Fuelmyblog

If you are looking for a new blog to read or want to find out what others are reading online visit Fuelmyblog.com.

The website allows bloggers to publicise their own blogs for free and recommend other sites by voting on them. It also has useful forums were you can go to get top advice on how to market your blog and increase your readership - it's worth a visit!

Fuelmyblog is the the brainchild of a group of Yorkshire entrepreneurs who have teamed up with a British blogger in France to launch the new business venture. Kevin Dixie based in La Rochelle, Ian Green of Green Communications and Marcus Dyson of Eleventeenth.com have big plans for the site and will be introducing podcasts, compeitions, blog chat radio and a range of other features.

Girl Power

Library House reported some depressing statistics this week in their newsletter. Comparing the numbers of male to female business leaders, Library House demonstrated that women are not just lagging behind in the career stakes - they seem to have fallen off the scale all together.

The article left me wondering where all the girl power had gone.... The low lights of the article included that 95 per cent of the chief executives at venture-backed companies were men and even worse, in 2006, 97 per cent of newly appointed chief executives were men.

Despite being woefully out numbered the stats did point out that when a women was in the driving seat the company performed better. Female chief executives delivered higher revenues using less capital and the average company run by a woman had annual revenues of €12.5m last year compared to €11m for those run by men! Hooray - a ray of light.

So where has all the girl power gone? Since working for Connect Yorkshire I have often wondered why the technology business sector is so dominated by men. Very rarely do we come across a female entrepreneur and even less likely is a female investor. You only have to turn up to one of our Investment Forums to see just have out numbered the girls are.

Maybe it's because in the past there have been few role models. Women who have taken on the business world and really succeeded without being viewed as cold hearted (or of having an unhealthy obsession with shoulder pads) were few and far between.

I certainly do think that the generation of female 20 and 30 some things now coming have the positive role models needed and more critically have the confidence to know that they are just as likely to achieve as their male counterparts. Coupled with flexible working conditions that make it easier to achieve work/life balance I hope that when Library House repeats the stats in 5 - 10 years time it will show a completely different story.

BarCampSheffield

There is a BarCamp happening in Sheffield on the 26th / 27th May 2007 at PlusNet, Internet House, Sheffield, S1 4BY

For those who don't know what BarCamp is the following definition is on Wikipedia: BarCamp is an international network of unconferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies and social protocols.

BarCamps are organized (and evangelized) largely through the web, harnessing what might be called a Web 2.0 communications toolkit. By "open-sourcing" the organizational process of a Foo Camp unconference, that is, codifying it in a wiki and making that publicly available, BarCamp seems to have struck a chord. It has since been implemented in 31 cities around the world and is serving as a reference for unconferences in other fields.

The organisers of BarCampSheffield rightly point out that the UK is at the forefront of innovation within the areas of Web 2.0, OpenID, Social Networking etc.. They feel that the north of England is full of enterprising and innovative individuals / businesses who want a event outside of London where they can talk to kindred spirits. Everyone is welcome - click here for more information.

Hot science, cold commerce

We spotted an interesting article - this weeks Science Business Viewpoint . In it Domenico Valerio talks about the lessons he learned whilst starting-up a gene therapy company. Domenico is now a general partner in a new Dutch venture capital fund, Aescap Venture and also gives insight into the kind of entrepreneurs he’s now looking to fund.

The top tips we picked up on are:

Know the strengths and weaknesses of your technology
Don't be a scientific entrepreneur with your heart lost on the technology, be more of an entrepreneur than a scientist

Work with the best
That includes investors, as well pulling together a top management team and passionate staff

Say no to the second best
Even when there is pressure for the business to grow, don't take on second rate employees

Create a culture in the company that is business-like
Understand your customer from an early stage. Licensing activity may be a difficult strategy to adopt but the benefits are not just about generating cash. It can give you an insight into your customer's perspective that you may not other wise get until it is too late.

Accessing the right finance

We take calls every day from entrepreneurs wanting to know what funds they can access for their growing businesses. Sometimes they might be able to get their hands on a grant but mainly its bank finance, loans or equity investment that are their better options.

Our workshop next week with deal with this subject and help will be on hand to explain exactly which options you should be going after.

Accessing Support and Funding and Due Diligence by Investors starts at 4pm on the 16th May and will be held in Leeds.

Log your blog

We have just added MyBlogLog to our blog - its a way of finding out more about the people who are reading your blog.

For all this talk of a global conversation throughout the blogosphere, there's a lot to be desired. It's a two-tiered system, with bloggers talking amongst each other and the majority of the readers looking on from the fringes. You may get to call out something from the sidelines by leaving a comment, but things could be so much better. For everyone.

MyBlogLog enables you to take advantage of your existing presence on the Web and ties it into communities of like-minded readers and authors to add context to the conversations in which you take part.

So if you have a blog on your company website make sure you add MyBlogLog - that way your readers will be able to see each other and you will have better visability of your potential customer base.

Is the World Flat or Spikey?

Jonathan Kestenbaum, Chief Executive of NESTA, spoke at the Leeds University Innovation & Enterprise Gala Dinner about what factors enable innovation to flourish. He focused on one main theme: The world of innovation is 'spikey' and regions need to develop the support infrastructure and conditions to make them more likely to be where ideas 'happen'.

Moving from a linear process to a richer/broader model, bringing together cross functional teams with innovation occurring at the interfaces of disciplines. Ecology/systems of innovation and the view that innovation occurs in pockets, rather than it being able to thrive anywhere i.e. the world of innovation is not flat! Going against Thomas Friedman's thesis The World is Flat: a Brief History of the 21st Century, he argued Atlantic Monthly's view that the "The World is Spikey" is more to the point.

The trick is to leverage tacit knowledge, that shared uncodified stuff and deploy key strengths, rather than simply try to replicate what was done elsewhere: you can't simply clone silicon valley. The emphasis on networking, serendipidy and common purpose resonated with the Connect model.

DIY Social Networks

Whilst surfing the internet we came across Ning.com a website that allows you to create, customize, and share your own Social Network for free in seconds.

Started in 2004 Ning powers over 46,000 social networks and counting. We discovered some useful networks for the budding entreprneurs inlcuding My Start UP Network and SmallBizPod .

For all those who are keen to give their business the web 2.0 makeover they have private label options for businesses. Perphaps this could be the perfect way to communicate with your customers and for them to chat to each other???