Accelerator Swarm offers start-ups crypto-currency funds

SwarmBitcoin 2.0 Platform Swarm, ‘the world’s first’ distributed accelerator that allows companies to raise funds by issuing their own crypto-currencies, is taking applications from UK crypto-currency startups for its new accelerator programme in London.

The 12-week programme will focus on helping startups grow their businesses through a combination of peer-to-peer mentoring, technical assistance and access to resources designed for startups in crypto-currency and its surrounding ecosystem. Continue reading

Support the Shoreditch Village Hall Kickstarter campaign

shoreditch_village_hallThere is a long history in Shoreditch and Hackney of empty buildings being occupied by squatters and this tradition appears to be alive and well in digital 2013.

Squatter, rather like the word blogger, sounds like a pernicious term. But over the past 30 years in this part of London vacant buildings have been transformed by these enlightened, rather than benighted, people. Continue reading

Want a job in London’s Tech City? How about unlimited holidays?

Crisis, what crisis? As the non-digital element of the UK population struggles with unemployment, shrinking incomes and a divide that is more discrete than the north/south house price divide, others ain’t doing too badly.

In London and the (some would say fool’s) paradise of Shoreditch where the streets are paved with (some would say fool’s) gold, those young people who listened at school are being offered all types of perks to join start-ups.

According to a poll conducted by Silicon Milkroundabout, some start-ups are tempting the best developers away from the City with benefits that include not only health and dental packages, equity and free travel, but also unlimited holidays.

At this weekend’s jobs fair, arranged by the aforesaid Silicon Milkroundabout (please change that name), there were more than 800 jobs on offer from 130 companies with average salaries for developers clocking in at an average of £34,000 and a top-end wage of £85,000.

Perks on offer included free health insurance, equity stakes, gym membership and ‘the computer of their choice’, whisky club membership, unlimited holiday, travel abroad, music festival tickets, wake-boarding trips and even remote control helicopters.

Silicon Milkroundabout, the brainchild of Songkick co-founders Pete Smith and Ian Hogarth, claims that its job fair has not only helped people find hundreds of jobs, it has also saved start-ups more than £5 million in recruiters’ fees.

“Tech City will only continue to grow, as will the demand for talent. Start-ups still need to be inventive in what they can offer employees that the City and big tech companies can’t, and the ultimate benefit is the chance to play an integral part in a growing company,” said Pete Smith, Songkick co-founder.

This must seem like another world to a struggling family in Halifax where broadband brings to mind a pair of trousers rather than a career choice but for now a note to budding developers with all this choice in front of them.

Don’t take the remote control helicopter. I know it looks clever and you can show it to your friend(s), but go for unlimited holidays, trust me, you won’t regret it.

800 jobs up for grabs at Shoreditch’s Silicon Milkroundabout May weekend

More than 105 start-ups and established brands such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, Songkick and Mind Candy are joining 105 start-ups in London’s Shoreditch to offer 800 jobs to the brightest of UK talent.

They will get together over the weekend of May 26/27th 2012 where 3,000 potential applicants will be introduced to a number of companies dedicated to the areas of Product Management, User Experience (UX) Design, Visual Design, and Intelligence/Analytics. Continue reading

800 jobs up for grabs at Shoreditch's Silicon Milkroundabout May weekend

More than 105 start-ups and established brands such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, Songkick and Mind Candy are joining 105 start-ups in London’s Shoreditch to offer 800 jobs to the brightest of UK talent.

They will get together over the weekend of May 26/27th 2012 where 3,000 potential applicants will be introduced to a number of companies dedicated to the areas of Product Management, User Experience (UX) Design, Visual Design, and Intelligence/Analytics. Continue reading