What an end to 2011!
We’ve finally recovered from our week of hanging out euro-style at Le Web in Paris and then in Berlin. They were both awesome experiences and we met so many great people. At Le Web we heard from some of the most successful startup CEOs and founders (see below) that got us really inspired and ready to kick ass in 2012.
We also managed to grab interviews with the super-nice Dennis Crowley (foursquare) and Alexander Ljung (SoundCloud) that we’ll publish on our blog in the new year as part of our upcoming Tech Champions series to inspire others starting out. What we can say is that these guys are so down-to-earth and the challenges they face daily are the ones that we all as startup founders go through, so it was great to hang out and keep it real with them.
Karl Lagerfeld was the opening keynote! An interesting choice for sure and certainly the first (and possibly last) time we’ve ever been in the presence of such a fashion legend. These were the really cool live drawings from the guys at LiveSketching.com capturing some of the main messages from each interviewee, including Kevin Rose below…
Kevin Rose live sketch (Digg, Milk Inc)
Bill Gross (CEO of UberMedia) was one of the most inspiring speakers at Le Web. So much great advice in 12 steps!
Our favourite founder and CEO Dennis Crowley (foursquare) - such a genuine and humble guy. Probably the most inspiring person we had a chance to hang out with at Le Web.
And then there was Berlin…. The hangout that we arranged in Berlin straight off the back of Le Web to meet some local startups went better than we could have imagined with around 15 - 20 people from the tech, music and design scene coming down for a few beers to say hello.
And - serendipitously enough, London’s very own Mike Butcher happened to be in Berlin that night and made it along to hang out with us too! It was a great night and we made so many new Berlin friends, we’re looking forward to coming back soon for our hangout number two there next year.
It has been an incredible 2011, loads of challenges, highs and lows and most significantly the year that we saw the conception and birth of this, our newest project, uberlife.
We’re so excited about 2012 and everything that we want to achieve. But for now we’re going to power down for a few days. When we come back in the new year we’re kicking off with our second “Meet the neighbours” all-American BBQ in Old Street, for Silicon Roundabout’s best tech, music and design companies to get together, chew the fat, catch up on all the Xmas and NYE goings on and set our 2012 resolutions in place.
In the meantime, have a wicked Christmas everybody and here’s to hanging out more in 2012!
Meeting the neighbours
It’s been just over 3 weeks now since the uberlife team moved to our new home in Old Street and we’ve pretty much got everything in our office sorted – furniture built, fridge stocked, IT/broadband nightmares sorted, boxes packed away, rubbish thrown away…
Now that all the boring bits have been done it feels like time to get to know our new neighbourhood a bit better. Yea yea, there are a whole bunch of apps and online guides to tell us what’s what, we know that.
BUT, we prefer to hear things from the horses mouth and do what we love doing the most – hanging out with new and interesting people. So we thought: how can we get to know as many of our neighbours as quickly as possible?
We know first hand that life, particularly for the awesome companies in and around Old Street doing awesome things, is busy. Very busy. But something everyone has to do is eat right? Right!
So we’re arranging a laid-back, drop in when you like, lunchtime hangout on Wednesday 14th December at Red Dog Saloon and inviting some select companies down for an all-American BBQ feast.
The plan is to lure as many lovely locals down as possible to say hi and get them to give us their personal lowdowns on the news, tips and goings on in the area.
Let’s see what happens…
uberlife hits Berlin - come join!
Following hot off the heels from our trip to Le Web, Paris we’ll be heading off to Berlin to hang out and say hi to as many of our startup counterparts over there as we can.
So much great stuff is coming out of Berlin - not just the tech scene and the amazing startups that are choosing Berlin as their home, but the whole music and creative scene that’s been bubbling away there for years makes it one of the hottest cities on the planet.
Plus, being one of the most sociable and friendly cities ever to boot, along with London and New York, it’s one of our most favourite places in the world to hang out in - so what better place to get to know some local players and share ideas.
We’re arranging some free drinks on Saturday 10th December at the infamous Kim Bar, an underground uber-cool Berlin bar, and inviting anyone and everyone interested in tech, music, design, art and hanging out to come down and say hi.
We have it to ourselves for a couple of hours before our friends at 900 Seconds take it over for their awesome night!
