crnchd

Excellent - at last I can post some good news

There was big news for technology startups reported in the Guardian over the last weekend.

The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (aka Nesta) together with the UK government have announced a new one billion pound fund specifically for pre-revenue technology startups.

There’s still very little detail about this fund at present, and there are some open questions about:

• how will this money be raised?
• how will this money be managed and allocated?
• will this really be new money - or will it be existing funds redirected?

Much of this speculation can be seen in the comments on TechCrunchUK.

So I’m very happy to be posting some good news* for a change!

* Although, of course, underlying this there is bad news - as the Guardian says “In recent years, private equity, a traditional supporter of early stage firms, has all but pulled out of the sector”

Following on from a previous post, here’s some more UK startups who I’ve seen recently.

All these companies I’ve seen listed under a variety of blogs, meetups, etc. All of them look interesting!

http://uk.bookingbug.com/ - provides a customisable booking service for various types of meeting organisers with a Freemium-revenue model.

The next three companies are all London based somewhere and they all seem to have some connection with Riversoft - an ex-Richmond, Surrey based company that I recall from a few year’s ago (sadly for the wrong reasons - I remember it collapsing in size fairly dramatically) - these are all possibly Waterloo based - all linked to a incubator company called http://promethyan.com/

http://www.nuvoti.com - I’ve looked at their beta service - it’s interesting to see how search could grow and change - Google is still only 10 years old!

http://www.prelert.com/ - will change the economics of operations management - in some ways this really reminds me of the previous riversoft company.

http://www.rivermuse.com/ - again targeting cost of ownership, this time for event management.

http://kminds.com/ - mobile web 2.0

http://www.aqilla.com/ -accounting 2.0 - especially targeting the cost of ownership of normal accounts packages (a great idea)

http://skimbit.com/ - a product comparison website using social networking - this looks good - feels very similar to something I intended to build once (but using facebook rather than a standalone website) - another one bites the dust!

http://www.plebble.com/ - a ratings community - looks like a nice interface, but possibly a tough place to be right now given reevoo’s recent announcement of their drop in size.

http://www.sweemo.com/ - a nice looking website, aimed at selling “sweet moments” - providing users the opportunity to bid for opportunities to do things- anything from slapping the site’s founder with a fish, to driving a fast car, to hanging out with a band for the day, … - this feels like a bit of a cross between ebay and Red Letter Days - aiming to open up both sides (both selling and buying) of the experience market to the masses.

http://www.skillsmatter.com - you’ll see me mention these guys a lot under meetup type opportunities - they seem a friendly bunch and seem to be organising a lot of techie training opportunities - good on them.

http://www.incuvis.com - one to watch - still very young at the moment, still in stealth mode, but I’ve met them recently and they’ve got some good tech and a great attitude.

So, as I reported in some earlier blog posts, I’ve been attending quite a few meetups recently - both of the technical and the entrepreneurial type.

And I figured it was time I gave some feedback on them.

Here’s the scores on the doors…

• Open coffee - 8 - weekly meetup in a university cafeteria in the centre of London - I found the format good - easy to attend, easy to mix with people - although the coffee shop format did have a few problems (groups tend to form in circles and it’s not always easy to break into the circle!)
• Ultralightstartups - 8 - a good but small crowd gathered for the initial meeting of this group. The size and format made it easy for everyone to be involved in the discussion. Only criticism so far - was that the format was a little too free flowing - I guess this might change a bit as people start to drive the agenda in various directions.
• DDD - 9 - this free developer’s conference is (in my opinion) as good as any paid one - plenty to see and learn - only problem now is how busy it’s gotten - it’s hard to get in as the invite list fills up within a few hours.
• cloudcamp - 9 - good setup - fairly easy to network - interesting stuff all round.
• minibar - 3 - I really didn’t enjoy this - a noisy bar with some really quite hard sell presentations - most of which seemed closely linked to material I had already seen - plus it was hard to network… Maybe I’m being too generous with 3?

Of course, there’s still plenty more for me to see and try… including I’ve found a technical meetup group near where I live - devevening - which I hope to try in the new year

I’ve heard from a few people who’ve read various posts on this blog and as a result I’ve realised that I’ve not really given them much to go on about my life outside this blog….

If you are out there and are interested, then I’ve added a few other links to the roll on the blog, including:

• my more technical blog - http://slodge.blogspot.com/
• my more personal blog - http://www.slodge.com/blog/

Warning - neither of these is particularly active or well established…. it all depends how busy I am (and I always seem to be busy!)

I got sent this link by a friend - the headline is:

“Google has been quietly laying off staff and up to 10,000 jobs could be on the chopping block according to sources.”

If you read further down and also browse the comments, it’s one contains some of the most anti-Google web material I’ve ever read… things like Googlers having “laziness and worthless work ethic”…

If you want a bit more balanced/level-headed view then try this report on CNet

I don’t doubt that Google is changing, I don’t doubt that the crnch will have an effect on Google’s size and on it’s revenues and I don’t doubt that search will get even more competitive, but I don’t believe for a moment the claims of laziness or bloatedness at Google - from what I’ve seen, people at Google work hard, long and smart - and I do hope that Google keeps its innovation going - because if it stops inventing then it will be in trouble.

For a few months now I’ve noticed quite a difference between the doom and gloom of the predictions of where the economy is heading (and the doom and gloom of the stock and currency markets) and the generally more upbeat mood of people I meet everyday.

However… sadly this does seem to be changing more and more - with the doom and gloom winning rather than the upbeatness.

And tonight I was foolish enough just to look at the news:

• Repossession of homes up
• Citigroup making 75,000 job cuts
• Honda closing its UK (Swindon) factory for 2 months
• Woolworths (with 30,000 direct employees) on the brink

Eeeek! The crnch is definitely biting

A few year’s ago a few colleagues of mine were very convinced (and convincing) of the software development capabilities of Eastern destinations such as India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, etc. - and with all the outsourcing we’ve seen those colleagues certainly had a point.

More recently, however, it’s a slightly closer East that I’ve noticed - East London.

I’ve no idea why it is, but areas like Clerkenwell, Old Street, Farringdon, and Aldgate all seem to keep coming up when I’m looking at UK tech startups.

Is East London is the new Silicon City?

I do find it incredible sometimes how poor companies are at giving candidates feedback during the recruitment process.

Here are a few examples:

• The first hurdle - a friend of mine recently sent some CVs into some big IT companies - including Microsoft… and he’s not received a single acknowledgment back. Has he simply been dismissed from consideration? Are they currently reviewing their hiring requirements? Is there some timeline when they might start inviting people in for interview? I understand that these companies will have many CVs sent to them - but simply not saying anything in return is (IMO) poor! I’ve had a similar experience to this with Sky - sent in my CV, heard absolutely nothing back.
• Post interview - a friend of mine recently went to interview with a high-tech SME here in the UK - 1E. In fact, it wasn’t so recently now… more like 6 weeks. At the interview they told him they’d get back to him in the next week. A week later he phoned and they said another week. In the two weeks after that, there were other similar conversations, but never a resolution - he’s still not been rejected and he’s still not been invited back for more interviews. And the reason? It’s a complete mystery. For 1E to not be able to make a decision is (IMO) poor!
• Post interview pt 2 - this one is a longer tale and is about me rather than about a friend… I’ve applied more than once for jobs with Google. As some people know, I love this company - they do so many things so well - I’m really very enamored and impressed with them. However, my experiences of their recruitment process have been mixed… The first time around the process overall took 3 months - it was filled with 4 separate lots of interviews and repeating “there will be a decision next week” type delays. In the end, I was made an offer, but only too late for me to accept - by that time I had commitments I didn’t feel I could break. This more recent time around, the initial process has been completed much quicker - barely 3 weeks from me first sending in a CV and then completing two lots of interviews. However, at the last of those interviews I was told I’d get an answer within a couple of days… It’s come as no real surprise to me that the answer didn’t arrive within those two days… but I must admit I’m disappointed not to have heard from them at all - I understand people are busy and there are reasons why decisions can be delayed - but to just let a deadline pass and to not communicate the delay is (IMO) poor!

So, now I’ve given a few rather good companies a gentle slating…. here’s what I think those companies perhaps could do to be better - here’s 3 simple rules from me for companies talking effectively to candidates:

1. If anyone sends a CV to you (especially if they submit it directly) then you should give them a response immediately - it does not have to be personalised, but it should say thanks and it should say what the process is from here: how many days to expect a decision on whether you will be invited to interview; whether or not you will receive a follow-up if you are not invited for interview.
2. If you are invited for interview, then you should be given an idea of what the normal process is - how many rounds of interviews to expect and approximate timelines to complete the process.
3. After every round of interview, there should be a known and agreed timeline for the decision. If a deadline in that timeline is reached without the decision being made then the candidate should be contacted, given the reason and given an updated timeline. There are often good reasons for delays - e.g. sickness, busy business, etc - and candidates will understand these far better than they will understand silence! There are, however, also poor reasons for delays - including indecisiveness from decision makers - and enforcing deadlines might actually help a company face up to these internal problems.

As a side issue, one final thought I have here is about why companies can be so bad at talking to candidates… and my main reason is that I think they have been bludgeoned by the one of the dullest of implements - recruitment consultants. Perhaps because of their commission based pay terms, some recruiters are forever badgering companies about candidates, about interviews, about making decisions… so much so that companies have almost come to rely on them?

I’ve heard the words “hiring freeze” in quite a few places in the last few weeks - even in relation to some companies who I expected would continue to grow.

I guess given the recent turmoil (Northern Rock, HBOS, Lehman, …) it was inevitable that hiring would change here in London in the city.

However, I’ve also seen similar trends in tech companies - both big and small:

• Microsoft - officially no hiring freeze, although they do say “we are evaluating hiring” and they do say things are “different” from the start of the year (from Network World)
• Google - again officially no hiring freeze, but they are definitely changing their growth outlook (from the Inquirer - and from comments I’ve heard directly from people at Google)
• Startups - not just hiring freezes but also large numbers of layoffs - e.g. as tracked by TechCrunch

So here are the mistakes I’ve made so far:

1. Business cards - I don’t think I’ve met anyone yet who hasn’t had a pile of cards ready to distribute… but I’ve not yet printed any “new me” cards - I really must get on with this! The place to do this seems to be the excellent moo.com - a London based startup specialising in low cost customised stationary printing from (for example) flickr based content. I first heard about moo from a Flash designer I’ve worked with and really probably should have included them on one of my hot company lists!
2. Mistaken identity - if you’ve just been to a talk and want to discuss it with them afterwards, then make sure you go up to the right person - this is especially embarrassing when everyone has nametags on - really no excuse!
3. If someone says they are mainly there for the free drink… then run away! I’ve no problem with their motives, but I’m not going to these events to get stuck in a long discussion about whether or not there are more bubbles in a bottle than a can*… and it is amazing how passionate this conversation can be. Run away!
4. What? - At many of these meetings I’ve simply had too vague a current story to tell. This is, of course, because my current situation is quite vague - I’m really not sure whether I’m currently looking for a job, looking to start some new websites, looking to work as a consultant or just trying to keep alive (revive) my current crnchd company. However, being vague is boring! It’s hard for the other people there to be interested if I say so little… it’s much better if I focus on some of the things I definitely am doing rather than being vague about what I might do. Even within my current situation there are still definite things I can talk about - e.g. my cloud development experiments - and so I should start conversations based on them rather than on “nothingness”.
5. I’d rather not say. There are still possibilities for my current company - we’re decidedly crnchd but we’re still trying, and we still have lots of good tech and lots of good ideas that we’ve built up over the last three years… as a result I’d rather not talk about it as a closed entity nor as an ongoing entity at the meetups… so why oh why do I keep mentioning it at all? All I have to do is start the conversation somewhere else - so, if there’s something you don’t feel comformtable talking about, then simply avoid it!

Hopefully no one else will be as foolish as me… and I’ll also have learnt from my mistakes!

* I reckon there are equal numbers in a can and bottle - there are some interesting experiments about how to make more bubbles (all to do with adding surfaces on which the bubble can form) but the smooth can and bottle environments are approx the same (I think)