Emi Gal » Fun

Look mom, I’m on TV. My own TV.

Emi Gal — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:17:28 +0000

There’s lots of stuff going on at Brainient at the moment. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun as well. So today, together with our friends at Albion London, we launched Create Station – a simple way for anyone to create their own branded TV channels by pulling in videos from YouTube. It’s a little bit like Instagram for YouTube videos. You can see an example here, or go ahead and create your own station on http://cr8.st.

Enjoy!

Ok, so I was wrong

Emi Gal — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:21:17 +0000

About this. And to be honest, the article was a bit cheeky from the beginning anyway.

We’ve recently moved to the Tea Building in Shoreditch, right next to Moshi Monsters and right in the Albion London offices. And having spent the past week coming here, I’ve realised a few things: a) the comute is not that bad (20 mins to Tottenham Court Road, where all the agencies are, 30 minutes from Bond Street, where home is). b) the food is great – plenty of hip bars, cafes and restaurants and c) Index Ventures recently opened up shop in Shoreditch so there goes my 3rd argument in the Telegraph article as well .

But the one thing I realised in the past week is that there really is a vibrant startup community in the East end. People seem to be very creative, well dressed and fun around here, and it’s good to get a change of sight every once in a while. I still think Sillicon Roundabout is a silly name, though.

My story in under three minutes

Emi Gal — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:38:39 +0000

A couple of months ago, thanks to my friends at 500 Startups and Micro-Documentaries, I gave an interview to Ben Henretig in and about London. Here’s what came out of it:

How I got a £400 Sonos for £19. Sort of.

Emi Gal — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:00:58 +0000

Ok, so I didn’t really get a £400 Sonos for £19, but I recently discovered an alternative that works just as well and doesn’t make a big hole in your wallet. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, Sonos allows you to wirelessly broadcast music from your computer or iPhone to speakers all over the house.

All you need is a set of decent stereos which, if you’re into great sound, you probably already have. Then, grab a £19 Belkin bluetooth device and hook it up to the stereos. Pair your iPhone, iPod Touch or computer to it and start playing.

It took me literally 3 minutes to set it up and I can now properly satisfy my evening obsession.

How I feel about New Year’s Eve

Emi Gal — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:45:56 +0000

How they did A/B testing in 1845

Emi Gal — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:27:24 +0000

If you ever thought that concepts like lean startup, customer development or A/B testing are new, think again. While reading a short biography of Charles Baudelaire a couple of days ago, I stumbled upon this little paragraph describing pure, simple A/B testing in 1845:

“Le Fleurs du Mal, the most celebrated collection of verse in the history of modern poetry, first appeared on the horizon in 1845 in an advertisement on a book cover: ‘To be published shortly: The Lesbians by Baudelaire-Dufays‘. Charles Baudelaire, who was trying out different versions of his name (Dufays was his mother’s name), was a 24-year-old man of letters who had published only one poem. The announcement of The Lesbians was repeated on several book covers in 1846 and 1847, including that of Bauelaire’s own substantial pamphlet reviewing the annual art exhibit, The Salon of 1846. By 1848 the title had changed to Limbo, who’s publication was announced as imminent, and in 1850 and 1851 some pems from the future Flowers of Evil were published as extracts from Limbo. Finally in 1855 the Revue des deux mondes printed eighteen poems undr the title, Les Fleurs du Mal, and the complete collection appeared in 1857.”

For me, this is a reconfirmation of the fact I shouldn’t have skipped History classes when I was in school. And on a similar note, I encourage you to buy Le Fleurs du Mal, Baudelaire’s most celebrated collection of poems.

CEOs should suffer from the NIHITO syndrome

Emi Gal — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:24:20 +0000

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a post by Matt Blumberg on Fred Wilson’s blog, talking about the role of a CEO. What really stuck into my mind though was not the post itself but what Matt calls the NIHITO syndrome. A syndrome that I think all CEOs, Business Development, Sales or anyone in the organization in charge with finding or keeping customers happy should suffer from.

NIHITO stands for: NOTHING INTERESTING HAPPENS IN THE OFFICE. I’d go even one step further and rename it NIEHITO syndrome, as in Nothing interesting EVER happens in the office when you’re in the business of making customers happy. Word.

SXSW here I come

Emi Gal — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:07:57 +0000

If you would’ve told my father 40 years ago that his son will send him emails while flying at 3,000 m altitude across the US, he would’ve probably said you’re out of your mind. Well, it’s 2010 and I’m doing just that (dad, I know you’re reading this, let me know how you like the pics).

I’ll be at South by South West Interactive in the next 6 days and it’s my first time here, so please feel free to take me to all the best parties and introduce me to the nicest people you know, ok?

And if you’ve just typed in emigal.com after getting my business card, feel free to check out my about page, linkedin profile, twitter stream, yada yada, you know the drill.

J’aime Cirque Du Soleil

Emi Gal — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:15:10 +0000

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity and privilege to see the preview of Varekai, Cirque du Soleil‘s new show, debuting on the 5th of January at the Royal Albert Hall.

I don’t have words to express how amazing the show was. Everything – the live music, costumes, story, acrobats, set, even the actors’ humor made me feel like I was watching a 3D movie with really, really good special effects. Except it wasn’t a movie and there weren’t any special effects. Just really, really talented people and hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of very, very hard work.

It was the best show I’ve seen in my life, so far, and I strongly recommend you go ahead and get tickets while you can, I have a feeling they’re going to sell out really, really quickly.

Why I love standing meetings

Emi Gal — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:10:21 +0000

For the past few months, most of the meetings we’ve held at Brainient have been standing meetings. That sounds strange and uncomfortable, I know, but I’ve seen a boost in focus and productivity since we started doing them.

Even better, whenever I need to work on something that needs concentration and focus, I go on our office’s terrace (with a beautiful view to Ceausescu’s Pallace) and I do my work, standing.

Here’s the top 3 reasons why I believe that standing meetings & work can boost your productivity:

1. You don’t procrastinate. You’re standing, so you don’t really feel like procrastinating or your feet will hurt .

2. Better blood circulation. When standing / walking / running, your blood flow improves, your heart gets more blood, your brain gets more oxigen, therefore chances are you’ll be smarter & brighter .

3. You become smarter . Not sure why, but whenever I work on something and I’m standing, I instantly get better and brighter ideas.

Try it out and let me know what you think!