March 2012
1 post
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of...”
– Notwithstanding the fact that by far the biggest risk when starting a new company are that either the idea sucks or your execution of it sucks (with the result that nobody wants what you create), this to-the-point article by multiple-time entrepreneur Andrew Scott provides a great guide to the...
Mar 3rd
January 2012
5 posts
I've written for The Kernel on why we should teach... →
The Kernel has just published a column piece by yours truly taking a look at the state of computer science education in the UK and making a case that we should be teaching all our kids to code. This is an issue I’m very passionate about, please do check it out and share your thoughts.
Jan 23rd
“This deception happens nearly every day and is especially rampant in Silicon...”
– Rocky Agrwal has a great post on VentureBeat calling out Larry Page’s sloppy use of statistics this week while commenting on the growth and engagement of Google+ users. A whole bunch of overzealous bloggers and news sources fell into the trap, misinterpreted his comments and reported Google+...
Jan 22nd
1 note
1 tag
“If you are really interested in the challenge of making a big, inefficient...”
– If you think you want to start up, please don’t - Sneakerhead VC  He’s right. Startups are hard. If you take the plunge, you better know it’s the deep end - and you can’t see the pool edge. If there’s doubt, there’s no doubt. But if you decide you’re...
Jan 17th
14 notes
I'll be contributing to The Kernel
I’ll be contributing monthly posts to newly launched online magazine The Kernel, generally with a tech slant, providing insights, opinion and reporting from a technical entrepreneur’s perspective. My first post was published during the pre-launch beta last month - Nailing That Elusive Technical Co-founder. Feedback and suggestions welcome.. The Kernel welcomes its latest...
Jan 11th
Selective Tweets: 3 years, zero marketing and...
After 3 years, nearly 1 million registered users and zero marketing, I’ve just released the code that powers Selective Tweets as an open-source project - you can check it out on GitHub (it’s PHP). I hope this will release a new swathe of value to interested developers and the app’s future. Is Selective Tweets most popular Facebook app ever to be open sourced? If anyone knows of other examples...
Jan 8th
5 notes
December 2011
1 post
Nailing that elusive technical co-founder
This post was originally published on The Kernel. It’s long been observed that the barriers to creating a technology start-up have been falling over the past decade or so. Smart people with a lot more experience than me have been observing how the amount of capital required to start a tech company has reduced dramatically. But it’s not only cheaper. Recently, my friend Harjeet Taggar, partner at...
Dec 20th
January 2011
1 post
The London List – London startups exceeding $10m... →
Nice to see Saul list us as one of the “emerging leaders” on the London tech scene - look forward to exceeding $10m in annual revenue ourselves..
Jan 11th
November 2009
2 posts
Problems with Twitter's new Retweet - and a...
“If someone retweets you (new-style), you won’t see it (it’s not in your @-replies or main feed) - even if you follow them!” Update (3 Mar): I was just chatting with my mate Sol from Tweetdeck and we realised the fix I described here doesn’t work any more. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted.. My twitter feed is a bit of a mess right now after I discovered a...
Nov 19th
2 tags
PHP Trick: Catching fatal errors (E_ERROR) with a...
Implementing a custom error handler using set_error_handler() in PHP can be a useful technique (Google search for more info/examples) Unfortunately, set_error_handler() doesn’t catch fatal errors - as the PHP docs say: The following error types cannot be handled with a user defined function: E_ERROR, E_PARSE, E_CORE_ERROR, E_CORE_WARNING, E_COMPILE_ERROR, E_COMPILE_WARNING, and most of...
Nov 1st
2 notes
October 2009
3 posts
3 tags
Stickyness and success: Techcrunch has it...
Just read the guest post How to measure the true stickiness (and success) of a Facebook app by Nabeel Hyatt from Conduit Labs over at Techcrunch. Interesting data, but the conclusion is backwards. “You would expect stickiness to go down as you get huge”. yes, the table he gives shows this to be TRUE: An increase in MAUs between 9/22 and 10/22 (col 4 > col 5) corresponds...
Oct 29th
4 notes
1st month as a Spotify premium user
Spotify founder Daniel Ek has just written a very interesting blog post to mark the first anniversary of Spotify, giving his views on Spotify’s progress, the music industry, where they’re heading and what the journey will be like. It’s now a month since I took the plunge and gave Spotify my credit card details. The tipping point for me was the release of their iPhone app...
Oct 10th
17 notes
The Alpha Course "Does God exist?" and online poll...
The Alpha Course in the UK are running a marketing campaign at the moment with posters asking the question “Does God exist?” followed by empty tick boxes for Yes/No/Probably. They’ve got the same thing on their homepage at http://uk.alpha.org/ set up as an online poll, complete with “see results so far” link. Problem is.. Clicking yes always returns...
Oct 6th
September 2009
4 posts
1 tag
PHP htmlspecialchars()/htmlentities() invalid...
Here’s a seemingly nonsensical gotcha I just discovered with error handling for htmlspecialchars() and htmlentities() in PHP. Since PHP 5.2.5, if either of those functions are passed invalid multibyte strings (invalid UTF-8, perhaps containing a truncated multi-byte character after improper use of substr() intead of mb_substr()) then PHP triggers the following error and returns an empty...
Sep 18th
1 tag
Design by Contract - for efficient coding
Yesterday I picked up this tweet from Joel: Getting into PHP Exceptions. Very useful :) Example - userExists() function should raise exception when no user passed, not return false! Hang on, should it? While exceptions in programming languages are without doubt a useful tool, his example reminded me of a problematic style of coding I’ve experienced - something I consider an...
Sep 5th
14 notes
2 tags
Reliability Bug in Facebook PHP API Batching...
I recently discovered a bug in the current Facebook API PHP Client library that affects the support for batching calls which I’ve used for the Selective Twitter Status application. The bottom line is, sometimes the call to batch.run within execute_server_side_batch() as called by end_batch() returns an empty string instead of the expected array of results from each of the batched calls....
Sep 1st
1 tag
If you can't find yourself in Twitter Search..
I just came across a recent help page from Twitter (from June) about what to do if your tweets are not showing up in the twitter search. As it already says on the Selective Twitter Status help page, your tweets not showing in Twitter search is one of the most common reasons for the app not working for you, particularly if it used to work but suddenly stopped. To check if your tweets are coming...
Sep 1st
3 notes
August 2009
2 posts
1 tag
New website..Tumblr it is
So, I finally got around to setting up a personal website that I’m not ashamed to show people.. I don’t really blog, but I wanted a home to stick links to my Twitter, FB, LinkedIn profiles etc for people that discover me online, collect links to show off when my projects receive press coverage etc as well as post interesting links and other notes from time to time. Features I...
Aug 29th
2 notes
1 tag
new FB iPhone app fixes Selective Twitter Status...
The new 3.0 version of the Facebook iPhone app now displays all posts by Selective Twitter Status correctly, even if you have the “show follow link” option turned on in the settings :)
Aug 29th
July 2009
1 post
1 tag
European Entrepreneurs Come to Life with their... →
Features an interview with David about GroupSpaces
Jul 31st
March 2009
1 post
1 tag
Warwick Young Entrepreneurs Forum Talk on... →
Thanks to Sam Fianu for a write-up of the talk I gave at the Young Entrepreneurs Forum organised by Warwick Entrepreneurs this weekend.
Mar 8th
December 2008
3 posts
1 tag
Q&A: TechCrunch UK's Editor Mike Butcher talks... →
Mike mentions GroupSpaces as one of the startups really standing out in the UK. Cheers Mike!
Dec 22nd
Where are they now: Ones to Watch 2007 →
Cheers to Charlie from Freshminds Talent for a write-up of the Spectator piece.
Dec 9th
2020 Vision: Tomorrow's Stars →
Featured in Spectator Business Magazine by Edie along with Langer, Victoria, Raj and Hermione
Dec 8th
September 2008
2 posts
1 tag
Sep 9th
1 tag
Three to watch in the student space: GroupSpaces... →
Sep 4th
June 2008
4 posts
1 tag
GroupSpaces featured in the Oxford Times' In... →
Andrew Young, the 23-year-old co-founder of Internet company GroupSpaces.com, has a bit of a dilemma. Entertaining article. Average number of factual errors per paragraph: 2..
Jun 21st
1 tag
Entrepreneurship is in Rude Health →
Richard Tyler (Daily Telegraph’s Enterprise Editor) blogs about Oxford Entrepreneurs’ 100 influential meal last night..
Jun 6th
1 tag
WebMission: Brits go to Silicon Valley →
Edie G. Lush joins a party of young British Internet talent on a pilgrimage to meet Californian role models
Jun 6th
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Jun 5th
May 2008
5 posts
Oxford Entrepreneurs companies - Where they are... →
May 30th
1 tag
Oxford start-up raises six-figure funding →
May 29th
Watching the cops roll up after some guy broke into our office and disturbed a 4am planning session
May 21st
1 tag
Web entrepreneurs seek their fortune in San... →
Coverage of GroupSpaces on the Web Mission trip..mostly accurate..
May 8th
life’s a pitch.
May 2nd
April 2008
11 posts
1 tag
Glad to welcome Dave I. to the GroupSpaces team →
Apr 27th
1 tag
GroupSpaces included in TC WebMission companies... →
Apr 26th
Startup School 2008 Rocked →
Thanks to Jessica
Apr 26th
Glad I left WebMission a day early.. →
..when I could have ended up in this photo..
Apr 26th
Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco.. “How to innovate on Time”
Apr 22nd
at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. Building an app for social platforms with Jia Shen.
Apr 22nd
1 tag
UK software stars conduct mission to woo Silicon... →
GroupSpaces mentioned in the Telegraph
Apr 22nd
1 tag
Britain’s best and brightest startups hit Silicon... →
VentureBeat article on Web Mission.
Apr 20th
pushing latest site updates live over SSH from GnDs ice cream cafe. “Silicon Valley is just a state of mind”
Apr 12th
pushing latest site updates live over SSH from GnDs ice cream cafe. “Silicon Valley is just a state of mind”
Apr 12th
The European Ecosystem is Entering Puberty →
Langer makes some awesome points in his latest controversial essay..
Apr 12th
March 2008
7 posts
Paul Buchheit: Ideas vs Judgment and Execution:... →
Great analogy that fits perfectly.
Mar 31st
How do you stop the iPhone bluescreening winxp on connection?
Mar 28th
New office! Not so big but more funky.. Anyone want 20,000 beermats currently blocking the corridor?
Mar 27th
In Business.
Mar 25th