If you’re in the startup space, it is very likely you will have heard the term ‘ICO (Initial Coin Offering)’ thrown around a fair few times, and perhaps even heard it described as an attractive alternative to traditional types of fundraising.

A new coliving space for Paris’ entrepreneurs, freelancers and startups has recently opened near to the famous STATION F coworking campus in the centre of the city. The Flatmates space will consist of three coliving towers and can house 600 residents.

According to the British Chamber of Commerce, recent figures have shown that the UK economy is predicted to grow at a lot slower rate than expected in 2020 and 2021, and one big reasoning behind this is Brexit and the possibility of a no-deal result.

It’s not what you know it’s who you know… The right place at the right time… These are both recognisable phrases that both serve to highlight the element of chance that can sometimes be associated with success. And nowhere is this better highlighted than in the world of sport.

Companies are made up of individual people; even Apple, the world’s biggest brand, would mean nothing without its employees. Imagine if Apple was hiring random people and their board was changing all the time. The recent departure of Jony Ive led to a one percent reduction in Apple shares.

The Victoria Embankment in central London might not be the obvious place to find out more about Scotland’s vibrant startup scene. However, representatives from the country’s board of trade, business incubators, educators, R&D partnerships and innovation centres headed south for London Tech Week, and Scotland House, where they spent the evening showcasing the business opportunities north of the border, creativity, the potential of data science and the country’s talent.

For founders looking to start a business it is imperative to get the culture right - as getting it wrong can lead to bad investor, customer and employee experience. At Women of Silicon Roundabout 'Founder Focus' workshop track, CEO and co-Founder of London-based foodtech startup Feedr, Riya Grover delivered a thought-provoking workshop titled 'Defining your culture blueprint to hyper-charge growth', and explained why it is so important to get it right from the start.

Startups Magazine attended the Women of Silicon Roundabout 2019 (25-16th June) workshop 'Getting an innovative mindset: why the world needs more entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs', and here's what we thought.

At the LeadersIn Tech Summit during London Tech Week 2019, a roundtable was held discussing the benefits and drawbacks of partnerships between corporates and startups. At the table, Anna Jones from FieldHouse Associates, Ryan Haynes from Ryan Haynes Marketing, Ben Rudman the CEO of MMT Digital, and Denise Glee from MagnaCarta Communications, lent their personal expertise to the debate.

Stress is something that can affect everyone and anyone, at any point in your life. Admittedly some things are more likely to bring about stress, for example, creating your own business and trying to get it off the ground.

Common sense suggests that an entrepreneur is the lynch-pin of a startup. At the recent TLA Investor Showcase 2.0 event, for example, investors repeatedly talked about the entrepreneur as being synonymous with startup and scale-up; the person they look to invest in. But are they right?

Dr Christopher Hartland, patent attorney at leading European IP firm, Potter Clarkson, gives a step-by-step guide to managing your business’ ideas and innovations.

In this article, Dr Christopher Hartland, patent attorney at leading European IP firm, Potter Clarkson, explains how robust intellectual property protection can be a valuable asset in its own right.

Dr Christopher Hartland at leading European IP firm, Potter Clarkson explains how businesses can protect their most valuable assets – their intellectual property.

Disrupt of be disrupted, that's the challenge of innovation in a changing digital landscape. Digital transformation is crucial for business success, but how can you move from talking about innovation to putting it into action?

In this article - the last in this series - I am going to look at scaling your business and the fact that growth is often the hardest part of the startup journey.

“At the heart of what people, companies and everyone does is innovation. Innovation is our focus.” This was the opening line from Gary Shapiro, CEO of CES at last year's unbound innovation festival in London.

The next generation of aspiring startups are hoping their technology will change the world. But what about the technology that is changing startups? I’ve spent the last few years working with some of Europe’s biggest startup success stories, helping them put in place the right business platforms to support rapid growth.

Startups Magazine first clapped eyes on Le Pavé Parisien at CES 2019 within the French Pavilion in the Eureka Park and was instantly intrigued to see the world's only high-end speaker cast entirely in concrete.

As a startup, what would be your Golden Ticket to propel you towards success? Workspace expenses covered? Invaluable mentoring and guidance?

Having written your business plan, identified your existing and potential market and your target clients, and decided how best to market and sell your product, you should now of course actually be making sales. But how open has you mind been whilst undergoing this process, and how limited are your ambitions? Many smaller companies, whether startups or more mature, have a tendency to only look at selling to the home market of the UK rather than broadening their horizons and selling internationally. 

AO, the online electricals store, and L Marks, leading advisor in applied innovation and experienced investor in early-stage technologies, have partnered in a global search 'for the next digital disruptors who will make online shopping easier and faster for its customers'.

When one thinks of countries with a focus on innovation, the true global leaders - USA, the U.K., Canada and Israel – traditionally lead the way based on the strength of their startup ecosystems. Not surprisingly, the next country to gain a foothold is Australia followed by no fewer than a dozen of the top industrialised nations in Western Europe.

Last week’s article focussed on Business Plans; what should be in them and why you should write one. One of the key pieces of information required is of course sales figures, both actual numbers for historic sales and those forecast for the future. It is also very important to include the assumptions and how you market your goods in order to achieve those sales. It is those subjects that I am going to focus on this time.

Over the last five articles I have tried to set the scene in terms of outlining what help is available to early stage businesses, and certain aspects of finance, including a valuable but often overlooked tax refund. In this article and the next I wanted to focus on two fundamental issues that will determine how your business develops and how you grow sales.

The Internet of Things is an exciting and expanding market. It’s one that many large organisations are already actively involved in, with competition mounting rapidly as a result; but it’s also a market ripe for innovation, with countless unexplored opportunities – across all industries – almost too compelling for an ambitious entrepreneur to ignore.

Subcon is introducing the Launchpad & Launchpad Awards to this year’s event. The Launchpad aims to propel startups and entrepreneurs by giving them a platform to share their innovations with thousands of engineering and manufacturing professionals with the power to influence and guide them to future success.

South-By-Southwest is an annual assemblage of conferences and festivals that takes place in Austin, Texas in early March to celebrate the convergence of film, music, interactive and other industries. Created to foster both professional and personal growth across multiple levels, the ten-day event prides itself on truly being all things to all people.

The audience at the Dublin Tech Show 2019 fell silent and slipped into awe as it listened to the man who broke into Mir using a Swiss Army Knife, flew into Earth orbit three times, was Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), has spent 166 days in space and was the first Canadian astronaut to walk in space: NASA Colonel, Chris Hadfield.

Moderated by Graham Hussey, Co-Founder of The Startup Van, this panel at the Dublin Tech Show 2019 (DTS) made up of celebrity companies in the startup arena, Expon Capital, 500 startups, Valor Ventures and Techstars, broadly discussed the ways in which a startup can succeed. 

On the ScaleX stage at DTS 2019 (Dublin Tech Summit) Willie Morris got real in his talk about startup failure.

Behavioural economics is the combination of human psychology, decision science, and economics. It is an innovative and scientific approach to understanding how humans make decisions.

If you are an engineering startup and proud raise your hand! It is nearly a year since the first issue of Startups Magazine, and if it has opened my eyes up to one thing, it is that there are a lot of you startups out there – which is a great thing!

2018 was 'the year of engineering', and arguably a year that allowed more women to make even more of a breakthrough in the industry.

Successful tech entrepreneurs share the lessons learned from starting a new business.

In the first of this series of articles we looked at the fact that there was actually quite a lot of help available to you when you set up your own business, and specifically we started to look at entrepreneur accelerators and the roles that Mentors play within that overall service. This time I wanted to take that further and start to explore the actual role a Mentor plays, how best to choose one, and then how best to maximise that relationship.

Brian Mulcahey, Category Director, Wellness at Bose Corporation, discusses the company's
breakthrough into wellness tech at 'Indiegogo Enterprise: A Fireside Chat with Bose.'

In this, the first of an occasional series, I will be passing on my thoughts and observations in my capacity as a Mentor and how accepting the help that is available to startup business can help transform them.

The French pavilion has dominated the Eureka Park at CES, and 2019 was no exception with the country represented by no less than 414 startups. However this year's CES saw Britain step up to the plate alongside its global counterparts, bringing along over 100 UK companies.

We all know the feeling of buying the latest gadget, boasting two years of battery life, only to see it breaking down before the first year is up. 

Virginie Berger, previously employed at Microsoft and MySpace, knows the music tech industry better than most.

Camille Venot, Innovation Manager for Unbound, helps startups bloom from London to Miami, Singapore and Bahrain.