Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Useful startup validation technique incoming…! Since the number one reason startups fail is “no market need”, lots of the work I do with them is around validation, and making sure they’re solving a problem that is actually worth solving.  Much of this presents as them not being specific enough about the problem they’re solving, and…

After selling a business earlier this year, I was asked to run the Fintech Wales startup accelerator programme. I had a fantastic experience as programme director for two cohorts. It was fun, exhausting, and massively rewarding. But, going in to this process I was aware that a scary percentage of startup programmes that tout themselves…

Last week I attended the Fintech Awards Wales awards, along with my clients, Fintech Wales (not related to the awards). We won the Best Accelerator award. For such an incredibly lightly resourced programme, with hardly any budget, we were proud to have won. As the Consultant Programme Director, with the brilliant support of local entrepreneur…

I’m doing this from my phone, so excuse any typos. i registered winetimefridays.co.uk as a response to the Boris Johnson’s staff’s behaviour during the lockdowns, when thousands of people were dying. until i work out what to do with this site (affiliate for booze delivery sites, with all proceeds to NHS charities?), I’m putting a…

A few years ago (Jun 2019), I tweeted the following thread, having returned to the UK after a couple of years away. I’ve made some slight edits just to make it more readable in blogpost format, but you can read the full thread (and replies & discussion) here. Things have improved somewhat since then, but…

I’ve always believed in the power of mentoring, and although there is a limited amount of insight and expertise that can be transferred in a short period of time (my sessions are ~45 mins), I hope I can really add some value. I’ve been mentoring with accelerators and directly with early-stage entrepreneurs for years, but…

A simple 6 step plan to take you from idea to business, with a simple to follow guide and resources.

Over the last few years I’ve mentored hundreds of startups and founders, most of them in the early-stages of building their business. The single most common issue I see is that founders don’t make a distinction between a good idea and a good business. They think that because there’s a problem, then inevitably people will…

I’ve been a fan of Melin’s for some time. Ever since I landed back in Cardiff at the beginning of 2019, I’ve been religiously attending CreativeMornings/Cardiff, of which she is the current custodian. It’s a huge, international network of events, and Melin runs the Cardiff chapter with great energy and humour. I’ve spent many Friday…

In the third of my series looking at how community builders and managers are keeping their communities vibrant during lockdown, I spoke to Chris Johnes, CEO of BCT Wales. The work that BCT do is really impressive, and it’s nice to hear about it in more detail. I’ll let Chris explain…  “The thing that we…