Nexus S - Surprise incoming?

Google have just posted the following to the @googlenexus twitter account:

We have a surprise for you today. Stay tuned!

Can’t wait to find out what it is.

Couldn’t be the Honeycomb update for the Nexus S could it?  Or perhaps some exclusive new apps perhaps.

Alternativly it could just be a spoiler to steal some of Apple’s white iPhone 4 thunder. But then is a white phone news anyways?

ICM Books iPhone App

One of my favourite Northern Irish tech companies has just scored a world first. Those web and mobile application wizards at Lisburn based GCD Technologies have only went and helped ICM Books Direct become the first Christian bookstore worldwide to launch an iPhone app!

Now I know that iPhone app launches are ten a penny these days but it’s always worth celebrating world firsts from here in whatever form they come.  I think it also shows maturity and confidence in mobile as a platform for doing business when even small stores from my home county (Armagh) can reach the world through this medium.

Not only that but the quality of the craftsmanship that has went into the app speaks for itself.  Judging by the screenshots over at the ICM Books page on iTunes it just looks good.  I haven’t had a play myself as I’m very much an Android man though I’m more than happy to take the gift of an iOS device to try it out.

I shouldn’t be surprised by the quality.  Afterall the GCD guys also helped bring the most excellent award winning TaxiZapp to market.  Another example of how one local entrepreneur’s idea was made reality by the team.  For that reason I am awarding then GCD Technologies “Geek to God” status as part of #projectathene.

If Christian books are your thing head on over here and check the app out for yourself.

Regards,

David Crozier

P.S. In the interests of open disclosure I’d like to flag up that I was made aware of this app release by Chris Harrison over at JPRNI who does an excellent job in blogger relations.  I was more than happy to blog about it to help Northern Ireland companies reach a wider audience.

A degree of common sense?

As financial pressures continue to bite, and with many more students and graduates chasing after work experience, employers have found themselves in a strong position with regards to offering unpaid work placements.  Many degree courses expect their students to have completed some element of industrial placement enable them to proceed to final year.  In the current environment demand for placements outstrip supply.  Are the universities missing a trick?

When I was studying for my BSc Computer Science at the University of Ulster Coleraine I was fortunate enough to be offered a one year paid placement at Intel Corporation down in their manufacturing facility in Leixlip, Co. Kildare.  The role involved administering user accounts and privileges for the sites 4000 or so users as well as a further 1500 spread across its EMEA operations.  For my time there I was awarded a Diploma in Industrial Studies with Distinction.

The role wasn’t terribly taxing technically, which was a shame, but it did have the benefit of immersing me in an environment totally alien to me at the time.  The environment was that of an American lead multi-national operation exposing me to new concepts in management, new ideas and the relentless pursuit of success, revenue and profit.  It was an eye opener and a real experience.  Getting paid to do it was certainly a bonus but it was expected.  Back then within my peer group unpaid placements were effectively unheard of.

Do something or work for nothing

Now however there are an increasing number of companies who are offering unpaid internships.  This is fine for those in the financial situation to be able to afford to work for a year for nothing.  My dad always used to say that he would rather do nothing as work for nothing.  For those who aren’t in the fortunate position to do that it has to be the perfect time to work on their own venture.

Why work for someone else for nothing when student entrepreneurs could develop something for themselves with the aim of deriving some income?  What’s the worst that could happen?  They won’t make any money?  Not such a big issue if that was the other option in the first place.  Its probably the best time for young innovators and entrepreneurs to start something before they get indoctrinated into the world of work and the risk aversion that comes with it.  Heck they could even get some ideas here.

Barriers

I can see that the universities might be reluctant to support such as scheme.  So what barriers are there to overcome?

There would be management issues with respect to the existing industrial supervisory role for instance.  Who would fulfil the role normally provided by the employer?  This could be filled by recruiting a suitable cadre of mentors from industry.  These mentors would act as advisors, advocates and monitor progress in a similar way to business mentors who support the work of the Prince’s Trust.

What happens if the students enterprise fails?

Can a failure really be counted as a success allowing the student to proceed to final year? Yes it can in my opinion.  Those people who have tried and failed to develop a new venture will certainly have learned more about their industry than those who have went on unpaid placements and ended up making the tea.  I have come across paid interns in previous roles who have spent the majority of their time on Facebook and watching videos on Youtube.  Could that really be better than someone who has tried to bring a product or service to market and failed?  I think not.  Those who fail will still be attractive to future employers.  They will have a portfolio of product/services they have created.  They may even have the genesis of something that other businesses may be able to nurture and grow given access to more resources and support.

What if they succeed?

Well if those who choose to set up their own venture during placement succeed then the university has succeeded albeit a year or two early.  After all one of UU’s aims is to “Contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of the region” whilst QUB sees itself as “a driving force in wealth and job creation”.  That doesn’t mean that they should lose a fistful of students who might otherwise have went on to pay more fees and graduate.  They should leave the door open for them to return and complete their studies.  Perhaps leaving it open for a period of 5 years.  If students can defer entry to courses there’s no reason why they can’t defer return from the placement element of their course.

Who finances the enterprise?

Like every other startup out there the finances should be down to the individual students.  Plain and simple.  That’s not to say those students who choose the startup option shouldn’t be allowed to avail of the university resources.  For the period of their first year as a placement startup they should still be classed as students therefore have access to the libraries, IT labs, and student spin out funds where available.  The cost to startup now for those in the web, mobile, and digital creative industries is lower now than ever.  With access to a laptop and a web connection the cost to entry is near as makes no difference to nothing.

Isn’t it time our universities considered offering a Diploma in Entrepreneurial Studies?  What do you think?

Angel investment gives you wiiiings

While Northern Ireland currently has one very strong angel investor network in Halo does this lack of competition actually hinder our startups chances of securing funding quickly, if at all, rather than help them?

I’m a big fan of Paul Graham‘s writing.  He knows a thing or two about startups and funding them from his own experience in setting them up and more recently by funding and supporting them through YCombinator.   For those who haven’t heard of him, he is a prolific essayist and writes regularly on subjects related to technology startups, investing and general popular enterprise culture.  We could do with a few more like him in our wee country but I digress.  What got me thinking about the need for Northern Ireland to have more business angel networks was his recent essay “High resolution fundraising”

Investors influence investors

Graham cuts to the chase pretty quickly in an essay that is short by his standards. In his view “By far the biggest influence on investors’ opinions of a startup is the opinion of other investors”.  In a funding landscape where there are a plethora of investors this actually plays into the hands of startups and those who are willing to take a punt early.  What I mean by that is that it opens up the opportunity to create hype, play one group off another, forces investors to make quicker investment decisions to gain first mover advantage and invest on better terms than those who dither.  Its pretty tough to get startup capital here in NI at the best of times but anything that speeds up the flow of early investment has got to be a good thing – right?

I was given a great overview of Halo some months ago by Richard Ferguson who manages the day to day running of the angel network when I met with him down at NISP.  He and Alan Watts have done a great job of recruiting new angel investors who now number over 100 if memory serves me right.  I have also met with many angels and founders who have taken part in the process.  All are generally supportive of the way things are run.  The run a tight ship.  Well it would be given it is based in the Titanic Quarter.  I just can’t help but think that a bit of healthy competition is now called for in terms of a new network or several new networks.

Constructive ambiguity

This would introduce a bit of scope for constructive ambiguity on the entrepreneurs behalf in terms of who may or may not be interested in investing in their businesses.  It might lead to faster investments getting capital, the lifeblood of any startup, into their hands quicker.  Sure those that are uninvestable will still be uninvestable.  The cream might rise to the top faster however and that can only be a good thing for founders, investors and the country at large.  The sooner they find their feet, the sooner they scale to a size were they start employing people, export overseas, pay taxes and help us fight our way out of the financial difficulties we find ourselves in.

Seedcorn deadline approaches

Don’t forget that the closing date for business plans to be submitted to InterTradeIreland for the Seedcorn competition is the 17th September.  Northern Ireland is generally under-represented so you could be in with a good chance to win the regional finals and get through to the all island final if you play your cards right.  Even if you don’t win, the opportunity to hone your business plan and pitching skills will stand you in good stead so what are you waiting for?

Don't kill creativity

With the Digital Circle (DC) elections now done and dusted I felt it was timely to jot down my thoughts about encouraging creativity as its is broadly linked.  Further stimulus arrived on Monday by way of a tweet from one of the newly elected members of the steering group.  While this post isn’t aimed specifically at the work of that fine institution, there are parallels to some of the ideas raised.  DC is involved in the business of supporting digital creativity in all forms after all.  I am drawing shamelessly from the work of Teresa M. Amabile as well as on my own experiences from various roles.

I have had a lot of dealings with companies and individuals recently who operate in the “creative” space.  Creative in this case covers a broad spectrum spanning web, mobile, film, animation, design, gaming etc.  Feel free to consider yourself or business as being covered if you aspire to be creative in whatever you do.

Most of those dealings have been due to a natural inquisitiveness on my part to see just what excellent work is being done in the marketplace.  Partly it has been down to my wishing to help out where others felt I could add value by tapping on my experience.  An element has been to do with volunteering to assist those who might not have had the same breaks in life as I have had.

In trying to support creativity in Northern Ireland I am constantly reminded of an article originally published in the Harvard Business Review in Sept-Oct 1998 which was brought to my attention when studying the Creativity in Management module of my Masters.  That article was called “How to kill creativity” and was written by Teresa M. Amabile who was Professor of Business Administration and senior associate dean for research at the Harvard Business School at that time.  It made a huge impact on me at the time.  I still carry a PDF copy of it with me on my memory stick and read it from time to time.  Sad I know.

In her view Amabile suggests that creativity gets killed much more than it gets supported but also recognises that to be creative ideas must be appropriate – both useful and actionable.  So we are not dealing with creativity for creativity’s sake.  The outcome must be deliverable, functional, sustainable and self sustaining even.

She goes on to highlight how creativity will be enhanced if problems are habitually turned upside down with knowledge combined from seemingly disparate fields.  The implication being that creative solutions don’t just come from looking for answers within ones own industry but stepping outside of the comfort zone, engaging with others from different backgrounds, fields of expertise and communities.

Creativity is a function of three components.  These are expertise, creative thinking skills and motivation.  In her research she singles out motivation as being the key driver in what people will actually do.  What they will produce, what they will achieve.  Without suitable motivation that creativity will go untapped.

The two types of motivation are extrinsic (carrot, stick, money) and intrinsic (passion, interest, challenge, enjoyment).  While it is true that money is generally seen as a poor motivator in most respects I am also of the view that severe lack of money may act as a disincentive to those hoping to plough their furrow in the creative space.

Amabile looks to the intrinsic form of motivation to encourage and drive creativity.  In a nutshell she urges the reader to find real problems that they are passionate about and fix them for the challenge and enjoyment they bring – the rewards will surely follow, be they monetary or recognition by your peers and the wider community.

In the article Amabile outlines six categories that emerged from her team’s research as being key practices which had the effect of killing creativity.  These six practices weren’t simply the work of lone managers but were systemic in the organisations where they were found.  In the first part of this two-part blog I will look at the first three – challenge, resources and work-group features – and offer up some counter suggestions as to how those might be avoided.  I do this so that we might support and nurture creativity in this wee country of ours rather than kill it.

Challenge

When forming teams those setting them up will invariably attempt to match tasks with those people who have previous experience of working on similar tasks and solving them.  Many would see this as a good thing.  If, however,  you are really trying to do something creative, to come up with new thinking, do you really want to settle for the same dependable results time and again?   This shot gun wedding is often due to limited time restraints and resources to really understand what skills and potential people are bringing to the table.  The most eligible person is wed to the most urgent and open assignment.  The results are predictably unsatisfactory for all.

Take time to understand those involved.  Understand which tasks would be challenging for them.  An amount of stretch is healthy for all involved and will yield better, more creative results all round.

Freedom

In relation to granting freedom the key is to give people autonomy concerning the means, concerning process, but not necessarily the ends.  Throughout Amabile’s research they found that people tended to be more creative if you let them decide how to climb a particular mountain themselves though not necessarily letting them choose which mountain to climb.  Setting clearly defined strategic goals can often enhance creativity rather than kill it.  These goals should also remain stable, it is harder to work towards targets if they keep changing.

This autonomy heightens intrinsic motivation.  A recent article in The Guardian talks about even once prized careers becoming McDonaldised.  Let’s try to withstand the drive to the mundane and ensure that in this corner of these isles “permission to think” is a given.  Don’t claim people are empowered if the process is already proscribed.

Resources

Time and money.  The two main resources that affect creativity.  Those charged with supporting creativity should aim to capture both and allocate them carefully.  Remember also that more money is not always the answer nor is more time.  Under many circumstances shortages of both can heighten creativity.  Don’t use it as an excuse, especially in these straightened times.  A shortage of both can also increase the levels of intrinsic motivation by increasing the sense of challenge.

Encourage creativity by allowing time for exploration and schedule incubation periods.  Those who fail to will stand in the way of creativity.  Keeping resources too tight will also push people to channel resources into finding additional resources rather than getting a job of work done in developing new solutions, products and services.

The project is not quite in stealth mode though I can’t say too much yet.  A private Beta is planned soon so in the meantime I can hopefully whet your appetite.  From the very moment he fired up his Macbook Pro and launched the app in a browser the user interface alone told me that I was seeing something special.  First impressions last.  This app is still impregnated on my eyeballs.

So what is it really about?  Well the teaser text on the Showcase site gives some clues:

Planzai is a web app aimed initially at the music industry, which intends to make musicians’ lives easier. Planzai helps them achieve their business goals by providing expert content, broken down step-by-step. Each step becomes a task in the user’s calender, and our content helps them understand the ‘how, when and who’ of achieving their goals. The concept is also applicable to other sectors where people need to become experts quickly, avoiding trial and error.

Before seeing it I was concerned that it might be too niche to make a real impact.  Niche isn’t necessarily a bad thing mind you but my view is that when you are bringing a new product or service to market it’s best to have as broad a spectrum of customers and potential applications as possible.  Believe me this solution has applications across numerous sectors, countries, market and demographic segments.

That is what really excited me and spurred me into naming Rich Dale as my first Project Athene Geek to God nominee.  In my post on Project Athene I talked about elevating our geeks to rock star status.  Rich has a head start; he already plays bass.  He also has Planzai.  When you have a solution that can have applications in areas as diverse as music, marriage, property development and new venture creation to name but a few as well as the potential to go viral it is going to go far.  Couple that with its potential for numerous revenue streams, price differentiation, white labelling and ecosystem development that is a recipe for some serious figures.

I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on the Beta so I can see if my hunch is justified.  I have a feeling it will.  It will certainly be one of the highlights in Derry on the 16th September.

The discussion was quite simply this:

Mark Nagurski

I agree completely David … but … I also think we (ie. people involved in startups and tech) need to get better at promoting ourselves too. Events like Showcase only work if people are willing to stand up and say, “hey, look at us, look at the great stuff we’re doing” and we’re often not the best at doing that.

David Crozier

Good point Mark. Maybe the NI tech community needs its very own Gok Wan for a “Geeks to Gods” makeover.

I guess this post is about how the startup and tech community can do just that.  Go mainstream, breakout, bring that geekery out of the bedrooms, incubators, rented office space and university labs of Northern Ireland to the attention of the wider world.

Why Project Athene?

All great innovation projects need a snappy name right?  Names like Project Apollo, the Manhattan Project, The X Prize and Project Kelvin (OK, maybe not that one).

Like any self respecting blogger with a degree in Computing instead of English or the Classics I checked out Wikipedia for a list of Greek Gods to see if something would fit.

I had considered Project Ananke after the Goddess of inevitability, compulsion and necessity. After all necessity is the mother of all invention.  She just didn’t fit the bill however.  This project had to be about ambition too and she just wasn’t high enough up the Greek God league table to justify naming this particular project after her.

After what seemed like 15 minutes, though it might have been 20, I settled on Project Athene (Athena).  Athene is the goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy, crafts, justice and skill. Though Athene was a goddess of war strategy, she disliked fighting without a purpose and preferred using wisdom to settle predicaments – something that could be said of many geeks in my view.  Why not Athena?  Those smarty pants at MIT, Digital Equipment Corporation, and IBM had already snaffled Project Athena so I chose the Athene variant of the name instead.

Why do we need Project Athene?

I deal with startups and SMEs everyday.  I must admit that tech, web and mobile startups are a personal favourite of mine coming from a tech background myself.  The number one thing I hear from most of them is that funding is a big issue.  Two is the tendency in the media to focus on Silicon Valley startups rather than indigenous ones.  Three is probably gaining traction in the market place which is brought about by issue two and issue one.

So how do we solve those issues?

Media
No offence to local business reporters (are there any tech knowledgable ones outside of James Scott’s excellent SyncNI?), they are great at regurgitating press releases and puff pieces, telling us if the Footsie is up or down and how many Euros we get to the pound.  Heck they’ll even let us know when companies are making huge redundancies or when a large utility falls foul of the regulator.  All pretty regular stuff but when was the last time they got down and dirty with some tech startups?

Many kids have to listen to Radio Ulster every morning on their way to work.  If they aren’t hearing inspiring business stories in that 7:45 business slot how can we ever expect them to aspire to be entrepreneurs when they grow up?

Write to your favourite media outlet.  I don’t mean tweeting or emailing them neither.  Actually put pen to paper and write to them demanding more coverage of Northern Irish tech startups instead of the steady stream of Apple stories.  Demand that Paul Clark off UTV interviews some local entrepreneurs instead of the arts, music and cinema reviews that currently pass for news on his late show.  Demand that Jamie Delargy blog about them on the UTV website.  Get the Bel Tel to do some legwork and feature them rather than those puff pieces placed by PR companies.  You get the message.

Traction

We should sign up to as many local tech startup’s beta programmes, play with their stuff if only to tell them directly and constructively how it should be improved.  When we have played with it we should tweet about it, blog about it, tell people about it, show those outside of the community even if they aren’t necessarily interested.  You never know when they might tell someone else or it might crop up at dinner as a conversation piece.  All of us are connected to people all over the world.  Tell them, tell them to tell their friends.

Remember to judge applications fairly.  For example it may not look as polished as an app developed by Apple or Facebook but then they have a gazillion developers.  If it does what it says on the tin and has been produced on a shoe string try to look for the positives.  Encouragement means a lot.  I’m not suggesting for one minute that we should give false praise to crap apps.  You can’t polish a turd.  Just be considered in your support and criticism in equal measure.  When its good enough we should buy it with our own hard cash.

Update: As Laura Parkhill from @MATRIX_NI has rightly pointed out tonight collaboration is an excellent way of gaining traction and critical mass.  Two heads are better than one, and ten heads are better than two (except maybe in a committee).  Starting up can be a pretty lonely experience.  Working with others certainly mean the outcomes are greater than the sum of all parts.

Funding

Good projects + Lots of buzz  =  raised media profile + users + traction + attention from business angels and VCs = funding.

What would Project Athene entail?

We have to start promoting some of our geeks to rock star status. Not my idea, but something I picked up from David Kirk at dinner one night. I’m sure he’ll not mind me stealing that particular one.   Now I’m not talking about some cult of hero worship here but I am suggesting that we have to elevate some to a higher plain in the public consciousness.

More launch parties; more Ferraris

When my now wife and I lived in Dublin back in the heyday of the dot com era everyone knew about tech startups from their launch parties.  They were the hottest ticket in town.  The founders of the firm Fiona worked for all bought matching Black AMG Mercedes when they closed their first big funding round.  Now I’m not suggesting the same level of extravagance that resulted in the bonfire of VC money back then but there has got to be a happy medium.

If you are part of the NI technology establishment who has recently had a successful exit where you made a shit load of money then buy a Ferrari, or better still something more refined like an Aston Martin Vanquish and drive it around the colleges and universities of Northern Ireland to talk to students about how you made the money to buy it.  If you are feeling generous I wouldn’t say no to a Jaguar XK. I’m not greedy.

Local golfer Rory McIlroy has recently bought himself a white Lamborghini with his winnings and he’s only 21.  This is probably why my brother-in-law has just bought his two and a half year old son a set of his very own clubs instead of a laptop.  A few tech car nuts could have the same effect.

Simple?  Maybe.  We should try it to find out.

If you found this article constructive please comment below and retweet using the #projectathene hashtag.

David Crozier

I have been broadly aware of the group for a number of months but shied away from attending for fear of being found out as a non-coder.  I needn’t have worried.  I was warmly welcomed for just wanting to show my support and chip in ideas.

We saw a great demo of an Android application which was put together by a unassuming guy who is an accountant (and no not THAT accountant) with no software development skills prior to getting involved in the group. 

Update (11/08/10): The unassuming accountant in question is called Mark Breen aka @markvader.  He might let you play with his app if you ask him nicely and have an Android phone.

Mark’s application draws together a dataset released by Translink which displays timetable information for bus routes.  Anyone who has used Translink’s website knows that it generally sucks.  As a regular bus user he had, and thought he could do better.  The application rocks.  If he can do it why can’t you?

Projects in the pipeline include multiple Translink related ones, OpenLiveNet for Mencap and something for the RNLI.  Heck if you have a good idea for improving public/voluntary sector service and can get access to the data it might be your app they work on someday.

I urge you to go along to the next meeting and get involved.  Find out more here.

Regards,

David Crozier

The discussions focused on two extremes of the democratic process.  Some related to elections to the steering group of a hyperlocal (to NI), highly specialised association; the others ultimately lead all the way to Westminster.  The discussions for both democratic processes were equally passionate and engaging and were equally relevant to the future success of this wee country.

They focussed on areas such as galvanising a community, setting out a vision for the future, enabling entrepreneurship, economic policy, inclusion, politics with a small p, politics with a big P, personalities and the like.

I have spent this evening reflecting on what we should demand and expect from those who would seek our X on a ballot paper or click in a radio button/check box on an electronic poll.

In the past I have had the fortune (or misfortune depending on your viewpoint) of being in the position to observe both local and national politicians at the highest level in their working environment.  During that time I was able to see past the mask of the election posters and manifestos; it enabled me to form an opinion of many which wouldn’t necessarily reflect the persona they present in the media interview, election hustings or on the doorstep.  Some pleasantly surprised me, others not so.

So what do I feel you should look out for in a representative of your choice?  Here are a few thoughts;

Passion

First and foremost the candidate will be passionate about the cause, industry, their beliefs, their policies.  That passion manifests itself in truly believing they can make a difference for the people they serve rather than raising their own profile and making personal gain.  This passion should be infectious in that it attracts both people and resources to a cause.  That passion should have been evidenced three, six, twelve months ago and not just on the hustings.

Pragmatism, consensus

Passion is all well and good but if someone is over zealous in an angry shouty way they’ll never be able to deliver diddley squat.  Remember it is easier to oppose something than it is to come up with solutions and deliver them.

Your representative needs to be able to build constructive relationships with others both within the body elect and with other stakeholder groups.  They should be able to go into meetings with not just one option but two, three or four others up their sleeve.  They shouldn’t just roll over however.  Everyone needs a red line.

In putting forward their views they should have the ability and a willingness to re-prioritise those views as others give theirs.  They will show that they value other peoples views by making use of them to develop their own arguments.  Ultimately they should have the ability to respond positively to challenges with good humour, to maintain relationships and gain the support of others.  They will not monopolise a discussion but encourage others to take part.

Consensus means getting another step on the road to where you want to go.

Decision making

A perfect candidate will be able to draw on experience and information from various sources and various viewpoints, assimilate it and be able to make decisions quickly.  They should be able to communicate the reasons for those decisions clearly and in a way that supports their arguments.  Quick wins are not a basis for fruitful representation nor are they in the long term interests of the electorate.

Ability to deliver

Achievements are important.  They show that a candidate is more than just a list of empty promises as they have a history of delivering.  What has the candidate achieved in their professional life? If their role hasn’t afforded them the scope to deliver tangible achievements have they taken steps to deliver in their personal life which are equally important?  Do they have the stamina to deliver for you?

Learning and improving

Everyone has skills gaps, everyone lacks experience and everyone has failings.  A perfect candidate will recognise that and take steps to address it.  Remember that good decision making comes from learning from bad ones.  I would rather have someone represent me who had made a few mistakes than someone who professes to have made none.

Communication skills

Does the candidate communicate with impact in language that is appropriate for the audience concerned?  Do they make clear arguments based on evidence rather than hearsay and innuendo?  In rejecting others viewpoints do they alienate people or persuade them to consider theirs?

The democratic process

The democratic process is vital to ensure that all views are represented.  It should not be taken for granted.  Remember to use your vote and use it wisely as you only get the representation you vote for.