Time To Take Stock...

Well we're coming up to the end of our first year and thought it'd be appropriate to take a look back at what an amazing year it has been..

on July 27th 2007 Red Button Design Ltd formally registered at Companies House. By August we were one of 25 global businesses who made it into the Grand Final of the the "Business In Development" Social Business Plan Competition which received over 3,000 entries. Later that month James and I travelled, in great secrecy, to Pinewood Studio's to film "The Dragons Den". Where, despite securing the best deal ever done in the den (all 5 Dragons investing for the original equity offered), we are sworn to legally-enforceable silence until the episode airs! In September Red Button Design travelled out to San Fransisco to receive a Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award. We were the only UK company to be recognised in the competition. Not to rest on our laurels, November not only saw Red Button in the Final 5 "Enterprising Young Brits" in the British Chambers of Commerce Competition for the Social & Community Category but we were named the most promising innovative business idea addressing 21st century healthcare and medical challenges in the Oxford Said Business School's National Enterprise Competition. We were awarded a £10,000 prize and put forward for the Oxford SBS 'Global Challenge' where we were also awarded the overall award for Social Enterprise beating 182 entries from 23 countries and netting a further £35,000. December, and our Episode of "The Dragons' Den" airs just before Christmas. James and I finally get to see which 13 minutes of our 2+ hours of interrogation were deemed worthy of screen time! We collapse with relief and the website collapses under the deluge of hits! January 2008 and the new year sees us traveling to India with the UK-India Business Council on a Government Delegation with PM Gordon Brown, to be interviewed live on TV with Richard Branson, Karan Bilimoria, Peter Jones and Gordon. I did manage to get a question in which was answered by the PM and praised for it's insightfulness by the very lovely Richard Branson! We also spent time with a wonderful NGO working on the features of the product with a small village community in Mewat, part of India's poverty belt. We return to find out that Red Button has received £1,000 for winning the Regional heat of the Dumbartonshire Business Gateway Competition and progress to win the National Competition and receive another £4,000. In February I am accepted on to NESTA's Starter for 6 scheme, an intensive four month training programme for young creative entrepreneurs. Entry to this scheme is extremely competitive and is provided at no cost to the companies who are accepted! James gets nominated for "Global Student Entrepreneur 2008" in
March (we're awaiting to see how his application progresses). April saw us reach the last 5 young businesses in the HSBC 'Unipreneurs' competition from over 800 potentials. I completed NESTA's Starter for Six Training Programme in June was nominated as Glasgow University's Young Alumni of and The Company is awarded £7,000 follow on grant funding from NESTA.

*phew!*

So that takes us up to July and we're currently working on a series of educational text books, awaiting the publication of a few magazine articles, raising second-stage funding, re-designing the website and securing our International Patent.

Not bad for our first year I think you'll agree!