So, MiniBar. It had a kind-of structure, drinks were first, followed by a talk by the sponsors law firm, Winston and Strawn
Solicitor Danvers announced the firm are launching ‘BOOTLAW’ a boot camp for start-up law in the tec sector.
Places are limited as it will be held in their offices with pizza thrown in so you gotta get in there quick if you want some free law advice. (winston.com)
Then it was Todd, from Midpoint and Transfer (mpnt.com) speaking about his new online currency exchange system allegedly saving you £££s’. It all sounded a little complicated to a unknowledgeable banking person, but basically i think they match your currency exchange with someone in the world who wants to exchange the same amount in the currency you wish to purchase and take £30 for doing so.(correct me if I’m wrong)
Audience feelings were mixed over the ‘trust issue’ of who you are exchanging money with- But Todd said: “we are riding on the coat tales of the banks” and explained each customer who uses mpnt.com has to have a valid bank account and to have a valid bank account the customer must have been checked by the bank.
Cant people who have been checked by the bank can have a false ID or be dodgy? What about money laundering?
Next speaking were Alex and Phill, the founders of Snagsta.com ‘helping you find the things Google can’t', …they made us wear stickers on our heads to show the power of recommendations from people like you, I like Phill’s enthusiasm for Snagsta, saying: “it will take over Google” and think Snagsta is just what the overloaded web needs right now… But i don’t like the name- to me it has negative connotations like when you snag your tights, or call someone a snag (not nice)
Mini Bar has been running for quite some time now…lets put it into my ‘London Networking Event Marking system’..how did you score MiniBar!?
Free Food: 2/10 No nibbles, but had to give some points for great organic pizza place round the corner off Brick Lane- The Gorgonzola one is lush!
Free Drink: 10/10 FREE BAR!! – Beer, wine and even Spirits- although it only lasted the first hour and half, before the money ran out- (but i’m not complaining).
People attending: 10/10Loads of people, very full…was at Truman Brewery off Brick lane- bigger venue than Drink Tank so felt less hot.
Quality people attending:10/10 Meriem Aissaoui from Smarta, Tom from Ecourier, Tim Panton from phonefromhere.com, Glenn Shoosmith from Booking Bug, Danvers Baillieu from Winston and Strawn, Chris O’Reilly from Nexus, Alex Moore, from Snagsta, Nico Perez from MixCloud, Olly Mardling from WhattalentTracey Spencer from Own a Film Company and Todd Veri from Midpoint and Transfer.
Atmosphere: 7/10 Very laid back, great outside area for drinking beers in the (rare) setting sun…but a little to demanding on the ”Shhhhhhhhhh’ we are speaking’ front (people who want to listen will listen) and a bit too much shouting on the microphone.
Quantity of business cards in handbag by end of night: 10/10- 28 normal cards and 6 Moo cards
Nice one -MiniBar…you should be called Megabar!
See my DrinkTank review to see how they compared!
More photos on my Facebook
Thanks for the plug – if you want to come to our seminars, the link is http://www.bootlaw.org.
[...] our interview afterwards with Hermione Way of Newspepper fame and her overview of the [...]
Thanks for mention! Just to clarify – Midpoint & Transfer anonomously matches the currency needs of Users and the amounts don’t need to be the same. The process to the User is basically the same as it is with a bank or broker in making a foreign payment. The big difference is in the savings as we cut out the middlemen. Funds are still transferred from and to bank accounts and both Users and Payees are checked for money laundering issues. We will launch shortly so check us out at midpoint-transfer.com. Cheers