Corporations look at innovation through two lenses, fear and greed. What’s out there that could kill us or better what is out there that could give us the edge.

It is hard for a startup to disrupt an industry quickly. But a startup on the back of a corporate, with financial weight and market reach is a dangerous beast. London is a hot bed for corporate headquarters and this offers an extraordinary opportunity for startups.

RocketSpace is passionate about tech. Our simple goal is to help tech entrepreneurs succeed. We are focused on creating the perfect ecosystem for tech startups to succeed. We believe young companies are like young people, they are a product of their environment and hence we take our environment seriously. Opening a RocketSpace in London will not replicate what we have in San Francisco, it will allow us to link what San Francisco does well with the enormous potential of London.

Innovation is accelerated when like-minded people come together in a dynamic ecosystem. Inspiration drives inspirations and in London we hope to create a world class ecosystem that will draw in the best entrepreneurs from across Europe. London already has a rapidly expanding technology cluster. It is exciting but not surprising to see the speed at which it has formed. We are excited to become a component part of the continued success.

Thank you to Duncan. To find out more about RocketSpace, visit their website at
rocket-space.com.

Alternatively, to find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner here.

We asked Nick Ray, CEO of aiHit, should we be worried?

“David Rowan’s article perfectly sums up both the potential and the risks of a “big data” world.  Knowledge is power and big data increases that power.

In his article, David worries that the power is concentrated in the hands of big business and not in the hands of the hapless consumer, who’s surfing habits, shopping habits, social media presence, credit score and much more besides is being covertly harvested, aggregated, dissected and analysed.

The internet and its ability to make information freely available at the click of a mouse was supposed to empower citizens; to level the playing fields and open up opaque markets – and to a great extent it has.

But collation of big data and the complex proprietary algorithms that process and analyse it are the preserve of big organisations, who know a lot more about you than you know about them.

So while individuals have benefitted from access to a wealth of free information on the internet, one area remains opaque to the average net user – information on the businesses they deal with.  A company’s own web-site provides a highly selective view of their business and only includes the data they want to share with the world.  More detailed information and analysis has to be bought from statutory bodies and company data providers.

At aiHit, we are harvesting and aggregating data on millions of businesses from dozens of sources and tracking their “digital history” to build company profiles that provide in-depth insights.  So we will be offering net users the ability to get a wealth of information on millions of businesses from a single place and in a concentrated, digestible form – for free. (And by applying our own algorithms to the billions of digital footprints those businesses leave on the web – our big data – we will be publishing new insights, spotting new trends and forming new judgements.)

In the interests of fairness, we will allow those businesses to correct errors and add detail to their profiles.

The question is will the owners of big data extend the same courtesy to you, the consumer?”

www.aihit.com

Nick Ray is CEO at aiHit, a company using AI / machine learning and other advanced logic to automatically extract company information from the web.

To find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner here.

“Blueprint?! Vision?! Masterplan!? That’s not how these things work in London! Silicon Roundabout happened because there was NO masterplan. It grew because there were cheap, no nonsense buildings with high ceilings and clear floorplates that suited the pocket and workstyle of new digital companies. These were the sweatshops of the industrial era; in the post-industrial city they became nurseries for growing businesses.”

“When the Prime Minister highlighted the area as a new business centre it had an immediate impact on rents. Today you can pay as much for space in Hoxton as you pay in the City of London. And it meant that developers realised there were opportunities to be had. The owners of the Tea Building and movers and shakers in the world of property for the creative industries, are developing a big site overlooking Old Street roundabout which has been branded as The White Collar Factory of over 200,000 square feet. The good news is that they are picking up on the benefits of the older buildings in the area – high ceilings, basic finishes and openable windows; they’ll be green and efficient and are designed by one of today’s hottest firm of architects who did the Tea Building, Morelands (at the west end of Old Street) and are working on the new, humongous Google HQ at King’s Cross. The other side of town, Canary Wharf has just opened Level 39 – a technology accelerator space on the thirty ninth floor of One Canada Square. The space is a prototype for the sort of workspace the developers want to build when they expand to the east at Wood Wharf, creating a campus more redolent of the West Coast than Shoreditch. Just as the Wharf Mark One is Manhattan-on-Thames, Wood Wharf will be Britain’s Cupertino. Now that will require a masterplan!”

Thank you Peter and good luck on your 6,500km bicycle ride across the US and UK studying the provision of cycling infrastructure in cities along the route.

To find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner here.

The briefing said ‘a small but growing group of economists reckon the economic impact of the innovations of today may pale into comparison with those of the past…’. It went on ‘As Mr Thiel and his colleagues at the Founders Fund, a venture-capital company, put it “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters”’.

We asked eight entrepreneurs if they shared the pessimism.

Michael Kent
CEO & Founder, Azimo Ltd
azimo.com

“I’d completely disagree – the impact of innovation both economic (and lets face it human – that’s what we mean when we say economic) is huge and the most exciting thing is that we are only getting started. Smartphones allow billions of people to be financially independent and control their own economic destiny for the first time. Social media has brought more transparency and democracy to the world than centuries of warfare. And eLearning means outstanding education can be delivered at prices that are accessible to all – wherever they are in the world.

So while I’m all for a flying car for Peter and his PayPal mates, I’ll take significantly improving day to day existence for billions of people over that any day of the week.”

Rajeeb Dey
CEO & Founder, Enternships.com
enternships.com

“There is no shortage of ideas in Britain, we have some of the most creative and entrepreneurial talent in the world. At Enternships.com we work with over 4,500 startups and innovative businesses who are all in their own way working to change the world. There is in some respects a shortage of the risk capital to back many of these ideas and help them get to optimum scale but that is often a true test of an entrepreneur – how resourceful they can be when faced with adversity.”

Ben Aronsten
CEO & Founder, SheSaidBeauty
shesaidbeauty.com

“My belief is innovation comes in two forms ‘revolution’ and ‘evolution’. The world has seen amazing revolution such as electricity and flight, with evolution occurring off these. In order for more revolutionary innovation, there needs to be shift from an economic and regulatory point of view. Currently most investment strategies are focused on high growth, fast monetization and exit, making it difficult for revolutionary innovation to happen, as this takes much longer both in development and economic benefit realisation. I am optimistic of the economic impact todays innovations have, but we are at risk of not making a greater impact due to evolution and not revolution innovation.”

Alex Van Someren
Managing Partner, Amadeus Capital
amadeuscapital.com

“Peter Thiel is as wrong about this as he was right about PayPal. The idea that mobile smartphones would understand what we say, find us a restaurant, reserve a table, invite our friends and call a taxi would have sounded ridiculous only a few years ago – today it’s a reality of innovation which has enhanced the enjoyment of billions of people’s lives, and created hundreds of billions of value for companies like Apple and Samsung. The UK’s own ARM plc has become a $20B company by out-innovating previously dominant Intel to deliver microprocessors in almost 100% of those mobile smartphones. There’s no more likelihood that innovation will cease than that human knowledge will stop expanding because everything has been discovered: it ain’t going to happen.”

Brian Taylor
CEO & Founder, PixelPin
pixelpin.co.uk

“Pessimism? No! More cars, even flying ones, means more Lawyers whilst “140 characters” has created a new industry. The world was offered “personal security” with locks and passwords, neither have delivered on their promise. Time to make digital security easy, fun and colourful, hence PixelPin was born to delight the masses whilst keeping them safe.”

Ed Cooke
CEO & Co-Founder, Memrise
memrise.com

“The idea that progress involves moving vehicles faster or in new directions is a distinctively schoolboy vision of the future. Today’s entrepreneurs are thinking much more deeply, a second human renaissance is afoot, and once the eruption of creativity that marks our generation is finished, we’ll have reinvented concepts as essential to human society as democracy, education, ownership, identity and instant messaging.”

Sarah McVittie
Co-founder of fashion recommendation site Dressipi
dressipi.com

“At heart, I believe that The Economist’s special report on The Great Stagnation rests on the familiar but false assumption that The Golden Age of Humanity is always something that happened in the past. Every single period of intensive innovation – whether that was the invention of writing (which Plato was sure would destroy the human memory) or the Industrial Revolution – has been driven not so much by the desire to take a business to IPO than the need to significantly better standard of living for the next generation.

As we face a future of certain change (climate, rapidly ageing populations and energy shortage) it would be easy to feel pessimistic about the future. But we should remember that necessity is the mother of invention. If humanity could survive whole Ice Ages with nothing more than stone tools and ingenuity, we can innovate our way out of relying on fossil fuels. The difficult choices will soon be unavoidable and we (or our children) will have to develop the innovative and as yet unimaginable technologies that will drive tomorrow’s economic growth.”

Julian Polzella
Founder & CTO, VouChaCha
http://www.vouchacha.com/

“The technology industry has naturally prioritised ‘needs’ over ‘luxury’. 140 characters simply fuels the knowledge-transfer fire. This was (and continues to be) a prerequisite for the development of the products of our dreams, including flying cars, igniting the flames of rapid product innovation. The economy doesn’t decide, knowledge does.”

Thank you to Michael, Rajeeb, Ben, Alex, Brian, Ed, Sarah and Julian.

To find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner here.

‘How fundamental is a great story to selling a vision?’

Victor Henning
CEO and Co-Founder, Mendeley
www.mendeley.com

“To me, vision is almost synonymous with storytelling. A vision is a story of what a better future should look like, and how you will create that future from the current state. Mendeley’s vision is that we want to make science more open and collaborative – that’s a story which has inspired the incredible community support which has been crucial to our success.”

Raf Keustermans
CEO and Co-Founder, Plumbee
www.plumbee.com

“Fundamental is a strong word, but it is very important to have a strong, coherent story: internally to make sure everyone is aligned and understand what we’re trying to build, what the ambition is, why we should or shouldn’t do certain things. And of course externally, without an exciting story there is no way you can raise money, attract top talent, close deals.

For Plumbee this is perhaps even more true than for others: we operate in a very crowded vertical (social casino games) on relatively mature platforms (Facebook, iOS) – the story helps people understand how we are different from the dozens of me-too, more opportunistic studios building social casino games.”

Alice Regester
Co-Founder and Managing Director, 33Seconds
33seconds.co

“Being able to translate our vision, passion and approach into a compelling story that persuades potential clients we’re the right PR & Social Media Marketing agency to work with, is of course fundamental; but our narrative would be empty without the evidence to underpin it. 33Seconds was founded because we believed our knowledge and experience of social tech would bring value to others. And in the two years since our launch, nothing has been more important than putting that belief into practise and delivering the best service we can. By doing our job well, a great story will be told about us too.”

Alex Depledge
Co-Founder, Teddle
www.teddle.com

“For us a great story has been instrumental in opening doors or more simply put, convincing people to give us the time of the day! Investors are people and they need to feel empathy for what you are doing. A story helps achieve this. However, without a credible team, solid execution & financial plan, and some evidence of traction then in our experience the door will rapidly close again ”

Nic Brisbourne
Partner, DFJ Esprit
www.dfjesprit.com
theequitykicker.com

“It really helps when entrepreneurs come to us with a good story rather than just a compelling set of facts, not because a story alters the underlying investment thesis, but because it shows the company can sell itself. Companies need to sell themselves all the time, to investors, to customers, to the media, to partners, to employees, and ultimately to acquirers or IPO investors. Stories sell. Facts on their own can convince the rational mind, but it takes a story to get people really excited.”

Thank you to Victor, Raf, Alice, Alex and Nic and good luck tonight!

Alternatively, to find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner here.

Since launching in 2007, the Seedcamp portfolio now includes more than 80 of Europe’s most promising startups – all ambitiously building global businesses – and has seen several acquisitions (including Mobclix bought by Velti and RentMineOnline bought by RealPage).

Yearly, Seedcamp invests in around 20 companies for €50,000 each and then helps them grow with office space at Google Campus, access to the huge network of over 2,000 mentors, a Founders’ Pack worth €150,000, participation in the Seedcamp Week mentoring event and the four-week mentoring tour of the US startup and investor community.

The Seedcamp class of 2013 already includes 8 great teams (Futurelytics and one unannounced from Seedcamp Budapest; CrowdProcess, Hole19 and Qamine from Seedcamp Lisbon; and knowable.org, tl;dr and Unifyo from Seedcamp Paris). The next chance to join will be at Seedcamp London on the 30th of January. Applications are open now until the 8th of January, you can find more information about the event at http://sdca.mp/london13.

The Seedcamp London event will be bigger than ever, spread over two days, with the first day being full of mentoring sessions with Europe’s best entrepreneurs, product and design people, and marketers. London, as a key European startup hub, will have the highest calibre mentors including many international mentors flying in for the event. After preparing their pitches with the Seedcamp team, the second day will be a Demo Day where new and existing companies will each have the opportunity to present their company and recent progress to a crowd of top investors.

Applications are open until the 8th of January, you can find out more and how to apply on the Seedcamp website: http://sdca.mp/london13. From the applicants, the best twenty teams will be invited to attend the event and Seedcamp then invests in the best attendees after the event.

Thank you to Philipp. To find out more about Seedcamp visit their website at seedcamp.com.

Alternatively, to find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner here.

Startupbootcamp Amsterdam hits London January 8th. Patrick de Zeeuw, Co-Founder of Startupbootcamp Global & Amsterdam, explains what makes this acceleration program unique and why you should apply!

Startupbootcamp Pitch Day comes to London on January 8^th! – We pitch to you, you pitch to us! Your chance to get to know Startupbootcamp Amsterdam and some of its alumnus teams. But one question remains: How is Startupbootcamp unique from other programs and why should I – as a startup – apply?

Startupbootcamp is beyond funding or money; it stands for the people, who are involved within the program. The opportunity to literally be among top entrepreneurs, mentors and investors, which will help you to understand, grow and accelerate your business (have a peak at our mentor list). And more than that: We further invest in our mentor team to provide you with an even better nurturing ground for your startup. Therefore mentor classes and regular exchange sessions with an “Alumni Director” after the program are for us the rule rather than the exception. This program is all about learning fast and scaling fast – or as one of our alumnus said it: ”What I have done here in 3 months, I normally wouldn’t have done in 2 years!”. Extra commitment – We expect this from you as well as from all the people, who are going to support and work with you during your time in Amsterdam!

With Startupbootcamp ’12 three months back and the upcoming class ahead we could show some proof points already. To give you an idea: 80% of our alumni startups from Amsterdam got funded within or right after the program, and many of them are being internationally (European & US – wide) recognized. Such as Poikos as winner of the IBM Smart Camp Europe and winner of the Pioneers Festival in Vienna or Viewsy with also a great result at IBM Smart Camp Europe. You can see this and some further examples here.

I can tell you all the stories, why I think Startupbootcamp is a great program, but I think you should experience this yourself. So take the chance and approach us (via philipp@startupbootcamp.org) or meet our alumnus directly at the Pitch Day and ask for some real life experiences. At the Pitch Days you will also have the great opportunity to get to know a few of our mentors and the way we are going to work with you. So go ahead and apply now – via http://ow.ly/fywyR for the actual program and pitch or write an e-mail to philipp@startupbootcamp.org for simply subscribing for the pitch – for January 8^th and get to know our program and experience the difference.

Thank you to Patrick. To find out more about Startupbootcamp visit their website at startupbootcamp.org.

Alternatively, to find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner here.

However the ‘noise’ from twitter and other media channels is growing daily as both existing occupiers and fast growing businesses are showing anything but systemic indifference to rising rental values allied to limited office supply.

It is becoming increasingly frustrating reading about a multitude of businesses who are being ‘forced’ out of Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Farringdon etc due to the fascinating revival of an area dominated by the ever growing tech based ‘ecosystem’.

This Christmas tale should not be derided with howls of laughter but in the nicest way it is worth remembering the title of the inspirational TED Talk by Ernesto Sirolli ‘Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!’

Increasingly new clients who want to remain in Silicon Roundabout are telling us it is not possible to find desirable offices that will not be at rental levels that lead backers to question whether vital funds and cashflow are being squandered.

We are listening to them but insist it is simply wrong to assume that it is time to relocate to Paddington, Notting Hill, Southwark or indeed the extreme City fringes of London because it is impossible to find offices at below £35 to £40 per square foot!

In Monocle magazine this month Steve Bloomfield writes an article ‘Rein in the rancour’. He says “As amusing as it may be to mock MP’s and senators there must be some middle ground between deference and derision. It’s not because they all necessarily deserve to be treated with respect – some clearly don’t…we risk undermining democracy itself if we continue to dismiss all politicians as in someway  dishonest, selfish or useless.”

Now if we delete references to MP’s, senators and politicians’ and replace them with ‘landlord(s)’ my point is that  the area collectively known as Silicon Roundabout ‘enjoys’ ownership of buildings by a multitude of differing Landlords each with very different agenda’s, attributes and rental aspirations.This does not make them ‘dishonest,selfish or useless’!

To an extent they fall, some might argue, into three catagories.

In an example where three buildings in fairly close proximity are specified to a very similar standard (brick faced walls, woodstrip flooring and industrial style lighting) we might come across Landlord(No 1) who may have multiple buildings and is under no pressure whatsoever, financial or otherwise to negotiate a rental below £35/£40 per square foot. He/She will  often wait for the right tenant and offer them minimal incentives. Landlord(No 2) may only own one or two buildings has borrowed heavily to purchase the freehold and in a tough economic climate and faced with a bank looking at refinancing a loan will take a softer line on rent, perhaps £32.50 per square foot. Landlord(No 3) is actually a tenant. Signed up to a five year Lease but with a business in financial trouble, they want out, and a subletting or assignment at an exceptionally competitive rate might just mean the difference between survival and failure! Could it be a deal at £27.50 per square foot?

The numbers are purely illustrative and resident Landlords may absolutely not fall in to these catagories when setting their rental levels. However, the inference is clear. The office market in the area is showing a wildly disparate rental profile dependant on many factors.
There are ‘deals to be done’ that does not mean it is time to shut the door and leave the area!

The writer;
Michael Kushner is editor of www.siliconroundabout.org.uk and Managing Director of Kushner, who are experts in the acquisition of offices for tenants. To find out more about available office space visit our office page.

“The founders have done a great job getting to the stage where an experienced investor will invest their time and firm’s money in the company. Now the founding team needs to be strengthened with one or more executives so that the company can scale to the next level.

The first step in this process must be for the team and person leading the hiring process to get a solid understanding of what skills and expertise they are looking to attract and why. It is critical that the team and investor are on the same page when it comes to hiring the first outside executives into the company. The simplest way to achieve this is to discuss the role that you are looking to fill and draft a detailed job description that all relevant parties agree is representative of who the company needs to hire to move forward.

The next step is to search the team’s and investor’s network for potential candidates who may fit the bill. This is the cheapest and often the most effective way to find a suitable candidate, if the hiring manager has the time and the team has a large enough network. Some start-ups have successfully sourced candidates via social networks such as LinkedIn. It is
very important that the company do full due diligence referencing on all candidates, especially candidates sourced through social networks. The team should explore these options as soon as possible, especially where the hiring of an executive within a certain time frame is vital. If timing is an issue, or if the team and investor’s network are not sufficiently large or
do not cover the right sectors, the hiring manager can choose to work with an executive search firm to help source the ideal candidate.

The hiring manager should work with an executive search firm who has a track record of success scaling high growth early stage teams in their vertical and technology sector. The cultural DNA of a high growth start-up is radically different to that of a corporate environment and therefore high growth start-ups require executives who thrive in this less structured entrepreneurial environment.  Often the best candidates have achieved success in an early stage company before. The most effective candidate will fit in with the culture of the company and be able to “hit the ground running” by opening doors, closing deals and building value immediately.”

Thank you to Rosemary. To find out more about the Forsyth Group visit their website at forsythgroup.com

Alternatively, to find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner at www.kushnerproperty.com

We asked the five founders what advice they could offer to other startups on delivering the perfect pitch?

Robbie Hughes of Qinec

“As someone who has repeatedly been told that the perfect pitch should be 30 seconds long and not the 5 minutes it tends to be in my case, I think I’m remarkably fortunate to be included in this group!

Like great marketing, networking or even dating, the goal should always be to give people a reason to be interested – and this is wholly a function of who you’re talking to.

Anything you can do to simplify the message is key – maybe draw comparison to something they know or can use as an anchor for comparison. Assume that they know only what you tell them so make what you do say count.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that no matter how good the pitch on paper, the delivery is key – if you don’t know your stuff and can’t ‘show proper working’ for the conclusions you reach, then you will only have raised their expectations and then disappointed.

Anyone can learn this stuff – it isn’t hard, per se – the trick is simply to have assembled a great team and be able to demonstrate a passion for and deep understanding of a product, market and resulting opportunity.

On a side note, it’s worth emphasising that if you’ve not assembled the team, the sad fact of the matter is that the rest won’t matter – ideas are cheap, but it’s the execution that kills you. VC’s know that only too well and so should anyone trying to start a business!”

Alice Taylor of Makielab

“The best pitch is one done over a cheerful coffee. Be prepared for criticism, be ready to explain – not defend. Be honest where you don’t have answers and show how you’ll find those answers. Brits: don’t be self-deprecating. Be yourself, because that’s who they’re investing in!”

Krish Arvapally of Mojiva Inc.

“It’s important to make sure you’re in an industry that’s growing exponentially and is fuelled by innovation and passion. Mobile is in a strong position in the market; it’s taking off like no other. There are many opportunities to lead the conversation and develop new technologies, collaborate to improve creative execution and, most importantly, deliver results (and revenue) for brands and publishers. Because we have both a mobile ad network (Mojiva) and mobile advertising platform (Mocean Mobile), investors see the value of our products, services, expertise and upward growth we’ve seen in the last four years. Being nimble, having talented and experienced teams and the ability to scale are all benefits to investors.

Be sure to show how excited you are when pitching. Concentrate on an industry problem your business will solve. Too many founders think a pitch needs to be long and extensive. A succinct pitch that’s only about 1-2 sentences (30 seconds) can be just as effective. Don’t overcomplicate things with big words or “fluff”. It’s all about presentation – focus on how your business / idea will solve a problem, rather than over explaining the idea itself.”

David Begg of Mindshapes

“Investors invest in people who have both the vision, and the energy and skills to deliver upon it. So don’t be nervous to suggest that you want to rule the world, but also be realistic and knowledgeable about the steps that you need to take to get there. A balance between big vision and implementation rigour, the same as it takes to build a great business.”

Søren Halskov Nissen of Click A Taxi

“Investors want to know the problem you’re solving, why you’re solving it better than anyone else and how you will get from 0 to +500m USD valuation within the next four years.

They will test your market size, your team and most of all; they will try to apply their decision-making models to your business. So know your numbers!

Know your user or customer acquisition cost, the churn rate of a customer and the lifetime value of a customer. Make sure your marketing budget is aligned with those numbers.

Don’t explain 5 potential revenue streams and 10 back up streams. Explain 1 and explain it well!”

Thank you to Robbie (qinec.com), Alice (makielab.com), Krish (mojiva.com), David (mindshapes.com) and Søren (clickataxi.com).

To find out more about available office property in the Silicon Roundabout area contact Kushner at www.kushnerproperty.com