On the 16th January 2015 another sell out audience at Moore's Hotel was introduced to Alexandra (Sasha) Kazantseva, a technology entrepreneur, angel investor and NED. She started her talk by telling us about her journey and all the exciting things she had done before arriving in Guernsey. She said she thought her life would end when she arrived in Guernsey. She realised she needed to re-invent herself and today she would share some of her secrets.
There is no magic sauce but many have crazy rituals to help them focus and be creative. So what is Sasha's secret? First of all she has made space in her life for herself. Every day you should create things that are important to you, exercise every day and read. She read 35 books in 2014. If you are not healthy nothing else really matters. Eat healthy, sleep 8 hours a day and do some basic exercises.
She also suggested that we all write down 10 ideas every day. Share your ideas and thoughts and embrace open source not IP protection. She is on Venture 6 now. She is also planning a Startup boot camp in March.
Keep learning, do an online course, take part in the TED talks and embrace technology – it isn't going away. In 10 years your job will be different.
So the secret ingredient in the secret sauce – that's you!
In the question and answer session after the meal she was asked what the opportunities were for Guernsey. She felt there were opportunities for Innovation in Finance. There were also oportunities in the Maker movement for things like 3D printing.
She was also asked about money for Startups. She believes there is a lot of money in Guernsey and High Nett Worth Individuals are a good source of funding.