Thoughts

Size does matter

When it comes to technology, size does matter — the smaller, the better.

I love the iPad. I think there’s no comparable device on the market yet, and doing what I do I’ve tried all of them. For the past few weeks, I’ve been using the iPad mini. It’s awesome, so much so…

Delivering instant gratification

Over the past week, we’ve been working on a new presentation video at Brainient and we needed a voiceover for it. If it were 1999, we would have had to put up an ad in a newspaper, organise an audition and hire a studio. It would’ve taken about a month and cost $3,000. In…

Why I stopped attending conferences

I used to go to a lot of events. SXSW, The Next Web, Dublin Web Summit, Le Web, DLD, Founders Forum, f.ounders — you name it, I was there. Networking away, pitching, talking and having drinks with everyone from Jack Dorsey to Reid Hoffman (see how subtle my…

Why startups should charge customers. A lot.

There’s a mistake many startups make (yours truly included) when they first start talking to customers: “yeah, we’re early stage so you can use it for free until we get out of beta”; or, “yeah, you’re a beta client so we’ll give you a big discount”…

Taking it in

I watched MasterChef last night, a BBC production that takes everyday wannabe-chefs and brings in Michelin-star rated chefs to teach them how to create beautiful, tasty dishes. It’s an amazing production, and last night was the semi-final. The three remaining contestants were taken to Gordon Ramsay’s…

Acting like a grown-up

One of my investors gave me a good slap today. She does that every now and then and I love her for it. While discussing about managing investor relations and dealing with my team and my board, she sent me this email:

You are no longer CEO of a little startup that…

Ars gratia artis, no more

A couple of months ago, I was trying to convince a friend that going to art galeries, museums and the opera can help him become a better entrepreneur. He argued that there’s absolutely no ROI for spending time in such places, that they bore him to death and he’d rather spend the…

On how to flirt at Seedcamp Week

Let’s face it. Networking is dull. We forget nine out of ten people we meet, and all those business cards, albeit ending up in our CRM, rarely see any action. Usually, that’s because we don’t bother having a clear strategy: we just network for the sake of networking.

But…