Archive for the ‘Business development’ Category

Can I just have one screen where I get my data?

In a previous life, travelling around the US and Europe I came in contact with a large number of companies using learning management systems. I met all kinds – people who had never deployed one before to HR departments who were cyclically deploying a new LMS every 3 to 4 years – still in search of one that adequately met their needs.

A common thread emerged through all of this contact – a need for a simple to use LMS that really was simple to manage, and fulfilled the core role of an LMS properly – ie. deployment and management of training. The epiphany came when an exasperated HR professional threw up their hands and pointed at the screen. They said:

Can I just have one screen where I get my data?

This was after three days of patiently trying to learn how to navigate screens and screens of forms, lists, and general madness in an established LMS. The technical among us may be inclined to scoff at the over-simplification implied in the statement, but it’s point is clear. And it’s one of the main reasons Notion Learning is being built.

Currently, commentators are making all sorts of bad noises about the traditional LMS – as though it’s some sort of awful beast. VLEs, empowering learners and everything else is taking centre stage, and with some (but debatable) justification. But the need for an LMS that does tracking well doesn’t go away. And HR departments screaming at systems that just don’t quite do what they want, or take three weeks of technical training to get them started isn’t the only way it has to be.

The aim with Notion Learning is that one day I’ll be able to go back to that HR executive and give him a system he’ll enjoy using. A system he  can learn in a couple of hours by themselves, rather than a couple of weeks. One that just shows him his data.

Notion Learning alpha version released

Notion Learning; our easy to use, web based, powerful learning and training management system for businesses has just gone live in alpha.

As we had said back in October, it’s been very quiet on the blog because of the huge amount of development we’ve been doing in preperation for our first release. On Monday evening we deployed the alpha version (0.85) of Notion Learning. This is a huge milestone for us as it’s the first time the software is available on the Internet. Since Monday we’ve been doing a lot of testing to ensure that the application works in terms of performance – it’s vital that the application runs at a capable speed so it’s just as usable as a local, desktop application.

As well as that, we’re also revising the first version of the notion learning homepage. There is still a bit to go on that to really emphasise the benefits that Notion Learning brings to an organisation, but there’s a big difference between a big empty black screen (what was there before Monday) and what’s there now.

Currently we are in private alpha, which means that we are rolling it out ever so slowly to stakeholders and friends, for example, early adopters have already been into our system as student users, taking a course we’ve developed. Soon, those early adopters will be given invites so they can create full Notion Learning portal sites and create and manage e-learning themselves.

If you are interested in seeing more of Notion Learning, do get in touch – while it is a private alpha, we’re more than happy to show demos of the software.

Review: Don’t just roll the dice by Neil Davidson

Software pricing is one of the most difficult things to get right. One of the first pieces of advice I got from a serial entrepreneur was ‘take a price, and then add two zeroes to the end of it before telling your customers.’ – It seems at times to be as much an art as a science.

That being said, there is useful advice out there, and Don’t Just Roll the Dice by Neil Davidson is a good place to start.

As it says on the cover its “usefully short” – there’s no nonsense here which is nice. It starts with the briefest of introductions to economics, before moving into the interesting area of pricing psychology. The discussion on perceived value is crucial for anyone involved in pricing.  I’d recommend supplementing the reading of that chapter by watching this fascinating TED video: Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man – which delves into the notion of perceived value.

Another interesting aspect of the book was the concept of fairness:

However you price your product, remember that consumers have an acute, although often irrational, sense of fairness. Think twice before you betray that.

I think this is an often overlooked fact by people setting prices, but it’s something we encounter all the time in every day life. Even if something is expensive, if it can satisfy the ‘fair’ criteria, then it’s ok to pay the premium.

Since Notion Learning is going with a SaaS platform and subscription payment model, the section on versioning in chapter 4 was very relevant. The section doesn’t go into ridiculous detail on user segmentation, but it does point out some really neat things you may not have thought about, such as adding choices to a versioned price plan having two opposite effects depending on how easy it is for people to compare the different versions.

Don’t just roll the dice is a great introduction to a difficult area. Read it, then price away.

Page for Don’t just roll the dice at NeilDavidson.com, where you can download a free e-book or follow links to buy on amazon.

The Techcrunch pitch

As previously mentioned, we pitched at the Techcrunch London event last Thursday. This was one of our first public pitches to industry – before that we’d only done it in university competitions (King’s College London & Imperial – winners at King’s and finalists at Imperial) so it was a really good experience. I wish we had more to show, in that our prototype isn’t ready yet so we didn’t feel comfortable showing work in progress screenshots.

We made some great contacts, and we’ve seen a few blog posts about the event where we’re mentioned (and here) so it’s nice to keep building traction as we get closer to putting up the beta. On twitter, @alanhammond made my day with this tweet:

First 6 pitches at #tclondon were interesting. A couple I would invest in if I had the money. Festbuzz and Notion Learning

Techcrunch London: This Thursday – we’re pitching

Notion Learning is pitching at Techcrunch London this Thursday (24th). We’ll be giving a 3 minute pitch. There’s some good talks and a bunch of other great companies pitching as well. More details here at Techcrunch Europe.

Notion Learning has an office

Notion Learning won free office space from the London Knowledge Innovation Centre as part of their Southwark Tycoon boot camp they ran in June. We moved in at the start of September. They are running the competition once again, so take a look, it’s well worth it.

When bootstrapping/doing things on a shoe string, office space is often out of reach  so the benefits of somewhere to go and have a proper desk and internet etc. for both of us is huge. We’re very lucky to be here.

Review: The Web Startup Success Guide by Bob Walsh

Both of us follow Joel Spolsky’s blog, Joel on Software, so when he recommended a new book: The Web Startup Success Guide, we both went off and ordered it.

The author Bob Walsh has crafted an invaluable guide dedicated to everything related to starting a startup in the web space. He covers SaaS, mobile apps, tools, money and funding advice, social media and way more. Sprinkled throughout the book are interviews with various serial entrepreneurs and experts (Guy Kawasaki, Joel Spolsky obviously, David Allen and many more). No matter how much you think you know about starting up, there’s so much more to learn from the book. He provides up to date links to various helpful online tools and resources, some of which Notion Learning will soon be using. His final advice on the last page (I won’t spoil it) is something we both now point each other at whenever things aren’t going so well.

Buy it, read it and tell everyone else involved in a web startup to do the same.

The Web Startup Success Guide @ amazon.co.uk.
The Web Startup Success Guide @ amazon.com.

Seedcamp application submitted

Seedcamp is one of Europe’s premier funding opportunities for technology startups. We just submitted our final application to Seedcamp Week 2009. What is it? From their web site:

What is Seedcamp Week?

Seedcamp Week is an intensive week-long event held in London every September and is targeted at young entrepreneurs from across EMEA.

Applications are made online and based on these, a judging committee will select up to 20 teams to participate in the event.

We focus this week around providing an incredible experience for the 20 teams selected. There is a diverse mentor network of serial entrepreneurs, corporates, product designers, venture capitalists, recruiters, marketing specialists, lawyers and accountants that help the selected teams put together the foundations of a viable business.

The aim of this week is to collapse the time it takes startups to make and develop these critical relationships from months to a week and establish an unrivaled foundation on which the business can be built.

So it would be a huge benefit to Notion Learning. Keep all fingers, toes, etc. crossed.

Second Open Coffee

Today it was the day for our second open coffee event. As usual, we met loads of really interesting people, and we really recommend it for anyone working on a start-up. Just do a search for open coffee London on Google and find it’s meetup.com listing.

minibar

Another first for us was the mini-bar event, organized by Bootlaw.
The event had presentations of some new start-ups such as

• http://www.completelynovel.com/, aiming to alter the way novels are published and read. They identify themselves as “Social Reading and Publishing”, but I think they are more than that.
• http://pluginseo.com/, who are in the process of building an one-stop shop for SEO, which is great
• a new start-up called Cohive aimed at creating a social desktop for on-line collaboration and catching up.

Again this was a chance for us to meet some very interesting people and discuss our ideas.

Definitely another event to follow-up.