A constellation of factors is causing mayhem for airlines, train operators and hotel groups. We got the inside track from Shai Weiss (Virgin Atlantic), Marc Noaro (Eurostar) and Greg Marsh (One Fine Stay). Courier: Would you say that people have a new attitude to travelling today? Greg Marsh: There’s increased currency when it comes to experiences. The consumer is so …
‘The fan has the power now’: Q&A with the founders of Boiler Room, Young Turks and Lost Music
2016 was recently revealed to have been the best year for the music industry in nearly two decades. At Spiritland in King’s Cross, Courier talked streaming, live events and brand money with three people celebrating the news: Blaise Bellville (Boiler Room), Caius Pawson (Young Turks) and Tom Mansbridge (Lost Music). Courier: It seems the constant gloom surrounding the music industry …
Lowdown: Q&A with WAH Nails’ founder, Sharmadean Reid
Sharmadean Reid is founder of WAH, once a hip-hop zine and now a futuristic London nail salon, and co-founder of Future Girl Corp, a business network for women. Sum up what you do. I have loads of ideas and find the best people to execute them. Why did you decide to get into nail art? I set up WAH because …
Two is the magic number: business co-founders share the secrets of their partnerships’ success
The relationship between business co-founders can be the most emotionally demanding in a person’s life. It can also be the factor which determines the success or failure of a company: the double act. In 2009, the Blackberry was so popular it was being referred to as the Crackberry. It accounted for half of all smartphones being sold. It was even credited …
How renegade political operators adopted startup culture
The tools and methodology used to challenge incumbent businesses have appeared in the world of politics. Sam Tarry (Momentum) and Paul Hilder (Crowdpac) untangle what’s been going on. Courier: When people talk about disruption in politics, what do they mean? Sam Tarry: It comes in ebbs and flows. Maybe 10 years ago disruption was considered people voting for a shock …
‘We’ve developed a culture of speed’: Q&A with Jason Goldberg
Jason Goldberg is founder and CEO of Pepo, a social platform that connects people with similar interests, with a focus on travel. It officially launched in November last year and, like Goldberg’s previous businesses, it’s been released at rapid speed. In the past decade, he’s also founded Social Median (a social news aggregator), Fab.com (third party e-commerce) and Hem (own-brand …
Conversation: Amit Gudka, Bulb and Gav Thompson, founder of Giffgaff, talk utilities
What does it take to challenge British Gas or Vodafone? Courier spoke to the founders of Giffgaff and Bulb – two upstarts having a go at rumbling the biggest of beasts in their respective fields – about how to create a modern utility company. Courier: Setting up an energy provider or a mobile network has to be just about as …
Q&A with venture capitalist Robin Klein
Robin Klein is the founding partner of UK seed venture fund, Local Globe. He was previously a partner at the venture capital firm, Index Ventures. Sum up what you do in a sentence. I help great founders build great companies. Why did you decide to get into this? It was a natural evolution for me, from being an entrepreneur and building …
Getting to know Airbnb and Uber: Q&A with Brad Stone
The Upstarts is an illuminating new book documenting the culture, practices and impact of Airbnb and Uber. Author and Bloomberg journalist Brad Stone speaks to Courier. You wrote about about Amazon in your last book. To what extent did that experience influence Upstarts? Oh, significantly. I’ve been circling tech for about 20 years, and been building this mosaic of Silicon …
London’s night mayor Amy Lamé on drugs, developers and diversity
Courier met London’s newly appointed Night Tsar to ask how she’ll tackle the problems facing the capital’s night life scene. In November 2016, London Mayor Sadiq Khan appointed Amy Lamé as the city’s new ‘Night Tsar’. It was a relatively cheap way of landing a few good headlines amid the mournful clamour following the closure of the nightclub Fabric and …
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