As the rest of the world is talking about it, it only seems fair that it influences a blog or two!
Light grey
Lots of interesting things are afoot in the world of StreetPin right now. If you want to see Ordnance Survey’s mash-up of us speakers at Google Campus, have a quick look.
Dark grey
‘Interested’ used to inspire enthusiasm, but as time ticks by, this is a phrase that seems to drain time from my life. I feel like I’m treading the virtual pavements on a daily basis, looking for investors, partners, info, competition, the odd version of ‘salad fingers’ to remind me things could be worse. And scanning through new press releases – so getting an ‘Interested in StreetPin’, without a follow-up action point, has regrettably started to filter to the bottom of my to-do list. Maybe I need to brush up on my virtual body language skills.
Black and white
Bang! We are accepted on to the Accelerator Academy – an intensive 12-week course at the Innovation Warehouse in Farringdon. It’s a high-growth training and mentoring programme for ‘ambitious digital entrepreneurs looking to grow their business through training, mentoring and access to capital’. We had the first evening of getting to know the mentors and ‘mentees’ and after an inspiring run through of the course, we finished with a couple of drinks in the local pub. The type of people I’ve been electronically stalking are now buying me a beer and talking about StreetPin. Whoo-hoo! – more to come on this fantastic opportunity that will culminate in a December pitch in front of 100 quantified potential investors.
White (knights)
The fantastic guys at Media Post took pity on the poor start-up and provided a free ticket for me to attend OMMA –- this was a day full of a blend of speakers and discussion panels. These included inputs from Qype, Foursquare, Future, Grapple and Somo – to name but a few. If you want to spend a day getting overloaded with relevant, exciting opinions and info, then washing it down with plenty of coffee and wine, then you can’t go far wrong with these events. Mingling with these guys was also a great experience – I must work on the elevator pitch, I must work on the elevator pitch, I must work on the elevator pitch…!
Grey-tness
I had my first meeting with a sparkly PR agency (Paratus). It’s a different conversation, and a nice change of focus over a couple of strong black coffees. I’ve not had the proposals back as yet, but the theories that these guys can conjure is definitely inspiring, though I have no plan of attack to base any more detailed musings upon.
Black (listed)
I’ve pulled back from paying for some of these intermediary sites. Not a fortune spent, but the time wasted on form filling and writing introductions to apparently interested parties, only to receive I think 1 out of 25 replies, which was one sentence, makes me think this route is not for us right now.
Grey-nular
Random title for the effect of linking via contacts. I’ve joined an SME Facebook group and after a brief spell of lurking, I decided to put a couple of screen grabs on the wall. Maybe too much, too soon, but it seems a friendly group and hopefully a great way that I can get local opinion. Must not come across too ‘salesy’ on entrance!
White light
I’ve also embarked on the mentoring offer from Capital Enterprise.If you are looking for some FREE external help, give this a go. These are established business guys willing to give their time for free, with the proviso of helping you see the wood for the trees, giving you a sounding board, helping understand business issues etc. Feel like you’re in a rut with your business? Give them a shout.
Tie-ins
A conversation I’m having at the moment with a fascinating lady called Benita is about her latest project.They are setting up: The Greatest Share on Earth – a global event that will take place at lunchtime on 14 November. The idea is that people will be sharing a meal or conversation or sharing/ swapping goods/clothes etc. There seem to be some good synergies with our local focus and I’ll keep you updated on our discussions. But please do check out their site, and get involved if you can.
Social media tip
This is more of a case of do as I say, not what I do. We’ve not invested much time in Pinterest as such, but this is an interesting article on how to get this new business approach moving. Let us know how you get on.
Missed any of the previous chapters?
You can catch up here:
StreetPin - Chapter 1: The fly-on-the-wall story of a start up
StreetPin - Chapter 2: We're going on an angel hunt
StreetPin - Chapter 3: Finding an investor and dating, more similar than you'd think
StreetPin - Chapter 4: Time to shine the shoes
StreetPin - Chapter 5: Prepare the hoops
StreetPin - Chapter 6: watching our figures
