Continue Reading »
Posted in Opinions | 4 Comments »
Alexis co-founded a news website where readers, not editors, determine what goes on the front page. He started doodling the alien mascot back in April 2005. He was one of the very first startups on the (in)famous Y Combinator, and is one of their early successes. Reddit was acquired approximatively 12 months after they started it, and Alexis worked there for another 3 years.
In this talk, Alexis describes how Reddit came to be; he explains the important role Y Combinator and Paul Graham played in the life of the startup and its founders. This inspirational lecture was recorded at the University of Edinburgh School of Informatics, in Michael Clouser’s Informatics Entrepreneurship class, and is sponsored by Informatics Ventures.
Posted in Local News | 1 Comment »
This guest blog is brought to you by Jennie Lees, co-founder of Affect Labs, blogger at Trendpreneur, and social media extraordinaire… We’re very excited to get the gossip from her on this exclusive event in San Francisco. Also note that Y Combinator graduate Alex Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, will be speaking tomorrow and Thursday in Edinburgh.
Not to be confused with Doug Richards’ UK-based School for Startups, Startup School is an annual event organised by Paul Graham of Y Combinator, an early stage investment firm in Silicon Valley. This year I was lucky enough to go along – as were 800 other people – to listen to pearls of wisdom dropped from an entrepreneurial A-list.
Paul Graham himself kicked the event off with a talk on what startups are really like – the key lessons being themes that are frequently cropping up in many startups’ lives, from finding the right co-founder (it’s like a marriage) to being surprised at quite how much of an all-consuming rollercoaster startup life becomes. One of his most interesting points was that Continue Reading »
Posted in Events, Guest Blogger | Tagged Affect Labs, Jennie Lees, Paul Graham, Startup School, y combinator | 3 Comments »
With a full week of excitement here, I must admit I am struggling to implement my ‘just say no‘ mentality… Thursday alone is enough action for a month!
Panel Discussion on Intellectual Property Rights: Monday 23rd Nov, 5:30pm at UofE Business School, LT1
Come to this panel discussion to hear a range of views about the issues surrounding innovation vs copyright. This event is held jointly between the E-Club and the Bathwick Group, and the list of speakers looks like an entertaining mix. Hear from the Head of School from Informatics, a School of Law professor, a law firm partner, the awesome hand-making startup Touch Bionics, and Scottish Enterprise. Crisps and wine as a reward for listening, and no need to RSVP.
SICSA DemoFest: Tuesday 24th Nov, 5pm at the Informatics Forum
Check out all the hot research and advancements in computer science and informatics coming out of Scottish universities, including our very own Kate! Continue Reading »
Posted in Events | Tagged alex ohanian, fraser doherty, german market, Intellectual Property, Reddit, SICSA, superjam, tea party, tedx, thanksgiving, winning through innovation, y combinator | 2 Comments »
Our newest guest blogger, Priyanka Bose, offers stories and insights from the perspective of an Edinburgh student currently setting up a business. She’s got an exciting path ahead and we’re delighted to have her onboard.
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How do you turn an idea into a reality? How do entrepreneurs even come up with ideas? How are companies born? Well, this is how I did it.
I was unemployed, the first summer after my freshman year of university, and I couldn’t get a job, anywhere. That’s how it came to me, sitting at my computer one hot, dry day in July, responding to messages on Facebook. It was one message in particular, from a friend in California that really struck out to me. She wanted to know about the application process to universities in the U.K., and I remember thinking, “if only I could turn this into a job?” Well, why not? And that’s when Continue Reading »
Posted in Guest Blogger, Local News | Tagged business ideas, College Connection, Priyanka Bose, studying abroad | 2 Comments »
We often wonder about the habits that lead to entrepreneurial success and as it’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, this is probably a very good time indeed to consider adopting new good habits and identifying/disposing of bad ones!
So this week we are asking “Which good habit do you hope to develop soon in your quest to become a successful entrepreneur?” Continue Reading »
Posted in Roundtable Discussion | 4 Comments »
Got a problem you’d like to share? Why not let us soothe you with an opinion or two, StartupCafe-style? Being an entrepreneur can be lonely at times – you’ve got to keep your self-belief and motivation when those around you succumb to doubt or don’t quite ‘get’ your vision. Let us be an online shoulder to cry on. Perhaps you’ve just started working for a small start-up and find it’s not quite what you expected…tell us about it and we’ll see what nuggets of wisdom we can share.
Problems may range from the serious: “So I’ve finally got customers but can’t seem to extract money out of them for services/goods provided. How can I get them to pay without damaging the relationships I’ve worked hard to build?” to the deliciously absurd: “My boss thinks he’s a hamster and I’m concerned about the impact that this is going to have on our company…should I raise this as an agenda item in the next team meeting?” Continue Reading »
Posted in Opinions, Support | Leave a Comment »
I was at an event recently when I got talking to a guy who said that only when you’ve started a business and after it has failed should you then be called an entrepreneur. Now I understand that he’s highlighting that failure can be valuable in providing important lessons but is it necessary to fail before you can be described as an ‘entrepreneur’?
At school I was taught that the key feature that differentiates an entrepreneur from your average human was the ability / willingness to take risks. At the time I think the focus was on the financial risks accepted by the entrepreneur – the amount s/he invests, takes out in loans, the assets used to secure loans etc.
But what about the other risks? Risk to reputation of failure; risk Continue Reading »
Posted in Opinions | 4 Comments »
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