Long one

Been working on the app since 0830 this morning (more like 0805).

I made no progress before lunch. And afterwards I only made progress by working on something else (I use Trello to keep track of app issues - like I'm a little one-man-band-of-Agile-hipsters).

So, I did make some progress today but there is a lot to do.

I  also found the inspiration for a five minute summary of what the company is doing for a business event on Saturday.

Hopefully have more steam tomorrow.

(And yes I know an 11 hour day is no biggie for startups but most of what I'm doing is totally new to me and therefore rather tiring).

dun dun ... dun

An SaaS provider wanted our D-U-N-S number (yes, that is how it is written).

But we are a baby-business (no, we don't sell babies, we are just small) and it could take two weeks to get one, apparently.

Except it turns out that Dun & Bradstreet have already assigned one to us.

More business progress

Having bought a box of paperclips on Friday (and securing strong interest from one business) yesterday I purchased an iPhone.

Although we already had access to one I thought it was time to get our own and settled on an iPhone 6s Plus for two reasons:

- although appery.io will "compile" for iOS pretty easily I think that as we go operational (at least in beta) I need to always have one on hand in case there are problems
- the larger screen of the Plus will be better when we demonstrate it


Also, we gained the serious interest of a business as another beta participant.

Significant business progress

Today I bought some paper clips.

Damn right it's a big deal. Even though we talk about the paper-less world (think about that the next time you go to the toilet) sometimes you need, in business, paper.

And that means paper clips.

So, today I bought a box.

Not just any paperclips but an assortment of coloured paper clips.

Clearly we are a serious business.

Also, we visited a potential customer, showed the solution and asked if they were interested in participating in the business beta test:  absolutely.

Take-aways from the Fintech panel

This evening I went to a German American Business Association meeting where there were two panels holding discussions around Fintech.

I attended one focussing on regulation.

It's actually been a while since I worked within the Finance world.

Anyhoo my takeaway was:

• Berlin used to be the only place for startups in Germany but now Munich is catching up (we're not in Fintech but it is good to know. Also, I am not totally sure what was said because it was said in Foreign).
• As a culture Germans tend to go for reference-able products and services. It's also a "me-too" attitude and I read of one entrepreneur who was told that he would only get investment if his idea was a copy of something in Silicon Valley. All this, however, is now changing.
• Something else about something that we will keep within our business and will sort out pretty damn quick.

Despite there being a lot of people it was a great networking opportunity.

To read and to watch

Last night finished reading Venture Deals: Be Smarter than your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist.

A really good book but I will have to read it again. A few times.

It certainly opened my eyes to the complexities around getting a deal.

This morning I watched a video from one on the authors Venture Capital Crash Course with Jason Mendelson. This needs to be watched a few times as well.

This was found from the Ask A VC blog. There are lots of great VC blogs. You know, some people think the internet is for a communicating post-nuclear holocaust. Some think it is for Singaporean women to post pictures of their teddy bears. Some people think it is to show the, um, more fun aspects of human behaviours - when naked. But actually it is for VCs to write about their views and activities. So I am starting a blog roll, initially as a label (tag).

Friday

Posting this a day late ...

had a great meeting with the head of a local American German Business Club. We are getting so close to getting beta testers.

This morning I rearranged my schedule for next week so I can go to a business club meeting. The meeting's topic isn't really associated with us but it was suggested and it will be a good networking opportunity.