Culture

On the 8th November, The Smarta 100 shortlisted finalists will discover their fate as the winner of the Smarta 100 awards is announced and awarded with their £10k prize...Startacus took some time out to review the smarta 100 field.. Announced over the weekend and shortlisted from over 1,200 entries from across the UK, the Smarta 100 identified the top 100 companies that are on track to...
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The recently launched Startup Loans initiative has been getting plenty of press, (both good and bad) on whether or not it really is a good option for a young person with an idea for a business to pursue. However, rather than getting our political hats on and giving our own tuppence worth, we thought we’d let you make your own mind up on whether or not it’s for you. Startup Loans ...
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Here at Startacus we love seeking out people and places that are a tad ‘different’ and creative and when you throw in a little collaboration too, well, quite frankly...we’re hooked. We think you’ll like our latest discovery too. Makeably is a marketplace for custom made items made uniquely for you.Visit the site and you can browse through a whole range of “projec...
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Doug Richard of School for Startups and Dragon's Den Fame guest writes for Startacus with some handy tips for Designers to beat the recession...   1.  Sell your work at local events. That local market or pop up shop is your best chance to meet customers face to face, to show them your work, to find out why they buy when they buy and to see what they are selling. If the fees are too hig...
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Bearing in mind that we look at lots of new websites every day, it takes a lot to get us here at Startacus excited these days. However with Good for Nothing, we reckon we might have just found one of our spiritual cousins - and thought it best to share the good news. Good for Nothing gets smart folk together with a plan - the plan being that they collaborate together to ‘solve stuff that ma...
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It seems like all awards, competitions and prizes at the moment are for the greater good! Just in the last few weeks we have highlighted the Vodafone Foundation - for socially conscious App Developers, The RAPTOR SME Small Grants Programme for Apps related to the Retail, Transport or the Urban Environment, and The Young Foundation have launched a new business support programme – aimed at soc...
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Enterprise champion Doug Richard is on the hunt for 10,000 new angel investors and investment ready businesses. The School for Startups founder will lead a tour of the country to show thousands of people that they can play a part in the resurgence of British business. Doug’s quest to widen the pool of British investors will see him host nine half-day events this October and Novemb...
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Some great pointers from Joseph Benn on how to avoid the Dragons-Den-like humiliation when your idea is broken down (and into pieces). Startacus will be using some of these tips for sure...Dragons Den....The entrepreneurs presentation is going really well.All of a sudden the Dragons ask a question the entrepreneur has not thought about (or more often than not wilfully ignored). Cue music chan...
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Sometimes you don’t need a thousand words - like the saying goes, the pictures paint the story. Some of you may have seen these pictures already; however we just love The Movement Café, the pop up cafe that was built in 16 days to be ready in time for the Olympics this Summer. Based on the edge of an industrial estate in Greenwich, London, and the visual entry to a regeneration proje...
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Cash is pretty hard to come by these days and as many an entrepreneur knows getting that early injection of the ‘readies’ can be what makes or breaks your business idea. As we ourselves love a dabble in the kitchen, we were really interested to hear about Kitchenette, the first London Kitchen Incubator. Those of us who are aware of business incubators, will understand that a startup w...
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So far, we have highlighted some unusual inventions - from the pet rock, the cardboard bicycle to the twitter hashtag, but we think this one might just trump the lot. Unusual in the sense that the creator was able to crowdfund over $577,000 recently on indiegogo and unusual, since you really do have to wonder how the devil this invention first came about! Bug-A-Salt is a salt loading gun that is ...
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If you are a business based in Ireland, either North or South, the recently launched Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards might be of interest. The main objective of the awards, which are now in their fourth year, is to recognise and promote the best innovations in businesses of all sizes across the island of Ireland.Organisations can enter in one of six distinct categories :- agri food...
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