Interview

David Wong, the founder of Plantedd, wants you to find exactly what you want to grow in the garden (or if you’re not a gardener, then your mum or your neighbour down the street). Plantedd is like an online plant fair that brings together independent plant nurseries from across the UK who are selling plants that you don’t get at big chain garden centres. We asked David to tell us a bit ...
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Making your mark on the design world isn't necessarily an easy thing, so when someone does it and does it well, it's pretty impressive. One such person is Danielle Ellen Plowman, founder of Ellie Ellie - the "sustainable giftware brand with a touch of nostalgia". We were pretty chuffed when Danielle agreed to take a few minutes out to answer a few of our questions on everything from starting ...
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Diana Proca is the Cofounder of Work in Startups, an online jobs platform that advertises jobs working (as the title suggests) for UK based Startups. But Diana’s business, only launched in 2011, was very much a Startup itself and Startacus was keen to find out more about the inspiration behind Work in Startups, the startup scene and some advice on recruiting your first staff members. Over to...
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Founded by Joanne St.Clair and Daniel Orlick in September 2012, NAKED RAVER is a fun-filled adventure of Feminine Spirit. It is an exciting lifestyle brand for women: a festivity of their untapped potential, of their natural ability to uplift the hearts of others, and of their deep desire to inspire the imagination of the whole of humanity – at work, in the home, and at play. Startacus ...
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Banks charge huge hidden fees when you send money abroad. Step forward TransferWise who have just announced $25m investment from a whole whack of tech investors including Richard Branson. Here's our interview with the guys back in Feb 2013 when they shared their fab plans with us on how they were going to beat the banks at their own game! "With a marketing tagline of “Bye Bye Banks. You...
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Making Intellectual Property sexy! Startacus chats with Maxine Horn, Founder of Creative Barcode, a digital IP App... Intellectual Property may not be an easy subject to understand initially but it's one that you really ought to spend some time learning about. After all, Intellectual Property (IP) can make or break what you can do with that big idea that you have or thought that you owned! With t...
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Accolades don’t come easy to most of us. In fact it can often take your closest family and friends to give you a pat on the back before you to feel a sense of appreciation.However one man that has rightly earned the plaudits and accolades given to him is Rajeeb Dey. Still in his mid 20’s, Rajeeb has earned a space at many a top table - and rightly so. From being the Founder and Chair o...
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Graze - An interview with Ben Jones Co Founder of Graze The name itself makes you feel healthy: Graze. It makes you think of fresh produce. Green grass. Healthy food. If a name alone can sell a product, Graze have managed to hit the nail right on the head. However Graze is much more than that. Graze.com is a success story both in terms of its name, the fact that 7 friends started a business toge...
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Building an App and being featured in The Next Web - We interview new startup The Super Times "One of the best news, media and movie apps of 2012" said The Next Web - with that statement alone, the Super Times had got Startacus’ attention. After all, getting featured in The Next Web is a pretty big deal for virtually all technology based startups! The Super Times App delivers a fresh ...
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Lets start by offering up some perspective...At the time of writing, UK government minister, Chris Grayling had just that week proposed to semi privatise the Probation Service.Startacus that very same week had had a very timely interview with Juliet Hope, Chief Executive of Startup Now, a charity that had achieved amazing success of supporting ex-offenders into Self Employment. So with this in m...
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Startacus has a keen interest in the Pop-up shop phenomenon. From Mary Portas’ high street review to Startup Britain’s Pop-up shop push, the Pop-up shop trader, symbolises many of the characteristics of us ‘self starters’. With Pop-Up shops being symbolic of many young artists, designers and projects using disused retail space to sell their wares, there is also a certain co...
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Startacus talked to self starter Ellie Laycock of Hunted and Stuffed about what inspired her vintage startup, running a business and developing business expertise...Ellie has been running Hunted and Stuffed for the last 18 months or so and feels like it is all going great. The idea of her business all came about when she saw a beautiful piece of silk and wanted to bring it back to life. She had al...
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