MtB 2009 - last week for the business plans!!

As you might know, the deadline for submitting your business plan for the 2009 Mind the Bridge competition is August 25th. Very close. Next Tuesday. Time to act!

For those out there still thinking "should I do it, should I do it?", let me add a piece of advice. Even if you are not thinking about moving to Silicon Valley next week, this is a competition you can't miss, if you are thinking global. It is the best opportunity you will have to get in contact with the world outside our beautiful country. If you are thinking big and global, you should put together a business plan and send it before next Tuesday.

And if you are thinking global but you are still very local, let me give you another reason to join the competition: we have assembled a spectacular Selection Committee, that I have the privilege to coordinate. The people listed below represent the best of the best of Italy, both in the financial world and in the industry. Having one of these members read your idea might give you the opportunity you were looking for. Hey, the best time to write a business plan is summer, whether you are two guys with a brilliant idea or an established Italian company with global aspirations.

Here are the members of the MtB 2009 First Selection Committee:

- Alessio Beverina, Sofinnova Partners
- Claudio Giuliano, Innogest
- Davide Gai, CEO BSI Healthcapital SA
- Fausto Boni, 360 Capital Partner
- Gianluca Dettori, Dpixel
- Giuseppe Serazzi, PNCube
- Lorenzo Franchini, IAG
- Luca Ungarelli, Golden Mouse
- Massimiliano Magrini, Country Manager Google Italia
- Maurizio Petitbon, Kreos Capital
- Mauro Pretolani, TLCOM
- Pietro Dova, XG Ventures
- Pietro Strada, Centerboard Partners
- Roberto Bonanzinga, Balderton
- Stefano Peroncini, Quantica

One week to go!

Save the Date: Venture Camp @ Corriere

We do what we do because we genuinely believe that our activity can have a relevant social and economic impact in Italy.

To spread the word and the insights of our outstanding network, we have always been striving to find the right media partner.

Today we are happy to announce that our media partner is il Corriere della sera.
Il Corriere will be hosting the Venture Camp event in November, where, among an amazing line up of speakers (stay tuned for more), you'll be able to witness the pitches from the semi-finalist startups. What a great opportunity to showcase your great project to such a large audience!

As last year, the whole event will be webcasted live.

Mind the Bridge Social Club!

I'm glad to announce that Mind the Bridge now has a new Facebook Fan Page (thank you, 49 enthusiasts that joined us in the first 18 hours!) and a LinkedIn group.

If you believe in our mission, you are more than welcome to join and help us to spread the "connecting talent" idea, by talking about us in your blog posts, tweets, friendfeed posts... (just use the hashtag #mindthebridge so it'll be easier to search info about MtB).

We are approaching the social media world guradually, so you won't see any Twitter @mindthebridge for now: we want to make sure to give proper attention to every conversation, so it will be a gradual process.

Also, if you feel like browsing our 14 videos, Mind the Bridge's YouTube videochannel is right here.

Monitoring the online buzz will be one of my tasks, so I look forward to your comments and contributions, and hope to meet you at the next Mind the Bridge Venture Camp, in November.

Until then, see you on the web!

Mind the Bridge Foundation

The Gym starts in Milan (Sep 17)

We announced sometime ago our plan for the MTB Gymnasium.

The Gym, in short, is the space (virtual and physical) in Silicon Valley, where Italian entrepreneurs with global dreams, can build their muscles. The project will be presented in Milan (Sep 17th) by one of our most active partners in Italy, the Politecnico di Milano Accelerator (aka Poli).

The Poli has been working with us in the last few months, defining the best fit for the GYM within their stable of startups. After several iteractions, we finally jointly agreed that Neptuny (arguably the most developed project coming out the Accelerator) would have the honor of being the Poli flagship within the GYM.

To give some deserved visibility to this important new channel for Italian startups, we are co-organizing an event at the Politecnico. Our Fabrizio Capobianco will be explaining what are the rules to participating and what are our medium term expectations on the project.

Another date to add to your agendas...