Junction 31- the Online Business Network

GroupOut gets the SlowDating Xfactor

Newsroom — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:40:18 +0000

Cardiff start-up GroupOut Limited is today announcing two strategic partnerships to extend its offering of highly focused events to the Singles market in the United Kingdom.

Recognising the speed dating is popular with many in the dating scene, GroupOut has developed relationships with 2 of the UK’s leading slow-dating event organisers: SlowDating and XFactorDates.

“We are delighted to be able to work with industry leaders here in the UK, to bring a wider range of events to our customers. Whilst there’s no doubt that the range of events that we already offer to our customers is getting them really interested and engaged in a new way of meeting people, we also recognise that some of the existing channels can add to the mix” said Lisa Darch, the founder of GroupOut.

With a significant existing membersship base on each site, the collaboration agreement will allow GroupOut to promote SlowDating and Xfactordates events across its network, whilst also promoting its own events in a reciprocal manner. “This gives us all the best of both worlds and shows that a co-operative ,collaborative approach will pay dividends for all concerned”, said Darch.

GroupOut was established in late 2011 and is now providing niche events to the Singles’ market via online partners in the UK.

A Conduit to Success

Newsroom — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:14:31 +0000

An American call centre company that already employs over 1,900 people in South Wales, Conduit, is creating 600 new jobs in Cardiff.
First Minister Carwyn Jones said Cardiff was an increasingly attractive centre for financial and professional services. But that may have something to do with the low labour costs and the money that the Government assigns for job creation projects.

Here comes The Sun – On Sunday

Newsroom — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:08:23 +0000

After the demise of the News of the world, there has been a great gap in the Sunday newspaper shelves.

However, News International have now announced that the Sun on Sunday will be published with effect from next weekend, filling this much discussed void. The red top will no doubt contain exposes and light entertainment, but it is hard to think that it will contain much that is a true value in global news.

Focused events for Single People launched by GroupOut

Newsrooms — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 09:06:59 +0000

UK Based Start-up GroupOut (www.groupout.com) has launched a new white label service to the UK Dating Industry providing highly focused and well targeted events to Dating Site members.

The idea came from some of the founding team’s experience with Dating Sites where many felt uncomfortable meeting people in a ‘one on one’ environment and were keen to become more involved in activities and events where there was already some common ground making it easier to mingle and meet new friends.

In planning and development since mid 2011, the GroupOut service went to Beta Trials with Sarah Beeny’s MySingleFriend (www.mysinglefreind.com) in November and launched fully in early January with the addition of the UK Dating Group (http://www.ukdatinggroup.co.uk).

Early indications are that the service has great traction, with better than expected take up from singles and excited feedback from all quarters.

GroupOut has over 1200 event providers on its books and can deliver a range of evening/day/weekend and longer activities targeted at different ages, sexes and sexual orientation.

Launched in the UK, GroupOut are already in discussion with US and other overseas partners who want to take advantage of this innovative revenue share model.

Owen Tyzack, (owen@groupout.com) the GroupOut Global Sales Director will be speaking at iDate, the industry’s leading conference, in Miami later this month.

Is this really the Angel Mary Portas?

Newsrooms — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:20:36 +0000

Many are admiring the work that Mary Portas has done to outline the challenges and options for the High Street, but will it have any impact? For as long as local councils can influence the future of retail centres then it is likely that some towns will not succeed. I cite Aberystwyth as an example of a town that is being killed by local authority planning.

Banking – where does the money come from?

Newsrooms — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:01:39 +0000

Imagine the very first bank. It’s printed only £100, and it lends that to customers, all of it. At an agreed interest rate of 10% So it expects to get back £110. But it’s only printed £100. That’s all the money in the world Where does the other £10 come from for the customer to pay the interest?

Keyman insurance – necessary?

Zen-Business — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:22:08 +0000

Why would I need keyman insurance, is it another act from a bank trying to hit their sales targets, or does it offer some real value?

Is ISO9001 all it’s cracked up to be?

BigBen — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:53:12 +0000

I remember the way that BS5750 was THE thing to have – a sure fire way to a successful business, a real must have. But is that still the case? Are registered qualifications like ISO 9001 critical or only desirable? What’s your experience?

Lessons learnt

Zen-Business — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:32:33 +0000

As I reflect on the lessons I’ve learnt in business I often wonder if there are more learnings from Failure than from Success. Does anyone have ideas on this? What are your experiences, did the lessons from a failed venture turn to success elsewhere?

Was that the way to handle a crisis?

Newsrooms — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:07:03 +0000

The News International story has been pretty crazy but I can’t help think that the overall handling of it be News International has been nothing less than amateruish. There was a lack of control, a focus on the internal response and a complete lack of feeling for the real world. Agree?