The 5 Minute Tech Break : Apr 12
Hey Everyone

The sun has been shining here in London as we arrive towards the end of another super productive week at CTO Academy. 

Wow, is it already 12th April?  

Time for the latest instalment of "The 5 Minute Tech Break" as we look into diversity, 5G and the Madrid tech scene. 

Enjoy.

Jason & Andrew
https://cto.academy

Article from Our Week :
More Diversity = More Profitability

This week we wrote about diversity in tech (or the lack of it).  

You might question the credibility of 2 white, middle aged men from London writing a blog about diversity, but we practice what we preach.  

All of our recent projects (including CTO Academy) have been built and managed by diverse, global teams.  We cherish the contribution of different voices from around the world and so, when we saw a McKinsey survey that suggests more diversity = more profitability, we saw a blog post that needed to be written.

Vive la difference - article available here



Book of the week : Brotopia

Breaking up the boys club of Silicon Valley
 

To accompany the article above, why not grab this bestseller about how "bro culture" took control of the tech world.

New York Times review explains .... 

"This is more than a work force issue, and “Brotopia” is more than a business book. Silicon Valley holds extraordinary power over our present lives as well as whatever utopia (or nightmare) might come next.  

The author writes ... “If robots are going to run the world, or at the very least play a hugely critical role in our future, men shouldn’t be programming them alone.  The scarcity of women in an industry that is so forcefully reshaping our culture simply cannot be allowed to stand"

A necessary book.  A compelling read.

5G to transform real time?

Interesting article this week from CB Insights about the forthcoming arrival of 5G.

"While this fourth generation of wireless technology has paved the way for new mediums of mobile consumption, it does have limitations. Over the next decade, the rise of connected (IoT) devices will require networks to transmit massive sums of data in near real-time.  5G will allow just that.

Industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, and auto are already adopting technologies and becoming more connected.

Once 5G becomes widespread, the effect on these industries could be transformative;

  1. 5G devices are lower latency, enabling faster transmission of larger data streams
  2. 5G devices are more reliable, enabling better transmission of data in extreme conditions
  3. 5G is more flexible than Wi-Fi and can support a wider range of devices, sensors, and wearables"
Read the full article here
 

Madrid : Start Ups & Sunshine


I've been spending quite a bit of time in Madrid, enjoying some gorgeous winter sunshine (though it rained like an English bank holiday this weekend) and wonderful food.

Becoming increasingly apparent to me, that it's a pretty cool city to build a start up.

Some of the reasons why ...

1.  Great weather [most of the time]
2.  Bags of talent, very affordable by comparison with London and other European tech centres
3.  Centre is awash with great co-working spaces ... aside from the ubiquitous We Work, local options like Bee Lab and Colabora
4.  The food ... man alive, we visited Ferreteria this weekend.  A converted hardware store, with mind blowing flavours and just 3 euros for some Valpolicella ... Shoreditch seemed very far away

They also have some tasty start ups ... the best 100 are listed here  I'm slightly smitten.  [Andrew]


 

Quote of the Week

"You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative; the jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers"  - Walter Lippmann

That's it folks.

Thanks to all those who congratulated us on the recent fund raise.

Our focus at the moment is to transform the CTO Academy learning experience.  Some seriously funky changes are in the pipeline so definitely, watch this space.

In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend.