Nottingham Trent University alumnus and entrepreneur, Adam Roberts, is celebrating after his business was crowned Start up of the Year 2010 at a recent Nott Tuesday event.
Adam received the accolade for his company, Go dine, an online restaurant booking guide which promotes 230 eateries from Northampton to Leeds, after pitching his business to a panel of experts in entrepreneurship, funding and legal advice.
Taking place every second Tuesday of the month, Nott Tuesday was created to bring together Nottingham’s technology people, start-ups and companies. It is now one of the top technology events in the East Midlands, attracting speakers from across the UK.
Go dine is currently based at Nottingham Trent University’s enterprise centre, The Hive, from which Adam has received support to grow the business since his graduation. The company now employs a three-strong team and is supported by freelancers in fields such as graphic design and website content.
Adam said: “It’s great to be recognised with this award and it’s really, really positive for the business. The judges commented that we’ve shown strong traction and great potential against our much larger competitors.”
The judging panel consisted of technology entrepreneur and angel investor, Doug Ashby; entrepreneur and founder of online retailer, Kitbag, Jason Watkins; commercial lawyer, Andrew Pickin; venture capitalist, Rob Cawdron; and Nott Tuesday founder and co-founder of technology company Esendex, Adam Bird.
Adam will now benefit from two hours free legal counsel from law firm, Shoosmiths; a promotional video from Skeleton Productions; and a year’s free monitoring of the business’ web performance from Aware Monitoring. The award was also sponsored by the University of Nottingham Innovation Park and the Axis Centre.
Chris Hall, Hive business manager, said: “We’re all delighted for Adam and the Go dine team. Adam has always been very entrepreneurial and he was involved with The Hive as a student, before the creation of Go dine. We’ve since had the pleasure of watching his business go from strength to strength and we’re sure there are many more awards on the way in the future.”
Nick Barker, Nott Tuesday co-organiser, added: "The competition was huge success with a record audience. The event attracted a very high standard of start-up and Adam did well to win."
