Last night was a UK Trade & Investment and Interactive Ontario double header in the Watershed, Bristol. 11 Canadian companies from Ontario came to meet around 36 South West companies. The proforma presentations included an overview of the Canadian & Ontario business environment from Ian Kelso (IO & Canadian Interactive Alliance, CIAIC), an introduction to… Continue reading Meeting the Canadians
Category: Bristol
Storm a-brewing
Just out of the Board meeting with this year’s Young Enterprise company from Colston’s Girls School. They’d decided that a freeform seating plan was adding to the normal chaos of starting a new company. So instigated a seating plan. They’d also identified some key issues to do with their development as a high performing team.… Continue reading Storm a-brewing
Entrepreneurs Question Time
I attended the Bristol Enterprise Network event last night at the Watershed. Part of a emerging series of events focusing around entrepreneurship, innovation, learning and new business. The panel comprised John Acton (Compact Power), Ben Heald (SIFT), Jaya Chakribarti (Nameless), James Cook (Spider Group) and Giles Clarke (South West Ventures and host of others include… Continue reading Entrepreneurs Question Time
Order out of chaos (mostly)
One of the great things about advising a Young Enterprise start-up company (at least in my experience) is the total enthusiasm and energy. Undirected energy is just noise and can turn destructive. That’s why even in the most chaotic and creative meetings, you still need an agenda and focus. The main focus today was to… Continue reading Order out of chaos (mostly)
New company launch
Another year, another Young Enterprise company starts up. I’m acting as a Business Adviser for Colston’s Girls School again this year. Quite a large group of nearly 20 gathering after school to discuss their new venture. The usual chaos slowly subsided as roles were discussed and assigned. Despite the best efforts of their link teacher… Continue reading New company launch
Reasons to hate the iPhone
Just seeing how strong the Jobs Reality Distortion Field really is. 🙂 And we did talk about the iPhone… Last night’s Bristol SkillSwap relaunch at Goldbrick House had a new (for us) format with something Laura called ‘Talking Points’. 5 chairs, 4 people, discuss a topic, if you want to contribute you fill the empty… Continue reading Reasons to hate the iPhone
Young IoD in Bristol
The early start this morning wasn’t just to catch up on the overnight Google Reader (where I’ve pretty much dropped del.icio.us in favour of the search on GReader and shared items). Headed over to the Bristol Golf Course (bit of a sterotype thing going on there) and was promised the secret of being ‘Disgustingly good… Continue reading Young IoD in Bristol
BarCamp Bristol gathering pace
Laura Francis and Tim Beadle have put together the inaugral BarCamp Bristol (12 October if you haven’t booked) in association with SkillSwap Bristol. Sign up and register! There is a GBP5 fee to help towards costs. Loads of folks (currently 11) have contributed sponsorship, including me. There’s the Upcoming, FaceBook, and probably loads of other… Continue reading BarCamp Bristol gathering pace
Beyond the Console
I was at the Creative Technology Network event last Thursday: Beyond the Console. Toby Barnes from Pixel-Lab kicked things off with a very brief overview of some South West Screen sponsored research on the Games Industry in the SW (not yet on Pixel-Lab, SW Screen or CTN websites). Toby noted that the 5 year technology… Continue reading Beyond the Console
Entrepreneurship in Bristol
There have been lots of events and initiatives to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in Bristol. Two of the latest have been Simon starting Open Coffee Bristol and the Creative Technology Network (CTN), this last launched with some fanfare by Michael B Johnson (Moving Pictures Group Lead at Pixar Animation Studios). Open Coffee is really beginning… Continue reading Entrepreneurship in Bristol