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Quote - "Ambition in
Scotland is just as strong as the US" - "Honorary Scot" Deborah Magid,
former IBM global talent scout Now MD NextStar Venture Partners out of
Burlingame CA.
A Digital Decade can disappear into the ether in what feels like a nano-second.
Take Edinburgh's groundbreaking picture website Blipfoto and air
travel global expert Skyscanner.
Today the former is a membership-led crowdfunded and community-owned
company with no paid staff or an office, run by volunteers, an online
venture featuring what is a truly eyecatching website.
The latter is an independent subsidiary of the world's largest travel
service provider. Although it has unwittingly become embroiled in a
legal struggle involving the People's Republic of China with only one
party the likely victor.
Wind back to Blipfoto a mere ten years ago or so. By then it had been
tipped by global entrepreneur Ken Morse, who sat on Barack Obama's
National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, as a "$1
billion company" in the making. A Unicorn no less.
The site had been developed by CEO Joe Tree throughout the previous
decade when as a "daily photo journal" it enabled membership-fee paying
users to post a single photograph each day.
The previous year Joe had been joined by tech entrepreneur Ian Ritchie
as chairman, while Gareth Williams, the founder and CEO of flight
comparison website Skyscanner, jumped on board as an adviser on
international expansion.
Polaroid Link-up
It was in early 2013 that Ken Morse, former managing director of MIT
Entrepreneurship Center, said of the start-up: "Blipfoto is already
operating like a $200 million company," he told the Drum, adding:
"...with Ian as chairman. With Gareth advising them on social media
retail, they're going to start acting like a $500 million company."
Heady days. I was one of the journalists at the time who trumpeted and
talked up Blipfoto, recalling how I was told of the outfit by Ken, with
whom I had travelled as a member of a University of Edinburgh
MIT-inspired 3-minute elevator pitch judging panel, to replicate the
event in Oxford at Said Business School.
Under that city's dreaming spires I recall also speaking with Joe who,
whilst welcoming the plaudits being showered on Blipfito, was rather
more circumspect when it came to letting matters go to his head. It was
just as well because, and perhaps rather surprisingly, his venture’s
days were numbered.
Nowadays, LinkedIn has Joe listed as first-and-foremost a "designer" who
helps tech startups with product development, branding messaging,
strategy and investment.
After Blipfoto folded around 2015 he built on his membership of Scottish
Enterprise's Digital Media Industry Leadership Group by becoming a board
member of Creative Scotland.
His expertise continues to be in demand, sitting on the board of Leith
Theatre as a self-employed independent consultant, consolidating his
role as CivTech Head of the Accelerator, and is into his second year as
a Board Trustee at Edinburgh's revived Filmhouse.
At the time of Blipfoto's demise, one pundit claimed it had become a
victim of failing to make significant headway following a relaunch
involving a licensing tie-up with the Polaroid global brand.
A reported crisis of investor confidence led to liquidation of the
company with a preferred deal seeing the entity bought by two US
distressed asset investors, who had close links with the hollowed out
licensing platform the once dominant Polaroid had been.
Blipfoto had built on the transformative power of the Internet/mobile
channels where whatever its size a venture has to monetize operations
and make a profit. Or lose out and fail. Online, business is still
business.
100m Users, 30
Languages Monthly
What of Skyscanner? Around the time Blipfoto floundered China's largest
online travel agent Ctrip (now Trip.com Group) cast its eye over the
company buying it for $1.7 billion in 2016 making it an independent
subsidiary. In the commercial process gaining the coveted Unicorn tag.
Skyscanner, founded by Gareth Williams, Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes,
remains a leading UK travel fare aggregator and metasearch engine
providing - for free - AI-powered searches for flights, hotels and car
rentals with over 100 million monthly users operating in over 30
languages.
Shanghai-headquartered Trip.com, the largest online travel service
provider on the planet, was acquired by Ctrip in 2017. Focused on
growing Asian markets such as Japan and South Korea along with Western
targets.
However, in 2026 it has become embroiled in an investigation for alleged
abuse of its dominant market position with claims it is in violation of
the anti-monopoly law of the People's Republic of China.
Shares of the parent company plunged 20 per cent on the announcement and
it remains to be seen how Skyscanner will be affected in what's rapidly
becoming a battle royal.
EIE26 On or Off?
Back in Scotland Engage Invest Explot is the country's annual start-ups
showcase. EIE stalwart, former IBM Venture Capital Group Director
Deborah Magid, co-founder and managing director of NextStar Venture
Partners out of Burlingame, California, spoke to The Scotsman several
years ago.
Her words carry an extra
resonance in a post-COVID, Brexit and current global tariffs fiasco
commercial arena.
"Start-ups in Scotland are just as innovative as those in the US. The
main difference is the style of investment. Early rounds tend to be
smaller this side of the Atlantic, and the start-ups tend to have a
different view of scaling up"
Deborah says there is a sense of "do anything" to reach scale and grow
across US tech ecosystems. Sometimes this works out, other times it
causes issues as they reach levels of scale.
Goals can be "lofty" but this is not always the case: "I notice a
different definition of growth in Europe...where ambition tends to be
just as strong but the approach between the US and the UK can differ."
Her tips for a successful pitch? "I'd say a lot of companies spend too
much time on the set-up, talking about the problem that they're trying
to solve. The consequence is that they don't leave enough time to
explain what they're doing to solve the problem."
Talking of EIE...
Three months, or so, to go for the 2026 gig to take off, there’s no no
sign yet of the customary build-up to Scotland’s premier global start-up
annual May-time showcase global event.
Taking the foot off the accelerator at such a volatile economic and
commercial time would not be a good idea and it begs the question: Is it
happening this year? If not, why not... |
