Happy Goon Co-founder Tim Mutlow Joins the C4DI Community Following a Successful KickStarter Campaign

Happy Goon is an exciting startup that is based around high-quality greeting cards that you can buy online anytime, send them anywhere, and watch them come to life with the Happy Goon app.

Their Kickstarter Campaign was successfully funded and they have great plans in store.

Tim  moved to Hull in October 2015. He has a Masters of Engineering from Warwick University, 8 years  experience working for HSBC  in a wide variety of technology roles. Check out Happy Goon's website here

Startup Fundraising: do's & don'ts

Ten essential fundraising methods for Startups - when to get investment and when not too!

Hackers, Hipsters and Hustlers - key business skills

Three things make up a startup, Hackers, Hipsters & Hustlers. Hustlers are the individuals that make connections and ultimately help grow your business. To help you learn the way of the Hustler we arranged a talk with Bob Spence, who kindly agreed to share some of the secrets of his success with us. Bob is a renowned author of ‘Executive Programme in Professional & Business Networking’ and creator of E-Learning programme ‘Who do I speak to next’. Not only has Bob enjoyed immense success generating revenues & prospects but he also understands the methods of how he achieved it, condensing it all into an easy to understand formula.

 “Succeeding in business is all about making connections” - Richard Branson 

Entrepreneurs, startups, companies looking to export, Management teams looking to source international partners & anyone who has the ideas but not the connections,  this talk is perfect for you.

Hackers, Hipsters & Hustlers was held on Thursday 19th November, but if you missed it (or would like to recap) you can catch it on our YouTube channel. We'll now be recording all of our talks  - now there are more ways to access our fantastic events and learn valuable business skills.

The collaboration effect - catalysing innovation

To learn about collaboration I left C4DI, Hull, for the day to explore Do it Day - an annual event where hundreds of marketeers and digital experts come together to try and solve huge problems in one day. Here's a review of the event and some useful concepts and ideas that could drawn from the day, which you can apply to your own business. The event was a prime location to see what can be achieved through collaboration and various team dynamics. The tasks varied, greatly, and ranged from IBM's technology challenge which aimed to get children into technology through wearables, to Visa's challenge - aiming to help children understand finance.

C4DI Trees

After an early start and some exercise, battling my way through torrents of Londoners in the underground, I arrived at IBM's head office, where the event was to be held. Drafted into a team of around 15 members, I helped promote our campaign - a product of the former 'Plan It Day' event; "Trees for Trees". The aim of the campaign was to plant 10,000 trees (a whole forest) in just one day.

By taking a picture of a Tree or sending in a drawing to the 'Heart of England Forest team' using the tag #TreesforTrees the project ensured that as many members of the public would get involved in the action as possible. For every picture that was sent in a tree would be planted in the rapidly growing forest.  In addition, any submissions would become part of the virtual forest on the website and displayed on a huge digital billboard in Piccadilly circus during the day. For more information visit the web site www.treesfortrees.co.uk.

As mentioned earlier, many of the projects being run on 'Do it Day' were conceived initially in the Plan it Day' phase. Through brainstorming, collaboration and idea sharing teams of digital professionals created incredible projects from the briefs that were given to teams on the day. Not only were these campaigns created in record time, they probably would have eaten huge amounts of time (and other resources) to make in a more stagnant, traditional environment. The variety of perspectives and fields helped generate a buzz of ideas that led to the rapid concept generation that made the Do It Day campaigns possible. Many of these projects would not have come to fruition without this type of environment. Traditional working environments can often lead to narrow and sluggish idea generation phases since they often do not have the resources or the fresh perspective s that can drive creation through the cross pollination of ideas.

All in all, it was an exhilarating day - by combining the abilities of everyone attending we managed to achieve some truly spectacular things. Seeing the sheer caliber of projects and the varied approaches of each team was fascinating. Trees for trees surpassed over 10,000 tweets and attained the project goal of getting a whole forest of 10,000 trees planted in just one day. The success of Do it Day is a testimony for the effectiveness of collaborative workspaces, as found in C4DI, which foster leaps in innovation. This experience has proved to me that with the right type of culture and people you can create some really amazing things. I can't wait to get involved in all the projects that will arise from our very own digital hub over the next few years.

#TreesforTrees - a wonderful way to save the world.

Dee - Community and Project Support

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Come along to Northern Stars on the 29th October

Tech North has launched Northern Stars, a competition to showcase the brightest and best startups in the North of England. Taking place over the next three months, Tech North are hosting pitch nights in seven major cities across the North, presenting an opportunity for startups to reach a new audience, receive mentoring, and meet early stage investors and business leaders. We are delighted that we are hosting the Hull event at the new C4DI building on Thursday 29th October and you are invited!

​This is our chance to shine and make it a special event. Not only to showcase our startups but also to have the best crowd of lovely people!

At each city pitch competition there will be a presentation by CrowdCubeabout how to engage with their crowdfunding platform, and the winner on the night will receive an Apple iPad. The city pitches culminate in a regional final on 24th November in Manchester, where the 10 winners will come away with the following prize package:

– A place in the Tech North pavilion at TechCrunch Disrupt (London Dec 7-8) and 2 x tickets to the conference – Meetings with some of Europe’s leading early stage investors & mentors – Pitching at a dedicated investor pitch event at Bloomberg, London – Pitch training and media/PR support – Invites to high profile events in the UK and Europe

Since launching the Northern Stars initiative, Tech North have already generated a good buzz online, with coverage in Tech City Insider, Prolific North, and the Yorkshire Post. Taking part in the Northern Stars competition will raise the profiles of inspiring digital tech startups and strengthen the connections within the tech community within each city and across the region.

We're encouraging startups to apply to pitch, and for people within the community to come along and support the entrants on the night. The date in Hull is Thursday 29th October at 5pm at the new C4DI.

Expect an energetic, fun and exciting evening... and yes there is free pizza and beer!

Please click the relevant link below to register to pitch or attend! (For applying to pitch, once on the website, click the Apply Online Now banner to be taken to the registration page).

Apply now to pitch >> click here.

Attend >> click here.