Old blog posts

Monday, 22 June 2009

After meeting all the Google team I was invited to the hottest ticket in town – The Google After Hours party. This was cool as I got to see the legendry David Ball and his team in action. What a great party. The details were very cool. There was a flashing dance floor made up of the Google colours, neon and lighting every where. As well as that some of the coolest people in Davos were there…

One of the most random meetings was with Robert McCooey and Bruce Aust of NASDAQ. I told them all about One Young World and we laughed that soon I will be calling them to IPO BraveNewTalent.com! What was cool is that Robert invited me to come to New York to give a speech about One Young World and close the stock market. This really made me laugh! It is a real ceremony over there where you ring the trading bell. This could be a really cool opportunity. I am certainly following up on this one!

I then managed to track down Al Gore and told him all about our aims with OYW and really emphasised how the US would have low just 61 delegates! He really liked the idea. I told him that it would be cool for him to be a counsellor. I was not sure what to do then. You cant really ask someone like Al Gore for a business card! We just smiled, shook hand and said goodbye and goodluck! Unfortunately not one I think I can follow up on.

The Tapscott family (Wikinomics) were there in full force and were having a great time. Prince Haakon of Norway remembered our chat the day before and was very friendly. I went over to have a drink with him and rather embarrassingly invited him to join me skiing in Norway next week (I am going next weekend!). He laughed and said he would love to…

The room was full of very senior people. Chad Hurley (YouTube) and I managed to catch up again. He is a very cool down to earth guy. We were all laughing when he called me an ultimate networker. I explained that this was my job as I was starting BraveNewTalent.com. I said surely when you founded YouTube you ran around like a madmad telling everyone how great the site was’. He replied ‘No, not really’. Maybe some people are just luckier that their idea kicks of without any of the madman networking needed!

The cocktails were so good that my dancing got a little crazy. I managed to firstly wipe out the singer my swinging some very beautiful girl around my at an uncontrollable speed… What then happened was I managed to do it again but this time I got my lovely dance party to flying kick one of Google’s most senior people on an empty dance floor – whoops!

I joined the Google after hours after party in one of their Range rovers. We all headed to piano bar and hung around there until we got thrown out at 5am. Going to bed at 5.30am I realise that I have a 9.30 am meeting… 8 house sleep since arriving in Davos is not beginning to take its toll I think!

DAVOS WEF Day 4 – from politicians to billionairs: anything goes in Davos

If Davos went on for a couple of weeks I think I would have a global business in no time at all. I honestly never thought it was possible to shake hands with so many billionaires in a day… Today was really informative on numerous levels. After very little sleep (I have not managed to get more than 4 hours a night since being here – not cool!) I headed over to the Belvedere. I managed to bump into Jet Li again after just sending him an email. It was fantastic as I met his right hand man. A young Chinese chat that was clearly incredibly cleaver and passionate about his work. I really pitched to him the One Young World was Chinas first ever opportunity to have proportionate representation of their population at a global event. Not only that it is a way to give young Chinese people a powerful voice in the world. It is my aim that One Young World could be a young Davos or a ‘youth Kyoto’ where young people can mobilize their voice and views to really have an international impact. With people like Jet on board, the Tom Cruise of Asia, this by no means is a utopian dream.

Following this I went along to the British business leaders lunch. I was impressed how how large the British representation was at Davos. Three was probably 100 people in the room. I imagine this is less than half of our representatives also. Peter Mandelson, gave a long and very impressive analysis of the UK economy. Although I cant go into details of what he said I was impressed by his intelligence as well as his passion for the UK economy. There were loads of UK business leaders I recognised, the room was certainly a powerful one. We heard some interesting thoughts about buying British, protectionism and the future. Being here in Davos it occurs to me that nobody really knows what is going on in the world. All these ‘business leaders’ seem to be in rather a state of shock at the speed and depth of this recession. I heard that this year will be the first year since 1982 that the global economy will shrink. I think we are living in unprecedented time and Davos just confirms that even the most successful, most intelligent and most experienced leaders on the planet really lack good ideas on a unified way forward. I would sum up the general Davos feeling in one word: confusion.

Enough on the economy – I get really bored by all the recession chat. People that make it their business to moan about the recession are never going to see the countless opportunities that exist out there. My view is simple – lets take the economy on head on, with an attitude of innovation and entrepreneurialism and see the positive aspects that exist in every market and industry.

Following Mandelson’s speech I managed to have a chat with him. I mentioned that he was supposed to launch One Young World in India on 22nd January. He seemed to really like the idea. I was telling him all about it much to the dismay of all the journalists standing around him that wanted to steer back the conversation to less optimistic things like the recession! Following this I spoke to a few of the journalist one of the senior people at the FT told me how the future of the newspaper industry is very shaky as nobody wants to pay for content they read. I can only see this getting more of a problem in the future as my generation certainly don’t like paying for newspapers when they expect to be able to get it for free online. Something occurred to me here; if there is less money in the media industry there will have to be less journalists which will mean either the quality of coverage will decrease OR/AND the role of ordinary people, bloggers, social networks will over take this industry in reporting news as it happens. I am sure that anyone going into journalism today that is not up on new media channels will have a difficult career ahead of themselves.

I managed to speak to some very senior people at various companies about One Young World, Including Peter Morgan from BT. He really liked the concept so I am going to see him on my return to London. As I was walking out I ran into Lakshmi Mittal on the stairs. Immediately I jumped on the opportunity. I had have met him before (briefly) at the Emerging India Awards so I mentioned this. He seemed to really get and really like One Young World. Again especially the fact it will be India’s opportunity to shine as a future economy. He asked his assistant (the lovely Selina) to follow up with me. I managed to get an hour with Selina and she loved it all. Looking positive. Selina then set up a meeting with Aditya Mittal and myself. This went really well. WE had about 20 minutes together. I offered him the opportunity to potentially be a counsellor if he could sponsor the Indian delegation. His eyes lit up when he thought that he would represent next gene India and share a platform with people like Geldof, Tutu and Annan… This again is one to watch.

I then had a great chat with Mohammad Yunus again. I told him that I work with Baba Amte through Take Heart (www.TakeHeartIndia.org). He knew Baba well and described him as a saint. This was so nice for me to hear!

George Osborne questioned me on whether it would be good for the UK only having 13 delegates out of 1500. But the more I explained to him how it was the UK’s opportunity for us to demonstrate to the world that we are a thought leader in developing the world future generations it was more like music to his ears. He has put me in touch with a person the Conservatives office. Who knows who will be in power on February 8-10th 2010!

I then caught up with the India crew at the Infosys party. I spoke to Nandan Nilekani, Co Chairman of Infosys about the concept and asked the company to sponsor (no beating around the bush). I think i will get to have a meeting with him next time I am in Bangalore. The food at the party was incredible – they had flown over a Michelin chef from London. First time I have ever tried Chocolate Prawns. I met some amazing people at this party. I followed up with Vijay Mallya who sort of bragged that he was about to jump in his helicopter to fly home. He really makes me laugh as he is the king of Indian new money – flash with the cash.. Very talented guy though and the master of personal branding.

I met David Aikman who heads up Young Global Leaders (YGLs). Davis is certainly one of the most interesting people I have met in Davos. Hugely dedicated and hugely passionate. He kicked it off immediately. He knew all about One Young World and was obviously a very big fan. I discussed it all at length with him and we decided that it was vital that we try to stick to our guns in selecting delegates in proportion to the worlds population. Then something really cool happened, he was asking about my back ground and I mentioned Take Heart and my connection to Baba Amte in passing. David stopped me and told the story of how he had visited Baba Amte’s centres 7 years ago and it had changed his view of the world. We really connected on this and I promised that I would show him round next time he visited. We really do live in a small interconnected world. After chatting with David and his wife for about 45 minutes another person joined us and asked me if I was YGL. David immediately said that I was high up on his radar. This was such an honour for me to hear. I have now firmly got becoming a YGL in my sights. It is a phenomenal platform for social good. I think I am still too young and inexperienced but one day I hope I will have the honour to join these remarkable people. Most of them are between the age of 35-40.

Yet another phenomenal day in the unreal world of Davos. Now for the Google party…

DAVOS WEF Day 3 – Launch of One Young World and Kofi Annan’s climate justice movement

Today saw the launch One Young World in Davos. What a great day! I started this morning with Kofi Annan as he launched his Climate Justice Movement in association with the Global Humanitarian Forum. One Young World will be supporting this initiative by airing the vioces of the next generation.

The weather is absolutely beautiful. I heard Kofi speak about the importance of mobilising the next generation to tackle climate change. We all have a responsibility to do our bit. This was fascinating stuff. He laid out a impressive ‘polluter pays’ argument that will be taken to Copenhagen.

The new One Young World site is up and can be accessed at www.OneYoungWorld.com. We have also temporarily changed our homepage in its honour – see www.BraveNewTalent.com. I am so grateful to all the hard work and efforts of the BNT team back home. I can feel the momentum picking up. Words cannot describe my excitement as we take this challenge forward.

Life remains good in Davos – I am about to walk into a lunch with Bill Clinton and Richard Branson among others. An update on that coming soon!

DAVOS WEF Day 2 – Tapscott, The Elders, YouTube, Google – what a day!

There are good days and then there are indescribable days. Today is one of the indescribable days. Being at Davos is simply an honour. I have probably met more people in one day that have shaped the world I have grown up in that the rest of my years put together. Whether is Heads of Google and the Founder of YouTube to Stelios of Easy Jet I have met some very impressive people. Davos gathers truly exceptional people.

However, the tone has been all together pretty somber. From my experience the really exciting things have been happening in discussions outside of the economy. The economic downturn has been central to the agenda. I am looking forward to launching One Young World tomorrow with Kofi Annan and providing journalists with a positive message. Check out the new website: www.OneYoungWorld.com

I had a great conversation with Dom Tapscott, internet legend and author of Wikinomics. Dom is launching a new book called Grown up digital. I am just guessing but I imagine this will be another best seller. Don focuses very much on the Net Gen/Gen Y and how the digital world has changed the world in which we have grown up. He basis the book on his experiences from his lovely daughter Nicole.

Nicole Taspscott and Rahaf Harfoush are a very impressive pair. Both from Canada they are heading up the community site for the WEF. I have no doubt that Rahaf will have her year in 2009. She was one of the key players behind Obama’s social media outreach. She is launching a book called ‘Yes We Did’. With her exceptional creativity and network of leaders such as Don she will very quickly become a important voice in the new media space.

I have to wake up in 4 hours to prepare for the One Young World launch. I would love to write so much more about everything I have taken away from today but must get some sleep! I think I will need to blog properly on my return. So far all I can say is Davos is a place where big things happen.

Global Enterprising Young Brit of the Year – Vote for me at http://unhub.com/lucian/

It been a mad couple of weeks. Taz got married which meant both he and Nuno were out of the office. I realise how vital every member of the team is when they are gone!

So I have been lucky this week – I am in the final (one of 4) for Global Enterprising Young Brit of the Year. The judging is happening next Tuesday (24th March). By being in the final I am also up for the People’s Choice Award. Any one can vote for me to win this by going to: http://unhub.com/lucian/ Thanks for taking the time to vote!

BraveNewTalent.com secures £102k loan from RBS

Credit freeze? Well I have managed to get RBS to agree to a loan for BraveNewTalent.com for £102,500. Good news! This will help the all important cash flow significantly.

So what does this say to me about the current financial market? I am an optimist by nature. Even if I try to be pessimistic it only lasts 5 minutes. Perhaps we could put this down to my youthful naivety… However, it has been a real concern that BraveNewTalent.com must generate early stage funding for us to grow and develop at the speed that we are all aiming for. I would argue that the recession is a phenomenal opportunity for BraveNewTalent.com. This may just be blind optimism but I want to justify this for three main reasons:

1. The recession is a phenomenal catalyst for change

Seeing as we have a disruptive concept in boom times we could be at risk that nobody cares. Everybody is happy doing things the way they always have as there is no reason for change. The old idea ‘If it aint broke don’t fix it’. However, the recession has meant that every aspect of every business needs to be looked at and reviewed much more closely. Businesses must be efficient, lean and cost effective. Recruitment as it stands today is anything but this. Conclusion: persuade people to do things differently. Persuade companies to use BraveNewTalent.com.

2. Hiring phenomenal talent

Simply put, there is less competition out there. I know from experience there are some great people looking for jobs right now. In boom times salaries are inflated and top talent is in short supply. We have a great pipeline of amazing people super keen to join BraveNewTalent.com. This all comes down to one simple fact – a business is only as good as the people it hires. Fortunately in a recession it becomes easier to hire great people.

3. There are some phenomenal bargains on the market

So everyone is feeling the pinch… I am a nasty haggler. I want to get everything better, cheaper and faster. Perhaps in a boom time I would have been put to the end of the queue. Everyone is now fighting for business which means even in a start up we have more leverage on price. However, this is very much a two-way story. Companies are leveraging their power on our price. I only like it when this is a one way street!

So what’s the bad part. Ok, I don’t like to see people loose their jobs. Nobody does. I don’t like to see the stock market and housing market plummet. Nobody does. I don’t like to see people that have worked their entire life come to find that their retirement savings are actually a fraction of what they though. Nobody does. The recession has changed the economy forever. I really hope as a society we have learnt from the mistakes that were made in the boom times – we have learnt from our greed.

The dark side (ignoring the silver lining) of the recession for me is that its much harder to get funding. I am currently putting plans together to raise significant new investment (£1 million +). I know this will be a huge challenge. People want to beat down the valuation of the company which means us hard working entrepreneurs and our teams get more diluted. Still its better to own 50% of something that’s worth a lot than 100% of something worth nothing. Do bear in mind that some of the world largest companies (e.g. eBay, Microsoft, etc) all started and grew from the recession. Still hope for us in becoming a billion pound global company then…

Other than funding what really worries me is the occasional lack of innovative action during recession times. I sincerely hope that the old saying ‘Nobody gets fired for IBM’ will be thrown out of the window. BraveNewTalent.com relies on employers being brave, being innovative and believing in our vision for the future. My biggest worry is that we will be met with too much resistance to change.

An article came out yesterday discussing BraveNewTalent.com £102,500 Enterprise Finance Guarantee loan from RBS. Have a read at: http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/news/internet-business/5550116/bank-backs-new-social-network.thtml

DAVOS WEF Day 3 – Philanthrocrisis – Gates, Clinton, Branson, Yunus, Blair and Li on philanthropy post recession

Lunch today was something else… I managed to get an invite to a lunch called Davos Philanthrocrisis. It was attended by, among others, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Richard Branson, Muhammad Yunus and Jet Li. We were hearing about how giving has changed since the economic crisis. This has meant that many people who relied on giving are now in a state of crisis. Gates spoke of the joy he received from giving and explained it as a selfish act. Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and social entrepreneur behind the groundbreaking Grameen Bank, spoke of mixing business acumen with social conscious to create a highly powerful combination.

Tony Blair made a fairly performed act emphasising how we all have a responsibility to give and live in a sustainable world. I found this rather interesting seeing as the Labour government took on debt ever when the times were good. My generation will be paying off this debt for years to come. I thought his argument was therefore a tad hypocritical. On the other hand Bill Clinton spoke in a very genuine way about the need for action and the need for action now. He spoke about the fundamental challenges the world is facing where much of the worlds wealth ends up in the hands of very few. Again I found this entertaining as he was standing next to a significant spread of the worlds wealth on the stage as he said this (Gates, Branson, Li, etc).

Branson spoke about learning about the worlds problems by seeing them first time. Although I have had the honour and privilege to have seen first hand many of the worlds problems, I don’t feel that this is a viable solution. Even though this would boost the profits of Virgin Atlantic…

So what about One Young World (www.OneYoungWorld.com)? Before the event started I managed to have a quick chat with Branson (luckily he remembered meeting me before in India and my involvement with Sam). I will approach Richard about supporting One Young World. I hope he may be able to sponsor delegates or flights or something similar.

I then managed to have a quick chat with Mohammad Yunnus. This man is a huge inspiration for me, he has achieved so much in life. I know Isobel Maxwell in the States who heads up Grameen America. It would be great to get Yunus involved in One Young World as a councillor. I am following up on this one.

Then the really good stuff happened… I managed to have the last question. I got to stand up in front of all the cameras and ask Bill Gates ‘What can be done to mobilize and unite the youthful optimism of the leaders of tomorrow? Never before has a generation been so much required to be a generation of leaders. How do you envisage using technology and the internet to engage the youth of the world and let them have their voices heard?’. This went down really well as I think I was probably the youngest in the room by quite a bit.

Bill slightly went around the question. He said that giving by the young generation the ‘new media’ generation do not give as much as their older generations. I was surprised by Bill’s answer. He really criticised the young generation yet still demonstrated a huge amount of hope for them. What was then really surprises was Melinda Gates jumped up and added her thoughts. She looked straight at me and gave a very passionate talk on the potential for this generation to engage with each other and then have a greater influence. She took the example of healthcare.

Mohammad Yunus added his thoughts to my questions and said that young people should write down the 5 things they want to change in the world on a poster. This poster should be hung in your bedroom and everyday you should do something to live out the change. Branson also added his thoughts to the question by relating to his personal experiences of seeing young people die in South Africa without the government doing any thing to help.

When they finished answering my question the talk finished and I ran up and managed to have a good chat with Melinda Gates. I gave her a One Young World USB stick. I also managed to get a quick chat with Bill Gates. With any luck I might be able to get support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Following this I met some wonderful people. A Business Week Journalist grabbed me to find out more (hopefully an article here?!). I had a fascinating conversation with the Crown Prince of Norway who was very interested to find out more. If I am right the Norwegian Royal Family do a huge amount of philanthropy.

I left the lunch and bumped into Jet Li downstairs. He was the most impressive and passionate speaker. Ever since he nearly lost his daughter in the Tsunami in whilst in the Maldives, Jet has been committed to social causes in China. I explained to Jet how we wanted to select delegates in proportionate representation to the worlds population. This got Jet really excited and he said he would help me find the 259 delegates we are looking for from China. I really hope I will be able to follow him up on this. As far as I am aware Jet Li in China as well as top movie star is seen as a absolute legend by most Chinese people. This is certainly one to watch.

Finally I managed to bump into Dr Vijay Mallya (Kingfisher). I have met Vijay before as he is our Next Gen India Champion for the UK India Business Council. I told him all about One Young World and he seemed to really like it. Like China if we successfully pull of the split of the delegates it would be the first time in both India and Chinas history that they have every had proportionate representation at a global event. This is powerful stuff in a country that truly prides itself on the potential of the next generation. I suggested that Vijay’s son (born 1987) might like to be one of the delegates. Here he could represent both his country and his generation. Rumour has it that Vijay gifted his son Kingfisher airlines for his 18th birthday. Perhaps his son might help fly the other 223 delegates from India to the UK. What a great way to publicise the new international route between Mumbai and London on Kingfisher!

Anyway, I am now burning on no sleep, loaded up with coffee and I am off to try to gate crash the South Africa party. I love Davos!

I won the Global Enterprising Young Brit of the Year Award… Yey!

Good news today. I had the rather ironic experience of receiving £1000 from Alistair Darling. Some might say that the cheque is likely to bounce… Great day. I pitched this morning and over lunch it was announced that I won the Global Enterprising Young Brit of the Year award. This is a great boost and puts some very welcome money into my bank account (yes that is different to the BravNewTalent.com account!). I have not yet paid myself a penny from BraveNewTalent.com so I am very pleased to get this…

The day was fantastic. I met some really interesting people with some phenomenal businesses. I had a really good chat with Alistair Darling and told him all about my plans to use BraveNewTalent.com to deliver the National Internships scheme. I also mentioned One Young World nd he agreed with me that it is a phenomenal way to present the UK as a youth leadership champion. All good.

I was pleased to see that the People’s Choice award was given in honor of Rob Williams (http://www.robwilliams.org.uk) . I had the pleasure of knowing Rob was with him the weekend he died tragically in Verbier. I attended his funeral on Thursday last week.

Now its 11pm and I should be out celebrating. Too much work so I am saving the celebrations for tomorrow night.

Thank you for everyone that voted for me to win the People’s award!

AIESEC Global Leaders Summit – 200 young leaders from 107 countries

Another fabulous week for the company. So much happening and lots of following up since Davos. The momentum seems to build day by day.

I am currently pondering a big commitment. David Ball and I have been discussing the potential of writing a book on the Web 2.0 recruitment world and Net Gen communication changes for some time. On Thursday last week I listened to Don Tapscott (author of Wikinomics and Grown up Digital) speak on the impact young people are having in the world. Don and his wife then join me an some of the BNT team (David, Holly and Tim) for cocktails in Paramount. Apart from anything else Don and I discussed giving a speech together on the next generation in the Playboy mansion this summer. This seems to hit a few teenage dreams of mine… Could be very good fun!

I discussed in detail with Don the possibility of me writing a book with David Ball’s support. As well as giving me six secrets to writing a good book (coming soon in another blog post) Don offered to write the forward to the book. Not bad to have probably the best author in the internet space offer to write a forward!

I am now thinking of how I am going to find the time and what the consequenses will be. Anyway for now all I have got is as far as the title: ‘Winning the War for Talent: Rethinking recruitment for the digital age’.

Now, like most things this is just a question of time… I need to do some serious juggling of commitments should I ever manage to write a book. However, the ambitious voice inside me says I have so much to say and what better way than to say it in a book. I look at this very simply – 99% of sales brochures go into the bin, whereas 99% of people put a book on their book shelf. The impact of writing a book documenting the biggest change to happen in the way humans communicate and the way people engage with employers might just be the thing that can take BraveNewTalent.com global… Watch this space!

To write a book or not to write a book? Winning the War for Talent…

Another fabulous week for the company. So much happening and lots of following up since Davos. The momentum seems to build day by day.

The week that was…

This week has been, lets just say, memorable. I thought it might be appropriate to blog some sort of diary (more for my own memory than anything else).

Monday 19th January – 1 day before launch

7am alarm goes and I jump out of bed – masses of work to do and last minute preparations for our launch. BraveNewTalent.com has loads of problems that we have become aware of but there is nothing we could do – Obama unfortunately would not delay his inauguration… I arrive in the office and Tim, Taz and Nuno are already there. Big day ahead we all laugh.

The day flies by with some last minute preparations. We plan the email shootout for 5000 industry leaders. Holly has her first day in the job and hits the ground running. I was so impressed. I remind myself of how little I can personally achieve without the commitment and enthusiasm of such a fantastic team.

At 3pm I have a great conference call with a digital team at Endemol. They want to create a running documentary on One Young World. We speak about creating our own YouTube channel and then selling in the program to Channel 4. This will follow the ‘Hunt for the Leaders of Tomorrow’ as well as tell some of the stories of the people.

By the evening the whole team is still in the office. A team of copywriters have been uploading employer profiles all day. I decide it is pizza time and order us more pizza than anyone could quite manage (tomorrows breakfast!). We all crack on. By the end I hit the sack at 3am. Nuno was still up urging me it was his big day also. Meanwhile Dhiraj in India is already up and hard at work chasing journalists. Sleep…

Tuesday 20th January – ‘Tomorrow begins today’ BraveNewTalent.com launches

THIS IS THE BIG day. The day I have been working towards for over a year. The day I have dreamt about. BraveNewTalent.com goes live. At 8.20am there are a series of high fives in the office as we put the site live. This is a symbolic day.

Just as Obama vowed to bring change to the world of politics, BraveNewTalent.com vows to bring change the world of recruitment. We are talking in some punchy language! Obama was fed up with the status quo and sought to change it. In a much smaller way I feel the status quo in the recruitment world is no longer sustainable and is ripe for change.

Our email get sent out at 3.30pm just as Obama gets ready to take up the biggest job in the world. The whole office then stops and turns on Obama. The mood is celebratory. The big day is finally here. Obama wows us with his acceptance speech. Nuno Twitters on his page ‘There has been more than one change today – Check out www.BraveNewTalent.com.’

The whole team then heads to the pub. It all starts with champagne. Josh films the celebrations and interviews me for TechFluff.TV. I sit back smiling at what a good team BNT has attracted.

Wednesday 21st January - DAVOS DAVOS DAVOS!

Wednesday was a big day… It started with David Ball telling me that today could be a good day for me – this normally means that today will be a great day. I bounce around with excitement not really being able to concentrate until I receive a call from Kate Robertson. I have been invited to Davos for the World Economic Forum (The WEF). I was asked to represent young people for the launch of One Young World on Thursday. I think I will be speaking about why it is important to encourage young leaders in front of the worlds media as well as Kofi Annan and David Jones. This must be one of the biggest opportunities of my life and something I really don’t think I deserve. I am still boiling over with excitement.

On Wednesday evening I pitched BraveNewTalent.com to an audience of about 80 people at Cass Business school. John Bird, Founder of The Big Issue was judging and gave a very passionate speech. Following dinner, I then received an offer of further investment into the company (not by John Bird!).

Thursday 22nd January – MyLongLunch

This day started with a potential intern coming into the office. We are launching a BraveNewTalent/One Young World internship program where individuals can have the chance to take control of a specific region/country and manage the social media outreach in that location. This offers a huge opportunity for anyone wanting to get involved in politics, social media and really have an impact in their country.

I then met the founder of Success Mag. He might be taking a desk in our Mayfair office (this is an option only for people who can add value to BraveNewTalent.com in exchange for desk space!).

Following this a few journalists were interested in the Davos and launch news. I find speaking to journalists to be really interesting – I am sure we have a very good story to tell with the One Young World connection. I am guessing but there cant be that many start-ups that attempt to launch in 192 countries overnight! I am sure there is a reason for this – I hope we don’t find out what the reason is…

So to My Long Lunch – (check out www.mylonglunch.com). This is a fantastic concept. A load of companies arrive in a pub in the afternoon wanting to sell something (some new some old) into the graduate market. Then a series of about 9 agencies join in. It is like speed dating but more speeds sales pitching. I had 9 ten minute pitches to graduate recruitment focused ad agencies. What a way to get your message heard quickly!

My mum then comes to stay – amazing food in The Farm in Fulham. Sleeping on the sofa…

Friday 23rd January – Site review and Lars Molin chat

On Friday everything seems to be coming together. The PR being generated is fantastic. From the Telegraph to Onrec. Friday was to consolidate all the problems found on the site. A group of us enjoyed a beer fuelled pub lunch followed by a long session pulling every feature of the website apart…

I then had a long conference call with Lars Molin, founder of what is now Monster Europe and also founder of Universum, Wet Feet, CareerTV, Constellation, Nova 100, etc. He and I have been chatting for a while. He is keen to partner with the One Young World project and promote it to the thousands of talented young people across the world that his various companies deal with.

I then jump on a train to York for a weekend in the countryside with 10 close friends. Life does not get any better than that!

BraveNewTalent.com launches its Alpha Site – Tomorrow Begins Today

TOMORROW BEGINGS TODAY

The world has changed in more ways than one…

This is the beginning of a revolution in the recruitment market. On this historical day BraveNewTalent.com launches its phase 1 alpha site. Join us today to make the most of our Free Trial Period.

BraveNewTalent.com is your external social media interface. Use it to increase your brand awareness amongst graduates, in the most effective, safe and secure way. You can now start engaging with your future talent online. Join the conversation…

This is a time of extraordinary change. BraveNewTalent.com believes in challenging and changing the global recruitment industry. Be a part of this change.

Obama knew something powerful…

On January 20^th 2009 the world will change in more ways than one. A man with vision has used social media tools to become the world’s most powerful man. Obama knew the power of social media – in fact 67% of his success was due to social media. He raised $639 million through his social media outreach.

BraveNewTalent.com is will be going live on Tuesday (20th January) as employers social media interface. It is our aim to help employers use social media in as many innovative and creative ways as the Obama campaign. We are excited about challenging and changing the global recruitment industry.

There is no doubt that we are living in exponential time of change. I am so excited by this change. I am looking for employers to participate in this change.

To Blog or Not To Blog. That is the question.

So I am supposed to be a technology entrepreneur, armed with the latest cool web ideas, web aps and online tools – yet why do I find it so challenging to keep a blog up to date?

Perhaps I need to make a habit of blogging… It was one of my new years resolutions – To blog and to go to the gym. Now until today I have failed at both. This is the first blog post of 2009…

divx spider man 2

My life is pretty fun at the moment. There are so many amazing things happening to both me and to BraveNewTalent.com, it is now time that I start writing these down.

Lets see the question of blogging all comes down to my organisation of time… 2009 will be the year of the blogger.

Posted by Lucian Tarnowski at 6/22/2009 03:58:00 PM 0 comments Links to this post