Projects, Past & Present
I've been very lucky in my career to have worked or co-founded organisations that were fun to work with, dealt with challenging problems and that left a lasting impression on the community around them. These are a few of them.
Red Gate
As of August 2009 I work full-time at Red Gate Software as a User Experience Specialist. Red Gate is the provider for SQL, .NET and DBA tools and user experience is at the core of the company's product development process. Red Gate is one of those companies that people get passionate about, and I am certainly one of them. Red Gate is an organisation that constantly seeks to push the boundaries of business practices, creativity and innovation. I suppose it helps that we live in wonderful and flat Cambridge, UK.
Smarter Start
Smarter Start is my pet projects. Together with Malcolm Ross we try to figure out ways of making business startups and entrepreneurship more successful, rewarding, ethical and risk-free. A key starting point in Smarter Start is the 2-day Smart Idea workshop that directs your thinking towards creating and testing a compelling business model.
More info soon at smarterstart.com about events and our upcoming publications.
Edinburgh Entrepreneurs
When I moved up to Scotland in March 2008 I found a lack of entrepreneurial networking fora into which I could tap to get to know like-minded people in Scotland. However I was convinced that this was not because of a lack of entrepreneurial talent and motivation. So on a whim I started the "Edinburgh Entrepreneurs" group on LinkedIn and dropped a few hints about it here and there.
A few months later more than a hundred members joined and created a vibrant and eloquent community. Now the group has topped the 300 1,900 member mark!
TakeCharge
TakeCharge was a short-lived start-up project I was involved in late in 2008. The reasons for discontinuation are various and while the project did not make me any richer, it was a great learning experience.
The project's basic idea was a simple and innovative way of monitoring and reducing household electricity consumption. The model we came up with works brilliantly and the business case I wrote for the project did get us a spot in the finals for Europe's largest Internet event: LeWeb 2008 in Paris.
Uniblue
In 2006, just after finishing my Masters Degree, I joined Swedish software startup Uniblue Systems Limited in Malta. My role initially was that of 'Web Specialist' working with the then-only graphic designer.
Over a year the work of the design team was successful in increasing conversion rates so much that the team grew to 10 people. By the time I left in 2008, the web team grew in size and responsibility and along the way I gained valuable lessons in team management, optimization and UI design.
Socratxt
Between 2003 and 2006 I worked as co-founder and CTO of Socratxt Mobile Marketing. Socratxt was originally founded to promote a student notification service (CampusSMS). This service was moderately successful in Malta and Ireland but when I joined we shifted our focus to mobile marketing.
We developed software that automated SMS campaign management and ran Malta's first national mobile marketing campaigns for clients such as Nivea, Pepsi, Carlsberg and Procter & Gamble.
Startup Malta
In 2000 Startup Malta launched Malta's first-ever business plan competition for University students.
Despite a successful year, internal disputes and HR changes resulted in the organisation suspending its activities in 2001. However in 2002 it reformed as a non-profit foundation — The Startup Malta Foundation for Entrepreneurship — at which point I became active in the foundation.
Initially I took over design and website tasks but quickly moved on to managing the Foundation's activities including fund-raising and new projects development. We expanded the competition to a national one, started networking events, and collaborated with various local and national organisations. At peak we saw 60 yearly business plan submissions.
I left the organisation in 2006 to focus on other projects but the love of being an 'entrepreneurship activist' remains.
