Archive for March, 2011

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eSkills are getting more girls into IT By LucyH on Thursday March 31st, 2011   No comments

Women make up just 17% of the workforce in the IT sector. At this year’s WebMission to Silicon Valley there was only 1 lady present and she wasn’t even an official member of the group.

eSkillsUK want to get that percentage up to the 45% it should be by nurturing female entrepreneurship in schools. TechFluffTV founder Hermione Way is involved in the steering group which encourages others to host events and give talks in schools to ‘Get More Girls into IT‘.

TechFluff is going along to the next school entrepreneurship session and speaking to some budding young FEMALE entrepreneurs! Maybe we’ll meet a mini Hermione….

We spoke to Head of IT at the Department for Business Innovation & Skills Michele Barker, Sophia Swain from Centrica and project co-ordinator Charlotte West.  They told us how they help give young women the confidence to set up shop themselves:

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Hot new startups pitch at Google UK HQ for Launch48 By LucyH on Wednesday March 30th, 2011   3 comments

Launch48 run Launchpad events for entrepreneurs in the UK and Australia. It’s a 4 month incubation program for startups giving them advice from experts in all areas of setting up a new business including marketing strategy, the law and how to secure investment.

They then present their business at a demo day in front of an audience of influencers and active investors.

We heard from product review app HipSnip, meeting minutes and agenda tool MinuteBase and amateur football team organiser service Bluefields.

The pitches were well thought out, concise and snappy and angels in the audience seemed impressed with the new concepts. We went along to Google HQ in London to hear from the entrepreneurs and spoke to Nick Shah from London Business Angels to see what he thought about the pitches.

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Get your startup in shape- get lean By Talia Sternberg on Sunday March 27th, 2011   No comments

We all know what it means for meat to be lean, but what does it mean for a business to be lean? It is in fact a similar concept. The lean business model concerns taking out all the unnecessary bits in order to create a more successful business focused on the customer.

Don’t question how your business can benefit from improvements. Consider what your customers want and need and how your company can improve their lives.

While this model was originally created for all businesses, a group of entrepreneurs realized how useful this way of thinking would be for start-ups. With a good beginning, businesses are bound to be more successful!

Lean Startup is a concept that has spread around the world. This group meets monthly in different locations around central London. They also gather for larger events yearly.

These meet-ups are unique in that they serve as lectures and workshops. Speakers talk about a designated topic, and after, attendees have a chance to participate in interactive seminars, putting the newly acquired knowledge to use.

Our video blogger, Talia Sternberg, attended a Lean Startup Meet-up.

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South Bank Entrepreneurs and UK universities raise cash for The Princes Trust By Talia Sternberg on Friday March 25th, 2011   No comments

Our sister company Newspepper was happy to help by providing media services for this years ‘All White Party’ hosted by the South Bank Entrepreneurs.

The national event is held to raise money for The Princes Trust, a charity that works to build the confidence of disadvantaged young people and encourage entrepreneurial spirit.

Various universities across the UK held similar events, competing to donate the most money. As well as raising awareness to the cause, the event also provided an opportunity for university students in and around London to connect and network.

What’s better than having fun and changing lives?

Check out the video below to find out why Princes Trust is such an incredibly important charity and how it can significantly better the lives of youth in the UK.

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Money matters with ClearBooks: How LifeSort keeps top secret files safe By LucyH on Friday March 25th, 2011   No comments

This series is sponsored by ClearBooks: Online Accounting to free your time.

Earlier this week we featured brand new cloud storage and sharing app LifeSort. They launched at TechHub on Tuesday and our sister company Newspepper was there covering the event.

LifeSort lets you store and share files, pictures and videos through the cloud to your online networks, whether they be work, friends or family.

Chances are that some of the things you want to share are private to specific recipients. For our weekly series on money matters sponsored by ClearBooks we asked LifeSort CEO Robin Knijn about keeping and sharing things like important financial documents.

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5 minutes with Lucian Tarnawski By Talia Sternberg on Thursday March 24th, 2011   No comments

The last installment of this 5 Minutes With series is about Lucian Tarnawski or Brave New Talent. This business is a professional talent community that helps individuals to highlight his or her most valuable assets in order to be noticed by businesses. As far as digital recruiting goes, Lucian is working on transforming this industry from transactional to relationship based. He shares with us how he has already begun this process, and what he hopes for the future. Check out the video below to find out what’s next!

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Social Media Week.. 5 minutes with Matt Alder By Talia Sternberg on Thursday March 24th, 2011   No comments

Matt Alder of Metashift speaks with us in the next 5 Minutes With series about social recruiting. How is social media connecting the public to companies looking to hire? Matt shares how organizations are using social media. Some are ignoring it, using it to enhance their current hiring strategies, or simply to better advertise their company and openings. Along with these positive improvements, there are many relevant challenges as well. Because social media is so new, especially in recruiting, it’s still in its’ experimental stages. While Matt understands this, as well as the fact that it is a time consuming, long-term commitment, he believes, if done correctly, that social media can improve the recruiting industry forever.

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Here’s how Tuttle founder Lloyd Davis got on trekking across America to SXSW using social capital ALONE By LucyH on Thursday March 24th, 2011   No comments

We spoke to Lloyd a few days before his trip began here. He told us what plans he had in place (or lack of!), the tech he’d be taking and why he was undertaking such a mean feat.

Although he’s done a similar trip to SXSW before, this year things were different. He was going to take his hands off the reigns a bit more and see where that took him.

The trip has been a success. Lloyd made it to SXSW with the help of his friends from online social networks. He even said that because he couldn’t afford a badge to get in to all the keynotes it’s been his best SXSW yet, having a purely social experience and meeting up with old friends.

The 3 things he couldn’t have done the trip without was his donated Nokia N8, it’s tripod and his ukelele – helping him to make friends with music cos lets face it, who doesn’t smile when someone’s playing one of those mini guitars?!

He’ll be writing up exactly what he’s learnt about Social Capital when he’s back in London. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled :-)

Here’s Lloyd’s update for TechFluffTV:

Lloyd’s still in the States and hoping to fly back to the UK with Social Capital. We wish you lots of luck!

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Businesses can be socially and environmentally aware- find out how at this year’s Voice11! 30th March By Talia Sternberg on Wednesday March 23rd, 2011   No comments


Our sister company Newspepper is delighted to be providing media services at the biggest social enterprise event of the year. This year Voice11 will be taking place at the O2 on March 30th 2011.

It’s set to be the biggest event yet with 130 exhibitors and an expected 1500+ delegates.The list of confirmed speakers includes The One Show’s Lucy Siegle, and Labour Party leader Ed Miliband along with Government Ministers and a variety of other informative speakers.

With interactive workshops, debates, and a great networking arena, we’re looking forward to covering such an innovative event. Check out Newspepper’s video in the next few weeks to learn hot tips on socially and environmentally conscious businesses! If you’re interested in learning valuable business skills and want to make some great connections, we’ll see you there at

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Hermione Way interviews 80s pop gods Duran Duran & Heather Gold on the Flipboard red couch at SXSW! By Chloe on Wednesday March 23rd, 2011   No comments

This year at SXSW, TechfluffTV’s Hermione Way was lucky enough to interview 80s pop gods Duran Duran & interactive comedian + co-host of TummelVision.tv Heather Gold on the very special Flipboard red couch! Both guest had some very interesting things to say about the festival itself, and how social media has helped them define their careers in the entertainment business. You can watch the full interviews below:

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