Jan 24th

TechHub Resident Company Betapond Raises €1.15 Million

By Miguel Garcia




If there’s something we really like to shout about it’s the success of TechHub Members.

This week our lovely resident company Betapond received over a million euros in funding.  Betapond joined us a few months ago but they’ve been operating since 2009 from offices in Waterford, Dublin, and California.

Betapond has some bragging rights of its own. They’re Ireland’s only Facebook Preferred Developer and have been able to expand into multiple markets with a small but strong team. 

Abed Hakim is Senior Account Manager and currently based at TechHub London and their CEO is Declan Kennedy. Abed showcased their product a few months ago at TechHub and showed how they create innovative Facebook apps and retail marketing products to help different commercial sectors incentivise consumers while generating social recommendations.

We’re excited about their recent accomplishments and are confident that they have a long way to go. Congrats guys and bon voyage on the journeys to come. 

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Jan 3rd

TechHub London Space Membership Now Available!

By Miguel Garcia
TechHubSpace.jpg
TechHub has always prided itself in helping entrepreneurs and startups grow, through access to an amazing community, collaborative workspace, and gaining access to funding through the many events and one-to-one sessions we hold. 

We soon discovered that by accelerating the growth of our companies we were running out of room for them! We suddenly had a very good problem on our hands. How can we grow alongside our successful companies?

One of the answers we've come up with is Space Membership. Effectively, TechHub Space Membership is the third level of membership which provides our members with a dedicated and flexible space. This allows larger companies to have more control over their office, giving them the opportunity to choose the layout of their space, have their own furniture, or furniture supplied, and access to additional services such as landline phones if needed. All backed up by connection to our 100 mbps fibre line, and flexible rental (notice periods will start at just 3 months depending on how much space you take, so no need to take out a five-year lease somewhere). Space Membership also comes as standard with TechHub London Membership for all your staff using the space, so you can all be part of the TechHub community, access our online network, regular free events, advice sessions and more.

Currently, the space is offered by square foot instead of the per-desk model of our Resident Membership. The space is located only a few floors up from TechHub London's current location, allowing for easy access to both spaces and the ability for members to continue collaborating. It's a lovely space with natural light and high ceilings, and those companies first into the space will have the greatest flexibility to choose their layout.

At TechHub we want to share in the journey of our members and do whatever we can to accommodate  their companies wherever they might go. 

A huge well done to TechHub London team members Mike Marcus and James Knight who worked so hard to make it happen.

Want to know more or arrange a tour? Email our Membership Manager Michelle Nhan: michelle at techhub.com or call her on 020 7490 0764.

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Dec 20th

Become part of the global TechHub revolution!

By Elizabeth Varley
Limited Founder Memberships now available!

As the first step in our expansion throughout the world, we selected Riga, a choice that was obvious to us once we met the local team and community. As one of the fast-growing tech centres of Eastern Europe, it is fertile ground for many new ideas and technologies.

The TechHub Riga team is busy setting up our operations there and working towards a grand launch on 9th February 2012. 

And that's not all! TechHub Riga will now be hosting TechCrunch Baltics as our first event on 9th February 2012, and all Founder Members, both those from Riga and those from London will be invited to an exclusive Founder Member breakfast before the event. You'll have the chance to meet TechHub Founder & CEO Elizabeth Varley, TechCrunch Europe Editor Mike Butcher and the Foudners of TechHub Riga, plus some other special guests (to be announced).

When TechHub was founded in London, we received the generous support of the London technology and investment community, many of whom became Founder Members. Founder Membership is a once-in-a-TechHub opportunity as there's a limited number of these memberships available. Not only do you grab a great deal (a year for free!) and become one of an exclusive group of early TechHub Members, you'll be supporting an exciting initiative. 

You've missed your chance for Founder Membership of TechHub London, so don't miss the opportunity with TechHub Riga. You can sign up for Founder Membership here. Go! Do it now! Before they all run out.

Already a Founder Member of TechHub London? Why not get involved in Riga too and collect the whole set - become a Founder Member of every TechHub in the world!


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Oct 28th

Internet Week Europe is coming to TechHub!

By Liam Moore

TechHub is proud to be partnering with Internet Week Europe 2011 which runs from Monday 7th to Friday 11th November.

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IWE is open to everyone and TechHub will be welcoming IWE attendees to its events during the week so you can get a taste of what’s on offer. There are exclusive special offers to be had for IWE attendees by signing up to the IWE newsletter. And see below for a TechHub Members' only IWE competition.

TechHub has the following events taking place as part of Internet Week so whether you’re a regular or a first timer it’ll be great to see you!

 

Monday 7th November – 1pm

This is a regular casual chat with others from the industry , open exclusively to entrepreneurs and developers with a special interest in mobile and moderated by friendly and engaging experts from the world of mobile. More info and booking here

 

Tuesday 8th November – doors 6.30pm

Come and meet other tech entrepreneurs, have a drink and show everyone what you're working on. If you'd like to demo your product (not business), enter the details in the registration form upon booking and we'll confirm with you if you have a demo slot (slots are limited & lots of great companies apply so unfortunately we can't guarantee a slot). More info and booking here

 

Wednesday 9th November – doors 6.30pm

Use Facebook Apps? Been avoiding them because you thought it was too complicated? Want to know how to make them work harder for you and get more than just a ‘like’ from your customers? With a live demo Glen Gillen from Heroku will walk you through Facebook ‘Open Graph’ and how to apply it to raise conversion rates and build engagement with your brand. Book here


Internet Week Europe - TechHub Members’ Only Competition:
Those kind folks at IWE are providing us with 2 free passes to daytime events at IWE HQ (at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden) for our members. Keep an eye on the TechHub Yammer noticeboard for your chance to win one!

TechHub Membership
TechHub is the community and workspace for tech entrepreneurs with great opportunities to connect via our wide range of events and programmes for startups, plus PR opps, training and a lively social scene. We're right on 'Silicon Roundabout' (Old Street), and work to help startups to get better, faster. Find out more about membership now.

 


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Sep 28th

Prove Your Idea First, Then Build

By Miguel Garcia




This week’s member blog post is showcasing Sazneo, another great company here at TechHub. Sazneo specialises in facilitating group communication by enabling people to hold multiple real-time group discussions with their team members. Brett Davis, CEO of Sazneo, shares some more about his company, their latest projects and advice on starting a business:

Sazneo is a real-time group messaging service for business that enables teams to communicate more effectively both internally and with teams at other companies. You know you have the problem that Sazneo solves if most of your e-mail is of the reply/reply-to-all variety where people are trying to have team based conversations. You will probably spend several hours a day managing your inbox.

Sazneo went live in September 2010 and we have two routes to market: a ‘freemium’ model where people trial the service for free and begin paying when they pass through the limitations of the free pricing plan and an embedded model for companies that wish to offer a group messaging capability within their own products

We’ve been pretty busy, having recently released some key new features, including; the ability to structure discussions around “Topics”, real-time questions and answers and support for Blackberry smart phones. We’ve also just closed a round of Angel funding of just over $200,000. However, let’s not beat about the bush, starting a business is hard and will turn your hair grey. If you have grey hair already, then you will probably get wrinkles. There are a few challenges we have faced that are worth a mention.

Fundraising is a huge task! You can literally spend 85% of your time over 3-4 months on this one task, which has a very real impact on your ability to run the business during this period. Generating awareness of your new company is just as hard, especially in the UK. Getting covered in the main tech blogs is easy when you first launch but continuing to generate blog-worthy content is difficult. Also, building a following on social media takes time and the jury is still out for me as to how useful it is in the B2B space.


The immediate benefits I noticed are:

  • Everyone is very supportive; there is a genuine passion to see people make a success of their business
  • There is a great network of contacts you can have access to
  • Sources of outside funding are connected to the Tech community, this can help with fund raising conversations later
  • I don’t need to take my suits to the dry cleaners as much, but I do need to buy another pair of jeans...

The biggest market dynamic that affects us is the move by companies to explore other ways to communicate outside of e-mail. This momentum has definitely been caused by the take up of things like Facebook and Twitter, which is great for us. The increased usage of Freemium as a pricing strategy is also interesting, especially as it is still a young business model. However, when people decide to pay using this approach they expect the cost to be only a few £’s per month, meaning you have to keep a close eye on costs.

Lastly, I have seen a significant shift this year as to the acceptance of cloud based services. If we had started Sazneo in 2008 I think we would have struggled to gain traction with larger companies. 

Sazneo is gaining ground on both the stand-alone and embedded options, so expect to see some great success stories around these projects. Also, look out for an increased API capability.


Here are my top tips for anyone considering starting their own tech business:

  • Prove your idea before you start coding to avoid spending time and money developing something people don’t need
  • Find a co-founder you can trust – starting a business on your own is hard and it really helps if you can test ideas with someone else
  • If you are privately funding your business, make peace with the amount you are planning on spending and then don’t think about it anymore
  • Don’t build any features that customers have not asked for. What you think is cool doesn’t matter unless it gives you a competitive advantage
  • Be prepared for any initial press coverage you gain from Tech Blogs to fade pretty quickly
  • Plug yourself into the Business Angel’s scene as soon as you have something to show people, even if only a prototype
  • Don’t delay exploring whether your business idea has legs. I can’t imagine anything worse than saying “What if?” on your retirement day...

If you're a TechHub Member and would like to blog about about your company or product email miguel@techhub.com. Look forward to reading your story!
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Sep 14th

A huge 21 events coming up @TechHub!

By Elizabeth Varley
We have a really fantastic selection of events coming up at TechHub, including an intimate event with the "god of VC" Fred Destin (just for TechHub Members), TechHub Finance Week, sessions on marketing, our monthly Mobile Day, TechHubTuesday Demo Night and absolutely loads more.

We have a huge 21 events for you at TechHub between now and early October. Yes, that's twenty-one, two one, events over the next three weeks - we're starting Autumn off with a bang! 

Did we mention that most of these events are completely free for TechHub Members? If you've been thinking about joining, now's a great time!


DevTank
Wed, 14 Sept, 6:45pm
Brought to you by those behind the highly successful DrinkTank, DevTank provides an opportunity for developers working for (or wanting to work for) tech startup companies in London to exchange ideas and experiences about the technology behind successful startup companies. Reserve your place on the meetup site. 

Londroid London Android User Group
Thur, 15 Sept 
Kieran Gutteridge will be giving a quick rundown of some of the frameworks and tools that are available if you decide you want to take advantage of mobile web technologies to produce your content. And "From Hobby to App Success" - Chris Banes will be talking about his journey over the past 18 months, taking FriendCaster from a spare time hobby to over 1.5 million downloads. To register visit the meetup website.


Finance Week @TechHub - 19-23 September

Business & Financial Planning Workshop 
with Jim Bailey
Mon, 19 Sept, 2:00-5:00pm
Free for Members
How do you work out a company valuation - what your startup is worth? How do you make sure you have a financial plan in place that works for you and your company? Introducing you to some key financial issues, Jim will demonstrate how a sound financial plan can support overall business or strategic objectives. Brought to you as part of TechHub's 'Finance Week', this workshop aims to provide tech startups/entrepreneurs with an introduction to some key financial considerations when building a business plan and raising finance. Book now!

Barclays Business Banking 1-2-1s
Tue, 20 Sept, 2:00-3:40pm
Free
How do you manage your cashflow? What kind of financial compliance issues do you have to think about when you start a company? How can you make your business plan stand out? What do you need from your business banking? As part of Barclays’ commitment to the government’s TechCity initiative, members of Barclays Business team will be here to offer 1-2-1 advice to help you with business banking and financial things. The sessions will also provide an opportunity for the Barclays team to listen to & understand unique issues facing tech startups, suggest where existing services can help & continue to develop Barclays' support of the sector. Please mail your company details to liam@techhub.com once you've registered on the event page.

Members Drinks
Tue, 20 Sept, 6:00-8:30pm
Members Only
Get together, meet each other, exchange ideas and contacts and recognise more faces when you're at TechHub. We'll also make special announcements, let you know about great new member offers and deals at these evenings, so make sure you come along! We host these each month on the third Tuesday of the month. These events are completely free for TechHub Members, so register your details now and come along.
 
Your Accounts with Kingston Smith Accountants
Wed, 21 Sept, 2:00-3:40pm
Free
What are the basics for bookkeeping and accountancy when you start a company? Is it better to hire contractors or employees? How can you benefit from R&S tax rebates? The specialist tech team from top 20 accountants, Kingston Smith, will be providing valuable guidance in 1-2-1 sessions for tech entrepreneurs. To sign up please email your company details to liam@techhub.com once you've registered on the event page.

ArabicOnline.eu Software
Wednesday, 21 Sept, 6:30 PM
Free
ArabicOnline.eu is an interactive online language learning software that offers a beginners course in Modern Standard Arabic for self-study or classroom use. It was developed with support of the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme. Join us for an evening that brings together the worlds of education, technology, eLearning, cross-cultural understanding and business. Book today!
Startup Lifecycle: taking your company from idea to maturity
Fred Destin, Atlas Venture
Thu 22 September, 10.00am-12.00pm
Members Only
We're so excited to have "a god of VC" in the house for this special TechHub Member-only event (use your member code on the registration page).  Fred is visiting from the US, and we're extremely privileged to have some time in his busy schedule. Gaining insight from a VC stalwart on startups is hugely advantageous, especially when you're thinking about raising capital now or in the future. Do not miss this event.

Crunching Your Tax! Seminar
Thur, 22 Sept, 2:00-3:30pm
Free for Members
What's the most tax-efficient way to pay yourself as a startup founder? What's flat rate tax and can it mean more money in your account at the end of the year? Is there an easy way to manage the books? This whole tax thing hurts my head, how does it work? Founders of accountancy firm Crunch - Darren Fell (MD) and Steve Crouch (awarded Taxation Specialist of the Year 2010 from Sage!) - will be providing a presentation that will help any freelancer or small business get to grips with their tax. Book now!

Demo Your Finance Product
Fri, 23 Sept
Members Only
We are offering the opportunity for any TechHub Members with financial products to do a show and tell on the Friday (23rd) of Finance Week. If you are interested please mail liam@techhub.com

GTUG, Developing with Angularjs
Tue 27 Sep, 6.30pm
AngularJS is a JavaScript framework for building interactive client-side web apps. It is designed to work well together with other libraries, especially jQuery. Testing is one of the most important ideas behind AngularJS - it provides a full testing environment and helps you to design testable code. AngularJS is an open source project powered by Google. Currently there are many internal apps built on the top of AngularJS - you can check out more at http://angularjs.org. Get more info and register here.

TechHub Residents Lunch
Thu, 29 Sept, 1:00–2:30pm
Current TechHub Resident Members Only
A great opportunity to get to know the other great entrepreneurs and startup teams who share your workspace. An excellent way to meet other Members and find out more about them, their companies and products. Lunch is usually pretty social, if you're new you might start talking about work, but by the end of
lunch there's usually lots of laughing and general chat. 
Book today!

API Developer Day
Saturday 1 October, 9.00am-6.00pm
Free
API Developer Day is a one-day event to celebrate APIs and the amazing things we can build with them. Find a team or go solo, meet new local developers and API teams, get coding support, collect swag, build the best thing you can in one day and demo it to the group. We'll have some short technical lightning talks in the morning so you can learn about some new APIs and ask questions from the people that build them. Want to pitch your API? Get in touch to reserve your spot. If you have an app idea and need a team member, or don't have a team yet but want to join one, we'll have an idea pitch session too. Then go code - any language or platform you want, just use APIs and build something awesome. At the end of the day demo what you built and even win some prizes, so register now. Sponsored by Apigee and BlueVia.

Roundabout Brewery Launch
Thu 29 Sep, 6.30pm
Free
Join us at TechHub for the launch of Silicon Roundabout's very own microbrewery! You'll be able to sample a selection of craft-brewed beers and the brewer will be on-hand to talk you through them. This event is free and starts at 6.30pm, continuing until we've run out of beer. This is a community microbrewery project and we're inviting beer-lovers from the local Shoreditch/Old Street/Hackney areas to join us for the launch. General tickets are sold out, but there's a small handful of TechHub Member tickets still available (four, at the time of writing), so move quickly to nab yourself a ticket!

Mobile Day: BlueVia 1-2-1s
Mon 3 Oct
Free
Have a chat with the Telefonica/O2 guys about all things mobile, mobile marketing-related and find out more about BlueVia. Limited slots available, so keep an eye on the registration page.

Mobile Day: TechHub Mobile Meetup
Mon 3 Oct, 1.00-2.30pm
Free
Meet other tech entrepreneurs who have an interest in mobile, bring your lunch and have a chat about what's going on in the world of mobile right now while you munch. This event is exclusively for tech entrepreneurs and developers working in mobile, and we always have someone interesting to kick off the discussions. Book now!


TechHubTuesday: Demo Night - Mobile Apps
Tue 4 October, 6.30pm
Free for Members
Come along, meet other tech entrepreneurs, have a drink and show everyone the mobile app you're working on. If you'd like to demo your product, enter the details in the registration form on the event page when you register for the event and we'll confirm with you if you have a demo slot, as they're limited and so many great companies apply. Book now! The best three Android apps will receive a free ticket to Droidcon and the chance to demo their app on the Droidcon stage.


Marketing Day (and a half) @TechHub - Wed 5-6 October

Theory of Launch, Marketing Workshop
Wed 5 October, 2.00-5.00pm 
Free for Members
With an abundance of new startups appearing every day how do you achieve that all-important cut through to reach your target audience? In this workshop Charlotte Hogg, MD of advertising agency, Gather and Throw, will introduce you to, and help you understand and apply the 'Theory of Launch', a set of steps designed to successfully launch and accelerate technology-based startups. Game on! Register now.

PR 1-2-1s with Ubiquity Comms
Wed 5 Oct, afternoon slots
Free
Ubiquity Comms invites tech startups & entrepreneurs to join them for one-to-one 'mini PR workshops to find out how you can generate media coverage, online buzz and awareness of your product or company on a shoestring. Ubiquity specialises in working with tech companies and was voted one of the top 10 PR agencies in a 2011 Peerindex poll. Limited places, so get in quickly!

Marketing for Startups with Google's Obi Felten Wed, 5 Oct, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Free for Members
Following a highly successful Office Hours here at TechHub last month we are delighted to have Obi Felten, Director of Consumer Marketing for EMEA, Google back with us for an evening to share her considerable experience and insight. She's Google's marketing guru! Focusing on themes and ideas to help startups and entrepreneurs get maximum marketing value from limited resources, Obi will be doing a 10-15 minute talk before opening the floor to 45-50 mins of questions. An excellent opportunity, so book today!

Perfect Pitch, Pitching Workshop with Diana Lowe
Thu 6 October, 2.00pm-5.00pm
With an abundance of startups vying for investor attention and limited sources of funding available how do you make yourself stand out from the crowd and capture the imagination of those whose opinion (and cash!) really matters? Pitch Perfect will provide you with valuable skills designed to help you promote your product, idea or service to investors and consumers.
The workshop will take you through constructing and practicing your pitch, as well as critically evaluating both yours and those of others. It will also touch on basic presenting skills. Book today

Droidcon (not held at TechHub)
6-7 October
TechHub is delighted to be a media partner of the UK's largest Android-only developer conference, Droidcon in London. Day 1 is a Barcamp, to give everyone in the audience a chance to talk about any topic they'd like - the more popular the topic, the bigger the room. Day 2 has great sessions covering development, design, business, enterprise and gaming. If you're working with Android, you can't afford to miss it. If you're a TechHub Member, check your latest Member News email for a special discount code.
 
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Aug 25th

If it's Not Core to Your Business Outsource it.

By Miguel Garcia


Introducing Freelancer.co.uk, a new TechHub Member.
Saif Bonar, UK Country Manager. The following blog post was written by Saif. 
 
I'm a fairly new member of TechHub and wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself to others in the community, so jumped at the chance to write this blog when invited by Elizabeth. I spent my first few hours here last week working and then at the monthly drinks. I'm looking forward to participating in the community, gaining from the experience of others, meeting new people and I'm also determined to give something back. Initially I'm offering any TechHub members in the UK free Gold membership at the Freelancer.co.uk website for 3 months. This is worth £60 and reduces commissions you pay on projects to 3% as a freelancer and zero as an employer. 

Freelancer.co.uk is the British arm of the world's largest micro-outsourcing marketplace. Our goal is to be the Ebay for Jobs. We have over 2.7m users worldwide including 100,000 British freelancers and 40,000 UK businesses. We are already the biggest UK platform for outsourcing projects and we have ambitious plans for growth. Freelancers and small businesses can tap into our marketplace to either get work or to get work done. With over 400 project categories ranging from graphic design and SEO to financial and legal support TechHub members can find someone to plug any skills gaps they need on budget and on time. 

We recently launched in the UK and are currently running our second marketing push, which includes 500 branded London taxis. As part of this we are also running a competition which is open to TechHub users who can win £1,000 in credit to get work done through the Freelancer platform. All you need to do to enter is grab a photo of a Freelancer Taxi and post it to our Facebook page.

A big part of my role is working on PR and securing exposure for the Freelancer brand in the UK. Given the current economic climate its been a real challenge convincing the media that Freelancer is not only about jobs going from the UK to the developing world. Another challenge has been keeping up with a fast growing global tech business. Our HQ is in Sydney and I work closely with the Comms manager in New York, so the hours can be quite manic sometimes (team meetings at midnight on a Sunday) but, it's a great experience and in only a few months in post I have already been to the Webby Awards in New York and grown the UK side of the business by almost 40%. 

The space we're in throws out lots of opportunities to comment on areas such as economics, employment, technology and outsourcing. Its been quite strange going from an ad-hoc blogger to writing articles for Management Today and seeing my opinions and comments in print everyehwere from Business Computing World to The Drum. Only last week my comments on a Labour Market Report from the CIPD and KPMG found that 30% of companies and 54% of public sector organisations were published in niche websites aimed at CFOs. Sadly, the news was that 34% of UK employers are expecting to make further redundancies in 2011. While this is a blow for the UK jobs market, it's a great opportunity for those affected by redundancy to either follow their dream and turn their business idea into a reality, or to turn to Freelance and focus on doing what they do best while maintaining a more positive work-life balance.

We have big plans in the months ahead and are hoping to introduce a number of changes to the Freelancer platform which will make it much more useful for Freelancers and contract workers in the UK, who until now have struggled to compete with off-shore providers. If you are a Freelancer and haven't yet tried Freelancer.co.uk, you should and my offer of 3 months Free Gold Membership is a great way to get started.

Finally, Miguel asked me to include my best bit of advice for start-ups and entrepreneurs.... If its not core to your business, outsource it. 

TechHub Members Special Offer: As an initial gesture to the TechHub community I am pleased to offer any TechHub members three months free Gold membership on Freelancer.co.uk - this dramatically reduces the fees you pay and will provide you with a good opportunity to try out our platform. (Gold members pay no fees on projects posted and just 3% on any money earned).

If you're a TechHub Member and would like to blog about about your company or product email miguel@techhub.com. Look forward to reading your story!

 
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Aug 15th

TechHub Residents Win TechCity Launchpad

By Miguel Garcia


This week we're presenting our very own residents from Clearer Partners who participated last week in the TechCity Launchpad Pitching Event after winning funding as part of the competition organized by the Technology Strategy Board. The TSB specialises in stimulating technology innovation in order to boost UK growth and productivity. 

The competition was a day long investor workshop that gave forty digital and creative businesses the chance to pitch and network with the cream of London’s investment community. 

In order to best illustrate their story we asked Dagmara, from Clearer Partners to give us her first-hand experience from the event:

"With some nerves and excitement, Aaron, Steve and I headed over to The Commonwealth Club for the TechCity Launchpad Pitching Event on Wednesday 10th August. We were 3rd on stage out of a list of 41 pitches, which proved to be good timing - the room was full and attendees were awake, propped up by the first of many rounds of coffee.

Being part of the lucky companies who won the TSB match funding, we had eight minutes to fly through our product and proposition, FrameBlast, which is a collaborative video production platform. Winning bids came in all shapes and sizes, from 3D toy printers, to furniture producers, to trucking logistics software solutions.

The 23 companies who came highly recommended had a lightning two minutes to pitch, and we were all given a powerpoint template to follow to ensure we kept to the point, answered the right questions and stayed within the time limit. It was a very long day of intensive networking and listening to pitches, and we learnt a lot and made a number of great contacts with investors, in-betweeners, and other startups.

Despite the (at times) gruelling process, we'd recommend the Technology Strategy Board for anyone looking to get some government backing for their projects. Now it's time for us to chase those leads and secure the rest of the match funding. Fingers crossed!"

Clearer Partners has now been offered up to £100,000 funding which they hope to match with private sector funding. Please join me in congratulating their enormous accomplishments and wishing them the best with their future efforts. Also, a huge thank you to Dagmara for sharing her story.

We're really proud of you guys and love having you at TechHub! 

If your a TechHub Member and you'd like to share your company's story here, email miguel@techhub.com  
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Jul 28th

TechHub is Looking for Member Blog Posts

By Miguel Garcia
exciting-blog-post.jpgTechHub Members, want to promote your startup? Launching a new product? Do you have expertise and accomplishments to share with your community? TechHub wants to hear all about it! Here is the basic blog post layout that we're looking for:


-Your name
-Your role
-Company name
-URL
-Twitter names
-How many people in the company?
-Where are you based?
-Description of your company/product (100 words max)
-What have you been working on lately?
-What challenges have you faced?
-What sort of benefits have you found from being connected with others in the tech community?
-What news or issues being discussed lately or in the press are most affecting or interesting you and why/how?
-What should we be looking out for from your company/product?
-Best piece of advice for entrepreneurs?

Answer as many relevant questions as you can and add any additional info as you see fit. Remember we're promoting YOU to our community so be savvy and add some of your own flair. If you're ready to post or have any questions or suggestions feel free to email me.

Happy Blogging!
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Jul 28th

TechHub Helps Connect Student to Exceptional Opportunities

By Miguel Garcia
Chris Alexander is a TechHub Annual Member and current intern with Kusiri, a young but thriving startup near TechHub. As with any new venture into the startup world, there are many unique and exciting challenges that meet the intern. This is Chris's story, his past and current experiences and his drive to learn quickly and become a part of the best working environments available. 

Every year for the past four years, I have embarked on a quest to find an internship at a tech company for the summer between academic years. I'm a programmer at heart and have always taken vacations as an opportunity to expand on the development work that I do in my spare time, in a full-time role.

My first placement was at Huddle, a Bermondsey (and now Old Street and San Francisco) based collaboration startup who has appeared in the news recently. My next was at TweetMeme, the Reading based social sharing and filtering company who pivoted into DataSift during my 18-month placement there. Both of these were distinctly different from what I've been
learning on a day-to-day basis in my Robotics degree, but neither as different as the company where I have found myself this year.

Called Kusiri, this 2 year old company based just down the road from TechHub in EC2 provides enterprise-grade software to global banks and international financial service providers. The Kusiri CAMRA product provides search federation, allowing organisations to easily integrate existing internal and external databases, websites and search servers into a single unified search interface and query language. It is available as software for existing corporate infrastructure; in a SaaS cloud configuration, and on clustered and single-server appliances.

I met the founders of Kusiri at a TechHub networking event and was intrigued by what is a completely different industry to what I’m used to. A startup that sells to corporates is a very different beast to consumer web startups which we are all used to hearing about from Silicon Roundabout and the Valley; from my perspective, it presents challenges not only on a technical but also a non-technical front.

From a technical perspective, development cycles are generally longer - turning around security-approved absolutely bug free releases takes time. There are other issues that come with conforming to client policies, for example getting all of your code working with specific archaic versions of Windows in the deployment - something startups in other sectors can simply
(and wisely) choose to ignore.

However, there are new challenges that have nothing to do with code that come from working in the City. A background in consumer web won’t get you far here: meetings are peppered with acronyms I’ve never heard of, names that sound like something I should know but definitely don’t, and stories that I can’t relate to. “A lot of money” also has a completely different definition in this world.

This placement has also given me an opportunity to learn about an entirely new industry from the people who have lived and breathed it for years, imparting their considerable knowledge in the area so that I may learn, improve, and (eventually) fit in. There are of course the usual startup perks - bean bags, office cats, and large amounts of caffeine - that we never
do without; we may be in the City, but we’re still a startup through and through.

Hope you enjoyed Chris's story. We would love to hear more stories like these from our Members, so if you have something special you would like to share with your community email miguel@techhub.com to get started. 
 
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