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A few months ago the Welsh Government announced Digital 2013, “Wales’ Premier free ICT event”, at the swanky Celtic Manor resort. After a slightly stuttering start (early versions of the website suggesting that all applications to attend would be reviewed, plus the site didn’t load properly in some browsers – criminal for a “digital event”), the speakers and sessions have slowly been revealed, and many in the tech startup community feel a little bit confused by what’s on offer. Not least me.

As new iterations of the website have gone up, it’s become clearer that this event is about digital *skills* above all else. And as such, it has little immediate relevance to the ground-level entrepreneurs and developers, who just don’t have the time or resources to take such a macro view of such issues.

Beyond this, I can’t really put my finger on why I feel slightly negative about this event, but there’s a few “alarm bells” for me…

• It is supported (and more importantly apparently heavily influenced on the content side) by those behemoths Cisco, Microsoft and HP, at a time when UK government is specifically trying to reduce the influence of such companies in the procurement of digital contracts, where smaller, leaner startups are capable of delivering digital solutions at a tiny fraction of the cost to the tax payer.
• The heavy use of the phrase “ICT”. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve heard anyone outside the public sector use this term for at least 5 years.
• I can’t see a single session that I have any great interest in attending. I kind of feel like I’m going as an obligation.
• There seems to have been little or no engagement with the startup community in putting this event together.

This isn’t government-bashing. I think WG have a tough job to do, and on the whole do it fairly well. It’s not necessarily their job to hold the hands of a cutting edge industry when they are entrenched in an organisation that is inherently slow-moving. I’ve said before that I believe they need to create the conditions that allows the entrepreneurs to lead the way, but it’s unfair to expect them to be on top of all things digital at all times. So why not use the community to help inform you about what represents them?

Is it just as an event that it has been mis-branded, or mis-communicated? If it is “Wales Premier Free ICT event”, then why is its brief so apparently narrow? Why am I hearing from many digital/tech entrepreneurs who are finding it so difficult to find sessions that appeal to them?

If anything, I think this may speak volumes about Welsh Government’s focus when it comes to the digital industries. I sometimes feel the tech and digital startup community, which contributes many millions of pounds to the Welsh economy, falls in the priority gap between “creative industries” and their approach to ICT – which seems to be infrastructure, skills, procurement etc. All things that have little daily importance to tech startups. Their focus on “ICT” appears to be primarily at a macro level (and it could well be argued that that’s exactly where it should be), leaving no room for those of us building scalable startups to be heard. There was apparently very little interest from them when it came to the launch of Cardiff Start a few weeks ago. The community is itching to engage with government and help them provide a better entrepreneurial landscape for Wales. But if most emails to their senior staff on these issues go ignored, it’s no wonder that their events won’t reflect the needs of the community.

There are some great, engaged people at Welsh Government, such as David Ball in the creative industries team, or Paul Osbaldeston, who comes from years of private sector experience in digital, and they have launched very useful schemes for supporting the digital industries (e.g. the Digital Development Fund), but as a sector we often feel underserved. I suppose if we didn’t then there wouldn’t have been as much of a need for Cardiff Start to be formed.

I hate writing blogs like this. I have good friends, and people I admire, who work within WG, and I always try to be the last one to criticise. But as a whole organisation Digital 2013 feels like an event that demonstrates how they need to do so much better at engaging with the next generation of tech entrepreneurs.

Last week I gave video evidence to the National Assembly for Wales’ inquiry into youth entrepreneurship. As I don’t really have a huge amount of expertise in the specific area of youth enterprise, our discussion was a lot wider ranging about enterprise in general, and digital and tech startups.

The edited, erm, “highlights” are below, and these will be shown to the committee looking into the issue, along with the thoughts of others. I’m not sure how much use it is to anyone outside the committee, but I thought a few people might find it interesting.

Last night I gave this short talk at the official launch of Cardiff Start at City Hall. Just putting it for posterity/reference/whatever.

The UK has the strongest internet economy in the world. As a percentage we spend more on ecommerce, internet infrastructure, and associated technology than anywhere else.

This internet economy contributes nearly 10% of the UK’s GDP, and as a percentage it has eclipsed construction, education and health. It is only 2 percentage points behind financial services.

It will grow to over 12% of GDP within the next 3 years, when it will account for 225 billion pounds of the overall UK economy. No other country on the planet can match this percentage.

Not America. Not South Korea. Not Japan.

And on top of all this it is changing lives. It is changing countries. It is changing political landscapes. Whether it’s finding a rare record from a dealer in Tokyo, or facilitating the Arab Spring, the internet has changed all of our lives. Can you imagine your day without Facebook or Youtube? How about Google?

And against a backdrop of this, digital and tech companies – those very companies that make it possible for this hugely important sector to grow at such a rate – still find it painfully difficult to get the unique support and advice they need, and often feel overlooked by government, banks, and investors.

I personally think it’s probably a bit unfair to expect the public sector to provide totally relevant business support for such a cutting edge industry. Things change so quickly, and public sector organisations are inherently burdened with red tape. They shouldn’t be expected to be up to date on whether the most important programming language is Ruby On Rails, Java or PHP. But they can help us lay a strong foundation for an economic growth powered by entrepreneurs. And this has been shown in hugely successful startup clusters around the world.

Boulder in Colorado is America’s unsung startup town, where a population much smaller than Cardiff has developed a startup scene so thriving, so throbbing with activity, that its tech startups have attracted over 100 million dollars of investment in the last few years alone. And one key to this has been TechStars, a startup accelerator co-founded by Brad Feld, a hugely successful venture capitalist. I’ve spoken to Brad, and he’s even written really positively about the work we’re doing here in South Wales, but that blog post was titled “Startup Communities are everywhere. Even Cardiff”. Sadly this just reflects the common external viewpoint that we are not at the cutting edge of entrepreneurship in Wales.

And whether we are or not could be argued either way, but what is clear is that we have an incredible opportunity to build a world-beating tech cluster here, that punches way above its weight. The fact is, we’re small, but potentially very powerful.

So, what are the common traits of these successful clusters?

Like Boulder, a city of under 100,000 people, we’re small and friendly. We have several world-class Higher Education institutions in our city churning out thousands of brilliant graduates each year. We’ve already had lots of talks with the University’s innovation and enterprise departments, who’ve been very helpful in helping us secure some funding, and we hope to do some exciting things with them in the future.

Also in Cardiff our quality of life is superb. The commute is never too long, and you can be on a beach or at the foot of a mountain by the time most people have commuted from Hackney to Shepherd’s Bush.

Our cost of living is relatively small. I’ve even been helping a Silicon Valley startup find offices and staff here because it just makes economic sense for them.

The successful clusters also have a community culture with a full calendar of events, something we and many others are contributing to already. We’ve got the WordPress Users Group, the Startup Social, and countless other opportunities in the city to meet, learn, exchange ideas and, of course, have a beer.

These clusters also have an open door policy. And I’ll say it now – if you want to roll up your sleeves and help Cardiff Start, then you’re welcome. To this end tonight we’re launching “Collective” a great new part of our website conceived and built by Gareth Rees that’s going to help everyone from seasoned entrepreneurs to students communicate and share knowledge more efficiently, and in a friendly, open way. You’ll find out more about it shortly.

However, there are challenges ahead.

• 1 in 5 under 25 year olds in UK is unemployed. But our sector, probably above any other, attracts young people. We must do more to create startups, which are the primary driver of job creation.

• Also, we’ve found it difficult to find investors locally that are willing to take risks on business models that have only existed for a few years, and as a result have been forced to spend more time seeking investment in London.

• Our community must do more to attract this investment. Money will always flow towards innovation, so it is our responsibility to be innovative, and shout loud about it when we do, if that’s what it takes to drag people down this end of the M4. And we must work harder to show local investors that there are millions to be made from code, in the same way there used to be from coal.

• We must develop more of a Just Do It attitude. These successful clusters thrive because they live off the mantra “Don’t complain, act. Contribute something”.

• Across the world we have seen in these most successful places that the governments, councils, Universities provide a supportive environment, but fundamentally they let the entrepreneurs lead. And I’m proud to say that so far Cardiff Council have been nothing but a shining example of that kind of support. Amanda Morgan, Gareth Newell – thank you!

Two days ago I was in 10 Downing Street, where a group of people from all over the UK, all passionate about what technology can do for people and the economy, met to discuss the future. It was incredibly exciting to see the force of will coming from both the UK government, and clusters around the UK, to grow our country into an economic powerhouse built on digital success.

This is a movement that is going to happen, with or without us.

The council is currently drawing it’s ambitious 30 year plan, and the tech startup scene must be an integral part of that. I guarantee that there is right now a young man or woman in Cardiff, possibly in a student bedroom in Cathays, creating websites or apps, who could go on to create a piece of technology that could change the way everyone in this room lives, works or plays. But unless there is a culture in this city that makes them think that this is the place to build it, we will lose them to London, or Berlin, or San Francisco.

Let’s not let that happen. Let’s all stick our hands up and say “how can I help?”. Every person in this room can contribute to Cardiff’s exciting future.

We already have a tech startup community in Cardiff that is contributing millions of pounds to the local economy. Now is the time to harness it, support it, and make Cardiff a city that is recognised worldwide as a city of innovation, and one that is worth investing in.

Over the summer, I had two visitors in Doug and Shaun from Tech Britain, who were travelling the country speaking to startups and people involved in the various startup communities around the country. Check out their site for a great overview of what’s going on around the UK. We chatted about Dizzyjam, Ignite Cardiff, TEDxCardiff, but mainly Cardiff Start (originally branded as Startup Cardiff), and the startup scene in Cardiff and what’s happening here. It’s about 25 minutes long, but if you want an insight into my thoughts on entrepreneurship here in Cardiff, alongside lots of other stuff, it’s mildly interesting viewing.

It’s quite interesting to see how much has changed with me in the 6 months since it was filmed, but most notably with Cardiff Start.

This article first appeared in Cardiff Life magazine November 2012. You can download a full colour PDF of the article with photos etc here. 

A few months ago I was meeting a friend at a cafe. As I waited for him to arrive, I ordered a fresh coffee and took it over to the table to get milk. In the process of stirring my drink, I managed to knock a glass off the corner of the table, and it started to tumble towards the floor. Before I knew it, I’d managed to shoot my hand out, bend my knees, crouch, and grab the glass a few inches from the tiles, saving it from an almost certain loud and embarrassing smash. I was stunned at my own reactions and speed of movement. I couldn’t believe how quickly I’d reacted.

I looked around to see if anyone had seen it. They hadn’t. I even went so far as to look for CCTV cameras, on the off-chance my incredible feat of agility had been recorded. All I wanted to do was tell everyone about it. But not a soul had noticed, and they carried on with their conversations, magazines and laptops.

The fact was that because nobody had seen my feat, it may as well have not happened. In my head I was clearly developing superhero skills, but to everyone else I was just the boring guy in the corner, pouring milk into his coffee. My “Clark Kent moment” might as well have just happened in my own imagination.

I was in Liverpool last week and I met an Israeli entrepreneur, building his startup in Tech City, London. He was the third person in as many months who looked at me when I mentioned the Cardiff Start movement, and said “There are startups in Cardiff?”, barely disguising the incredulity in his voice. It punched home the terrible realisation that most people east of Newport genuinely do believe that Cardiff exists in some kind of entrepreneurial vacuum when it comes to creative, digital and tech startups.

I’ve mentioned the importance of visibility before, not just for individual startups, but for the community as a whole. And I’m increasingly convinced that without it, we can whoop and holler all we want, and congratulate ourselves on what we’re doing – but if you’re just preaching to the choir, it’s pretty much a pointless activity. One thing that is very clear about those cities to which developers, investors and entrepreneurs flock – they all have very visible, active and self-supporting startup communities. Our Clark Kent moments of superheroism may as well just be figments of our own imagination unless we find a way of letting the world know about them.

To this end, we’re creating a series of events to bring the startups of the city together in a way that the rest of the world knows about it. And also, crucially, we plan to take Cardiff startups outside of the city, even if it’s as simple as 20 of us jumping into a minibus and heading down the M4 to pitch to investors in the back room of a pub in London. Telling the world that Cardiff isn’t a startup vacuum is vital if we want to build the city as a vibrant entrepreneurial hub.

Another 60-second profile. This month, it’s the turn of Stephen Milburn from Trippa.

Hello! Introduce yourself in one sentence.

Well, hello to you too. I’m Stephen Milburn and I’m the founder of Trippa. I’m originally from Sunderland and moved to Cardiff about six years ago after studying Physics in Bristol. My first business was a haulage company, of all things. We sold to a national firm two years ago and then I started tinkering with mobile tech.

So, what does your startup do?

We publish travel apps to the world’s most smashing cities. Obviously, Cardiff was the first!

What makes your startup special?

In business terms, we’re pretty unique in our global reach. From such a small team, we’re able to reach all corners of the globe with our product. We’re lucky that English is the lingua franca of the App Store as it’s the only language we publish in at the moment. This hasn’t stopped our apps being downloaded all over the world and nearly 60% of our revenue comes from customers outside the UK.

What was the genesis? The eureka moment that made you realise you had to build this company?

I really wanted to go on holiday for free! Seriously though, I was in Berlin for a conference and, when I was done, I wanted to find out what the city was really about; get underneath its skin. I made list of the things I’d want to know and built an app. Trippa grew from there.

And where are you at right now?

Our Trippa Cardiff guide is now the most popular guide to Cardiff on iTunes and the download figures for our other destinations have been really encouraging. Our game-changer is to get our users to experience a destination with the people who know it most; its residents. We’re working on some pretty magical stuff with AirBnB and Hewlett Packard’s augmented reality software.

What’s the key to your growth? In other words, if someone could wave a magic wand, what would you want them to do for your business?

I’d like five talented developers delivered to the office ready to work.

Where would you like your company to be in 5 years time?

With an almost religious fervour, I want to change the way people use their mobile device to travel and discover. It won’t be easy and it won’t be for everyone right at the start. But we’ll definitely get there.

Where can we find out more?

You can visit gotrippa.com.

In May 2013 myself and three other slightly misguided individuals will attempt to run from North to South Wales in a week, effectively completing seven offroad marathons in seven days.

We will run approximately 180 miles from Prestatyn (A) to Cardiff (I), sticking faithfully to Offa’s Dyke until Hay-On-Wye (F), where we will veer west over the Brecon Beaconss (perhaps taking in the highest peak in South Wales, Pen-Y-Fan, as an opportunity to turn marathon running into fell running!) From there we will travel south through Merthyr Tydfil (H) and run the length of the Taff Trail, hopefully finishing in Cardiff bay 7 days after we started.

At this point there are still many items to be finalised. Where will we stay? How will we find enough ice for our ice baths at the end of each day? Which one of us will carry all the energy gels? Who will draw the short straw and rub the calves of the rest of the team!?

In a way, I’m writing this blog post as a public commitment to doing it, knowing that if I don’t I will find it easy to blame my lack of time to train as reason for not going through with it. I’ve used this tactic for lots of physical challenges in the past, knowing that I’m fundamentally lazy and could find myself a good excuse to back out at any given moment. By telling the world, I know that I’ll be asked about it by friends and family, and the shame of saying “Oh…erm…I’m not doing it any more because I’m a bit busy” would be too much for me.

We’re looking for sponsors (sports kit, food, physio, hotels etc), and still haven’t finalised which charity we’re raising money for. Any pointers, suggestions, or offers of help will be gratefully received. We’re especially keen for help in north and mid Wales, where we’ll need advice on places to stay, physios to use, and possibly some volunteers to be our support crew. So if you’re in that part of the country, have a car, and will be able to take a day out to meet us at various checkpoints with our food, drink and spare clothing, we’d love to hear from you.

Life is too short not to have adventures like this. I’m not a natural athlete, but I love pushing myself. We’re all on this planet for a ridiculously short period of time, and there’s only so many episodes of Eastenders you can watch. This is a small adventure in comparison to some, but for me it’s an opportunity to get out into the country, and away from my laptop for a week, while seeing just how resistant to blisters my feet really are.

As many you will no doubt know, last night was the last Ignite Cardiff that Claire and I will be running. It’s been a brilliant three or four years, but we needed to hand it on to someone who will give it the time and energy that we no longer can. Anyway, just so I remember the last event, I’ve pulled together a handful of the tweets and pics of the evening. More for my own amusement and memory, and not as an official Ignite Cardiff stream. Thought I’d share it here:

By @Tanya_oOo

We’re currently up in Llandudno visiting Jo’s friends and family. Last night Jo and I went for dinner, then had a stroll along the waterfront as she pointed out all her old haunts to me. At about 10.30 we were looking out over the sea, staring at the lights of the offshore windfarm, and how beautifully bright Venus was on such a crystal clear night. We were debating whether one of the lights was Mars, as it was low and bright, but decided it was slowly moving therefore must be a plane. We were just about to turn away and carry on walking when I noticed it was in fact two planes, and they were moving very fast.

We stopped and stared a few more seconds before realising we were witnessing something very, very special. It got brighter, and brighter. And brighter. 5 or 10 seconds later it was directly overhead, and broken up into a few pieces, with a glowing trail that you would expect to see in a Disney film. It was a perfect meteor.

The whole thing lasted about 20 seconds, and we were phenomenally lucky to have been able to track it from when it first appeared on the horizon, to when it disappeared behind us. There can’t have been many people in the UK who had a full 180 degree experience like that. Here’s some pics taken by people on Twitter:

By @GilbrookMD

Here’s a report from “Bad Astronomy“, that details some of the sightings.

The latest BBC report suggests it’s a piece of space junk that was burning up in the atmosphere.

Less than half an hour before I was jealously tweeting friends in LA who were posting pics of the Space Shuttle’s farewell flyby in California (pic 1, pic 2) while we were in dull old Llandudno, but shortly after I was stood on the seafront here seeing probably the greatest astronomical event I’ll ever witness.

To finish, here’s two videos that were taken of the meteor (pics above were taken from Twitter on the night). Both videos contain a bit of bad language. Neither really do it justice, but the swearing might indicate how impressive it was to witness in person!