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Twentysomething Millionaire launches Early Stage Fund for Social Gaming
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Oprah Winfrey described Indian born serial entrepreneur Gurbaksh Chahal as “living the American dream”. Fact is that he knows how to start, build and sell a company. According to Sprouter, he sold his first business, Click Agents, two years after starting up for $40 million, and his second company, BlueLithium, was acquired by Yahoo! in 2007 for $300 million. He is currently growing his third startup gWallet. And that’s far before he turns 30 years old.
Chahal wants to bring this quality to other startup entrepreneurs and so he has launched an early-state venture fund, gWallet Ventures, that will invest in social gaming and online gaming companies. The fund will provide initial funds from $100k to $1 million to start-ups to develop and market their game. According to their blog:
We are currently looking for companies to invest in (our criteria is fairly simple—if you have fun games, we’re probably interested), and we’re excited to choose our first portfolio company. We plan on playing an active role with all of the companies we invest in, and we’ll do our part to make sure the best games out there are brought to the masses.
Intention is to be working directly with the entrepreneurs, such as gaming developers on Facebook and MySpace, that receive early-state venture funds to help in all business aspects, and especially with the monetization of games, through the gWallet company. And there they also will meet Rebecca Watson for business development, who has a track record with Real Girls Media where she helped launch the company’s owned and operated site DivineCaroline.com and led all syndication, licensing, content sourcing and partnership development. Additionally, she founded the Real Girls Network, a premium advertising network connecting women’s blogs and communities with Fortune 500 brands.
Anyone who is not interesting in the Fund, may be nonetheless interested in the Entrepreneurial Lessons of the serial entrepreneur, as listed on Sprouter:
- Hire only rockstars to work at your company
- Don’t expect free help Read more
Female Entrepreneurs Learn Top Business Strategies for 2010
This is a guest post by Misae Richwoods, a previous Golden Web Award winner and consultant to start ups, SMEs and the independent professionals market via MRMedia Group
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Sun Microsystem’s headquarters sit in London city, a stone’s throw from the river Thames and in sight of London Bridge. Although Sun were a pioneer in Workstation computers and brought to the world numerous gems like Java and OpenOffice, Sun are also the owners of a system that has powered the web revolution – MySQL. Not only does MySQL run Google, the world’s biggest search engine, it also powers Yahoo!, its rival and YouTube, BBC News and Facebook are also users. It’s free, open source and has a reputation for being the fastest and most stable database you can use without paying the huge premiums that Oracle’s systems cost. In the words of Facebook COO, Owen Van Natta:
“MySQL has been a revolution for young entrepreneurs”.
But, what’s all this got to do with The Next Women?
Not only did Sun Microsystems generously host their 2010 Strategy event, they underlined it with their own story, the power of “blue ocean planning” – a focus technique taught to delegates during The NextWomen strategy workshop. Mapping out industries to reveal contrarian opportunities shows where innovation can be applied to make a new business model.
Everyone on Wordpress owes it’s low cost to a ‘Blue Ocean’
In the world of databases, Oracle’s high end systems had been dominant for many years. MySQL went in the opposite direction to Microsoft, focussing on low cost of ownership whilst still providing a quality product. In doing so they created massive value in customer eyes and opened up a new “blue ocean” of opportunity – the affordable web database. Everyone running a WordPress blog owes it’s low cost to MySQL’s innovation.
The all-involving hands on strategy workshop delivered by Natalie Turner (@natalieturner1), gave an enlightening method of aligning our companys’ growth strategy with innovation to exploit industry openings. Sure, we could all work harder and be better, but that’s certainly not the reason I or the other female entrepreneurs present started their own companies. If working harder and being better at the same thing is what you excel at, being a highly skilled professional may be the most rewarding way for you to use your time. Those who succeed as an entrepreneur are those bringing pastures new to the world. The hard work for us is training the brain to spot the opportunity rather than being a chip off the old block!
Judy Piatkus – A veritable Don King of fresh ideas and speaker at our next Kitchen Dinner, February 24th 2010 Read more
Blue or Red, which Ocean is Your Company Swimming in?
TheNextWomen is holding its Strategy Workshop tomorrow, based on Blue Ocean Strategy. View the Agenda. Grab the last 3 tickets, which includes the Evening program with 100 attendees.
The need for new ways of thinking about strategy is critical. With the rate of commoditisation increasing, even in highly innovative markets, companies need to be able to differentiate their products with something unique, that is not easily copied by competitors, and which is valued by customers.
Read a lot of strategy books and they tend to give you the same message: differentiate your service offering, beat the competition, segment your market more cleverly and choose between high customer value at an increased cost or low value at a lower cost. Either or, it’s a zero sum game.
This three hour workshop will not only challenge and sharpen your thinking by giving you fresh frameworks to think about your business strategy today, but give you time to roll up your sleeves and get down to work to generate ideas that will transform your business strategy tomorrow.
Startup Interview: Sonia Hully of The First Exclusive Dating Site, Love Definitely
If you have a read through the archive of our posts over the last year, you will find many articles related to online dating. From mysinglefriend, where friends compile profiles; to the original online dating site, Match, to dating for the rich and beautiful on Seventy-Thirty and toyboys on toyboywarehouse, and even finding a founding business partner through FounderDating, you wouldn’t believe there were any variations left. Yet here, Sonia Hully, founder of Love Definitely talks about producing the first exclusive dating site, getting her website built and her plans for the coming year.
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How did you come up with the idea of your start-up?
About a year ago, I was looking for a new venture.
Having worked in capital markets for 7 years, 3 years in the film industry followed by a bit of property development, I developed a taste for new challenges and working for myself. Two years ago I tried online dating myself and realised there were no sites for eligible bachelors. That’s how my idea took place. It took me about two months to find the right developers and programmer to build my site. I didn’t want to build something from a template as I wanted a differentiated site with a feeling of quality. Six months later, in June 2009, Love Definitely was launched.
How did you form your team?
I am lucky to be well connected from my previous jobs. Apart from two shareholders, a few interns and me it is a one woman show at the moment. I take regular advice from my friends entrepreneurs, lawyers etc… and I am actually starting to build an advisory board. The site, PR and other usual administrative duties are outsourced. I have also just negotiated a deal with McCann Erickson, a leading advertising agency, to manage my account. They will be developing my campaign for 2010. It is very exciting.
How did you fund it, with how much money, and what is the business model?
I have done quite well over the past few years, I was working in property development and decided to leave in 2008 before the crash. I founded most of the company myself with the help of two friends who also advise me on the financial side of the business. Since starting we have invested £55 000 into the business and launched an invite only membership section of the site called the Lounge.
The income is coming from registration fees even though it was free until very recently. It is £20 per month, £40 for 3 months and £60 for 6 months. I don’t believe in having advertising on a site especially a high end site. I always find it confusing when you have too many adverts on a page. I like the site to be simple and elegant.
As I was mentioning I have also a newer membership called the Lounge, by invitation only. This one will be more expensive eventually but at the moment it is free for the people invited.
What differentiates you from other players in your sector?
The idea is to be exclusive, elegant and fun for the eligible single. There can still be a stigma about online dating and that is where I am hoping to break the ice.
I also realised that many of us find it difficult to write about ourselves, really enjoy meeting friends of friends, but lack time and prefer like-minded crowds to mass gatherings.
In that respect I decided to involve a friend to help users register and write their profile. If you wish, he can even set you up for a blind date which is innovative in the world of online dating and makes it really fun. The Lounge, which is the premium membership section of our site, is by invitation only and has a calendar of events organised by the members themselves or by Love Definitely and other exclusive event organisations.
What was your biggest challenge during the development process and how can other start-ups learn from that?
I still consider the business as being in the development stage. Read more
MOTIVATING Mum to Launch Nationwide Mentoring Initiative for Businessmums
It was only last month that we featured an interview with Iveta Tancheva of Mums Like You – a venture geared towards mothers – highlighting the massive draw the internet has for women. In the same vein, a mentoring scheme to support businessmums across the UK is to be launched on March 15, 2010 by Allison Price, founder of Motivating Mum. This exciting new initiative will enable mums already in business, as well as those wanting to start up, to obtain affordable support and advice to help them achieve their dreams.
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Launched three years ago, Motivating Mum was set up by Allison Price, professional life coach, mumpreneur and mother of one, for mums who needed help with the everyday challenges they faced. It now helps mumpreneurs across the UK succeed in achieving their business dreams through the provision of support and advice.
Increasing Numberss of Mumpreneurs
An increasing number of mothers are setting up their own businesses, however many of them lack knowledge and/or experience and face difficult challenges right from the start. The Motivating Mum mentoring service will connect mums needing professional guidance to mums who are experts in their field. It will cover all areas of business from law and accountancy to marketing and PR, in addition to getting ideas off the ground.
The Who’s Who of Business-mums
High profile business-mums already signed up as mentors for the launch include Laura Tenison, MD at JoJo Maman Bebe, Rachel Jones, inventor of Totseat and Wendy Shand, founder of Tots to Travel.
When talking about the launch, founder Alli Price said: Read more
Business Dating for Entrepreneurs: FounderDating.com
It’s a conundrum that many people face when starting a business – how to meet the right partner. For those lucky entrepreneurs amongst us, this has never been an issue. You had a friend or a business associate who shared the same passion or business idea as you and your venture was born. For some of us, however, beyond the great idea is the need and desire to have that partner who shares the joint vision.
The solution:
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Co-Founders, Jessica Alter and Saar Gur, recognised the hole for this new niche in the dating industry:
‘Like so many good ideas, FounderDating was born out of a cup of coffee (or maybe it was diet coke) and personal frustration. We have met countless uber talented people who want to become entrepreneurs, but haven’t yet found the right co-founder(s)/team or idea to work on. We started FounderDating to help introduce smart, dedicated and inspired people, start making matches and lower the hurdles to company creation.’
Identifying a person who brings with them a killer combination – say, coding skills or other the traits that would make a strong co-founder – is challenging, especially for people without established connections from say, previous work in business development at Bebo or business school. So in partnering with venture capitalist Saar Gur last year, Jessica co-founded an event series that works to bring people passionate about starting their own endeavours together with other entrepreneurs displaying complimentary skill sets.
The process is very simple, with three basic rules:
- Be Committed
- Don’t Meet and Tell
- Be Prompt
Currently running in San Fransisco and Seattle, they are soon to go global, starting with Israel.
IP Strategy: Are you getting the most out of your IP? Seminar invitation, London UK
All businesses have some forms of Intellectual Property (IP) and need to make an informed decision as to how to use IP to create a competitive advantage. Creating an IP strategy helps businesses focus on their key IP assets and how best to protect, develop and maximise the value of IP with the available budget. This event is aimed at businesses with valuable IP or who are developing valuable IP.
BOOK NOW
The NextWomen discount code: Nextwomen2010
This event will allow attendees to:
- Understand the value of their IP
- Learn how to develop their IP from an IP Lawyer, an Investor and a panel of successful entrepreneurs
- Recognise their IP in all its forms
- Finance, exploit, and protect their IP
- Understand the basics of copyright, patent and trademark law in the UK
- Appreciate the importance of an effective IP strategy
- Tackle any overseas IP issues
- Ask questions of the speakers and panel members and network with 100 fellow entrepreneurs
Where and when
- Date: Thursday 4 February 2010; 6pm to 9 pm
- Location: The Terrace Restaurant, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, NEW DAB
Tickets
- Cost: £25
- Exclusive £5 discount for NextWomen readers and members when you use the following discount code: Nextwomen2010
- Purchase online
Agenda
- IP Strategy, Introduction and Legal Issues – Robert Pocknell, Keystone Law
- IP Strategy, Investor’s and Practitioner’s Approach – Andy Tait, Pembridge Partners
- Panel Discussions
- Networking and Refreshments
To register, and for further details, including the bios of speakers and panel members, please visit the event booking page, and don’t forget the special discount code: Nextwomen2010
Female Tech Start-up, Completely Novel, Shortlisted for the Young Publishing Entrepreneur Award 2010
The British Council has just announced its shortlist for the UK Young Publishing Entrepreneur Award 2010, in which 3 of the 6 finalists are female and one from a technology start-up – Anna Lewis of Completely Novel. Launched in 2004, the British Council’s Creative Economy Unit first pioneered the IYCE awards – International Young Creative Entrepreneur – to ‘celebrate the achievements and develop the potential of young creative entrepreneurs from emerging economies.’
The International Process
Initially focusing on publishing, they have since announced awards for design, music, screen (film and television), fashion, communications, interactive, performing and visual arts. Run annually, and open to young creative entrepreneurs from emerging economies, 8-10 countries are selected each year to take part from which one national finalist from each country is selected to enter the international competition. Once finalists are selected, they visit the UK on a 10 day tour during which they learn from their UK sector and judgement is made on the overall winner.
Born from the Success of an International Programme
Since its inception, over 45 countries have taken part – including Oman, India and Yemen – and as a direct result of this success, the UK compatriot programme was launched in 2007 with its initial award, again in publishing. In partnership with NESTA and The Cultural Leadership Programme, the list of awards is now equal to that of the International Programme. As for finalists of the International awards, the UK finalists take a tour of their sector in an emerging economy after which they share their experiences at a number of events.
This year’s publishing finalists, who are set to tour South Africa at the end of February, are:
• Anna Lewis, Co-founder and COO of Completely Novel Read more
Blast Off Strategies to Get You Inspired and Reach Your Goals
Allison Maslan has been an entrepreneur for the past 25 years and has a vibrant array of nine successful businesses to her credit. She is an author, life and business coach, homeopathic physician and international speaker. Allison is the president of The Blast Off Life and Business Coaching where she specialises in helping people tap into their passion and purpose and launching them into a new business and the best chapter of their lives.
Launching her new book – ‘Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams into Reality ’, today, January 19th 2010 on Amazon – here Allison provides a sneak peek into her book with a guest post on strategies to ‘Get Inspired and Reach Your Goal’
What are some of your bigger goals or dreams that are sitting on the shelf…
…because life has gotten too busy for you to even think about them? You might be thinking, “I will get to them next month, next year.” Well, we know how that goes. The year passes you by and those desires are still sitting on the shelf, collecting dust. And then the frustration begins to creep in again because there is a deep longing inside you to bring these dreams to life.
Maintaining the Momentum whilst Continuing Life as You Know it
Week One: Clarify what it is you want
Nothing will happen until you get clear about your goals. Find 30 minutes of private time during one day this week and take out a pad of paper to do some creative scribbling, drawing, or journaling about what you would like to see unfold. Maybe you would like to take a trip to Portugal, learn another language, plant an herb garden, write a book, or remodel your bathroom. Perhaps a lifestyle uplift by taking more alone time for yourself, or beginning an exercise program.
Week Two: What are the large steps that need to happen to reach your goal? Read more
Founder of Talk to the Press, Natasha Courtenay-Smith, Tells the Incredible Stories of Ordinary People
Natasha Courtenay-Smith founded features agency, Talk to the Press in 2008 after she realised that many ordinary people have incredible stories to share but do not know how to go about getting them published in the press. Since the agency launched, it has placed 300 articles in the media and helped many people talk publicly about their experiences; the majority of which have reached them through their website.
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Giving People a Voice
Talk to the Press act as a publicity agent for their clients, helping them navigate the complex world of media. Last year, they were approached by the mother of Kara Hoyte, a young woman who helped make legal history after her ex-boyfriend tried to murder her. Kara’s testimony helped convict him for a murder he had committed years earlier. The family was being bombarded by the press, but after approaching Talk to the Press, newspaper and magazine deals were arranged that allowed Kara to tell her side of the story in her own time.
Winner of the 2009 Women in Business award at the Startups Awards
Natasha at the Startups Awards (cc: Startups Awards)
In November of last year, Natasha won the hotly contended Women in Business award at the Start Ups Awards. The judges were unanimous in their decision and praised her business as being “innovative”. Not content with running one successful business, Natasha, a former Daily Mail journalist, also runs Case Study Link, an online service that connects commissioning editors looking for case studies, with experienced freelance journalists and agencies who can supply them.
From Biology and Psychology to Journalism
Natasha studied biology and psychology at the University of Sussex but after graduating was unsure what career she wanted to pursue. She had always been an avid fan of magazines and decided to pursue a job writing for one of her favourite publications. After numerous internships at various publications she was offered a job as an editorial assistant on Health & Fitness magazine. Her ability to write to tight deadlines meant she was soon producing features for the magazine.
Natasha went on to write for the Sunday Times in New Zealand and Shine magazine back in the UK, before joining the Daily Mail in 2001 as a feature writer after which she eventually went freelance.
Cutting Edge Documentary Read more
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