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  • Edinburgh E-club

    29 September 2008
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  • Table of contents:

    1. Welcome to the October 2008 Newsletter!
    2. Next Event: Today!
    3. Upcoming Events
    4. Recent Event Wrap Up

  • 1. Welcome to the October 2008 Newsletter!

    Hello Entrepreneur,

    Last week's Pitching for Partners, Ideas and Resources was a great success. 60 club members attended the pitches by some of our most promising fledgling businesses. More details are below.

    Our next event is Tuesday evening, September 30 at the Business School entitled Online Usability and Accessibility: Gaining a Competitive Advantage by Chris Rourke of User Vision. Chris will be showing how to differentiate your business by improving your web presence.

    More Gavin Don EIR sessions on October 28
    Club members rave about the value of meeting with Entrepreneur in Residence, Gavin Don. Don't miss this opportunity!

    An entrepreneur and corporate financier who helps young companies grow, Gavin advises on strategy and finance, trains technology innovators on presenting the business case, and invests in young companies as a business angel. Visit his EIR page to book a session: http://www.edinburgh-entrepreneur.man.ed.ac.uk/eir/gdon.html

  • 2. Next Event: Today!

    Online Usability and Accessibility: Gaining a Competitive Advantage by Chris Rourke of User Vision
    Date: Tuesday 30 September, 18:30-21:00
    Location: Lecture Theatre 3, Business School, 7 Bristo Square

    Businesses are always looking to differentiate themselves and with the advent of online advertising, e-commerce and customer self-service, an effective way to gain a competitive advantage is to provide a great user experience. Chris Rourke will outline what businesses can do online to increase the confidence of their customers through persuasive websites, clear calls to action and user-centred design principles. He will also discuss the importance of opening your site to the widest possible audience through simple web accessibility techniques and describe his experience in running a successful niche consultancy and service business. A drinks reception follows the talk.

  • 3. Upcoming Events

    Please join us for these interesting talks by visiting and local entrepreneurs from various sectors. These events are always followed by a drinks reception.


    Presentation by Edinburgh University Support Services
    Date: Monday 6 October, 18:30-21:00
    Location: Lecture Theatre 1, Business School, 7 Bristo Square

    Are you confused about how best to seek money, legal advice, office space and more for your new business? Would you like to meet some of the students that have benefited from these programs? The four main organisations linked with the university which offer help and advice, will give short presentations.
    ▪ Edinburgh Research and Innovation (ERI) www.research-innovation.ed.ac.uk
    ▪ Edinburgh Technology Transfer Centre (ETTC) www.ettc.co.uk
    ▪ Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE) www.sie.ed.ac.uk
    ▪ Edinburgh Pre-incubator scheme (EPIS) www.epis.org.uk

    Pitching Event, sponsored by Abbey Santander. First prize £1000.
    Date: Monday 20 October, 18:30-21:00
    Location: Lecture Theatre 1, Business School, 7 Bristo Square

    Come and listen to four Club members who will pitch their business idea to an experienced panel of judges, chaired by Dr Geoff Gregson. Unlike the first pitching competition, which provided some gentle feedback, this competition will be much more like a Dragon’s Den. The winner will be announced during the drinks reception afterwards.

    MSc Informatics Projects Pitches to MBA/MSc Students
    Date: Thursday October 30, 18:30-21:00
    Location: Lecture Theatre 4, Business School, 7 Bristo Square

    Are you looking for a project idea for your MBA dissertation? Do you want to present a research topic to your advisor with a technology component, but don't have any good ideas? This is an opportunity for students from the School of Informatics to join forces with MBA and Masters level students from the Business School. We will have a selection of projects that are in need of interested students including: Commercial Potential in Coordinating the Deep Web, Workflow enabled Business Intelligence, and Open Architecture based Virtual Organisation.

    Mike Ramsay of Tivo on "Opportunity Discovery, Recognition and Assessment from an EIR's Perspective"
    Date: Thursday, October 30th 10:00-12:00
    Location: G07 (on the ground floor), The Informatics Forum, 10 Crichton Street

    Come along to learn how a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur-in-Residence at a Venture Capital firm recognizes, discovers and assesses opportunities. Mike Ramsay is the founder of Tivo, and also an EIR and Venture Partner at NEA Ventures in Menlo Park, California. He is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and currently is seeking high growth opportunities in the consumer technology space.

    "Lessons from a Technology Entrepreneur" by Ajaz Ahmed, Founder of Freeserve and Browzar
    Date: Wednesday, November 5th, 18:30-21:00
    Location: Lecture Theatre 3, Business School, 7 Bristo Square

    Come and hear about lessons learned from being a technology entrepreneur. Ajaz Ahmed, will provide some street-wise insight for those currently considering, or in the process of, creating and growing entrepreneurial ventures.

  • 4. Recent Event Wrap Up

    The September 24th, pitching event (Pitching for Partners, Ideas and Resources), was a great start to the academic year with a record number of attendees and several great pitches. 60 club members listened while Saurabh Agrawal pitched a venture capital fund for educating needy students. In an interesting twist, considering the recent difficulties in the world financial section, was that Saurabh's proposition was not the only venture fund idea of the evening as Thomas Drapier and Jeremy Klar sought opinions on Edventures, their student-run angel investment fund. Jessica Williamson presented iCUE, Innovative Consulting at the University of Edinburgh, and was given many suggestions on contract-pricing and how to recruit more business. The Ki Work presentation by Jim Wolff raised many questions relating to how to best manage an online work marketplace, and Josh Wilson showed his free video game magazine, Square-Go: www.square-go.com. Dr. Geoff Gregson presided over the pitches and was found during the drinks reception giving more detailed feedback to the individual presenters.

    Thanks again pitchers, for having the guts to speak in front of the group. Nice job!

    For more information on any of these past and future events, or on joining the club, please visit: http://www.edinburgh-entrepreneur.man.ed.ac.uk/

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