I’ve got plenty of experience being the odd one out in the room. I was an outsider when I moved to the UK at the age of eight, not understanding a word of English. I stood out at Cambridge University, where I was one of a handful of women studying mechanical engineering. I stand out now, as a female founder in the male-dominated tech sector. This might sound like a lonely journey, but once you learn how to use being the odd one out to your advantage, it can be a superpower.
18.12.2020
The global pandemic has reinvigorated a sense of community as we’ve spent more time at home than ever before. Errands, a new function on mobility app SKOOT, is helping connect people with those who are vulnerable, self-isolating or in lockdown.
17.12.2020
Millions of (often very good) new books are pulped each year - because of marketing failures, and other factors beyond authors’ and publishers’ control. Maddyness spoke to Aasha Chauhan, cofounder of A Box of Stories, an innovative solution to this ecological and financial problem.
17.12.2020
Continuing with her holiday series, Caroline Franczia, founder of Uppercut-First, emphasises the necessity of setting proper rules – from maximising your customer-facing value through a playbook, to the tricky validation of a compensation plan. But beware! Overlooking the implementation of basic rules might get you in as much trouble as having to deal with Gremlins.
17.12.2020
An influx of consumer support and demand for fossil fuel-free funds had led to a new launch by online pension provider PensionBee, created in partnership with Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM).
17.12.2020
When it comes to a brand-customer relationship, cracks can appear at any time. Those cracks, if left unattended, lead to unhappy customers and they can lead to customers leaving one company for a competitor.
16.12.2020
What will the next wave of PropTech (Property Tech) look like? As one of the last industries to fully embrace digitisation, property services in the commercial and domestic space are about to be transformed by a range of innovative technologies.
16.12.2020
Steve Wozniak is starting a second company, 45 years after he co-founded Apple in Steve Jobs’ parents garage in 1976. This time, Wozniak is starting a business in the green tech and blockchain space called Efforce, according to a statement released Friday.
16.12.2020
Pet insurance is the fastest growing insurance sector. Maddyness interviewed Steven from insurtech Bought By Many about the recent boom in pet purchasing, taking care of cats, dogs and their owners during the pandemic – and becoming the first UK insurer to cover pets' pre-existing conditions and offer full online claims.
15.12.2020
As a career entrepreneur, I wear the customer-first badge. Proudly. I strongly believe raising money through customer sales is the best option, and in a lot of cases, it should be the only option.
15.12.2020
With the world constantly striving to become more environmentally-friendly, there is a huge gap for innovation in the recycling industry. Recycleye, the intelligent waste management startup, is on its way to creating the world’s first fully automated and deployable material recovery facility.
15.12.2020
2020 has been a challenging year for everyone but in particular for SMEs. Whilst the prospect of the Pfizer vaccine has caused significant optimism, SMEs are still living through the current economic challenges. Given that things will not spring back to normal immediately, what can SMEs do to ensure they are at the forefront of this crucial economic recovery?
15.12.2020
In the ever-growing investment landscape, funds are multiplying and diversifying, and for startups there is more to raising investment than the money and the media moment. With #QVCS Maddyness profiles different funds to give founders and entrepreneurs the information they need to choose the right investor. We spoke to William McQuillan, Partner at Frontline Ventures.
14.12.2020
A domestic holiday is more affordable and more sustainable than catching a flight overseas. Luxury Cottages has a proprietary 100-point test for all its properties, which span Cornwall to the Cotswolds and Yorkshire to the Welsh Borders.
14.12.2020