Caydoo.com

HELLO EVERYONE AND WELCOME TO 2012!!!

After a somewhat fun-filled and relaxing festive period, we’re once again back to the grindstone and eager to make 2012 the biggest and best year of ALL TIME. That’s quite the statement I realise, but both Liam and I are confident that this year is going to be a doozie.

At this time of year, people always reflect back on where they were a year ago, what actually happened during the year and where they see themselves in twelve months’ time. I am no different.

This time last year Liam and I were in Vancouver visiting potential investors. From there we went to San Francisco and back to London, unaware as we all are, of what the future held.

Our original developer came and went; we started building the site again from scratch using Open Source code (which is what the current site is built on by the way); we moved from London to Brighton, which was by far the single best thing we’ve ever done both personally and professionally; we launched our site on August 16th (my birthday, for those who want to send me presents next year!); and we went through months of teething issues, as is always the way, and finally got v1.1 of the site live just before Christmas…Phew!!

What will 2012 hold I wonder??

Well most importantly, first and foremost we’re a website, so ongoing development can never cease. We will continue to listen to our members and constantly review and update the site. We rely heavily on the feedback we receive so please do not hesitate to get in touch and let us know what we’re doing right and where we need to improve. Our email address is live@caydoo.com.

We have changed our site hosting over to the lovely chaps at Mason IT, a Brighton-based company which has exclusive access to a data centre located in Iceland. This is one of the most energy efficient and sustainable centres of its kind in the world. It is powered by both geothermal and hydro electricity and we are very proud to be associated with a company that acknowledges where the long term future of the internet needs to head.

We also must now begin to grow our membership. For the record, I would like to thank our 200 or so members that have to date been the backbone of the site. We have purposely kept our numbers low so we could test, test, test. Now that we have got to a point where we have achieved a certain level of functionality, we are finally able to begin driving our membership base upwards.

Over the coming months, you are going to see quite a bit more activity on the site. The first thing to kick start the new year is a photography competition based in our home town of Brighton. It’s called “Brighton’s Picture of Sustainability” and the challenge is to capture in one picture the essence of sustainability here on the South Coast. Posters have gone up, eFlyers sent out and radio spots are in the can. We are working closely with our sponsors Albion In The Community and MCR Print to push the competition out to all across this great city. We are also partnered with the University of Brighton Student Union and Clock Tower Cameras who have been incredibly supportive and generous with their time when organising this event.

The competition itself will culminate with an awarding of prizes on the 1st of March at the American Express Community Stadium outside of Brighton in Falmer. There will be a prize for the People’s Choice as well as an Overall winner. For more details, please head to the competition’s group and join and be sure to watch out for more competitions to follow throughout the year.

We are also looking forward to working closely with The Eco Technology Show which is taking place at The Amex Stadium in the middle of June. The show’s aim is to “showcase all the new technologies and encourage as many people as possible to commit to using renewable energy and making energy savings throughout their lives”. We think this is pretty important and are proud to support their endeavours.

Before I sign off, I’d just like to say a big thank-you to all of our friends, old and new, that provided both Liam and myself with the support and impetus to keep on going. On top of that come our families, without whom we simply could not have made this happen. I’d like to thank my parents, Gavan and Marg, who have always had my back and have been there throughout my own personal challenges, particularly over the past few years. In no small part, they are the reason we have been able to create this site. Thank-you.

Running your own business (especially when it’s in its start-up phase) can be harrowing to say the least. No one can prepare you for the challenges you face on a day-to-day basis. But when you see people using something that you’ve created (even when it’s in its infancy), it spurns you on to constantly do better.

Please keep the challenges coming in 2012. We’re ready and primed to deliver the site, the community and the future that the world needs. We hope that you all have a great year too. This is, after all, the Year of Sustainability.