Octopus

🌟 Exciting news! 🌟 We are thrilled to welcome Fields in Trust and Refettorio Felix to the Octopus family, as our new charity partners! 🎉 Over the next three years, we will be collaborating to drive meaningful change and make a lasting impact in our communities together. As part of this partnership, we are proud to offer both of our partners an unrestricted grant and wrap-around support, whilst giving our most valuable resource; time. Leveraging our knowledge and skills, we will help enable these incredible charities to grow and achieve their missions. Together, we look forward to creating a brighter future and making a real difference. Welcome aboard, Fields in Trust and Refettorio Felix! 💪 Read more about our new charity partners: Fields in Trust 👉 https://lnkd.in/eBnWDzsC Refettorio Felix 👉 https://lnkd.in/eMiWBtme #OctopusGiving #CharityPartners #Volunteering

Many congratulations to luna and Co-Founders Jas Schembri-Stothart and Jo Goodall — the only UK start-up to reach the Top 20 at TechCrunch Disrupt, and a Top 5 finalist! Selected from over 2,000 companies, luna’s team is pioneering a powerful mission: providing young girls with trusted, accessible health resources and community support. We're proud to back this fantastic team as they lead the way in revitalising girls' health and wellness.   You can read more about the luna team and their work here: https://bit.ly/4hySGYf,

Over the years I've been fortunate enough to meet some of the world’s best entrepreneurs. One thing I've noticed is that they're all optimists, but that word doesn't do justice to Greg Jackson. Last year I sat down with Greg to catch up on all things energy and I challenge you not to get drawn into his vision for the future. #OctopusEnergy #Entrepreneurs #Business

Demons, ghosts and scary thoughts.   We will all, at various times in our lives, come face to face with our demons. You may have celebrated Halloween last week, so with that in mind, I want to turn your attention to our work demons (giving a presentation or submitting a proposal) and how best to tackle them.   Firstly, take some time out. You can’t think clearly when your brain is flooded with fear or anxiety. Going for a walk or getting some fresh air is great for this. The much quicker version of this coping mechanism (which you often see in professional athletes) is breathing. When you return, the demons will have subsided.   Secondly, think about perspective. None of us are perfect, whatever Instagram is attempting to portray. Life (and work) is almost always messy. If you accept this, it makes the expected bumps and humps along the way a necessary part of the journey. Think of your ghosts as a necessary reminder that you’re human (and therefore flawed in some way). They’re there to help you learn some of life’s lessons.   The third, and biggest, point is to find someone to talk to about your ghosts. While it’s normally the fear of embarrassment that holds us back, my own experience is that this embarrassment passes quite quickly. And you develop a deeper, far more trusted bond with the person you talk to. And they’ll invariably seek you out when their ghosts come knocking.   The fourth point is that you should reward yourself. Dealing with your demons is quite draining. So, when you do (even if you’re not entirely successful), you should find a way to celebrate what you’ve done. As well as being enjoyable, it will start to reprogram your brain into believing that dealing with demons isn’t all bad.   The final point to remember is that we must never be afraid of our ghosts: if we avoid them, they'll simply get bigger (and scarier). Try to remember that ghosts are transparent for a reason – so we can go straight through them.

What’s the secret to outperforming the competition? Regardless of discipline the answer is always the same. Culture.   Sport is a great example, if you listen to clips of Michael Jordan talking about his team’s culture, you quickly understand why they won so many NBA titles.   Amazingly, very few businesses ever seem to work this out. Instead, they constantly obsess about outcompeting, outsmarting, outpricing or outmanoeuvring the competition.   All these strategies ultimately fail. There will always be a company which is faster to market, more efficient or better funded. Very few companies become obsessed with their ‘behaviour’, but that’s what it takes to outperform the competition.   I’ll say this a million times, because it’s the number one lesson I’ve learned over the past 24 years running Octopus. Great business is simply about how you make people feel. Video credit: Diecut_Dudes

We’re living in a hyper connected transparent world. The internet has given us more than just a voice, it’s given us a megaphone.   Gone are the days when companies could spend a fortune on advertising and expect it to shape consumer behaviour. The biggest factor in shaping behaviour today isn’t what you say. It’s what your customers say.   Which means the power has shifted. The walls companies used to build around themselves (to stop customers from seeing in) have been ripped down. The world is now so transparent that customers can see not only what you do but how you do it.   And in this world customers will care as much about how you do things as what you do. Behaviour will be everything.

Find your people. Getting most businesses off the ground is going to require investment, but who you choose as investors is just as important as what they give you. Surround yourself with people who understand the problem you're trying to solve, and don't settle for less. Perhaps don't start your pitch passing around a model vagina unless you work in Femtech... but do find your own way of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Tania Boler Elvie #Business #Innovation

As we reflect on our journey over the past three years, we're filled with gratitude and pride for all we've accomplished together with Thames21 and GoodGym. But we're bidding farewell to these two incredible Octopus Giving charity partnerships that have shaped our work along the way. 🤝 With Thames21, we:  ✋ Tackled the climate emergency by advocating for a ban on plastic wet wipes.  💪 Dedicated 5,636 volunteer hours to cleaning and restoring London’s rivers.  📈 Shared our skills and resources to drive real, meaningful change.   & with GoodGym, we:  🙌 Supported grassroots organisations across London.  🙋♀️ Volunteered 1,770 hours to create lasting impact in local communities.  ✍️ Found new ways to share resources and skills with charity partners.   Though we’ll miss working so closely with these amazing teams, our support doesn’t end here. We’ll be cheering them on from afar as they continue to make a difference in the environment and communities we all care about.   Thank you Thames21 and GoodGym, for your hard work, collaboration, and dedication. These partnerships have not only made a real difference for both of our organisations but also for the causes we champion together.   Read more about these incredible partnerships: Thames21 👉 https://lnkd.in/enTCEGF8 GoodGym 👉 https://lnkd.in/e2fUZVqx #OctopusGiving #ClimateChange #Community #Charity

The nature of social media means that I'm almost always the one asking you questions.    So, today I thought we'd try something different. Is there anything you want to ask me?    We're filming a few things next week, so if you have a burning question, I can film some honest answers and share them with you in the coming weeks.

It’s one thing biting the bullet and starting your own business. It’s another trying to sell an idea that’s deep routed in one of societies biggest taboos. That’s why Tania Boler, the founder of Elvie, is such an inspiration. She hasn’t just built a business, she’s created a whole movement. Here’s a clip from a conversation I had with Tania earlier this year to find out more about what it took to set up Elvie.