Cain and Abel. Romulus and Remus. Itchy and Scratchy. What do all these iconic duos have in common? Not much some might say, considering the latter are no more than a TV show within a TV show (albeit a rather amusing one). But they do. Sure, they all ended up killing each other but it was only through their union that they were abel (zing) to create something much bigger which one them a place in history, may it be tangible or fictional.

For any entrepreneur worth their salt, true success is enormously hard-won but well worth the fight. Human nature is such that we do not appreciate the wins that come too easy. Think of the countless stories of those winning the lottery overnight only to blow the entire jackpot soon after. 

All Launch22 members know we have a special ritual here. Every last Friday of the month, we have FREE pizza for all our members! 

But this time, we wanted to add a little spin to it so all the startups here can record some fond memories at Launch22. So, let us present Momentous Photo Booth to finish the last day of the month with a bang!

My company (aka.: ‘my baby’, my ‘pride and joy’) turned 1 year old at the start of September (2016). Nothing all that special, until you consider that a few years ago, I would never have even dreamt that having my own business was possible. A small town girl from a dodgy council estate, who was I to think about starting a company?! “No, not me. I couldn’t do that”.

We are proud to make the announcement that our member, the fantastic guys of The Social Shop have been acquired by Fusion Consulting, a leading accountancy IT and Business consultancy to be a part of their growing marketing division.

Recently we got into contact with the fantastic guys at Fat Lama, an innovative platform that allows you to rent out your own belongings to others, and asked them a few questions on how they came up with such an inventive business idea and their plans for the future.

More and more women are creating startups and getting involved in the entrepreneurial world every day. A report done in February of last year found that women made up 38% of entrepreneurs under 35 and that number has only continued to grow.

MakeSweat is a success story that proves no dream is too great or too outlandish to succeed when infused with the right mentality and given the right support.  Its goal, like the platform itself, is simple and elegant; through easy one button clicks, it gives sport lovers and clubs the ability to easily sign up to training sessions and races as well as bringing them together under one community. 

The first week into 2017 and with it we leave behind the plethora of Christmas cards, clothes (and everything else) covered in wrapping paper glitter and the firm and final resolution that this year, yes this year you will finally give up chocolate. 

Within the last 3 months Brangelina was no more, Trump Tower became Trump White House and I’ve been interning at Launch22, a startup charity that helps other startups... start up.

A few weeks ago the Hackney Council announced that they would be raising rates by 46% due to their value perception of the area, rents and other questionable stats. Launch22 founder, Eddie Holmes, wrote a blog post about it and now comes the follow up.

The impending revaluation of London’s commercial property has been making headlines recently, for all the wrong reasons as far as startups are concerned. The Evening Standard’s editorial on 10 October described how the move will have “inevitable, disastrous consequences.” Here is one small example.

“100% of a small pie or 50% of a mega one” that is the question!

Launch22 member Sam Zawadzki tells us how selling equity can benefit your business.

Exercising can sometimes be a bit of a drab but Launch22 member Rabble makes getting your fitness fix fun and memorable by getting you involved in numerous team games.  Having only been founded 2 years ago by Charlotte Roach, Rabble can already be found all across England (pretty impressive).

Launch22 was born in early 2014, the offspring of an unholy alliance between cousins David Hardman and Eddie Holmes. Having mentored dozens of young people through the Prince’s Trust Enterprise programme, alongside running his own proptech businesses, Eddie felt that those same young people would benefit from a venue where they could develop their intellectual and social capital, at no cost, in the UK’s leading startup area, Tech City. Oh, and also have somewhere really cool to hang out with other entrepreneurs!

Traditionally, earning a University degree was a guaranteed sign of future success, a direct route onto the job ladder. But in today’s job market this is no longer the case. The number of students going to university is increasing each year and the current job market for graduates is slowly improving but is not as it once was before the recession hit.

Being a startup entrepreneur involves endless battles, but when your product is also a mobile app, you’re faced with a whole lot more challenges that come with the fast changing and super crowded market.

How do you market skin bugs from a start-up base in Silicon Roundabout? A skincare line, Gallinée, has used the tactics of the tech start-up to market a unique skincare line that looks after the good bacteria in your body.

Starting a business is not rocket science, IT’S A LOT HARDER… Okay, so this may be a slight exaggeration, nonetheless, starting up is not easy. A lot of resources, skills and bucketfuls of luck are needed. It’s safe to say that a single founder certainly can’t do all of this. A team of like-minded, driven individuals is key. The tricky part in that case is figuring out who to hire.

August is notoriously known for being a slow month for business. A time where responses to emails take that bit longer, a time where the out-of-office email is seen ever more frequently. This is because people are using this time to go on their holidays during the summer months.

No matter how convinced you are that your business has legs, a venture capitalist will see it going nowhere unless they are convinced that you can teach it to walk. It’s really not down to your cashflow forecast or your market research. Unique Selling Point? Not always the deciding factor either. The single most important factor a VC will consider before investing in your company is the people running it. Bottom line: if you can convince them that you are the entrepreneur who is going to make them a lot of money, you’re set.

Having limited resources is a struggle for so many startup companies. (I hear you, “Tell me something I don’t know”). Time and money are the obvious ones, hence the late nights and leftovers. You work hard to make every hour count and squeeze the best value out of every last penny. However, the efficient allocation of one resource is often overlooked.

For a while, Brexit was a fictitious nightmare, conjured up by audience conscious newspapers and outspoken politicians hungry for headlines. When the result finally came through in the early hours of Friday, June 23rd,...

To Uni, or not to Uni? Excuse the cheesy line but how else am I meant to get peoples attention on this?

10+ years ago, the general consensus was; university will get you a well paid job and comfortable lifestyle. However, in recent years, with the rise of tuition fees and seemingly increased competition in post grad positions, I believe there are so many more opportunities available to young people.

Detroit is a city in the middle of a renaissance, In the 50’s the city was famous for its industrial dominance, cultural variety and automobile innovation — It was a city that was thriving. 30 years on and Detroit was at the peak of its suffering — major automobile manufacturers had left the city, there was ongoing racial tension, political corruption, a nickname of “stab city” and economic turmoil that left the once thriving city broken into pieces.

We at Launch22 have been doing some talking about Big Data and to what extent it can really help entrepreneurs. Looking at customer data can be very helpful when it comes to optimising what you’re already doing, but taken in isolation, it has little capacity to generate the radical insights that can form the basis of a truly new idea.

When I graduated from university with a degree in Biomedical Science, I didn’t have a plan for what to do next like most other graduates. I knew I didn’t want to work in a lab or continue with masters or PhDs like my classmates, so I needed to find experience elsewhere. Since I’ve always had an interest in tech and I wanted to try something completely new, I looked for roles in start-ups. When I saw the vacancy for a Marketing Intern at Launch22, I applied right away!