Vote for your Startacus Self-Starter of the Year 2015

by Startacus Admin
Over the last few weeks we asked each of 2015’s Startacus Self Starters of the Week to pitch to us why they should be considered for the Self Starter of the Year 2015 accolade.
Now in it’s third year, the winner will join 2014 Winner Suzanne Noble and 2013 winner Jennifer Duthie as the acclaimed Startacus Self Starter of the Year.
Alongside the acclaimed title and obvious credit, the Self Starter of the Year winner and two runners up win a package of prizes care of key sponsor Marketest and top brands FreeAgent, Monkfeet, NetLawman, 123-reg, StartupZap & Startacus itself!
You decide the winner!

We need you to decide who the Self Starter of the Year will be. Just read the 6 pitches below and cast your vote for your favourite.
Votes can be cast until midnight Tuesday 19th January and the winner will be announced on Thursday 21st January.
What a great start to the New Year for one lucky member of our community. A massive thanks to all Startacus members, self-starters of the week or otherwise - you are all Self-Starters in our eyes!
Not signed up as a Startacus member? Well, if you want to be considered as a future Self Starter of the Week / Year then make sure to register on Startacus - it's fab and free and here's just a few of the other reasons why you should join.
The 6 finalists who are going forward to the public vote to be crowned the Self Starter of the Year 2015 are...
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Oli Monks

I started the year as co-founder of Stride, a mobile app to help self-starters capture ideas on the move. Sadly, we weren’t able to take the business further post-graduation but I’ve learnt a huge amount about how to tackle the key challenges in setting up a business.
Since then, I’ve co-founded a travel start-up called BagSee (one for any 90’s kids out there). We provide pre-packed travel kits for any self-starter looking to go travelling and have already managed to partner with some brilliant companies along the way. 2015 has been a huge learning curve for me into the realities of setting up a business. More than ever, I understand the importance of being resourceful and to value any asset you have within your business. It was already very cool to be a Self Starter of the Week but the Self Starter of the Year award? BagSee That!

I’m Susi Wisniewski, CEO of TripLinks, the friendly meet-up app for business travel. Fed up of tables-for-one or supper in your hotel room? Would you rather see the sights of the city you're in? Meet a new person, share a moment. All through your phone with TripLinks.
TripLinks is strictly platonic, and with very limited profile information, it’s definitely not a dating tool; it’s not even about networking; it’s just a way to find someone to hang-out with for a couple of hours when you’re away from home.With TripLinks, you can meet up with someone to go for a meal; to play squash; you can even use it to find a buddy to travel across a new city. Any experience where you’d rather have some company…TripLinks is there to help!
I’ve developed the app with my co-founder husband Mark, into the mix throw a tiny baby, a three year old and consultancy work (which bankrolls the app): it’s been challenging! We released the app in public beta on iOS and Android in November 2015.
We’re now trying to gain traction whilst looking for equity investment to grow the TripLinks user-base on a rapid scale.
Kelly Gilmour Grassam

The past six months since being named Self-Starter of the Week have been incredible. In August, my business won recognition from Theo Paphitis in his weekly Small Business Sunday competition, and I was shortlisted for the Forward Ladies Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award soon after. However, the real highlight of 2015 was being crowned Britain’s Young Freelancer of the Year, at the IPSE Awards in November.
Whilst I feel humbled and lucky to receive such recognition, this success has been largely due to hard work, patience and untiring commitment to my clients. I love waking up in the morning with a new day ahead, and can’t wait to grow my business in 2016. It would be an honour to kickstart the year with this title.
Kieran Moore

I have built an amazing enthusiastic, young, talented team and inspired them to create high quality work that people talk about. We have met and worked with industry leaders, met and discussed our plans with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Northern Ireland, worked with schools to help nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs and we even got set up in a prestigious new office 80/81 Ebrington Square.
We have worked with companies to build stunning sites such as Irishdancingshop.com as well as launching The Pure Essential Guide toDerry book.
We've also created an App that is in testing and as an android app is now available from the play store.
Simon Pusey

Having secured seed funding, we now cover East and Central London, delivering from Balans, VQ, Polo Bar, Pixxa and Beigel Bake to name a few. And with a new website in place, and more restaurants set to start with us soon, we're looking to expand further into West and North London.
We'd love to have the chance to win this award and the amazing array of prizes. While we think our new website adds a huge amount to what we offer, we still need to make the user experience as simple and easy as possible, so Marketests bespoke research into the site would be hugely beneficial.

Our quest to build a brand with the hope of opening up an eatery in Bristol has begun. The support and contacts that have been generated has been outstanding. I believe that we are ready for a restaurant where dietary requirements don't hinder customer choice; at The Chocolate Bear Kitchen, whether vegan, gluten intolerant or dairy intolerant, there will be dishes for you.
2016 will be a crucial year: I will be leaving my full time job to return to professional kitchens and work full time on my business. Through projects with Food Culture TV and Weeble Films, we’ve the potential to become more recognisable and it would be ideal to take the next steps towards opening a restaurant in unison with these TV projects. The prizes on offer will enable me to synchronise such developments and help our business grow.

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Published on: 12th January 2016
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