I led Shnergle. It failed. The buck stops here. I had bucket loads of life experience, but I was naïve at starting businesses; I was well outside my comfort zone (though would freely admit to it). Through the help of a lot of advice and online blogs (especially yours Mark Suster) we got a lot right, but we still made a bucket load of fundamental errors that I would tackle differently next time. A number … Continue reading
When Jonny and I were first incubating the idea for Shnergle and working out how best to bring it to life, someone suggested that Shnergle should be a creature (think kid cartoon-esque). I understood the concept at the time and thought it was a good one, but we decided to not to take this approach. I can’t offer any insight into whether we made a good or a bad choice at that point, but as … Continue reading
Shnergle has launched! The three words we’ve been impatient to say and you’ve been craving to hear. If this is the first time these 3 words have caressed your ears, then clearly you haven’t been Shnergling, so where have you been? I can only assume that you have been invited to play a lengthy game of Risk in a hermits hollow somewhere. Fear naught, before you read any further download Shnergle and catchup! So, the … Continue reading
Every morning, commuters across London partake in the “cardboard coffee cup ceremony”. Carrying their disposable mugs like a royal orb. The daily morning demand for takeaway coffee is habitual, or for some a necessity. Brew drinkers visit cafés in waves throughout the day. The first wave splashes over the doorway on opening and welcomes the “breakfast boosters”. Kick starting the day with a pre-work pit stop, zombies on arrival are rocket men on departure. The … Continue reading
The London commute is a trying and stressful adventure for many of us. Travelling in to London or across it, rail is frequently the only viable option, and so we’re at the mercy of it every day. The alarm clock in the morning is the ‘starting-gun’ for the race to work. The first leg of the race is to be at the opportune place on the platform ready to commandeer a seat on the arriving … Continue reading
When the call for heading out for a sociable drink at a bar with friends beckons, nobody wants to waste time thinking about where they should go. You just want to be there; in the right place that suits you. No worries, just pleasant conversation whilst enjoying a refreshing drink. Sounds good doesn’t it. Sounds easy, and so it should be. How many of us have our stomping grounds? The areas that we know really … Continue reading
Writing a blog article on leadership seems a touch predictable – it’s a very popular topic and is difficult to write about in the first person without coming across as narcissistic. So why am I writing about it? Well, it’s a skill that is vital to the success of every venture, which in my position as a CEO and Co-Founder I will be expected to demonstrate. Everybody has a different approach based on their background … Continue reading
Recently, Rob and I were invited to discuss startups with a group of London school children at Google campus. As we hadn’t launched yet, we weren’t keen to ‘plug’ Shnergle. So, we took a different approach and talked about some insights of our journey so far we thought they’d find interesting. Here’s a little summary… First point to make was – happy people succeed. As Blaise Pascal once said, ‘all men seek happiness…’ To achieve … Continue reading
Shnergle did not begin as Shnergle. After the evening that hatched the idea behind Shnergle, Rob and I set to work on the practicalities of the concept. We assigned a temporary name to the project, with the view to come back to it again when we could figure out how the concept could be executed. No point having the best name and the worst concept. A lot of time can, and arguably should, be spent … Continue reading