A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend a travel industry gathering. One of the guest speakers – Andreas Nau, Expedia’s Managing Director for Central Europe, talked about the necessity for online travel agencies (OTA) to scrutinize the sustainability of their business model today, in order to secure the longevity of their future…
As physicist William Pollard once said; “Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable”. One of the most distinct qualities of the tech industry has been the role it plays as an agent of change, acting as the…
Hello, my name is Fatih. And I’m an Apple fanboy. I’ve also been the subject of endless mockery amongst my friends, finding myself at the receiving end of merciless taunts, ridiculed for being brainwashed by the Cupertino propaganda machine. But I don’t care. After all I am a fanboy, and I choose to wear that…
The subliminal Lost in Translation deserves its place among my all-time favorite movies. A tale of kindred spirits, united in seeking a purpose to life through much soul-searching, Bill Murray puts in a charming performance that’s nuanced and endearing. As one of the film’s two main protagonists, Murray plays Bob Harris, an ageing movie star…
The second iteration of London Technology Week – a program of over 200 bespoke events, is said to have attracted +40,000 attendees from across all areas of the tech spectrum. Aimed to cement the city of London’s leadership position as Europe’s digital hub, industry heavyweights like Google, Amazon and IBM made some major announcements, sharing the…
There’s something to be said about unique companies that have a stellar product, who go IPO, and then suddenly find themselves having difficulty coping with their new public identity. While the ultimate benchmark of success is always going to be their ability to generate consistent revenues, what sometimes gets lost amidst shareholder demands, are the…
If a brand is the ultimate representation of the sum of all it’s parts, then RuPaul Andre Charles is nothing short of the ultimate personal brand. Emerging from the underground scene in the 80’s to become a mainstay of the LGBT cultural landscape, RuPaul is revered and respected for pioneering the crossover of illusion-based cabaret…
Whether you label it as healthy tension, territorial friction or a downright conflict of personalities, anyone who’s spent time working in B2B marketing will be familiar with the terse, often challenging and almost always character-building relationship with Sales. It would be naïve to assume that this friction can ever entirely be eliminated. Even in organizations…
In an August, 2014 interview with Lego chief executive Jorgen Vig Knudstrop published in UK broadsheet The Guardian, Knudstrop quoted Billung – a small town in Jutland and headquarters to the famous toymaker – as being “boring”. Yet he goes on to credit those very surroundings as the thing that helped spark Lego’s innovation, and…
As some of you are aware, I mentor start-ups under the auspices of Start-Up Direct. This is a fantastic not-for-profit organization that helps entrepreneurs secure seed funding, as part of the UK government’s initiative to encourage small business growth. While my mentees are vastly different in their service offering, a common question I always get…