David Erasmus

Over the last year or so I iPhone has subtly moved from its already idolatrous position on my bedside table to actually just staying on my bed with me as I sleep.  How is that for intimate?

Aside from the potential health issues that we don’t fully understand yet I actually find it pretty embarrassing to say that I don’t want it to be out of reach for even 1 minute of my life!  Then in the morning, I check Facebook, Twitter and worst still Emails before even thinking, praying or looking out the window.

I think this is bad for my health, wellbeing, quality of sleep and social life, I am trying to change.

I just read 35% of us check our phones before getting out of bed in the morning so at least I am in good company

I think sucking in what is going on ‘out there’ on Facebook, Twitter and Emails before even thinking in the morning is a terrible way to set the vision for who I want to be that day, creating a reactive rather than proactive posture.

In my lucid waking up state is when I often think most creatively, peoples names pop into my head, or I remember a dream I had which leads to an Idea.  This all happens before I clothe myself with Logic, lifes limitations and most of all the outside impetus of what the rest of my world wants me to do on that day.

2 mornings ago I woke up after dreaming that Bill Gates had invested heavily into @giveyUK.

After being mortified when realising that it wasn’t actually real I actually thought “Well he is a philanthropist now and he is losing his old tech battle to Apple so why not try and get hold of him?” That Is what I am attempting, So Bill if you are reading I would love to talk about working together

Anyway the point is from the moment you get up and out of your room the world is going to bombard you hard with “stuff” you gotta do, buy and be so why trade in that pure creative 15 minutes in the morning for the sake of reading another flipping Groupon email?

My mate Andy Smith once said, referring to the amount of Entrepreneurs from within my home friendship group…

“They must be putting something in the water in Leatherhead”

He was shocked as many are that most of my friends work for or run their own businesses or charities

To name a few of my closest friends from a sleepy village in Surrey :  Oliver Hall, Simon Kelly, Andy Lindsell, Louis Cole, Mike Moore, Andy Gill, Alex Ball, all starting and running their own AMAZING organisations and I could talk about 10 more!

Nearly none of us went to university or did amazing at school but we have built a culture together that is accepting and encouraging of people pursuing their dreams. It is a privilege to find myself amongst such a great bunch.

Are Entrepreneurs born or made?

Firstly Entrepreneur is a Horrific term! it sounds poncy, elitist and unattainable.

Secondly I want to separate Serial Entreprewatsits from guys and girls that have one project or business.

The risk profile for Serials is very high and there is definitely a unique DNA of person required to live that lifestyle.

For lifestyle startups however I believe EDUCATION AND EXPOSURE are the two key elements holding people back.

In my town where we have built that culture MOST people have opted for it.

In this climate of uncertainty and with GDP growth @ 0.2% we need people to step up, innovate, rather others around them and go for their dreams. Even if after a year it fails I am convinced that if presented correctly you would be MORE employable than if you had spent a year in corporate.

I currently sit on a board at UCL designing a new Degree which is fun, one of the big things I am pushing for is the idea that going into Startup is not LESSER of an option versus a corporate internship, if anything it can do more to develop a person.  My friend Raj Dey is doing great work in this space :  enternships.com

In Summary : I believe that being entrepreneurial can be for almost everyone but we don’t get the education and exposure to build our confidence that it is an achievable and valid life path!

Either that or they really do put some weird stuff in the Leatherhead water!

What is next?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13308452

Maybe? Any other thoughts?

This like button thing is very interesting.

You click a thumbs up picture and it gets added in 2 places… To the Musician’s page you have agreed to like and on YOUR facebook profile.

This concept is simple but vitally important.

We want to build up our preferences and living journey, but we are not prepared to break “our flow”.

We don’t want to be whisked off to another site or a different page especially if we have to login.

We want instant action but without having to waste a second, we want to look back and see all the things we have enjoyed, and most importantly we want to prove to our friends that we are cool by letting them see what we have liked.

I am currently enjoying / getting frustrated trying to figure out how else this paradigm can be utilised to connect with the rising generation in a meaningful way.

Any thoughts?

I just got distracted by Facebook for the 15th time today but realised a subtle but pretty significant change.

They appear to have done away with the “comment” button so you can just slap enter and it is posted.

Brilliant!

This is a long overdue improvement to their User Experience to make Facebook truely feel like a conversation.

In our forever faster world anything that breaks our natural flow or tendencies will prevent us from taking action.

These improvements are not convenient luxuries but a necessity if the dinosaurs like Facebook want to keep ahead of the game.

Bigger empires have fallen but Facebook seems to still be making the right innovative moves at the moment.
(Other than the horrid black background, hover over photo gallery recently added)