Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Videos + Feedback = Even Better

We have started adding the videos of the 2-day Venture Camp event.


You can find them here.

This is also the right time to collect your feedback.

Do you think this activity is valuable for you?
What do you value most? Would you like to see more of this in the future?

Friday, October 24, 2008

VC investments and the financial crazyness

During the Venture Camp we have touched several times on whether or not you gonna be nuts to start a new venture in such an incredibly unstable financial situation.
I've heard during some of the presentations and during the various networking sessions (never too many...) people confronting opposite points of view.

The same day we started our forum, Sequoia flooded all startups and relevant investors with their famous Presentation , portraying an apocalyptic view of the world of startups in the next years to come.

I have the impression that, yes, we are facing tougher times in front of us (what the heck, if even Google is being cutting on extra-free-food...).
However Scarcity is the best status to spur Innovation. From scarcity it comes clarity.
How about seeing these funky times as a real opportunity for the best ideas that solve real, tangible problems, to emerge?

On the other side, I was reading the recent statistics of the performance of PEPI (table).
Indeed, the numbers look scary, considering they do not include the last few week earthquakes.
Still, the best long term (10Y) returns from all different investment scenarios, are coming from Early stage investments in startups.
Ergo, it's time to dump your stock and make your mattress thinner... and invest in your friend startup (the smart one, though).

Thursday, October 9, 2008

It's all LIVE

Less than 10 hours to the opening of the MtB Venture Camp...
I landed in Venice not too long ago, and I bet a lot of other people have already started their travel plans.
For a good number of them (and us included) it feels like the "night before the exams" kind of feeling.
Let's be clear. It ain't easy to pull together such a 2-days event. We definitely raised the bar with 14 Start-up presentations, 2 live interviews, 4 panels, a gala dinner in the lagoon and a startup-investor match-making service...
a lot of energy and a lot of collaboration among different parties.

Now, that all is done, let's just enjoy the party!
Last good news.

We are planning to provide a video live streaming of the event. Stay tuned to get the connection .. (on www.mtbventurecamp.com).

See you there (live or virtual).

MM