Ruminations
Thoughts, experiences, ideas and reflections
A blog documenting the trials and tribulations of starting and running a tech startup, of living in these exciting but challenging times, and of learning and becoming – bit by bit – the best one can be.
When there is too much to do
My favourite saying at the moment is this: "I can either work myself to the bone, and not get everything done that I need to; or I can NOT work myself to the bone, and STILL not get everything done that I need to…. so there is little point in killing myself in the process." I say this, yet here I am, its half past midnight, my eyes are so blurry I can’t focus on the font before me, my back is screaming in
Using your 9-5 life to motivate your entrepreneur life
One of the reasons I knew many years ago that I had to become an entrepreneur, was that I wanted the ability to dictate the terms of my life. I hated HAVING to be at work at 9am, and feeling guilty and stressed if I was running late. I hated having people silently judge me if I was writing a personal email or reading a blog during work hours, and the challenge of having to always book things like dentists and home deliveries in
Miso-stained laptop replaced with Mac… “Finally!” many say
As you may have read in a previous post, I recently had an incident with a wayward cup of miso soup, that decided to disastrously waterfall all over my IBM laptop. I should be grateful that due to some quick-thinking drying under a ladies room hairdryer, and a kind boyfriend who spent the next hour dismantling the computer so I could dry each component, the computer remained pretty much intact: no data was lost, and I could still use the laptop. However, one quite
Our facelift – Skimbit has a new homepage design
If you haven’t already noticed (and shame on you if you haven’t!), we have finally updated our homepage to a new and funkier style. Our original homepage design was a legacy of our ultra-bootstrapping days, when I had to ply my designer friends with wine and meals so they would create a homepage design for me on a nonexistent budget. And now that things are getting better, and I can afford to pay a designer, it was time to freshen up. So please check
Gate-crashing ad:tech
I was a bit cheeky last night. I gatecrashed ad:tech. I was meeting up with a few friends of mine who have SEO/SEM businesses, and they invited me to come along to a bar in the Hilton. I didn’t think anything of it, clearly they liked to drink in glamorous places. But as I approached and I called them for clarification on where to find them, they explained that it was actually a function for members of a big conference, and that I had
The joys and woes of seeking funding
In the past week I have met with several potential investors for Skimbit, and presented my spiel. They were both really interesting and different experiences. I found it fascinating how different views and priorities could be amongst parties that all make their money in similar ways. One party thought I should keep the Skim-in-a-box white-label solution and the other thought it best to divest of it and focus purely on Skimbit.com. One party thought I should focus on profitability and a strong business model
The joys and woes of seeking funding
In the past week I have met with several potential investors for Skimbit, and presented my spiel. They were both really interesting and different experiences. I found it fascinating how different views and priorities could be amongst parties that all make their money in similar ways. One party thought I should keep the Skim-in-a-box white-label solution and the other thought it best to divest of it and focus purely on Skimbit.com. One party thought I should focus on profitability and a strong business model
Preparing financial projections: truth or fiction?
This could be a potentially risky post, considering the number of people who read this before meeting me for business discussions. But I am a big believer in honesty and openness as the key to my business success, so I will persevere on this front until it proves fatal. I am embarking on an investor roadshow shortly to secure the funding I need to take Skimbit to the next level. To do this, I obviously need a robust budget and business plan. Obviously, I
These are a few of my favourite things…
As the year draws to a close, I get very sentimental and nostalgic about the last 12 months. And I have more reason to be in awe about this past year than almost any other. Here are the top 5 things that have happened to me/Skimbit in 2007: 1. Turned 30 Every woman dreads it. Whilst men seemingly gain wisdom and respectability, woman fear they will lose attractiveness and ’settle’. Considering that the year saw me still working full time while building Skimbit in
Yihaa! We aren’t last!
It is important when risking so much to find joy in simple things: being able to work when you like (of course, you end up working more than you would otherwise, but still…), being forced to learn restraint (as I have not been able to buy new clothes in longer than I ever have gone without), being glad the weather is so bad because you don’t feel you are missing out on anything when you work long hours… you see where I am going
Please vote for Skimbit!
I have good news and bad news… well, not so much bad, as really challenging.The good news: we have been nominated by Mashable for the Best Social Shopping site. Its great to be nominated by such a prestigious blog for a category we want to redefine.The bad news: being a very new site, we don’t have the traffic or the glamour of other nominated sites, and so we are currently not doing so well in the contest. I’m not terribly perturbed, after all, we
We have been ‘techcrunched’!
It’s a happy day today… to be discussed on someone else’s blog is one thing… but to be discussed on TechCrunch is pretty exciting stuff! And even more special is that I am three blog posts away from my good friend Nigel’s company Zygo Communications. Not a bad day for Skimbit. So, now I just need this post to inspire other influential bloggers, and this buzz to drive customers to the site and potential clients knocking on my door… So if anyone is reading
Presenting at Mashup Demo
I was lucky to be involved in Mashup Demo yesterday. Despite its catastrophic lack of internet access (the irony of running an internet application demo event where there was only one computer in the entire room capable of connecting to the internet was not lost on anyone!), it was actually a fun and rewarding event. There were several challenges of course. The first - and I hate to admit this - is that I had a slight hangover from a Christmas party the night
First employee
Running a business is hard enough to do, and doing it on your own is unfathomably difficult. I had always intended to hire a couple of people as soon as I got funding, but although my last entry posted 6 weeks ago said I got funding, that funding is still being processed, which completely stifled my ability to act upon my plans. After 5 weeks though, I realised that I just needed to move forward with or without the funding. I was achingly aware
Miso soup and keyboards don’t mix
A disaster has befallen Skimbit headquarters. My miso soup at lunch took a sudden tumble over my keyboard, resulting in the instant death of my laptop. I remained quite calm considering, instantly rushing down to the toilets with my laptop cradled in my arms like an injured child, and sticking it under the hand-dryer in an attempt to evaporate some of the moisture off it. I just hope the heat didn’t cause more damage than it healed. However, when I tried to turn it
I got funding!
One of my most important tasks on my return to London was to try and secure speedy funding. I didn't have much money left, having spent much of what I had on the business and then on a rather extravagent 7 weeks of travelling around Europe and Canada (securing clients and researching the holiday and wedding market, but when you are on Aussie dollars, everything feels extravagent!). And living in London is not a cheap thing to do - I needed money. Although my
Trusting people
How do you know who to trust? Being a naturally trusting person (some may say naive), I tend to trust everyone. "Surely they just want to help? Surely they have my best interests at heart?" And I guess I've been lucky in that, for the most part, I haven't been completely screwed in the past as a result of this naivety. However, now that I have a business that is potentially lucrative, I cannot help but be suspicious of people's motives. "Are they helping
Setting up in London
I have now been in good ol' London town for about 3 weeks. And what a whirlwind of a maelstrom of dizzy madness its been. Somehow in this time I have moved to a new country, found a place to live, bought furniture, found a housemate, plus attend the Future of Web Apps conference, applied for a loan through the Small Business Loans Guarantee scheme, and of course, ran a start-up. Calling it hectic and a trifle stressful would be an understatement, but I
Big news to announce
Its quite startling to sit here and attempt to summarise what the last 2 months have meant to my startup. The last time I wrote to you was the eve of my departure from Sydney for 7 week trip overseas. The trip - besides being fun - had the following goals: developing a stronger bond with my fantastic team of developers in Bucharest investigating the venture capital market in London researching the wedding and travel market further I do not think I could ever
Point made – pre-launch for blog readers!
I have to thank 'Anonymous' commenter who left this very direct and very true comment on my last post: Lot's of I's. I this , I that, ... Why not use the readers of this blog for a pre-launch and ask *them* for instance if the obvious flaws are acceptable or not. bottomline, ask for help to validate a go-live. I was so scared of releasing my baby into the world when I wasn't sure it was mature enough. I am like a strict