News, opinion and resources for the North West media industry
-
This new initiative on Monday 18 June will allow owners and managers of... -
Several acquisitions in the media planning and buying business last... -
How-Do is trying to keep track of the drama and feature films which are... -
Our latest initiative, How-Do KnowledgeBank has launched on the site....
Bryant gets promoted at The Next Web with rallying cry to Manchester
The Manchester digital community needs to be more entrepreneurial and have “the balls” to produce top internet companies says Martin Bryant the new managing editor of influential technology news site, The Next Web (TNW).
Despite the fact that he’s based in the city, Bryant told How-Do that he was disappointed it rarely gets featured:
“I really think we could be doing a lot more in Manchester and the Northwest to promote and help develop the technology scene here. There's a lot of digital talent but not enough entrepreneurialism based around original IP - most of the people I speak to in Manchester with Internet tech-related skills are doing client work. That's all well and good, but with such a pedigree in science, technology and the arts, Manchester should have the balls to produce the giant consumer Internet companies of tomorrow.”
It’s been a quick rise to the top for Bryant, who became UK editor in 2010 and European editor soon after.
He told How-Do that he’d be looking after TNW’s day-to-day operations in Europe, with colleague Brad McCarty doing the same in the United States.
“The Next Web has grown fast this year. With Zee M Kane moving from London out to San Francisco as our first official CEO, and with writing staff around the world giving us a 24-hour online newsroom, there's an additional need for us to stay organised and focused. That's what I'll be looking after as we look to grow further in 2012.”
TNW was founded in 2008 and has more than 4m monthly visits, with 5.5m monthly page views.
Did you enjoy this article? Please share it!
Something to add? Then leave a comment below or email us now.
Search
That's good to know - well done for kick starting that John!
Edwardd and others, NorthernSoho has just launched a new MentorMatch service to support new start-ups in the creative industries in Manchester and the NorthWest with experienced Mentors, including many like me who have successfully started-up new businesses of their own here.
For more details, e-mail mentormatch@northernsoho.com
"By Jane Harrad-Roberts......we should be insuring the infrastructure is in place to promote it."
Jesus H. It's easy to see why the region is screwed - no-one here can read or write; the word tragic Jane was failing to find is ENSURE!!!! "Insure" is what you do as a precaution against loss or damage. By all means INSURE your infrastructure, but first ENSURE you have infrastructure to begin with.
Also, Mr Porter, it's Palo Alto, not Palo Alta.
I agree completely with the sentiment and the notion of Liverpool and Manchester working together to create something of international significance. Media City is only a start - the impact of the BBC's relocation and all that goes with it on our universities, digital businesses and status as a region doing technically and creatively innovative things will be massive. We need to make sure we capitalise on this with a suitably expansive vision. A thriving regional business media scene should be integral to this and in the absence of behemothic quangos like NWDA maybe the entrepreneurs need to do it for themselves. We do all get a bit inward looking and parochial don't we? Perhaps we should start planting a few orange groves on the outskirts of Runcorn, rename the M62 "Atlantic Freeway" and infuse our traditional damp and grey stoicism with a little creative sunshine, Palo Alta style.
Whilst we haven't quite got a North West Media Mountain - yet - to rival California's Silicon Valley, we should be insuring the infrastructure is in place to promote it. Bryant is part of that machine and I'm sure has been doing his bit over the last 12 months, where NW stories rank amongst others internationally. If we want to attract and keep MORE innovation here...and I'm not sure we've reached critical mass on this yet to attract more ...the message we need out there is we're the perfect place to locate for this, not that we're sadly lacking. Perhaps we need Liverpool and Manchester to work together on this? And some decent media coverage on this topic internationally. Shame the NWDA is disbanded, Daily Post is now weekly and printed EN is going. LEPs need to step up to the mark quickly.
Let us know what YOU would start-up then?
Thanks for the reply Martin, It's a difficult problem. As I'm sure you've seen in your own reporting a lot of tech businesses do well when there is an ecosystem of other businesses, which ensures there is a deep enough pool of talented people.
Our region has a fair few cutting edge tech businesses, but over the last few months I've also been told been told by several business people they haven't been able to hire enough talent here to sustain the growth they wanted. I know of at least one business that has relocated to the M4 corridor to get better access to skilled people.
I'd agree with you that publicising what is here is a good way of persuading both businesses and people to invest here.
Adrian, true - there are a number of examples like you mention but a) we need to sing the praises of the ones we do have a little more (see http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/10/22/how-one-of-apples-most-importan... for example) and b) we need more original digital IP here in Manchester, creating products that innovate and break moulds - like Manchester has done for centuries before in numerous industries.
Totally agree with this - not nearly enough support for startups here in Manchester.
We have the talent but without the investment and the right kind of initiatives we're not going to get anywhere.
Hang on. Whilst there might not be any big pure play digital businesses to rival some of the names in Silicon Valley there's plenty of serious activity in the North West.
MoneySupermarket, BetFred's digital operations and Trader Media Group to name three within 30 miles are proper digital businesses investing in grown up technology and big data.