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Perspectives on the wonderful world of tech

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-25

  • .@jobsworth you are bad hippy company & that is why it is so good. Thanks for your contribution to best weekend ever! in reply to jobsworth #
  • Who is the best technology PR company in Cambridge? Traditional & social media etc #
  • US Appeals court grants bail to Conrad Black. Friends in high places always handy. http://bit.ly/dq1gLx #
  • Anyone want 10% discount for @bookDepository ? (Already cheaper than Amazon & buy British!). @ me & sort holiday reading. #
  • RT @thenextwomen #bln10 Business Leaders reveal the 7 Secret Ingredients to Grow your Business http://bit.ly/9A2oss Thx! #

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Benchmark yourself against UK’s fastest growing technology businesses.

One of the interesting projects we are involved in over the long, hot summer is managing the campaign for the Deloitte Technology Fast 50. This is a competition for technology companies in the UK that uses a hard measure – revenue growth –  to rank  all entries and so has an authority that other awards and competitions can only aspire to.

If you are growing rapidly, and have been in business for more than five years, you should seriously consider entering.

Companies benefit  in a number of ways:

  • The opportunity to measure themselves against the fastest growing companies in the UK.
  • Great opportunities to meet and share ideas with the owners/managers of other high achieving organisations.
  • Press recognition of the achievements of your organisation.
  • There will be an afternoon networking event followed by gala dinner to announce the EMEA 500 winners at the Emirates Stadium (Arsenal FC), in London, 25th November for all entrants. (Last year the event was held at Chelsea FC and my colleague Darren was caught trying to walk off with the FA Cup). Sadly for Arsenal fans, the opportunities for stealing silverware at the Emirates will probably be more limited.
  • Award winners report that winning has helped them recruit star employees, boost staff morale, open new customer relationships, reassure existing customers that they are working with a leading organisation, personal lives improve and kittens are spared horrible deaths.*
Ben Goss, CEO, Distribution Technology
Ben Goss, CEO, Distribution Technology

Don’t just take my word for it. Ben GossCEO, Distribution Technology (2009 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winner) says on camera,

“Winning the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 last year has had a significant positive impact across the company and the strength of Deloitte’s brand has helped recruitment and international business development.”

Far from harming his business, the recession has thrown up opportunities for Distribution Technology. Uncertainty in the financial services sector is actually helping Distribution technology, who provide financial planning software to independent financial advisors. They have seen a very fast uptake as a result of increased regulation and decreasing margins. Ben’s interview can be viewed here.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-18

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Delegate list for BLN Growth Forum. Join us – Hashtag #BLN10

To facilitate effective networking and meeting, here is a list of registered attendees as of Monday 12th July.

Join the conversation using the Twitter hashtag #BLN10

  • 2e2 Group, Terry Burt, Chief Executive Officer
  • ACIS, Dan Sandhu, CEO
  • Adaffix, Claudia Poepperl, CEO
  • Admob Europe, Russell Buckley, VP Alliances
  • Advent Ventures, Stephan Gueorguiev, Associate
  • AlertMe, Pilgrim Beart, Executive Director & Co-Founder
  • All-In Group, David Peto, CEO
  • AlpinaSearch, Gary Reeman, CEO
  • Amadeus Capital, Laurence John, CEO, Amadeus Mobile Seed Fund
  • Amadeus Capital Partners, Dr Hermann Hauser, Director
  • Amino Telecommunications plc, Stuart Darling, CFO
  • Angel Investor, John Taysom, Chairman
  • Angel Investor, Mark Zaleski, Chairman
  • ARM, Tudor Brown, Founder and President
  • AskPeopleYouKnow, David Gilbey, Co Founder
  • Astley Clarke, Bec Astley Clarke, CEO
  • Atlantic Healthcare Ltd, Clare Twemlow, Director of Finance
  • Audioboo, Karen Barber, Director
  • AVEVA Group plc, Richard Longdon, CEO
  • AVG Technologies, Santiago Matheus, VP Corporate Development

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-11

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Business advertising – Linked In vs Facebook – our experience.

Some people swear by Facebook as a tool for business. I am much less sold on the value of Facebook and far more impressed by Linked In. Both networks seem to incorporate ridiculously unintuitive UIs but our recent experience with the BLN Growth Forum has given us some interesting insights into how the business community that we operate with views the two. Linked In seems to be far more popular for senior figures in the entrepreneurial business community.

When people register for the BLN Growth Forum, we drop them an email and amongst other things ask them to show they are coming:

  • Facebook and LinkedIn Groups. Please let your network know you will be attending by clicking on the event pages in LI and FB.

As of today we have 165 people registered for the event and have closed registration and are now operating a waiting list.

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Questions, questions.

A wordle of the burning questions from BLN Growth Forum attendees. Good to see so many preoccupied with ‘growth’.

Wordle: BLN Growth Forum

Here are the anonymised questions from some of the participants. There doesn’t seem to be too much preoccupation with the ‘Recession’ word from that sample.

  • What are the key skills that a CEO must possess to lead their company from start-up to significant growth?
  • How to manage rapid structural change in fast growing business, including the transition from lumpy angel investment to venture capital.
  • a better view of how to maximise chances of growth in continuing turbulent financial markets
  • No particular burning question, just looking to learn, network and contribute.
  • Early stage user acquisition and PMF
  • How are other companies in the digital space approaching growth?
  • Other than availability of finance, has anything changed in 25 years about building companies?

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-04

  • RT @NeilDavidson: Are Windows IT managers the iPad’s next growth market? http://bit.ly/aNxVmt #
  • Richard Longdon, CEO of AVEVA speaking at BLN Growth Forum on targeting large markets. http://bit.ly/dkLtwp #
  • Capello, “I like being England manager”. I think I would like that too, esp the non-performance related pay element. #
  • Spy news. US discovers 10 Ruskis masquerading as citizens. England finds pub side impersonating national football team. #
  • Rejoice! @Real_Business: EXCLUSIVE – Business Link to be axed, Mark Prisk tells Real Business: http://bit.ly/db5Rg4 #

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Profile: Russell Buckley, CEO EMEA, AdMob. Speaker, Getting & Keeping Customers

Talking about: Getting and Keeping Customers

Why we wanted him to speak: The nicest person we know in the mobile advertising industry. Instrumental in building AdMob to become world’s leading mobile advertising network. Knows a lot about scaling fast and just sold AdMob to Google. Champion of innovation, ethical business and supporting women in business. Closest thing the mobile industry has to the Big Lebowski’s Dude.

Background

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