Thank you
I’m here in Queenstown, New Zealand over the holidays to reflect, hike, cycle and enjoy a little of the southern hemisphere summer. It’s a great chance to review 2014 while working on the Meeco plan for 2015.
Over the past few days while thinking about this end of year message the theme of ‘gratitude’ kept emerging. I feel that our team and I have so much to be thankful for over this past year; mostly the support, encouragement and feedback of the growing Meeco community, who we affectionately refer to as our ‘Meeps’.
I am most grateful that Meeco affords me one of my great passions, which is to travel. Over the past year I have circled the globe four times to be connected in person with Meeps, partners, collaborators and so many inspiring people.
This has allowed me to make new friends, see first hand amazing start-ups, be reminded of the challenges ahead, and most importantly see evidence first hand of the shift emerging around our privacy and the value of our personal information.
I believe we are on the edge of the greatest change I will see in my life-time. The post-industrial era is giving way to the connected world. Soon everything we touch will create or omit data and information. The battle for control and insight is caught in the current financial, legal, political and business models of yesterday.
However, what inspires me is the emerging generation of entrepreneurs with their desire to break the rules and bring a social conscience together with technology, to forge new opportunities for people and the planet.
It’s hard to edit down my list of call outs for 2014, so I have looked to the young at heart. Individuals and organisations with the courage to #hack #invent #beta #test #challenge #inspire and #breaktherules. Here’s some links to explore at your leisure over the break.
- Annalie Killian and Amplify for continuing to bridge the world between innovation and the evolution of thinking, business and finance.
- Steve Jennings & NordicDEi proof that one person with a vision can start to change the world.
- Vitalik Buterin leading innovation in the emerging battle ground of #Bitcoin and the #BlockChain. For now our money (Ether) is on Ethereum. I also got to spend time with Stephan Tual in London recently and remain excited about the pending 2015 release.
- Doc Searls who continues to champion the Intention-Economy, a civil approach to privacy and #VRM.
- Liz Brandt & Ctrl-Shift for their great analysis of the opportunities and value to society for citizens to control and permission their data.
- Cairn Cross & the team at Ello. These guys are totally challenging the status quo for social networks, ownership, investment and business models.
- The brilliant range of topics and insights from @Zeronomics and the great humanity @Jameshorton brings to his posts and interests, both high recommendations to follow.
- Heather Dahl the author and co-creator of The Cynja helping children safely navigate the on-line world and develop cyber ninja skills.
- Mike Roddie & Own Your Info, William Heath & Mydex, Shane Green & Personal – these guys have built secure places to keep your data with new and cool capabilities continuing to evolve.
- Shelley Kuipers & Chaordix for her amazing vision to bring the wisdom of the crowd to designing products and services in partnership with brands and business.
- Last but by no means least Brian Grimmer, Chairman of Present Group and Meeco venture custodian. His belief in personal sovereignty and the empowered individual in life and work lead us forward on our mission everyday. Brian has a ‘take-no-prisoners’ style of coaching and has pushed me this year to do amazing things. His wisdom through the insight of the Meta Model is helping us navigate the challenges facing every start-up.
For Meeco, it’s been a huge year. Since launch in July the team has worked hard to integrate your feedback and keep evolving. Your ideas and gripes are shaping the evolution of Meeco, including the three releases since launch, the new Chrome & Firefox plug-ins and the myriad of large and small enhancements. For all of this we say thank you.
What ever you are doing over the holidays, be it sharing time with family and friends, skiing, surfing, cycling, working, shopping or hiking a mountain, we wish you and the ones you love a happy and safe holiday.
Along with the Meeco team, I look forward to surprising and delighting you in 2015.
Happy holidays,
Katryna
As my year has ended in Summer – here’s the piece that inspired the update.