We’re entering an era of real-time business with startups setting the pace October 23, 2013 REAL-TIME reaction is the new currency in business and – for the most part – entrepreneurs and lean start-ups are making mincemeat out of big corporates. “Business has sped up in the past ten years,” says Rupert Lee-Browne, founder of broker Caxton FX, which has evolved from order-taking by fax to instant responsiveness in its [...]
Matchmakers transforming how we buy and sell shares November 3, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks to the duo behind Asset Match, the online peer-to-peer trading platform CROWDFUNDING platforms are multiplying across the world, with investors flocking to websites like Kickstarter to take a punt on small, private companies in the hope of high reward. Indeed, according to a recent report by research firm Massolution, by the end [...]
The unlikely bedfellows driving a cab revolution November 24, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks taxis with Russell Hall and Ron Zeghibe, two of the founders behind Hailo IN 1639, a licence was granted to the Corporation of Coachmen, allowing its members to compete with the then-dominant licensed sedan chairs. Today, there are over 23,000 licensed taxi drivers in London. They’ve become a British institution – described [...]
App, app and away: the best going out apps September 18, 2013 Barchick barchick.com The logo may not suggest this is the most sophisticated app in the world but it’s actually pretty comprehensive. Those barchicks certainly get around. The search tool asks you to sort by area, then by what kind of boozer you’re after (options include “killer cocktails”, music, gay & lesbian and people watching, among [...]
Going West: London welcomes a new FX brokerage October 13, 2013 Annabel Palmer meets the founders of Monex Capital, who are targeting tech savvy traders DESPITE the Asian Development Bank lowering its growth forecasts for emerging nations in the region earlier this month, European brokers are launching Asian-based subsidiaries in droves (forex and commodities brokerage MIG Bank, for example, opened a Hong Kong arm this year). [...]
Smartphone sales overtake regular mobiles August 14, 2013 SMARTPHONES outsold more basic handsets for the first time ever in the second quarter of 2013, grabbing 51.8 per cent of worldwide mobile sales. The latest analysis of the market, from data firm Gartner, also shows that Blackberry has dropped behind Microsoft as the third most popular operating system – losing almost half of [...]
Startup springboks who let the idea come to them November 17, 2013 Annabel Palmer meets Leon Blitz and Brad Fried, lifelong pals behind investment firm Grovepoint MOST entrepreneurs start with an idea – be it reinventing the wheel or simply finding a way to do something better than anyone else out there. The hard part is then taking the first steps – shunning job security for months [...]
The retail champion who puts fame after business December 1, 2013 Annabel Palmer talks T-shirts and Small Business Saturday with Made in Chelsea’s Oliver Proudlock THE SERGE DeNimes headquarters is a cosy studio-cum-office, located exactly where you would expect for a business whose founder has found fame on Channel 4’s hugely-successful reality TV show Made In Chelsea. I’m hesitant about interviewing Oliver Proudlock, who, when not [...]
Restaurant review: Berners Tavern October 1, 2013 BERNERS TAVERN The London Edition Hotel, 10 Berners St Tel: 020 7908 7979 FOOD Two Stars VALUE Two Stars ATMOSPHERE Two Stars Cost for two with drinks: £110 Berners Tavern sounds like a nice little place, doesn’t it? Like a Somerset country inn that’s been converted to a gastropub by an ex-Londoner with a moustache [...]
You don’t need snow to have fun in Haute Savoie October 6, 2013 Savoie Mont Blanc in France is famous for its winter sports but it’s worth checking out all year FOR winter skiing in Haute Savoie, it always pays to put in a little training. Off-season trips, it turns out, require some preparation too: increase wine consumption in the weeks preceding; swap to elasticated trousers to allow [...]