The Roundabout Tapes – Documenting the startups of Silicon Roundabout
by Mike Butcher
on May 18, 2011

Many have talked about the explosion of tech startups in the East of London, which has come to be known colloquially as “Silicon Roundabout“. But who are they? We’ve been writing about the emerging tech cluster there since it’s first stirrings in 2008, so we’ve decided to start documenting them for TechCrunch TV. And with the help of our video crew in the shape of producer (and startup founder, even) Chris Leydon and camera guru Olly Newport, we’ll be releasing the videos over the next few weeks.

Our first interview was with Azeem Azhar, CEO and founder of PeerIndex, which moved into the area recently.

PeerIndex is a platform for ranking authority on the social web. It plain English, it looks at your social and “reputation capital” to work out if you really do know what you are talking about, and whether you are rated as such by your peers.

Here’s the interview, and below it, a bonus blooper video from an interview we’ll be featuring later…

Oh dear:

The Roundabout Tapes: Shutl Blooper from Chris Leydon on Vimeo.

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  • http://blog.antoniorus.com Antonio Rus

    Mike, I think the The Roundabout Tapes is a great initiative. Congrats on the idea.

    I know it’s the first interview and we haven’t seen it all, but are you planning to have additional formats? Maybe a la TC Cribs? I think JK is doing a great job with TC Cribs in showing the office space, team members, atmosphere, and a similar approach would be great!

  • Anonymous

    Hey Antonio,

    This was one of the first videos that we shot. The newer ones that we shot on Friday have a better feel for them both in terms of quality content and production values. The team really started to gel, so hopefully we can get better at it! Thanks for the positive comments!

  • http://blog.antoniorus.com Antonio Rus

    Sounds great. Keep them coming! 

  • http://twitter.com/sohear Steve O’Hear

    TC Europe Cribs! I like it but you’d have to track me down first ;)

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  • jw

    unconvinced that authority crawlers such as peerindex are anything but creepy.

  • http://manumarchal.blogspot.com/ Manu

     Very cool idea indeed, Mike. congrats. Looking forward to see more of them. 

    Question: How are you selecting the companies your are covering?

  • Geeuru?

     Explosion of tech startups is right.

  • Anonymous

    I’m not sure about the format. It’s a great idea but it seems too formal and rehearsed. I really enjoy Founder Stories on Techcrunch, is there any way you can make it more like that?

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    [...] of interviews with companies in the Silicon Roundabout area of London (we’re calling this The Roundabout Tapes) we interviewed Clearer [...]

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    [...] of interviews with companies in the “Silicon Roundabout” area of London (we’re calling this The Roundabout Tapes), we interviewed Clearer [...]

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  • http://jp.techcrunch.com/archives/20110530the-roundabout-tapes-frameblast-aims-to-be-the-google-for-tv-and-video-archives-tctv/ 企業や団体の膨大なビデオ集合を検索可能にするClearer, 近く小企業向けのFrameblastを立ち上げ

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  • http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/06/08/do-you-know-who-i-am-marketmesuite-adds-peerindex-to-its-social-media-dashboard/ Do you know who I am? – MarketMeSuite adds PeerIndex to its social media dashboard

    [...] is partnering with PeerIndex to integrate influence rankings into its social media dashboard. Through the partnership, MarketMeSuite users will be able to [...]

  • http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/07/18/the-roundabout-tapes-groupspaces-is-poised-to-go-global-tctv/ The Roundabout Tapes – GroupSpaces is poised to go global (TCTV)

    [...] part of our series on Silicon Roundabout startups, (The Roundabout Tapes) we spoke to David and Andy about their journey from university to fundraising to scaling [...]

  • http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/08/01/techcrunch-europe-ad-hoc-crunchup-this-wednesday-in-london/ TechCrunch Europe Ad-hoc #CrunchUp this Wednesday in London

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