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Additional Pitch-preneurs Join the Darwinian Business Event
Over the past few weeks we have been profiling the companies that will be pitching at the upcoming Darwinian Business Event, and we are almost at the end of the list. Sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials, entrepreneurs will battle it out for the chance to win one of the following four prizes:
- The uploading of their business plan to the Angels Den platform where it will gain exposure to over 2000 investors (value £499)
- Entry to the Astia Doing it Right Programme (value £499)
- A free ticket to the cmypitch.com course: ‘How to Become Investor Ready’ (value £300)
- A morning of consulting with innovation and change agency ENTHEO
Check out the next two Pitch-preneurs, the event agenda and book a ticket online:
Pitch-preneur 8: OnRelay
Co-Founders: Marie Wold (CFO) and Ivar Plahte (CEO)
OnRelay’s software replaces desk phones with mobile phones, disrupting a $100 billion voice equipment market.
OnRelay’s solution disrupts the $100 billion market for voice equipment by allowing companies to replace telephony hardware with mobile phones and software. The company has developed the first “Mobile PBX”, a complete business communications system built for mobile phones. Deployment of MBX saves companies up to 80% of the hardware cost of telephony, and operators can host MBX and sell as high margin Software as a Service (SaaS).
OnRelay customers include Global 100 companies, and the software is sold through global Tier 1 telecommunications operators. OnRelay benefits from a technical lead attained over nine year’s development and holds fundamental voice patents.
OnRelay’s multinational team has deep industry expertise in Fixed Mobile Convergence, SIP, Linux, open source, CTI integration, Voice over IP and wireless technologies. Team members come from previous roles at leading vendors including AT&T, Telenor, France Telecom, Nokia, Alcatel, IBM, Vodafone, O2, and BT. OnRelay CEO, Ivar Plahte, was formerly Director of IP Telephony at Telenor, the seventh largest telecoms operator in the world. Co-founder and OnRelay CFO Marie Wold was the Head of Research, EMEA for Deloitte Consulting.
Pitch-preneur 9: iCreate-Shoes
Founder and CEO: Raquel Dobson
iCreate-Shoes – where you get to design your shoes online & express your style to the world
iCreate-Shoes * designed by you * is the 1st product line to be launched under the iCreate-Style brand. iCreate-Shoes is an internet technology-driven start-up that will provide the consumer the opportunity to design their own shoes online. iCreate-Shoes will specialise in Web 2.0 technology, 3D & 360 functionality to facilitate user-design, customisation and social shopping features to enhance the consumer experience, taking it to a new level.
The iCreate-Style brand is all about the individual, the ‘i’ you wish to express. iCreate-Style will provide a platform for the individual to explore their creative side by designing items that express the unique exclusivity of their personality and share those beautiful designs with their world – real & virtual.
Founder & C.E.O., Raquel Dobson, is a 17 veteran of the Digital & Broadcast Media industry. Raquel started her career in Los Angeles, USA, where she was a Casting Assistant in the Motion Picture industry for 4 years. When Raquel moved back to the UK, she immediately got bitten by the digital media bug and joined a pioneering technology company who launched Video-on-Demand and IPTV onto the world. Raquel has worked for global brands such as Sony Pictures & Disney-ABC-ESPN Television, and has a career that runs the spectrum of business disciplines, all of which have helped build the skills and knowledge required to establish the iCreate-Style brand. Using her wealth of media experience and contacts, Raquel intends to make iCreate-Shoes a massive success.
Darwinian Business Event Panellists
The following founders and investors will be at our upcoming Darwinian Business Event: Survival of the Fittest (Entrepreneur) on October 7, 2009 in London as panel members. Sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials, book your tickets via Eventbrite, and check out the 10 Pitchpreneurs who will be competing before the Investor Panel.
Bindi Karia, VC/Emerging Business lead for Microsoft UK
Not many women can claim to have been involved in 600 startups in just six months, and yet Bindi Karia, VC/Emerging Business lead for Microsoft UK, can do just that, due largely to the launch of Microsoft’s UK BizSpark program in November 2008. With a career encompassing many companies, she has enjoyed positions including Senior Business Analyst at Data Monitor; Management Consultant at Coopers and Lybrand (later PWC) and Associate Director in Interregnum, a UK-based Technology Merchant Bank.
Karia joined Microsoft four and a half years ago, originally as a Business Productivity Advisor, and is now a key member of the UK Local Software Economy and Emerging Business cross-company team for Microsoft. Responsible for the strategy and delivery of Microsoft’s innovation initiatives, she works closely with entrepreneurs and investors alike, and leads the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Programme, BizSpark and Venture Capital/Investor Relations for the UK Marketplace.
Mentioning her redundancy from PWC, at the start of her career, she says:
“I think the thing about redundancy is not to take it personally. It is not about you, it is about the role within the organisation. So have some confidence in yourself and look to your network for support”.
Julie Meyer of Ariadne Capital and recently released ACE fund
Through these intertwining roles of entrepreneur, advisor, investor and industry commentator, Julie has set her mission to build a growth story for the UK and Europe. This passion and entrepreneurial flair is what has earned her awards as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, World Economic Forum Global Leader of Tomorrow and in the Wall Street Journal’s Top 30 Most Influential Women in Europe. Read more |
Julie Meyer is one of the leading champions for entrepreneurship in Europe. With over 20 years investment and advisory experience helping start-up businesses, she is the well known founder & CEO of Ariadne Capital, Managing Partner of the Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs Fund [ACE Fund], founder of Entrepreneur Country, co-founder of First Tuesday, dragon on BBC’s Online Dragons Den and weekly columnist in London’s City AM.A Further Two Pitch-preneurs Are Announced
Sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials, Darwinian Business – Survival of The Fittest, will see ten entrepreneurs pitch to a panel of investors and industry executives. With the event day fast approaching BOOK tickets and check out the most recent additions to the line-up:
Pitch-preneur 5: Little World Gifts
Co-founders: Katie Lips and Paul Stringer
Digital Gifts. Redefined
What is Little World Gifts?
Little World Gifts delivers gorgeous Digital Gifts on iPhone. Everywhere. It is an international chain of designer gift stores selling high quality 3D digital gifts, toys, souvenirs and collectables on iPhone and on the web. Think you know virtual gifts? Think again: our gifts are sustainable, 3D, interactive, and location and context sensitive; we’re redefining Digital Gifts and we’re starting with gifts on iPhone.
“It’s an iPhone app, it’s a gift store, it’s a gorgeous present from a friend, it’s a special message from a loved one. It’s a viral marketing platform, it’s a way to reach new new audiences and customers, it’s a way for your brand to be on iPhone in one of 2010’s most popular applications.”
Going Global. Thinking Local.
We believe in the power of local: souvenirs, trinkets, mementos and hard to find objects brought from afar. Little World Gifts is a series of local stores around the world. No two stores sell the same gifts, ensuring wherever you are in the world you’ll find a rare gift to send a friend.
Good Giving.
Little World Gifts is ethically aware and active, donating a percentage of profits to sustainability initiatives making our world a better place. Little World Gifts impacts locally for global benefit.
Where we’re at
The experienced Little World Gifts team is in startup mode; developing revenue earning content partnerships prelaunch. The company has received seed funding from Northwest Vision and Media and is seeking further funding for launch +12 months.
Pitch-preneur 6: Fits me Virtual Fitting Room
CEO: Heikki Hadre
Fits.me is the Virtual Fitting Room for online clothing retailers
Selling clothes online is a $29 bn industry, expected to grow to $120 bn in 5 yrs. But it has a major problem: people cannot try clothes before they buy.
Fits.me provides the online clothing retailers a virtual fitting room, based on biorobotics technology. After the customer has entered their body measurements, they can see the fit of a clothing item – like in the real-life fitting room. We can show the fit of different sized garments with real-life photos and a 360-degree video.
For online clothing retailers, it increases sales, reduces cost associated with returns, and results in higher profits.
For consumers, it makes shopping for clothes easier, solving the single most important problem in the online clothing retail business today.
The scientific research required to create the virtual fitting room is made by three research facilities in Germany and Estonia. The company is led by Heikki Haldre, a seasoned internet entrepreneur. The development is led by Maarja Kruusmaa, PhD, heading the Center of Biorobotics at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia. The company has recently raised €1.3 million and is looking for advisory partners with online clothing retail background.
Natalie Turner about Effective Growth Consultancy for Startups
Natlie Turner, CEO Entheo
Consultancy for Start-ups, it seems a contradictio in terminus. Startups are either too stubborn to admit that they would benefit from it or don’t have the budget. Natalie Turner, founder and CEO of Innovation Agency entheo has found a way to convince startups that consultancy can be really beneficial to become high growth. Having her office in the middle of Shoreditch, she sits in the heart of the new creative and corporate startup culture. She talks with The NextWomen about it:
When did you start your company? With whom?
I started entheo in August 2006 after leaving a corporate role as an Innovation Director in a research business. My husband and I started the business together, although he didn’t join full time until September 2007. He was the initial investor. He now runs the company as the Managing Director which has freed up my time to focus on building business and client relationships.
What are you offering to companies?
We work with two principle markets: corporates who are looking to increase their capability to innovate and high-growth SMEs who need to scale and get results but don’t have the time or expertise to focus on the important internal aspects of their business; attracting and retaining people, having a clear market proposition and building an effective management team.
Our services fuse facilitation, skills development, coaching and consulting. For example, we are working with a fast growing digital design agency called Maynard Malone. They have to triple the size of their business over the next couple of years and need to keep focused on delivering excellent client service. They realise that in order to do that they need to build the right people systems and culture to attract and retain highly creative people. We are partnering with them to do this. They can buy from a menu of services according to their monthly needs. We work to strict budgets and are focused on delivering tangible results that will affect the bottom line.
We will work with them to either create or hone their vision and strategy, agree on the bold steps they need to achieve and work out roles and responsibilities for achieving them.
And your own team and profitability?
We have eight people in the team, from a variety of backgrounds. Because our work crosses the commercial and the psychological, we have a variety of skills in the business; HR, Product Development, Research, Marketing, Organisational Development as well as administrative support.
The first two years of the business we experienced profitable growth, we are just doing our end of year accounts for year three so not sure how much profit we have made yet. It has been a tough year!
Who is your role model?
At the moment Obama, I admire the way he is attempting to lead amidst complex domestic and international pressures. He communicates with passion, admits his failures and is a brilliant orator. I think he “dances with dilemmas” with grace and authenticity, a rarity amongst leaders in the business or political worlds.
Where do you see the most issues with startups?
Start ups are often chaotic places to work, and in part this is their attraction. They are usually run by an enthusiastic Founder who has created an innovative product or service.
Their chaos is due to having to wear multiple hats and juggling multiple tasks. Businesses go through stages of growth, the important thing is to notice when you are on the next growth curve and get in the support that you need. From personal experience, as well as experience of working with small businesses, it is best to outsource the things that detract you from the core of what you are trying to offer. This doesn’t mean that those things are unimportant, they are critical to success, but you might not be the best person to focus on it.
Know yourself! This is the most critical thing. Know who you are, what you excel at and play to those strengths. Build up a team that can compliment your skills and get better at what you love doing. Invest in your own personal development and ability to communicate and influence.
Think early on about the culture of the business that you want to create and how to create it. This is getting more critical as people need to find meaning in what they do and are attracted to joining businesses that are vibrant and ambitious. Culture will just not happen if you don’t consciously create it and then reinforce it. I have enjoyed building the culture of entheo, as much as I have building the service we offer. In our case, they reflect each other greatly.
Where do you see the most issues growing business?
Growing too fast, having to scale down ambitions, hiring the wrong people, not having the right processes to support growth to name but a few! We work with leaders to help them assess their values and communication style. Read more
A Further Two Pitch-preneurs are Announced
With our list of Pitch-preneurs at the upcoming event sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials growing, we introduce a further two. They join the first two on the list: Affect Labs and Swacle, and are soon to be joined by a further six companies.
To book tickets visit the events page
Pitch-preneur 3: Thirty10
An on-line magazine and community for women in their forties (and approaching forty)
Co-founders: Karen Espley and Mel Scott-Taylor
Thirty10.com is an online magazine and community for women in their forties. The site provides a voice for what could be described as a forgotten decade, but one which is fast becoming the focus of many brands both on- and offline. A range of topics covered on the site include: Beauty, Fashion, Fitness, Health, Relationships, Careers and news all specific and relevant to this demographic. Professional experts and partners contribute and provide expert advice within their content or topic area. These will range from cosmetic product reviews to recommended health & beauty tips, and careers and relationships.
Members of the site can take part in forums, ask questions of the experts and professionals, as well as have the opportunity to take part in monthly surveys uncovering the truth behind the likes, dislikes, needs, wants and thoughts of women in their forties.
Pitch-preneur 4: InfinCubator
InfinCubator is a web-based incubator for aspiring women entrepreneurs developing ventures online (be it an eBusiness, a web presence, or a non profit web project).
Founder and CEO: Egle Karalyte
InfinVision – an online presence development boutique – is piloting a new programme, InfinCubator, for aspiring women entrepreneurs who are developing ventures online – be it a business, web presence for an organisation, or a non-profit web project. Designed to be a guiding compass, helping hand, practical resource, mediator, and a source of inspiration, InfinCubator will provide the strategic guidance, resources, and connections women need to develop and successfully launch their ventures online.
InfinCubator will be a web-based platform with a solid global community behind it. Once a member, and based on her membership, a woman will be able to:
- Access the web-based practical resources (self-assessment, online strategy creation tool, step-by-step guides, worksheets, templates, eLearning programmes, and literature) around the subject matter of successful venture development online.
- Use the online project management workspace which is customised per her project type, designed on best practice in web development, with a wizard to guide her.
- Hire internet professionals from the global InfinCubator community of pre-qualified and talented experts.
- Hire an ad-hoc Web Strategist to help her with any component of her project’s development; from strategic planning, expert selection, project management, post-production evaluation and launch, etc.
- Connect and share experiences with other women in the InfinCubator’s community, via the online social networking features, intensive incubator-style workshops, and ideas soirées to cultivate creativity, network, and have fun.
In this way InfinCubator will serve their member as a “one-stop” strategic framework to tap into, and a springboard to bounce from, so her venture sails towards its excellence and success online.
Women at TechCrunch50 2009
September 14th and 15th 2009 saw the San Fransisco Design Centre Concourse play host to the TechCrunch50 Conference 2009. Curious to find the levels of female representation in the event, a Google search of ‘Techcrunch50 2009 women’ returned the same single article referenced on many sites. The article, written for the Los Angeles Times was called TechCrunch50: Women get Short Shrift, and made it clear that whilst women (as ever at tech events) were not well represented in volume, the quality of them is worth recognising.
One such start-up is LearnVest. Founded by CEO Alexa Von Tobel, the company is:
‘..designed to fill the enormous gaping hole between static self-help books and expensive financial advisors. LearnVest was made for anyone looking for unbiased objective personal finanncial help. However, our core target audience is women, an audience historically ignored and underserved in this topic.’
Whilst the company got a pretty luke warm reception from the panellists, there are numerous people on the TechCrunch site – both male and female – showing interest in the it. In a global recession this seems a good site not only to watch but also to use.
The First Two Pitch-preneurs are Announced
In the upcoming funding and pitching event, sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials, Pitch-preneurs will take centre stage as they speed pitch their businesses to a panel of investors and industry executives. It seems that the recession is definitely not holding back start-ups, and after an inundation of applications we will showcase each company over the coming weeks:
Pitch-preneur 1: Affect Labs
Affect Labs helps businesses understand what people are saying online by automatically measuring crowd opinions on social media platforms.
Co-founders: Jennie Lees and Steven Renwick
Affect Labs is an Edinburgh-based company which aims to bring meaning to the chaos that is online chatter. Their unique technology automatically extracts and quantifies the sentiment that people express in their Twitter updates, blog posts, etc. This allows Affect Labs to offer an unparalleled level of information about the current emotional temperature of the web, bringing disconnected conversations into one place and letting individuals gain new insight into brand perception, product fans, influential users and more.
They recently completed a successful product trial in association with Channel 4’s Innovation for the Public fund (4iP). FestBuzz allowed audiences and performers at the Edinburgh Festivals to instantly see how popular shows were on Twitter, automatically working out star ratings for each show based on how positive the Twitter buzz was. An alumnus of the Astia program, they have been listed as one of the Guardian’s top 100 tech media companies.
Pitch-preneur 2: Swacle
Swacle is an online consumer barter exchange for the trading of goods.
Co-founders: Daniella Alpher, Isabelle Régent-Ngwata and Yehoram Ben-Yaacov
Swacle will be an online barter exchange for teenagers and college students. It will offer a multi-category, multi-party platform through the use of credits. Swacle will be a fun, green and modest environment that enables people to maximise the value of their current possessions. They will be launching their Beta in the US towards the end of October.
Swapping and bartering have worked on pretty much every corner of the globe, in every culture, and for every product imaginable. Swacle therefore builds on something that has centuries of “usability testing” behind it and puts it on the Web, allowing people from all over the world to rely on advanced, digital shipping methods. The US Postal Service, UK’s Royal Mail, France’s La Poste and Canada Post all offer online digital postage that Swacle can utilise. Their main revenue stream will therefore come from shipping services by offering digital postage and charging $0.5 on top of the basic cost of mail.
Sheryl Sandberg: A Female Internet Hero fulfills her Promise at Facebook
Sheryl Sandberg is one of the genuine female internet heroes, we reported about her in our first article back in June 2008 in our search for female internet heroes. With a huge task she started at Facebook last year: the company wanted to scale and make real money and she was the one brought in from Google to make that happen. Today she announced in a CNN video that Facebook is cashflow positive and – by the way- has 300 million users worldwide. We wrote earlier that mostly women make up the the growing number of users. The NextWomen on Facebook seems inevitable.
Funding and Pitching Event Speakers Announced
The NextWomen announce two female internet heroes to speak at their upcoming Darwinian Business Event sponsored by Sun Startup Essentials. For more details visit our Events page.
Karin Loeffen, Founder of Libersy
Karin Loeffen
Founded by Karin Loeffen in 2006, Libersy developed a booking system to make online appointments, and offers a Click-to-book (TM) white label solution to directory services and search engines, which adds a book-now-button to any business listing or profile page. Service providers can market themselves on the Internet, as it is available for bookings 24/7 and accepts online payments. It is one of the first e-commerce solutions for companies in the service industry, such as hairdressers, restaurants, sports clubs and consultants. Libersy has launched with British Telecom in the UK under btbookitnow and in The Netherlands with ilocal and Stageplaza, an online booking system connecting students and employers directly.
Karin studied Fiscal Economics at the University of Tilburg, and the theater academy in Maastricht and has previously worked for Philips, Canon and Sanoma Publishing, in functions ranging from financial controller to European Marketing Manager. Led by her conviction that the booking of services is the next big commercial step for the Internet, she is eager to develop Libersy to a global level. In the last seed round Karin raised 1.5M euro of funding, supported by informals, staff and a great board of advisors (o.a. Value Creation & Company) all of whom she brought together herself.
Sarah McVittie, Serial Entrepreneur and Co-founder of Textperts
Sarah McVittie
Sarah McVittie proves that you do not have to be a business veteran to be an internet entrepreneur. Founder and former CEO of Texperts.com, Sarah has won such accolades as a position in ‘The top 35 women under 35’ by the Times, and recently having sold Texperts is working away on a new venture that will no doubt surpass the success of her last.
After a brief career as a city analyst, Sarah founded Texperts (originally 82ASK), a quick text Q&A service for mobile phones, in 2003. Texperts allows anyone in the UK with a mobile phone to get his or her question answered by texting a question to UK number 66000. Texperts then uses a combination of innovative internet technology and human resources to send users the answer to their questions.
Since the service launched in 2003, Sarah not only raised £2.5m from investors, while ensuring that its service could operate across all UK mobile networks, she also collected a host of prizes for her innovative idea and business. In 2007 Texperts won the Innovative Company of the Year prize at the Real Business/CBI Growing Business Awards and the National Business Award for Best Use of Technology. In 2008 Sarah she was runner up in the ‘ rising star’ category of the Media Guardian awards and won the “Businesswoman of the Year” award at the Cambridge Evening News Business Excellence Awards.
With the world of instant answers well and truly conquered, Sarah and her co-founder Thomas Roberts, sold the company at the end of 2008 to kgb giant 118118. The tech community is now waiting patiently to see what Sarahs next move will be.
Spotted by Locals celebrates Local Heroes
Spotted by Locals is a website offering travel tips from local residents of 22 cities in Europe. It’s run by Dutch husband and wife team Bart and Sanne van Poll who got the idea for the business when they started using local blogs as sources of travel information. The company uses a network of local “spotters”, all of whom are vetted by Bart and Sanne in person. What makes Spotted by Locals special is the quality and “insider” feel of the information. Lonely Planet awarded the site best group authored blog in their 2009 blog awards.
I live in Amsterdam and the suggested spots there include several of my own local haunts (See Stientjes and De Nieuwe Anita) which are not listed in any travel guide. I even found a suggestion for a monthly flea market I had never heard of before. In fact, 30% of all Spotted by Locals users are locals themselves.
The business model is a combination of advertising, re-publication of the content and some revenue-sharing deals. Currently the company is self-funded. Competitors are mainly other local travel blogs and user-generated content like Trip Advisor. The sort of information offered by sites like Spotted by Locals is complementary rather than directly competing with the mainstream travel guides.
TheNextWomen talked to co-founder Sanne about launching the business.
What were you doing workwise before Spotted by Locals?
I have no background in the internet-industry at all. Before starting Spotted by Locals I ran a one-woman consultancy firm advising companies about the health and working conditions of their employees. I sold that company in 2008 and at the same time Bart quit his job as a consultant in the Internet industry. Since then, we’ve both been working full-time on Spotted by Locals.
What has the transition been like?
I was an entrepreneur before, but working in the Internet industry is so different! Now I spend a lot more time behind a computer screen. I was used to walking around and talking to people all day, so that was a big change. Another big change is that I get the opportunity to travel about half of my time. An important part of our concept is that we meet all our bloggers (”Spotters”) in person. In the last one and a half years, we’ve met hundreds of really interesting and enthusiastic people in the 22 cities we’ve visited. We selected 120 of them to write for us.
The Internet industry is a fascinating world to work in. So much changes so fast! I have really learned a lot and I’m sure the future will keep surprising me.
What’s the biggest problem you encountered in getting the company off the ground?
One of our biggest challenges was finding enough Spotters in all the cities we wanted to visit. In the beginning, this was quite hard. These days we get Spotter-applications every day, from people all around the world, but right now we’re focusing on Europe.
What advice would you give other budding female entrepreneurs?
To all aspiring entrepreneurs in general, I’d say if you have a good plan, just do it! It’s fun and you will learn a lot about yourself. Europe could use many more entrepreneurs.
What’s your biggest ambition for the company?
Next year we want to grow to 50 cities in Europe. Also we plan to organize a big get-together for all our Spotters in Europe in 2010. I’m really looking forward to that!
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