May 2010 Archives

Tony Blair, the ex-Prime Minister, has just been announced as the newest addition to Khosla Ventures as a senior adviser.

Khosla are one of the more prominent venture capital firms in the Valley with companies like Boku and Xobni in their portfolio.

Why would this marriage occur you may ask... rather simple, it's a win-win situation.

I'm sure I am not the only person scratching my head in wonder at the punishment delivered to Johnny Cameron (no relation) by the Financial Services Authority.

The full details can be read here with the FSA statement here but basically the former head of Royal Bank of Scotland's investment banking operation has agreed not to work full-time in a bank or insurer ever again.

As a result the FSA is not going to pursue any further action against him. So basically he has been cleared of any wrong doing, did not admit any guilt and was not fined.

Oh and the independently wealthy 55-year-old can still work in lucrative part-time consultancy roles.

Like many men (and women) I am a sucker for a shiny new piece of technology.

Sleek cutting edge looks, functions I will never use (much less understand) and a fancy name all tick my consumer box.

So when the computer generated design for Aquamarine Power's updated Oyster wave device, pictured above, dropped in to my inbox I really had to share it.

Putting aside the name - Oyster 2 doesn't quite have the punch of Oyster 2.0, Oyster Plus or Oyster Evolution does it? - it is a lovely looking piece of industrial science fiction style kit.

There is a fascinating discussion going on at the Business7 and Insider Linkedin group.

The topic, proposed by Adam Gordon, is whether you or your employer should own the connections you make in Linkedin.

It has already provoked a good level of debate from the members of the group.

I grew up in a household with a permanently revolving front door. It was a bit like living in the transit lounge of Heathrow Airport, with visitors from New Zealand, Romania, India, France, Canada and many others, breaking bread at our family's kitchen table.

This diversity of social interaction provided me with a patchwork quilt of influence and aspiration. It taught me the importance of tapping into to the knowledge and experience of others in order to broaden my horizons and deepen my understanding of how the world works.

It is a lesson that I have applied throughout my career but never more so than since embarking upon the Safetray project. This week I thought it might be useful to provide an overview of some of the people who have been played a big part in guiding me through the Safetray journey so far.

Over the past few weeks I have been lucky enough to meet with the CEOs and Co-Founders from some of the most innovative companies in the Valley.

Two of the most enlightening have been with Alan Barton CEO of, Lehigh Technologies, and Marc Tarpenning, Co-Founder of Tesla Motors.

From a technical standpoint it was great to chat with Alan about Lehigh's manufacturing process. The company enables vulcanised rubber to be recycled in high end goods such as car tyres, which was previously not possible. The process for doing this is remarkable, involving chopping the rubber, freezing it with liquid nitrogen and then putting it through a grinder that Alan describes as a 'jet engine with teeth.'

It has been a busy few weeks for the creative folks here at B7 and Insider towers.

Hopefully most of you will have seen the revamped paper (if not check out the e-zine version and compare it to the older issues in the archive).

We think it is a much brighter and bold design which makes it a nicer product to read.

Now we have updated the websites for Business7 and Insider to make things a bit better.