London Enterprise Hub
A small blessing, the day is clear, and through the frosty morning on the first day of February, onwards I go to Ideas London at 69 Wilson Street. For about half an hour I sit in the bus, fighting the remnants of my dreams. It’s not the first time I am travelling to IDEALondon; the last time I was part of staff at Ucreate. Now I am invited as a member of UCL Entrepreneur Society. Less chair moving for me!
This paragraph I have to start with a disclaimer: I really love economics of science and I really love networks as a mathematical concept. So let me tell you how excited I was to get one of Blendology’s badges. The company’s CEO, Bill Munday, gives me one of the badges and explains their inner workings. I would have loved to stay and fangirl out on this little network-recording miracle, but it’s 10am already and the talks are about to start.
(the back of an average blendology badge)
Paintings catch my attention and later I will find out they were put up by one of the #startuppeople that were attending that day (Artsguru). Navigating through the crowd, I find a seat next to a socket, plug Rebecca in – my laptop has a name, yes - and start typing. Rather inspirational talks started the event, presented by Will Bentick (he starts with a cheery “Congratulations on getting out of bed”, and I feel like I am connecting already) and Daniel Hulme. Subtly still typing, I think to myself that “Making it up as we go” seems to be the motto of modern entrepreneurs. But that one is pretty obvious. Entrepreneurs are supposed to be the pioneers of business - improvisation is a must. But as I listen to these two men who live on start-ups and change, I realize that “Don’t be afraid of taking advice” is the second message they try to bring across. Through the experience of UCLE Drop-in ideas sessions, I can tell it’s a message that is a lot less welcome.
(“As an entrepreneur you have to be personally very well developed. “ – Daniel Hulme, courtesy of Oyku Esen.)
In a passing we talked about why start-ups fail and all over it was a wonderful introduction into what this day is supposed to be about. Q&A ends and a 20 minute break is announced before launching into more talks. I look at the clock. How is it 11am already?
I take the opportunity to look around at the startups that are set up around the place. There is Audiowings, headphones that connect wirelessly to your favourite music streaming websites. Twizoo “harnesses power of twitter” to give you reliable peer reviews for spots around the city. Eventbox allows you to listen to music before choosing which gig to go to. The guys from BuzznBake, that will be showcasing their startup in our pop-up shop this Wednesday. 30 minutes passes in seconds, and visitors are ushered back to the lecture area.
(Ann Chan, president of UCLE, checking out and giving feedback to Eventbox)
John Guillebaud. A very thought provoking talk about green entrepreneurship, And the IPAT equation: Population, Affluence, Technology. It is kind of scary these are the only factors that are slowly drowning our planet, or, if you are optimistic like me, the only factors that can help it (and you should definitely check out his Sex and the Planet talk).
Hakon Junge carried on with a talk about employment and general issues that, entrepreneur or not, always creep up at some point: what skills make me employable? I suggest you check out Rise to’s website.
Stefano Marrone, from Nucco Brain – ones you probably know due to our Coding & Cookies session or just because they are generally pretty cool – talked about his company and how it grew. “Just go out there… register your email, no matter how dumb your idea is.”
Mark Brill was the last speaker before lunch. Not an enviable position, if I recall my macro professor’s words correctly. Polls, networks, app popularity, apps. Special tumblr mentions. Conclusions? Start-ups are better at apps than brands. The secret to a good app is about allowing apps be used with a thumb (who knew, right?). How social media affects app creation and the ceiling for smartphone innovation is already here. Wearable hype is questionable and is linked to the growing Internet of useless things. He believes that the next generation of great things will come from start-ups, but then again, wasn’t that always the case?
(Lunchtime networking @IDEALondon… there is something about entrepreneurial events and huge amounts of food.)
I wish you were here to breathe in the atmosphere during lunchtime. I don’t think there is any environment more exciting – dozen of entrepreneurs exchanging ideas between each other, sharing their past failures with absolutely no shame or remorse. After all, every failure is simply a lesson that makes you better. Is this what hot reddit topics look like in real life? While Avicii plays somewhere in the distance (they just keep winning those Jukebox votes) you can hear an odd tapping noise here and there– odd if you don’t know about Blendology’s badges. Each tap represents another link in the network. The network grows and so more projects and events are already being started, right here. As much as I am a fan of Internet and all its potential, some things it just can’t recreate.
After lunch, starts the start-up competition. I’ve been a part of quite a few, seen even more, and this one is pretty relentless in terms of rules: 90 second pitch, 1 jury question, and a very strict moderator. There were all kinds of ideas, from improving ways to find a house without a number, to creating your own guides for art galleries – a dream job for many people here on tumblr. There was the ultimate time sink for the creative groups of people for writing haikus, both poetic and, well:
I opened the door
Hoping they’d have my pizza
Jehovah’s Witnesses
(One of the start-ups, GoodLoveFood, showcasing their merchandise)
After lunch Michael Ginzo from Enactus talked about expanding a business; Nicholas Maxwell followed up on how universities and enterprise can create a better world through reintroducing public values and virtues into the increasingly ruthless business sphere. What is the aim of us acquiring knowledge? Have we been making a mistake through the centuries of higher education and research?
Final talk was delivered by none other than Dr Alistair Moore (also @latticecut) of computer Sciences. He talked a bit about where he was and how he came to be at UCL. A little bit about where he saw the world going. “The thing about entrepreneurship is that you need quite a broad base of skills.” I think I found the third theme of this day. Not just that you need to be flexible and that you need to be able to take advice, but also that there is no way you can do it alone. Ideas are much like plants. They can’t grow in isolation.
Tim Barnes took the last turn to speak. Before announcing who won the £1000 prize, he urged us, the cream from the top of the most privileged generation (paraphrased), to go out there and start new enterprises. “You have a responsibility to change the environment you live in, because no one else will.”
You are probably curious who won? Twizoo! Madeline Parra gave a solid presentation and was backed up by her algorithms, making her one of the strongest contestants. Congratulations, apologies for mixing up your twitter name and good luck with finding that designer!
(Co-founder and CEO of Twizoo, Madeline Parra, giving her winner’s interview)
The main part of the day was finished, but ahead of the guests were the workshops by NuccoBrain and Alan Parkinson. More tapping could be heard during the social, with drinks and chatter filling up IDEALondon, so different from the slightly dazed morning. I left the place, nearly falling off my feet, excitement carrying me to the bus stop, my bag slightly heavier with a few purchases from GoodLoveFood, which my flat mates are absolutely in love with now.
There is something about entrepreneurial networking events that can’t be replicated by the big shots from banks. It is somehow faster, more straightforward. Mistakes are considered to be achievements on their own. I am biased, of course, for I am a part of UCLE, whose motto just last year was “There’s more to life than banking”… But don’t you think exploring new frontiers and breaking down the borders is a lot more fun?