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im-back

I’m Back (Again)

Last week I spent some time pursuing my goal of a zero inbox and realised I had not replied to our graphic designer regarding our new business dashboard design. Of course I replied immediate saying, “Dustin, I am a terrible person. So sorry I am only replying now.” He replied saying, “Brigid you are NOT a terrible person – you are just busy”.

And that’s it I guess. Instead of apologising for not writing a post in such a long time, I will embrace it. I would rather have something to say than to blog for the sake of blogging.

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Cliquidity is Heading to Dublin in October!!!

More than 5,000 startups applied and Cliquidity is lucky enough to be among the lucky 500 early-stage startups who will exhibit at this year’s Web Summit held in Dublin, Ireland on 30 & 31 October 2013.

10,000+ of The World’s Brightest Minds in Technology

The Summit is a global gathering of the world’s leading thinkers and doers in technology. It’s not just a gathering of the planet’s leading startups and technology companies, but of businesses, large and small, who are being impacted by new technologies. This year over 10,000 attendees will make the trip from all corners of the globe to hear from over 300 speakers across dozens of stages, workshops and roundtables catered to every sector.

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Dashboard_v3

New Release: User Dashboard V1

Designing and building a website can be tricky. Largely due to the fact that users are generally more lazy than you expect. So if any aspect of your design assumes a degree of intuition or even inquisitiveness – rethink that immediately. Users today want most website functionality within one or two clicks from landing, they want the value proposition spelt out in an explainer that lasts no longer than 90 seconds and they want to feel the benefits of sign-up immediately.

Add to this the fact that your own ability to judge the website objectively diminishes as you become more familiar with the site. (And maybe the fact that no one on the team is really a User Experience (UX) expert.)

I guess this is perhaps the most important thing I have learnt on my startup journey so far: The reality is that no one gets it exactly right the first time. And that should not be the goal – technology moves too quickly and if you spend your life trying to perfect your offering before taking it to market, you will do just that – spend your life (and probably never get to market).

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mike butcher

Lessons from Mike Butcher

Above: Mike Butcher (TechCrunch) and Roger Norton (Silicon Cape) listening to Net Prophet pitches.

After spending two days with Permjot Valia and ten other startups (Net Prophet Startup Workshop 2013), I got to pitch Cliquidity to Mike Butcher from TechCrunch (if you do not know who he is, take a second to read his bio on TechCrunch).

Mike came screeching into the room in a puff of f-bombs and just seemed like the coolest techie I had ever come across – complete with black leather jacket, ironic t-shirt, iPad Mini and iWatch (with Space Evaders being his favourite feature). As each startup finished pitching, Mike fired away with some very relevant and very daunting questions. I was so impressed by how quickly he could put each startup in context and by just how much he knew about almost every aspect of the tech industry.

After making most of the startups cry, Mike gave us a quick presentation about tech media (the presentation is available on SlideShare and is embedded below).

[slideshare id=10023288&style=border: 1px solid #CCC; border-width: 1px 1px 0; margin-bottom: 5px;&sc=no]

How to Deal with Tech Media by Mike Butcher

Experiment: Think You Know Me?

In the same way my voice sounds completely different when I hear a recording of myself (*cringe*), I assume the way I perceive my personality could differ significantly from what other people perceive.

In an attempt to test the validity of my self-insight I thought it would be interesting to see what my friends thought about my Cliquidity Personality Report.

To have a look at my Cliquidity Personality Report <<<click here.

If you know me please have a look and tell me if you agree by commenting on this post below. Want to generate your own Cliquidity Personality Report? Read the post below which explains how. And then feel free to share your thoughts about your report below.

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Pushing Buttons

Because I entertain the idea that some (albeit only a few) people outside my circle of friends read this blog, I feel I should explain a bit more of the back story. Feel free to skip ahead to “What is Cliquidity?” if you are sick of reading posts about me.

The back story

In the early 90’s (yes this is quite a back story) my aunt got married to a suit. They moved into a big house and drove big cars and took my sister and I along to holidays on big golf courses. Needless to say, as a fairly materialistic little girl, I was impressed. Soon my “When I Grow Up” school oral changed from “Roxette” to a “chartered accountant” – because that was what the suit was.

Fast forward to 2012 and I qualified as a chartered accountant. After four years of Business Science at UCT, another year of PGDA, three years of articles at the Big Blue and two scary board exams, I realised that the big house and the big car and the big golf courses didn’t really impress me as much anymore. I was a lot more interested in big ideas and making a big difference.

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Book Review: Unbearable Lightness

I remember the first time I was called fat – ironically by a blonde little girl in my Sunday school class in Grade 1 who ended up being obese herself. But even before that I knew that being thin was more desirable. Read More

yolo

Rant of the Day: #YOLO

You might have come across the incessant use of the hashtag #YOLO in social media posts (or – if you are friends with real gems – people who hashtag normal conversation). If, like me, you thought #FTW** was an ironic spin on #WTF***, you too may have wondered where this newest meme came from and what all this shorthand really means. If you are already tired of reading this post because this first paragraph has exceeded 140 characters then #GL&HF**** Read More

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I am back!!!

After a brief, yet vaguely successful attempt at starting a blog almost a year ago I have decided to put index finger to keyboard once more. I would like to commit to writing more frequently (for the fans of course) but I fear that even the significant investment ($99) I made in a premium WordPress membership may not prevent me from slipping back into old habits.

As a sweet pre-teen and not-so sweet teenager I kept a diary. It was not you typical “Dear Diary, I am like totally crushing on David – I wonder if he is crushing back on me”. It is difficult to explain but imagine a weird combination of Anthony Robbins type motivational to-do lists, along with explicit details of my teenage rebellion and an alarming obsession with world domination, power and strap-ons*. Pretty much the most embarrassing diary ever kept. I kept these diaries and have not destroyed them only because I still hold onto the hope that my dreams of world domination may materialize and that such early childhood diaries of the new world leader may be of historical importance.

Even back then – documenting what I thought would definitely end up as a typical Hollywood “rags to riches” childhood – I was terrible when it came to writing regularly. Every couple of weeks I would have to sit down with a box of cigarettes and Derek the Bandit (later Roger Goode) blaring int he background, and reflect on what I had gotten up to in the preceding weeks.

So I cannot make any promises about the regularity with which I will blog. Or about the relevance of my posts to anyone other than myself and maybe a select group of immediate friends. But I can promise that I will be honest and unashamed of the self-indulgent journey of discovery I hope to take.

And to always

Keep it Tight, Keep it Real.

* added for effect, with little basis in reality.