Author: d_dintsis

Portfolio, Project management. ITSM, ITIL Virtual learning. Training and consulting.

New types of competency profile to boost your careers

d_dintsisLeave a comment

I -, Dash, T- competency profiles became very popular for the last 5-7 years due to their value in Agile teams forming, and also building career tracks for professionals in the VUCA world.

AXELOS – the leading methodological vendor for ITIL, PRONCE, MoR and other popular methodologies and frameworks – presented its extended concept for teams and team members on emergent areas and markets.

Below is an excerpt of this article about newly designed M-, E-, ans X- shaped competency profiles.

“M-shaped people have evolved from being Pi-shaped into those who possess multiple specialties (the vertical part of the M). From a resource management perspective, a person with one or more specialties are more adaptable than someone with a single speciality (I-shaped person) or even Pi-shaped. As such, each additional speciality changes the letter “M” to a comb. That is, where a person possesses more than three specialties to resemble a comb shape.

E-employee-200x200.jpg

E-shaped is a new paradigm shift, where people actively demonstrate a combination of four characteristics – Experience, Expertise, Exploration and Execution to form the letter E. E-shaped people who demonstrate the breadth and depth of knowledge have expanded their knowledge to include tangible (execution i.e. proven ability to deliver) and intangible (exploration i.e. proven ability towards continuous improvement) specialities. This implies the person has both vision and granular detail to make a discernible difference to the organization reminiscent of being a best practice practitioner in whatever domain or competency.

X-shaped people have a higher degree of self-awareness, adaptive capacity and the competencies to thrive in the future. Similar to the self-actualisation in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, this employee type refers to the pinnacle of individual capability and competency. That is, X-shaped people demonstrate uniquely human skills that are grounded in empathy and purpose. They move from domains of knowledge to a constant state of learning, continually adapting to the environment. People with X-shaped skills have deep expertise in specialities (or knowledge area) as well as strong leadership skills and credibility.”

Managing volunteers in startup projects

d_dintsisLeave a comment

Involving volunteers is a winning strategy for a startup. But a big question arises – what are specific management and motivation activities for volunteers’.

First, the basic recommendation is that you manage volunteers as employees. If a volunteer takes responsibility for a project (its part) she or he is responsible

Second, motivate with giving transparent perspective of the project and potential volunteer’s involvement. It helps a volunteer to align his/her plans with your project. And for startup founders it provides more predictability – if a volunteer goes to leave a project he/she can notify in advance.

Third, agree on schedule in advance, at least a month ahead. For example, a volunteer is ready to be involved 10 hours per week.

Supporting Next-Generation Entrepreneurs

d_dintsisLeave a comment

G-Accelerator is one of the next generation accelerators, which combines the incubator and accelerator studies for students’ and alumni’s startups.

Read the full AACSB article, how does it work.

And learn about 6 principles of selecting a startup with a good potential:

  • potential (20 percent),
  • innovativeness (25 percent),
  • possibility of creating triple impact (25 percent),
  • scalability (20 percent),
  • strength of the team (5 percent),
  • and achievement (5 percent).

DevOps culture – join our new virtual course

d_dintsisLeave a comment

DevOps – which stands for Development and Operations – becomes well-known and even fashionable rapidly.

DevOps had been introduced as an organizational culture first. And we – as developers, engineers, support agents and consumers – can gain the most value by applying DevOps organizational and cultural practices for team building, organizing collaboration and work processes.

DevOps stands for united teams with full responsibility for a product/service from the very beginning to the end of its operational phase.

In the given course you learn what DevOps culture is, and what is the value of applying it.

You can join our course now for only $12.99 as early birds! Join us!

Featured European startups in 2022

d_dintsisLeave a comment

Disraptors(c) posted the new version of European startups catalog. The most features startups are:

 Tribute Brand, a three-year-old startup based in Zagreb, Croatia, that is developing “digital fashion” products for the metaverse, raised a $4.5 million seed round led by Collab+Currency, with Alice Lloyd George, Lattice Capital, RED DAO, and Flamingo DAO also participating. Blockster has more here.

 Bit Odd, a three-year-old mobile gaming studio based in Helsinki, raised a $5.3 million round led by Index Ventures. VentureBeat has more here.

 Happeo, a five-year-old, Helsinki, Finland-based outfit offering a central intranet portal for employees, has raised $26 million in Series B funding from Endeit Capital, Smartfin, Evli Growth Partners, Inkef Capital, Maki.vc and Vendep Capital. TechCrunch has more here.

 Vibrant, a two-year-old startup based in Copenhagen whose app transforms Android devices into points of sale, raised a $4.2 million seed round from lead investor byFounders, with Luminar Ventures also pitching in. Tech.EU has more here.

Onomondo, a ten-year-old startup based in Copenhagen that has built a low-power, wireless network for IoT devices operating in over 180 countries that it claims can double device lifetime, halve battery consumption, and lower data consumption by 90%, raised a $21 million Series A led by Verdane; additional investors included Maersk Growth, People Ventures, and The Danish Growth Fund. The company has raised a total of $26.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

 Lucinity, a four-year-old, Reykjavík, Iceland-based banking compliance startup, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by Keen Venture Partners. Experian, Crowberry Capital, Karma Ventures and byFounders also joined the round. Tech.eu has more here.

 Klarna, the 17-year-old, Stockholm-based buy-now-pay-later giant rumored to be raising fresh funding at a steep discount to the $45.6 billion valuation investors assigned it a year ago, today confirmed that it has raised $800 million in capital at a $6.7 billion valuation (an 85% drop). The round included a slew of new and existing investors, including Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the UAE’s sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Company and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. TechCrunch has more here.

 Deci, a three-year-old startup based in Tel Aviv that is developing a platform to build and optimize text-, audio-, and image-analyzing AI models for their clients’ apps and services, raised a $25 million Series B round led by Insight Partners; ICON and previous investors Square Peg Capital, Jibe Ventures, and Fort Ross Ventures also participated. The company has raised a total of $55.1 million. TechCrunch has more here.

 Aware, a five-year-old Berlin startup whose subscription service will allow patients to receive a detailed snapshot of their current health condition via regular blood draws, raised a $15 million seed round. Lakestar, Cherry Ventures, and June Fund were the co-leads. Sifted has more here.

 Soba, a nearly three-year-old startup based in Berlin that is developing a web 3 platform to allow anyone to create games for any device using no-code tools, raised a $13.5 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with FTX Ventures and Cherry Ventures also contributing to the financing. VentureBeat has more here.

 Pina Earth, a year-old, Munich-based startup that’s building an online platform for European forest owners to get certified to sell carbon credits, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding led by Franco-German VC XAnge, with participation from the London-based venture firm Nordstar, as well as a number of business angels and serial founders. TechCrunch has more here.

 Seatti, a three-year-old Munich startup that is building a platform to maximize the benefits and minimize the complexity of hybrid work for both companies and their employees, raised a $3.1 million seed round. Acton Capital and Partech co-led the deal. The company has raised a total of $3.7 million. EU-Startups has more here.

 Tenderize, a 16-month-old, Antwerp, Belgium-based outfit developing a staking derivatives protocol, has raised $3 million in seed funding. Eden Block led the round, joined by Figment, Daedalus and TRGC. The Block has more here.

 Qiibee, a 10-year-old, Zug, Switzerland-based blockchain-based B2B rewards marketplace, raised $4.8 million in seed funding led by Z5 Capital. More here.

 Hors Normes, a French startup that helps organic farmers and producers sell their products directly to consumers when their products are rejected by traditional retail channels, raised a €7 million seed round led by Project A; previous investor Stride VC also participated. Tech.EU has more here.

 Oxbury Bank, a four-year-old startup based in Chester, U.K., that loans money to farmers, raised a £20 million Series C extension; investors included Frontier Agriculture, Hutchinsons Group, Hambro Perks, and Grosvenor Food & AgTech. The company has raised a total of £68 million. AltFi has more here.

 Oxford Quantum Circuits, a five-year-old startup based in Oxford, U.K., that is offering quantum computing as a subscription service, raised a $47 million Series A round led by Lansdowne Partners and The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners, with British Patient Capital, Oxford Science Enterprises, and Oxford Investment Consultants also chipping in. The company has raised a total of $46 million. TechCrunch has more here.

 Konselio, a six-year-old London startup that helps insurance brokers check compliance and manage policy administration, raised a £4.7 million Series A; investors included Committed Capital and ACF Investors. UKTN has more here.