July 2010
5 posts
“Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
– Plato
4 tags
On Naming Startups & Products
Your company name should be one word, 1-3 syllables long. It should not be a generic object. You should own the .com domain of your company name. Your products should have one word names that easily follow your company name.
Good examples include:
Tumblr Directory
Heyzap Arcade
Facebook Questions
Mahalo Answers
1 tag
1 tag
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May 2010
1 post
1 tag
Getting CodeIgniter to play nicely with Facebook →
Here at Wishli.st we love Code Igniter. It’s a light weight PHP framework which doesn’t get in your way, but provides some great library funcitonality right out the box, as well as a suite of…
April 2010
1 post
“Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a...”
– Seneca
February 2010
1 post
January 2010
2 posts
December 2009
3 posts
Baby Food To Boast About →
Organic, fresh and delicious. At last, I have found a company who puts their money where their mouth is. They succeed where other baby food manufacturers have failed.
Many have claimed to…
Advanced Energy Usage Monitoring with Wattson →
I have given up following people around turning off lights and being generally “annoying” about consumption. The problem is not a lack of desire to do the right thing (as so often reported in…
October 2009
5 posts
Kind Toys From The Organic Toy Company →
I’ve learnt a lot.
Take cotton, for example. A simple, natural material, you might think, but Natalie Southgate, founder of The Organic Toy Company knows otherwise.
“Conventional,…
Duchy Originals: Are Good, Do Good, Taste Good! →
Established in 1990 by Prince Charles, Duchy Originals is a pioneer of the organic food movement. Beginning with a humble oaten biscuit in 1992, a recent partnership with Waitrose…
Calling All Single Gloves →
Remember Green Thing? We introduced you to him last year and while he may appear to be a hideous monster he is, in fact, not hideous at all.
The Green Thing is a not-for-profit…
Paul Graham: Benevolence in Startups →
Share and annotate your videos with Omnisio!
Paul Graham, founder of ycombinator, discusses the value of benevolence when working with tech startups.
Business Model Of The Day: Fix The Planet →
In case you haven’t come across iFixit before, they’re a relatively small startup that offer detailed electronics teardowns, DIY repair guides and all the tools you’d need to do…
September 2009
15 posts
Sneak Peak Inside Fruit Towers →
innocent drinks recently had a visit from the folks at LeapAnywhere.com and they were kind enough to take a camera crew around with them so that we can all have a peak…
TED Talk: A Web Of Random Acts of Kindness →
In his heartwarming talk from this year’s TEDGlobal in Oxford Jonathan Zittrain discusses various random acts of kindness from the online world.
Martha Lane Fox: Work Hard, Be Nice To People →
Yesterday Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of LastMinute.com, was placed at No. 25 in the Telegraph’s 50 Most Influential Briton’s in Technology.
Back in 1997, with business partner Brent…
Employees Rewarded for Reducing Carbon Footprint →
How would you like your employer to hold you accountable for your carbon footprint?
WSP Group is doing just that. The global management and consultancy service is pioneering a novel way…
Windows 7 Ad: Cutest Ever? →
Microsoft don’t feature very often here on LovelyCompanies.com but all that could be about to change with their new ad campaign for Windows 7. Is this not the cutest…
Lovely Company News Round-up →
Here’s a round-up of all the posts from the LovelyCompanies.com blogroll that I’ve starred recently in my Google Reader. Feedback on this experimental post format is very welcome!
McDonalds were…
“As someone who grew up always wanting to be a fashion designer it gives me a...”
– Scott Schuman aka The Satorialist
I love that at some point Scott came to terms with the fact that he would never become a word class fashion designer. Instead, he used his real talents to ultimately achieve his goal, though in an unexpected way. The last sentence of this quote reminds me of career...
Join Football Legends At The David Beckham Academy →
Here’s a winning idea: a fund-raising football tournament. Sue Ryder Care (the UK based healthcare charity) seeks lovely companies to participate.
Anyone can play. All you need is a…
Innocent Smoothies For Kids →
Check out the latest advert from innocent for their special ‘lunchbox-proof’ kids smoothies:
“…a gentle nudge towards their 5-a-day!”
Fraser’s Tea Parties Land Him A Bighearted... →
In the last year, SuperJam boss Fraser Doherty has held over 120 Tea Parties bringing elderly people together and helping them make friends (previous coverage: here and here). Just…
Happy Birthday Innocent Veg Pots! →
Yesterday there was a little announcement on the innocent blog that their innocent veg pots product is now one year old. To celebrate, innocent staff were treated to a special …
Lovely Events →
Lovely companies often organise and sponsor events (the companies themselves – I mean). In order to try and keep track of these events I’ve set up a group on Upcoming: please feel free to …
Geoff Mulgan: Investing In A Better World →
In his talk from TEDGlobal 2009 Geoff Mulgan, a former Policy Director for Tony Blair, suggests we take the opportunity presented by the global economic crisis to consider a…
Hello Beautiful World! →
Beautiful World is a London-based agency for charities, non-profits and ‘any organization that does the world some good’. The three founding partners of the company each bring their speciality to…
Zappos and Amazon Sitting In A Tree →
At the end of July this year online book retailer Amazon acquired lovely company Zappos. We’ve written about Zappos a few times before and they have even helped to inspire other lovely…
August 2009
5 posts
Securitizing Happiness: Hacking Human Suffering... →
Below are the slides from Dave McClure’s talk at TEDxShanghai in June:
Dave admits that he’s “not really a financial engineering expert” however he is “optimistic…
Alain de Botton’s kinder, gentler philosophy of... →
I’ve been a fan of Alain de Botton for some time now so I was very excited to learn that he spoke at TEDGlobal in Oxford back in July. Do take a moment to watch his talk…
Watchrenatenyborg:
this is awesome - next level turntablism
The Bottom Line – Ecological Disposable Nappies →
Let’s talk about nappies. Half a ton of nappies, actually. A year’s worth of disposable nappies for just one baby. Because babies poo. A lot.
Big-brand manufacturers seem to ignore the…
EthicalSuperstore.com: Creating Global Change... →
Earlier in the year I met up with a local lovely company. Hailing from the Team Valley Trading Estate in nearby Gateshead, EthicalSuperstore.com sells thousands of different groceries,…
July 2009
1 post
Show Your Lovebox →
“What’s that?” I hear you cry.
I’m glad you asked. It’s a Lovebox: the digital equivalent of a charity wristband, spreading charitability (and a warm, fuzzy feeling) all over the internet.
June 2009
1 post
Gary Vee: Scaling Caring →
Gary Vaynerchuk’s ‘Scaling Caring’ talk delivered at the recent 140Conf in New York.
Other Gary Vee posts on LovelyCompanies.com: Profile, How to react to your website getting…
May 2009
12 posts
Innocent Squeezies →
It’s been over a month since our last post mentioning innocent drinks! Sorry about that. Here’s a short film about innocent squeezies:
Meet Andrew Warner →
I’d like you to meet Andrew Warner. You may already recognise the name as back in January we featured an interview of his about Zappos customer service. Incidentally, that post has been one…
Good.ly: Shorten URLs, Help Charities →
Remember the Fund It Frog that earns money for charity as you shop online? Here’s another service that uses affiliate links to raise money for charity.
Good.ly, produced by the folks at
Social Media Changing the Non-Profit World →
There was a great post on Mashable a couple of days ago about how social media is changing the non-profit world by:
Deepening relationships and engagement
Allowing individuals & small groups to…
Column: Starting a Social Network →
Have you ever thought about starting your own social network? It’s a great way to connect with people with similar interests or with potential customers. Also, with the group features on sites like
TED Talk: Tackling poverty with patient capitalism →
Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of the Acumen Fund and author of The Blue Sweater, shares stories of how “patient capital” can bring sustainable jobs, goods, services…
Who are you? →
To help us improve LovelyCompanies.com I’d be very grateful if you would take a minute to answer a couple of questions, either in a comment or by email:
1. On a scale of 1-10 (where 10 is most…
If We Can You Can →
I was honoured to be shortlisted for the If We Can You Can Challenge 2009! I was invited to pitch wishli.st to a panel of judges and answer their questions. Unfortunately I wasn’t selected…
Fun Opens Wallets →
The Alamo Drafthouse, a cinema in Austin, Texas, know that they’re in the entertainment industry. From time to time they have what they call ‘Signature Events’.
These events include ‘Renegade…
TED Talk: The business logic of sustainability →
Successful entrepreneur Ray Anderson shares his vision for sustainable business at TED: