October 2005

London - 21 October 2005 - IntellectIntellect were again our hosts for our October meeting.

Guest SpeakerDamon Oldcorn - an Entrepreneurs view of the process of raising funds and the Equity Gap.Damon Oldcorn is the Founder and CEO of NicheGnat Ltd the Web Conferencing Service Provider. Damon has over twenty years board level experience in the emerging technology markets. Considerable time spent in Silicon Valley over the last 20 years, most recently he was based in San Jose CA as the CEO of PhoneMe Ltd, which he founded in Wiltshire during the dotcom period. Damon has a Masters Degree in International Business from the University of Bristol. He has also had extensive study periods at Harvard and UC Berkeley which focussed on international negotiation, entrepreneurship and marketing.
Damon also gave a brief update on Nichegnat following his business pitch to us earlier this year.Business PitchesNathan Evans, Managing Director - Malt bars & restaurantsMalt sets out to provide an alternative to current West End/City Bars and Restaurants. Where other companies talk about good service then fail to deliver, malt will open with an uncompromising emphasis on outstanding customer service. We describe our food offer as Modern British which incorporates historical staple dishes from the British Isles and adopted recipes which have become part and parcel of our day-to-day lives in more recent years. Whatever the influence, the emphasis will be firmly placed on producing high quality, home cooked dishes using the best ingredients for both the bar and the restaurant.
We have confirmation approving a bank loan for half the cost involved for our flagship Malt bar, a spectacular venue, favourable lease terms and an unrivalled management team (including 30+ years experience in hospitality) to ensure its success.David Long - CEO Northern Europe, West TraxWest Trax developed the Benchmark Express family of optimisation services specifically to provide C level executives with accurate, current, objective, independent business management data that can help them identify and control SAP return on investment (ROI), total cost of ownership (TCO), compliance and business alignment issues.
In contrast to current manual analyses, Benchmark Express uses in-house proprietary tools and methodologies to rapidly perform an accurate automated analysis of actual system usage.Richard Edwards - i-Zebrai-Zebras business model is driven by the forces of technology, consumer behaviour and commercial opportunity and is, quite simply, about delivering brands to desktops.
Everyone, has an arsenal of digital devices at their disposal. Whether it be Broadband access and PVPs (Personal Video Players) in the home or iPods and Blackberrys in the hand, technology is now relevant to, and being adopted by the mass market. Technology companies have delivered the products and platforms, consumers have proven, by their behaviour, that they are hungry to be part of a new world order.
This new world order even has its own population, the so-called i-generation. The i-generation consume their media differently to any generation that has gone before. The days of reaching half the UK population via a well-placed TV ad are long gone. Media has fragmented and digital technology has placed receiving devices in the homes and even hands of the public, turning mass markets into mass collections of individuals.