Chilecon Valley, the Silicon Valley of Latin America

I recently met with a representative from Startup Chile to discuss their programme, designed by the Chilean Government to attract world-class, early stage entreprenuers to start businesses in Chile. Since 2010, when Start-Up Chile started, over 500 companies and almost 900 entrepreneurs from a total of 37 countries have taken part.  

"Objectified", Design and Design Thinking

As part of the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Design (IE&D) elective on the Imperial MBA programme, Ileana Stigliani and Nick Leon from the Royal College of Art visited to deliver some inspirational lectures around working with designers and design management.

This blog post focuses on Objectified, a documentary about our relationship with manufactured objects and those who design them. It provides a fascinating insight into the work of design and includes interviews some of the world’s most influential product designers and how they impact our lives.

The Umbrella People win London Startup Weekend

I arrived at London Startup Weekend Friday evening, not really sure what to expect. As I exited the lift at Google Campus the room was already buzzing with people hoping beer would settle their pre-pitch nerves. Coloured t-shirts helped with introductions and initial conversations - business person (red), developer (blue) designer (green). 

Sifting through the Gartner cool vendors list

Earlier this year, Gartner published their Cool Vendors for 2012 identifying new innovative vendors in key technology areas. I have selected a few below which I think are particularly interesting and impressive.

EasyAsk: A siri-like natural language engine which allows individuals to access corporate data from business information systems. EasyAsk can respond to questions such as "show me the sales pipeline over $20,000".

How to navigate the London Startup Scene

I recently attended How to navigate the London startup scene with Escape the City. Huge thanks to Adele at Escape the City and Rob Fitz for a great event. 

Rob knowledgeably navigated the world of Venture Capital, Angel Investors, Crowdfunding and Accelerators with an engaging style, demonstrating his experiences of the London startup scene in the process. Refreshingly candid about his own failures, Rob provided useful advice and excellent insights, from his experiences of the startup scenes both in London and Silicon Valley. The full video recording of the event can be viewed below.

Funding for cloud networking company Meraki soars to $80m

Cloud networking company Meraki was formed in 2006 as a spin-off company to develop and commericalise the MIT Roofnet project technology, which was being led by Sanjit Biswas (now CEO) and John Bicket (now CTO).

Providing hardware that is controlled from a cloud-based portal via a browser, Meraki began with managed wireless before branching out to managed 24/48 port switches, routers and more recently security appliances.

Crowdfunding provides an exciting alternative for raising capital

Crowdfunding is increasingly providing new ways of startups to raise capital from investors, providing entrepreneurs an alternative to the traditional angel/seed funding and venture capital by taking advantage of so-called "armchair dragons".

A number of Crowdfunding platforms now exist in the UK, following the success of Kickstarter et al in the US. Pebble Watch, a customisable "Smartwatch" was funded through Kickstarter, aiming to raise $100,000 they raised almost $10.3m from 68,929 people setting a new crowdfunding record in the process.

All Your Devices can be hacked

Along with running the Health and Medical Security Lab, Avi Rubin is also the technical director of the JHU Information Security Institute. From 1997 to 2002, Avi was a researcher in AT&T’s Secure Systems Department, where he focused on cryptography and network security. He is also the founder of Harbor Labs, which provides expert testimony and review in legal cases related to high tech security. Avi has authored several books related to electronic security, most recently Brave New Ballot, published in 2006.

Opinion on the Palo Alto Networks IPO

Palo Alto Networks shares began trading at $42 on Friday and rose to $53.13 (up 27%) when the market officially closed. Most would agree this shows signs of a good IPO, with investors perhaps buying into their story in the face of recent security threats. However, to put things in perspective, Splunk shares rose almost 109% on their first day back in April.

Twist provides an end to the waiting game

Backed by serial angel investor Bill Lee (Telsa Motors, Tweetdeck, Yammer and many others),Twist aims to be provide "an end to the waiting game". Twist essentially calculates your ETA to a destination utilising your phones GPS and taking into account traffic, modes of transport and your previous habits. It will update pre-determined contacts through calendar integration to let them know your location with SMS.

Bank Simple, a welcome change to online banking

Simple (formerly BankSimple) is looking to define banking through a slick user-friendly interface design for web and mobile applications that provides real-time information on your finances. Along with Mint.com they are looking to redefine customer banking expectations. Some of the interfaces features include:

  • calculating a "safe to spend" balance taking into account future payments
  • setting of savings goals
  • searching and automatic categorisation of transactions
  • photo depositing of cheques

Also Check out their slick iPhone App available in the Apple Store from May 2012 which, among other things, can be used to authorise sensitive transactions. Unfortunately Simple is only available in the US at the moment.