Phew, what a week!

Today I have had the afternoon off… finally! Was such a busy week last week. I’m currently developing two sites. One for a client and one for the all new Fizz Bang! On top of that I’ve been working on the project planning for iYosh. We’re in the process of securing proof of concept funding and it needs to come with a plan of action. I also have come up with a second application use which is very exciting. We’ve currently discussed it with the all important consumer through focus groups and its great to see their eyes light up when we tell them what it will allow them to do. But you’ll all have to wait and see what it does.

Things with the challenge are also going very well. I got to go to the annual Entrepreneurs Forum conference last week where I listened to some pretty inspirational speakers: Martin Lightbody (bloody funny man!), Richard Farleigh, Julie Meyer, Pen Hadow & Mathew Riley (very inspirational).

The evening event was also superb. I got to sit next to Paul Callaghan of the Leighton Group. Really nice guy! We sat and talked about the state of North East football over a three course meal of sushi, beef and mini English desserts. I’m meeting with him next to discuss iYosh.

I was also filmed by the Entrepreneurs Forum, so I’ll point you to that as soon as it goes live (or not!).

Emma.

We’re in the final!

Firstly I want to say apologies for lack of updates. Things have been crazzzzy these last couple of weeks.

In case you haven’t read elsewhere… we made it to the final two of the Ifwecanyoucan challenge 2009! So for the next month, the public get to vote on who they want as an overall winner. You can vote for us by emailing voting@entrepreneursforum.net (putting ‘challenge Emma Reilly’ as your subject).

At the moment I have a few very interesting meetings lined up. I also have the Entrepreneurs Forum conference on Thursday to look forward to.

As for iYosh itself, things are coming along nicely. The prototype is all finished and I’m now progressing this into a more commercial ready application. It was also through the prototyping that we struck up something rather interesting. With so many people concerend how web 2.0 can make money, well we believe we’ve found it for our application.

But before I reveal all, I must get back and do a bit more work!

Emma.

We’re in the news!

We’re in today’s edition of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. The story is about our success in the 2009 ‘If We Can You Can Challenge’.

There is even a nice quote in there from me too!

If you dont have access to the Chronicle, then dont worry! It’s online too: Evening Chronicle

Hopefully we’ll have some good news for you all soon!

Emma.

If We Can You Can 2009

Friday evening I got a phonecall from Ifwecanyoucan.co.uk, the North East’s social network for entreprenuers (from the founders of the Entrepreneurs Forum). I had entered their annual ‘Challenge’ a few months ago with the idea of iYosh and then went back to the day-to-day stresses of running one business and launching the next.

A very nice lady on the phone told me that the judges were still deciding on who the final five were (for the area covering The Evening Chronicle). However, due to the fact that I had the highest score (boasting totally intended!) I was gauranteed a place in the final.

Obviously I’m over the moon, just to even get the recognition from such a fantastic establishment. So I ended up doing what any person in my position would do… get a new hair cut and a new outfit!

Today I went to meet the judging panel who will decide on the final 2 to go through. So off I went to the Hilton Hotel, all dressed up in my new clothes. It was the first time I’ve ever been. Was very swish! For some reason, the idea of them calling it ‘level minus one’ rather than the ‘basement’ seemed to make me smile inside!

So I met with six entrepreneurs. I pitched my business and then took questions. It went pretty well. They all loved the idea of iYosh (and seemed quite taken with the name!) and provided me with lots of points of interest, such as Sunderland’s software city.

I find out a week on Thursday if I’ve made it into the final two. I would really love to win, but I’m more than happy to be in the top five. So fingers crossed for the next bit!

Emma.

Form filling

Since starting the process of seeking seed capital there has been a lot of form filling in, emailing, networking, more form filling in and more emailing. Today is going very much along the same lines.

I’m currently sitting with the ‘Proof of Concept’ fund form from North Star Equity Investors. They are a North East based VC who have various funds for technology businesses in the region. The POC fund is aimed at those who are in the idea stage. Although we do have a prototype, the POC funds would allow us to make a commercial ready prototype for testing.

I think this will be a good first step for us. Now for the form filling…

Some great finds!

Firstly, apologies if you can see that really annoying extra line on the header. Apparently its a WordPress glitch that they’re working on.

I’ve found some really great business blogs that I read everyday.

1. Freed from The Matrix – by David Langer of GroupSpaces Ltd. Excellent blog about the countries youngest entrepreneurs.
2. TechCrunch Europe – Obviously a must-read blog if you’re involved in any new technology company.
3. Lovely Companies – Created by another North Easter and full of news on some lovely companies.

Also some great books.

1. ‘The stories of Facebook, Youtube & Myspace: The people, the hype and the deals behind the giants of web 2.0′ by Sarah Lucy.
2. ‘The Google Story’ by David A. Vise
3. ‘Get to the Top on Google’ by David Viney

Oh, and if you’re looking for web design or SEO services then check out my other company: Fizz Bang.

And if you’re looking for a bit of a giggle then check out this site: Funnyexam.

New powerpoint presentation

I have created a powerpoint presentation for potential investors. If you would like to view it then please feel free to get in touch… emmalr (at) blueyonder.co.uk

Remember to let me know who you are!

And if anyone would also like to buy Newcastle United Football Club then please also make yourself known!

Emma.

The next step

I’ve been doing my homework on investors for some time. I’ve even approached some. One in particular seemed very keen but it meant taking the company in a different direction. Others have told us they’re interested, but want to see a working prototype.

I discovered through some research that an organisation in the North East of England were offering a ‘proof of concept fund’ to the value of £60,000. I needed to get a ‘sponsor’ in order to fill in the application. So I chose Codeworks, the North East regeneration organisation for digital. I met with them and discussed the concept of iYosh. They loved it, offering ideas and ways to improve the technology. They agreed that they would develop the prototype through their own funds.

I’ve been working with Codeworks for a few weeks and have had a really fantastic experience. Their input on how to best build the technology has been most valuable to my business plan. We’re looking to have the prototype ready in 2-3 weeks.

So now I have to decide how to best fund the next step. I need to take this prototype of the core technology and develop a market ready site. My options are to continue going through the seed funding and proof of concept funds. I found Nesta online yesterday who offer seed funding of up to £250,000 for phase one. This would be perfect for me to bring in the technical expertise I need to make iYosh a success.

The other option is to find an independent angel investor. My mind is leading me more towards this option as I feel an investor (or group of investors) can add value to the business and bring much greater expertise than the government backed seed funds.

The hardest part is finding these potential angels. Most are gaurded by network secrecy… or plan introduction fees. So this is where I am today… researching and emailing. I know the perfect angel is out there for iYosh, it’s just finding them in this haystack.

Introduction to iYosh

So welcome to my first blog post. I’m currently sitting in my parents lounge going through all the things I need to do tomorrow. It’s been a long time since I first had the ‘spark’ of inspirartion that triggered me to write the award winning business plan that formed the basis of iYosh. Now, I’m just a couple of weeks away from launching the prototype. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind and I will try my best to explain the journey so far without rambling too much.

iYosh (yosh is a japanese word that my friends use all the time. It means ‘excited’ or ‘gettin’ if you’re a native of Newcastle upon Tyne) first came about in 2003 whilst I was a film student at the University of Northumbria. Well, it was actually a mixture of experiences that formed the business concept, but this one got the ball rolling to find the ‘big idea’.

Now as an avid movie watcher, I love buying DVDs to watch on an evening. I love scary movies in particular. I spend ages going through reviews, trying to find the perfect movie to watch. What infuriates me are the random andoften poor reviews people post on these sites that are supposed to help you make more informed decisions. So one night in my last year of Uni I had just £20 left in my monthly budget. I was planning a Halloween spectacular for myself and my family. So after reading dozens of reviews on Amazon, several people were recommending a movie (for which the title escapes me… sorry!) about ghosts and hauntings. My most favourite type of scary movie! So I bought it for £15 plus £2 postage. It turned out to be the worst film I have ever seen. All the things I hated about scary movies were in this particular film. I was gutted at having wasted £17 on this rubbish. The people who had left those reveiws had obviously no taste at all. Then just three days later, I happened to tell a very good friend of mine about this movie that should be banned for all the wrong reasons. “Oh, you should have bought the original version of ‘The Haunting’. Its the type of film you’d love”. She even sent me a link to a cheap DVD site she used all the time. I traded in my rubbish movie for the 1963 version of ‘The Haunting’. We watched it a few days later and loved it. It was exactly the type of film me and my mum love watching… not heavy on special effects (none infact), no stupid made up monsters, no terrible storylines… just pure scariness! I then started thinking “I need to text my friends everytime I want to buy something just to get their opinions”.

So that’s where it started… to build a site that allowed me to build a private network of ‘shopping buddies’ almost. I originally wrote a business plan in 2005 which I entered into several business competitions. I came top 3 in every competition and the business was hailed as a ‘one to watch’.

Several years later iYosh has evolved into a highly sophisticated concept that merges social networking and e-commerce to create a highly original consumer search technology. Users will be able to create, group and share real time feeds of what they’re buying online, what they’re looking to buy or what they’re recommending to their network. All this data is then used to feed a highly personal product search and comparison database that users can use at anytime directly on the site, their mobile phone or through their browser toolbar. As we say: Buy it. Tag it. Feed it.

A prototype for iYosh is currently underway.

Emma.