CityMapper bus

Best Things We've Heard All Week: MadTech News

We've had rain, we've had sun, and when the temperature dropped in the middle of the week, we may as well have had snow.

Typically British – talking about the weather first – but yes, it's been another hectic week (for MadTech too, not just the skies). So here's our roundup of the best things we've heard all week.

1. We compared the age of a scaleup to the behaviour of a child.

Collider Mentor Network Sarah Wood Seenit
Collider Mentor Network Sarah Wood Seenit

Well actually, it was Lee from Beem. Honestly: "We're a five-year-old company, and like many five-year-olds, were full of unique potential and not without challenges."

Lee served up this slice of gold dust at our Scaleup Mentor Network on Friday, where we had some of the biggest names in MadTech including Sarah Wood, Anu Shah, Zaid Al-Zaidy, Rod Banner, Marion Barnard, Richard Fearn and Frank Kelcz.

We were also joined by the team at Microsoft Bizspark, who once again supported us in providing the best community and support as possible to our startups, with Ella Cockerell joining us too.

2. Celebrate and embrace your vulnerability, because if you don't feel any, you're probably not pushing yourself hard enough.

That's a quote from Co-Founder Andy's favourite article of the week, and something we couldn't agree with more.

If you're a new manager and not sure what to focus on, definitely give it a read.

3. A huge win for the tech scene.

improbable founder
improbable founder

Did you see this update? UK virtual reality firm Improbable announced their $500m raise last week, which meant the latest UK unicorn was born.

4. Our animal knowledge is not what we thought.

We got told – good and proper. Turns out, Karmarama's short legged llama is apparently an alpaca. Oops.

https://twitter.com/shaunmnemonic/status/861540202682122245

5. Startup pop up trial landed on our doorstep.

We were pretty excited to see the incredible City Mapper bus outside Collider HQ last week. Did anyone hop on their free bus?

https://twitter.com/andyt8/status/861936710246117377