Its rush hour. I’m sat on my scooter at a set of red traffic lights, behind a red London bus. To my right was another bus. I see another scooter in my right hand mirror, and behind that scooter there was a motorbike. I had made space on my left, which was now occupied by around six or seven cyclists. In front of me was London Bridge. I was stressed. My ride along the Old Kent Road had been difficult; there were pushbikes, taxis, minicabs, buses, scooters and aggressive motorcyclists on adventure machines; everyone were pushing themselves through, transporting themselves through space and time onto a roundabout, and then onto wherever they were going.
I rarely scooter into the middle of town during the rush hour; I find it too intense. I catch a ridiculously over crowded train whenever I need to go into the office early. When travelling on the train I inevitably think, ‘why didn’t I go on my scooter? It’s got to be better than this…’ I can’t quite decide which is worse, or more exhausting or more challenging. But I think the scooter wins out in terms of being slightly more fun.
The lights change. The bus inches forward. I accelerate, but so do all the cyclists; I need to watch them. The bus picks up speed, and I see a gap emerging between the bus in front and the bus on my right. I check my mirrors, do a quick shoulder check, twist the throttle more, and I’m through the gap; the scooter behind me is following, he or she has the same idea. Suddenly I’m crossing the river and flying past Monument. I catch a glimpse of Bank Underground station in the distance.
I was on my way to see a tax accountant for a free fifteen minute consultation. The consultation was held in a building known as the Google Campus. The thing is, I didn’t need to see a tax accountant: my financial affairs are really very simple.
I scootered past the Bank of England and onto Moorgate where I discovered a temporary one way system. Carefully picking my way through taxis and pedestrians, I found Finsbury Square Gardens. I knew where I was. I had rehearsed the route; I had used Google Street View to find the Google Campus.
I took a right, down Worship Street, up Tabernacle Street, a right onto Epworth Street and then back round again to a motorcycle parking bay. I was there. I had made it.
‘Hello? Is that Dan? I’m your nine fifteen. I’m in reception. You’ll be right down? Okay, you can’t miss me; I’m wearing a motorcycle jacket’.
Dan turned out to be a tall bald man in his early fifties. He had a confident smile and was dressed in a smart suit and white shirt, but no tie. We collected a security pass and we went downstairs where he had a laptop all set up; this was his work area. It turned out that I was one of eight appointments scheduled for the day.
Although I didn’t need for a tax accountant, Dan’s Meetup did mention ‘finance’, and what I did need was some solid impartial financial advice.
‘Financial advisors have to be properly regulated, and I’m just an accountant, but what I could do is just tell you something about what I’ve done in terms of savings and investment, as an individual, like as if you were talking to a mate – is that okay?’ said Dan. I said it was fine.
Dan told me about the challenges of buy to let properties, and we talked about different ways to invest. From what little I knew about investment, everything he told me sounded eminently sensible. After a few minutes of chatter about finance, I asked him about his group.
Dan discovered the world of Meetup after being made redundant from a blue chip retailer. After deciding to set up on his own, he setup his group as a way to meet new clients. After around a year or so of trading, he had around twenty or so clients, and was hoping to eventually manage up to one hundred.
Dan had found the Google Campus office space after chatting to someone at a city business networking event. The Google Campus space is interesting. Situated a short walk away from Old Street, its website describes it as ‘an environment that encourages innovation through collaboration, mentorship, and networking’. It has, apparently ‘seven floors dedicated to start-up success’ and touts opportunities for networking and ‘speaking events’. When I was later reading about it, I remembered The Bakery, where the Sports Analytics event was held, and the co-working space that hosted the ‘four hour work week’ group.
After we had been chatting for a while, I told Dan about the quest.
‘Sorry, you’re doing what? I don’t understand…’
‘Your group is number forty seven. I’ve got fifty three more to go…’
For a moment, it went very quiet. Dan’s expression turned to one of confusion. I had gone from asking him for investment advice through to telling him that I’m on a crazy quest. It appeared to be too much for him.
‘What I’m basically doing is looking at London through the lens of Meetup, and it’s really interesting to see how much tech stuff there is going on, all the connections between the different groups and industries, and I can see that you’re a part of that too.’ Dan’s confused expression disappeared: it was all about those connections and links. Pleased that I hadn’t caused any upset I changed the subject by asking him more about his work.
Our chat soon came to an end and we exchanged business cards. Dan had another client to see in five minutes’ time. We shook hands, and I handed back my Google Campus security pass and returned to the street.
No comments:
Post a Comment