Entrepreneurs in London

Fred had a board meeting with Soundcloud in London so I tagged along and it gave me an opportunity to meet with a few people too.  Seeing people in their environment really is a great thing to do.  I am making a commitment to get to every company that I am involved with and meet the team.  

I started off the day having breakfast with Carmen Busquets.  Carmen has been involved in the luxury fashion business since she was twenty.  She is smart, saavy and an angel investor.  She has also launched her own companies, Couture Lab and Gift Lab.   She was the original investor in Net-A-Porter as she believed in what they were doing when very few did.  She totally understands that it takes time to build these businesses.  Carmen is really down to earth and if you spend some time on the web you realize, at least I did, that she is a huge player and has made some really smart investments. 

I met up with Fred at Tate London where we saw the Picasso exhibit.  The Tate London is where I had my "aha" moment about art in college.  I spent a semester abroad in London.  It was my first time outside the US.  I saw a Roy LIchtenstein exhibit and I fell in love with art.  This was an installaion at you walk downstairs to the Picasso show.  David Tremlett, Drawing for Free Thinking 2011.

Afterward we made our way over to Shoreditch for lunch and some meetings.  Our first meet and greet was with Editd.  We got to meet the team.  Fred got a overview of what Editd was doing.  I believe I invested in Editd well over a year ago.  Impressed with how far they have come.  They have listened to their market and made those changes accordingly.  Editd is key for any buyer, merchandiser, wholesaler or retailer.  They crawl the web and analyze comparison shopping, key trends from social to color. 

Then we had tea with Sally Broom of Tripbod.  Tripbod is a marketplace for original and unique travel agents around the globe.  I wrote about Sally awhile ago and have been following her journey since.  There are a few sites getting into this business but nobody has yet to figure it out.  My bet is behind Sally. 

Back to the hotel and off to drinks with Rohan Rajiv.  Rohan has been following and commenting on both mine and Freds blogs for awhile.  He interviewed me back in November.  Loved sitting down with him in person.  He is charming, super smart and incredibly curious.  Rohan has deemed himself our extended nephew.  Impressive young man.

A day of meeting and greeting with entrepreneurs in London.  I used Rohan's blogs heading on top of mine today because it captured the day. Can't beat it.