The geese will tell it in autumn

While you were away.....

Sun, sea, some great reads, running in the heat, did I miss the Startup world? Well I did give it a lot of thought which will hopefully bear fruit in the coming months. I don't think I am alone in finding that my real question when I return from holiday is more practical. Not the existential did I miss it but what did I miss? I have been keeping track of Scottish Tech Startup people and events for a year now. Frequent meet ups, great events, open conversations and lots of coffees have fuelled this interest. Since none of these are available in Majorca, I have turned to Twitter to check out events in my absence. Using my own list and with thanks to Tadas Labudis @Labudis for his well curated list, here are the highlights of the last week or so:

Startup News
Exciting news of a great collaboration between Desk Union and RBS to provide a new flexible workspace for entrepreneurs

Interesting slideshow from a talk by Nooq founder Graeme Bodys about transparency

Can't keep my investment company Mallzee out of the news either. They were named in top 20 fashion Startups by tech.eu and you can also vote for them as a fans favourite in the Great British Startup Cup - will Cally withdraw if Scotland votes Yes?

A more serious competition from BoS. Not long left to enter their enterprise awards - deadline is 23 July and valuable support is on offer for the winners

Also serious competition, great to see two strong Scottish Companies in this contest to win the right to supply John Lewis stores with their product

Not sure if I have the energy for the Wild Hearts WolfTrek event this year but it sounds great so maybe next year.....

.....and last but surely the most significant news apparently the team @floatapp is now big enough for a game of ultimate frisbee!

Forthcoming Events
9Others is a fun dining format bringing together players in the Startup ecosystem. Tadas has also organised (and kindly invited me to) the first such event in Scotland on 16 July. Places still available....

Ambitious Startup We Are The Future is hosting its first event stateside with the World Entrepreneurship Summit in San Francisco on 26 July.  Even more exciting six early stage Scottish Startups won an expenses paid trip to pitch at the event in a contest at RBS HQ

The next Dunning Communications Breakfast focused on the value of Brand Culture is on 7 August

Quite a few meetups and other get togethers still happening and Open Tech Calendar has a neat and easy summary of the next few events now on its homepage 

Other news
A few very significant external announcements I could have missed without the Twitter as well. First and foremost, the arrival of Google Ventures in Europe with a $100 million fund is fantastic for the whole Startup ecosystem

More local but also great news, Glasgow has become the first city in Scotland to offer free public WiFi

Somewhat arcane but vital to all our futures the Scottish Government's strategic plan for collection and use of data across public services.

Pretty lively for the holiday season I must say. Please let me know about anything I have missed .