Inspiring

Hoffice lets you Crowdsource a coworking space into your livingroom Ahhh, working from home. One of the best, and potentially worst things about being self employed. On the one hand, how lovely and liberating not to have to make the trek into the office every morning, but on the other, how incredible difficult to create structure and ensure that your day is as productive as possible. We have some...
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We have a little surprising fact for you; there's a lot of disused spaces floating around in the UK. OK, perhaps that's not quite the shocking headline we wish it was, but we have discovered some really interesting and uplifting news about how some of this free space is being utilised in a way that is good for business and communities...it's also pretty darn cool. A charity called 3Space is doin...
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Admittedly, there’s not a lot of money in being a superhero per se, but they’re easily one of the more recognisable brands around. Noone in Gotham city is wondering what people mean by “The Batman” and New Yorkers all know a lot about their web slinging, wall crawling, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Marketing may be only one of the important lessons that comic books can...
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If you’re a new business just starting to try and make your mark in a chosen industry, you need to do as much as you can to stand out. Networking and contact-building will be an important part of your early work, so it would help for the business cards you hand out to be memorable so that you are not easily forgotten by potential clients. Many business cards are either professional but stai...
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A couple of weeks ago we ran a fab competition to win a ticket to the Share Summit in London, a one day event focusing on the shared economy. In the spirit of all things sharing, winner of said comp Ben Byford was asked to share some valuable insight on his experience of all the key happenings and debate, and most importantly what he took away from the event. Over to Ben to share all... "The Sha...
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As we rush about our busy, busy lives on such a grim and ghastly winter’s day as this, we can be forgiven for forgetting to spare an extra thought for the older people living in our neighbourhood. For many reasons Christmas and winter generally can be a very difficult time for many older people. Cold weather and long dark evenings can leave them feeling particularly isolated at this time of...
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Ever come across something and it makes you feel that warm glow of philanthropy and good will inside? No? Maybe that twinge of empathy you get from a really nice idea?Well, we think you’re about to. KonneKT has a simple premise; it's a way for sick children, who have to spend their days in an isolation unit, to play with others. It’s simply a set of magnetic shapes and pieces that can...
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So, imagine you’re a fresh new startup founder, you’re working hard to try and make sure your idea gets the attention, support and input that it needs to be a success only to have investments and supporters pull out. Now imagine, everything, EVERYTHING – even your van (which you’re now forced to live and work out of), gets taken away. Sounds like the worst case scenario for...
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Self Starter drums up interest in unique 'drumkit in a box' instrument We're going all Norn Iron on ya today. First up, we highlighted news that the NI based Propel programme was open for innovative startups and now here's another NI startup story for your reading pleasure... A young self starter, Startacus member, inventor and musician from NI, Stephen Henderson is currently raising capital via...
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From abandoned park shelter to pop up cafe - Startacus takes a look at the Kiosk Cafe...Here at Startacus we do love highlighting a nice pop-up story - adds a little inspiration to the day - don’t you agree? So this week we thought it would be nice to highlight the development of an abandoned park shelter in Bethnal Green, London that has become known as The Kiosk Cafe. Of course, as with ...
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Do you ever come across an idea that is simply so brilliant that you wish you had (and can't believe that you didn’t) come up with it first? This is precisely how we feel about TheTake.com and we reckon that you will too. TheTake.com has a very straightfoward premise - it lets you ‘discover products and places from your favouite movies’. To illustrate, let’s imagine you...
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To state the obvious, here at Startacus we love innovation...you don't have to be a mind reader to see that and if there's one particular area of advancement we like to keep a particularly eagle-like glare on, it's that of mobile technology. We don't pretend to be experts - in fact the ins and outs of such things often goes right over our heads, however you have to admit, this particular innovatio...
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