The winner of MTB Italy Tour in Catania is... Flavio Fazio!

Last Friday the Mind the Bridge Italy Tour stopped in one of the most vital cities of Sicily, Catania.

We finally reached the South of Italy, a place we liked a lot not only for the amazing places, the delicious food and the welcoming people we found there (yes, we had fun J), but above all for the enthusiasm and reactive response we had from the local community.

The last stop of the MTB Italy Tour 2012 was organized in partnership with Ethyca Association, Comune di Catania and Principia SGR. The event was hosted at Le Ciminiere di Catania, the ideal location to promote innovation.
We really want to thank all the local actors who actively supported the event: a special mention to our MTB local Alumni, in particular to  Giuseppe Suriani from eRalos3, who devoted his time and passion helping and supporting the startups and dealing (together with Indigeni Digitali) with all the logistics. All that "community-effort', created the right atmosphere and contributed to make it a blast!

After the opening from Francesca Spataro, President of Ethyca, the morning session continued, as usual, with our Startup School. Marco Marinucci (MTB Executive Director) and Alberto Onetti (MTB Chairman) provided the audience with nuts and bolts about business planning and fundraising and introduced the 2012 SeedQuest. Barbara Labate from RisparmioSuper and Giuseppe Suriani from eRalos3 shared with the audience their experiences with MTB. 

In the afternoon, as usual, we run a GYM Session: five locally selected startups presented in front of representatives of the most important funds that invest in Southern Italy.
Thanks to Principia SGR, the best startup of the Gym Session was awarded with a free entry at the MTB Startup School.
The winner is... Flavio Fazio with his project Flazio, a web platform that allows users with no technical skills to create their own personal and customized website in a snapshot.
Flavio in September will fly to San Francisco with his great passion and skills. Good luck!

In the meantime, do not miss Seed Quest 2012! MTB offers an incredible opportunity to startuppers and wanna-be entrepreneurs. Applications are open, deadline is July 31st, 2012. 

Do you wanna become the next Italian success story? Apply now! More information here. 

Time to think BIG

<Guest post from Leonardo Camiciotti, Top-IX>

Revolutions are exciting if you realize you are living them.
Recently, we have been spending a lot of time talking and thinking about socio-economic crisis, job losses, frozen GDP and so on.
In the meanwhile, a real gold mine is being built silently through the Internet.
Gazillions of digital data is being created daily: logs, business transaction records, sensor and mobile device data, etc., reproducing digitally the real world in the fields of healthcare, energy, education, public administration, logistics, finance, tourism, etc. not to mention the emotions and life snapshots flowing through the social networks.  
The Internet acts as a mirror, able as it is to interact bidirectionally. On the one hand, it describes reality; on the other, it stimulates and influences it – and much faster than any other social transition previously experienced. A sort of parallel world is growing and this gives an unprecedented opportunity to analyze data, decipher and cross-mine them, finding emerging and recurrent patterns, discovering hidden behaviors. 
This will ignite a new wave of innovation, increased productivity and global growth as long as new professionals are available to dive into this ocean of data in order to extract potential valuable information and turn it into actionable wisdom. 

 The McKinsey Global Institute (McKinsey Global Institute, Big data: The Next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity) estimates that the “The United States alone faces a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts to analyze big data and make decisions based on their findings”. 
The rest of the world is likely to face similar shortages and, in addition, the next big company will probably emerge in this field. 
Can you hear me? No job losses, no crisis, no gloomy scenarios: a gigantic, concrete, challenging job and business opportunity who might position those who grab it in a leadership position in the years to come, fostering growth and creating socio-economic value.
Therefore, as a first step,  TOP-IX (MTB long time partner) invited top-notch worldwide experts to talk about Big Data during its last conference at the end of 2011. Now Top-Ix gonna move a step forward: in collaboration with Axant , ISI Foundation and ToDo TOP-IX organizes in October a four-week training program called BIG DIVE , in order to boost the technical skills needed to dive into the big data universe. 
The goal is to nurture the growth of a new generation of developers. 
A street-fighting gym where high value datasets are the raw material in the hands of a bunch of ambitious smart geeks, tutored and mentored by experts in three key areas: Development, Visualization Design and Data Science. 
They are looking for brave divers, it's time to think BIG. 
Don't miss this opportunity!

Startups and The Law

When? Jun 27th, 6:30pm Where? Milan What? A special event focused to address the main legal and tax issues startups and founders face in the early stage of their business venture. That's the goal of the event named "Startups and the Law" we organize in Milan in partnership with Cleary Gottlieb and Tavecchio & Associati. In this event, that is part of our Mind the Bridge Italy Tour 2012, we are going to have a sort of "Legal Gym", i.e. a Q&A session where startuppers and entrepreneurs can discuss with legal and tax experts about hot topics such as: - where to incorporate my startup(Italy vs US vs UK vs Luxembourg), pros and cons, - how to deal with investors, - how to manage my IP, - how to deal with convertible notes and stock option plans. The Q&A session will be moderated by Alberto Onetti (Mind the Bridge), Carmelo Fontana (Google Italia) and Roberto Bonsignore (Cleary Gottlieb). We provide high level information about the topics above and answer to some basic questions. Please anticpate on Facebook some topics/questions you would like to be addressed on Jun 27th or in one of the following Legal Gym sessions we plan to organize in the incoming months. The participation is free of charge (yep, free beer, since participants will get pizza&birra), but limited to 50 startups. Registration is mandatory, here is the link. First-come, first-served. The event will be hosted by Cleary Gottlieb (Milan, via San Paolo 7), one of our long-term partners. See you there!

2011 Business Plan Competition: here is the short list of the the top 30!

This year we received a lot of submissions for our annual Business Plan Competition. Most of them are really cool and interesting projects...
Then our Selection Committee (coordinated by Fabrizio Capobianco) had a hard time to come out with a short list. But they did it. Thanks guys for the great and passionate work.
Below you can find the short list of the top 29 startups that have been admitted to the 2011 Boot Camp Mind the Bridge (with the active support of TOP-IX) organized from Sep 22nd through Sep 24th.
During the three days we will provide your with top notch training (here you can take a look at the agenda ... our speakers and instructors are impressive) and have the chance to know more about your startup and business plan. Then the Boot Camp represents a further evaluation step to identify the 15 semifinalists admitted to pitch at the Venture Camp (Nov 4th and 5th, in Milan @ Corriere della Sera).
A final note aimed at the hundreds of startups that are not included in the list below. Don't give up, there is potential in your team and idea... We are looking forward to meeting you in Milan for the opening of the BootCamp (on Sep 22nd, at 4pm, at Mediateca di Santa Teresa, the event is open, just click here to get your free ticket).
And we are planning to organize a mini Boot Camp reserved to the best startups that have not been selected...then we definitively want to stay in touch with you guys and help you succeed. And you can do it...




Startups admitted to MTB Bootcamp 2011

ARKIMEDIA
BLOMMING
COOKOUS
D-Orbit
DigitalFluency
FLYBBLE
FRESTYL
FRINZER
GOBILABS
GoWar
iubenda
mangatar
Mytata
NAEVI IN SILICO
NextStyler
OkeyDokeyEvents
Phlur
QUIPU
RickyRoubin
Smartruck
SOUNDAY
SportSquare
STEREOMOOD
TIMBUKTU
TREEDOM
TWIMBOW
Video Template
VINSWER
VIVOCHA

2011 Business Plan Competition: what a Selection Committee!

While we are approaching to the deadline for the 2011 Business Plan Comepetition, our Selection Commitee has been integrated with phenomenal adds-on.
Now we have 40 people -investors, angels and entreprenuers- representing the best of breed of the seed and venture capital eco-system, both in Italy and abroad.
Here you can find the updated list of members. Welcome to the new entrants and thank again to the core group of members who support us since day one.
The Commitee is coordinated - as usual - by Fabrizio Capobianco, Founder and President of Funambol Inc. (on the right in the pic, shot last Friday in Pavia at the Summer Meeting of the Giovani Industriali di Pavia, where we had a lot of fun discussing how to exploit connections between Italy and US).
Don't miss the deadline for submitting your business idea, that is July 31st. 20 days are remaining, then hurry up!

Super-closing for the MtB Italy Tour 2011!

Last week more than 150 people attended the Genova final date of Mind the Bridge Italy Tour 2011 hosted by IIT – Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia.

With amazing guest speakers talking about their successful entrepreneurial experiences in Silicon Valley and giving inspiring lessons, MtB met the enthusiasm and attention of the participants who felt immediately involved in the discussion. Thanks to Marco Marinucci, Fabrizio Capobianco and Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli, who told their stories and enriched the discussion with their comments, the Startup School coordinated by Alberto Onetti represented a real interactive moment for learning and collecting inestimable hints.

Moreover, the insights and feedbacks given to the startups selected to pitch by the panels of experts during the Gym Session, gave a panorama of what are the must-haves for an effective presentation for high technology based products: do not go too deep into the features of the product (often very complex), but focus on the value proposition and the discriminators.

Mission accomplished! A few days after the end of the MtB Italy Tour 2011 we feel even more eager to receive the business ideas from all the other Italian talents we haven’t the chance to meet.
The Business Plan Competition 2011 is open! It’s time to send us your ideas..
Remember, the deadline is July 31st.

Are you ready for Genova? Here the selected startups!

The last date of the Mind the Bridge Italy Tour 2011 will be hosted in one of the most prestigious landmarks of technology, the IIT- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. Tomorrow we have the opportunity to hear from 6 exciting startups showcasing their business ideas!

Thanks to the presence of Marco Marinucci (MtB Executive Director), born in Genova and Google Manager in Silicon Valley, and of Fabrizio Capobianco (Funambol President&Chairman), both arriving from San Francisco to take part in the event, the Startup School coordinated by Alberto Onetti, will be further enriched of invaluable insights and experiences.
The afternoon, structured as a Gym Session, will be devoted to a bunch of startups presenting their business idea in front of a panel composed by relevant investors and seasoned entrepreneurs such as Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli (Univ. of Barkeley), Giuseppe Rasero (Genova High Tech, Leonardo Technology Spa), Joe Petillon (Banner Ventures LLC) and many others. Goal of the session will be to give constructive feedbacks to the admitted startups and look in deep at their business in order to seek out either the points of strength or of weakness.

What about the selected projects? Here are the names of the startups that will present tomorrow.

1. SunWise

2. Twimbow

3. 3Brain

4. Best Creativity

5. NANOMED 

6. Arbot Technology

This time the choice has been even harder than usual. Besides receiving a high number of Business Plans, we found a quite consistent number of interesting ideas. Thus, our choice has been driven not only by the quality of the idea, but also by its attitude to be discussed and its potential to be a helpful case study for the audience. Do not feel left out! Not being selected does not mean there is no potential in your plan. On the opposite, we are pleased to invite you to attend both to the Gym Session- for listening to the precious feedbacks and advices provided by the magnificent panel of experts to the startups- and the education program in the morning.

See you in Genova!

Great day in Pavia! Learn more about the selected startups..

Startups, enthusiasm, constructive feedbacks, terrific speakers.. that’s what you need for organizing a successful event!

Yesterday, we recreated for a day the atmosphere of Silicon Valley in Pavia, involving startups, entrepreneurs and investors, students, Ph.Ds and whoever was interested in learning how to turn an idea into business.

The introductions of the Mayor of Pavia, and of Margherita Balconi and Annalisa Tocchio, respectively the President of the local Polo Tecnologico and industrial association immediately set the tone: create an ecosystem in Pavia to support a new generation of Italian entrepreneurs.

The speeches of Alberto Onetti, Charles Versaggi and Fabrizio Capobianco inspired the participants.

And in the afternoon, a Gym session. Six startups were invited to present their innovative business idea, in front of a panel of experienced investors and entrepreneurs. Let’s briefly introduce them!

Among the early stage ideas we heard from Linksten - a mobile application that reproduces a short jingle during the idle time while your smartphone opens a link, THE WHITE RABBIT – an innovative software platform aimed at providing innovative solutions for business, education, healthcare, home and social needs through touch-screen applications - and EasyGoing - a multi-platform (social web, website, SMS, mobile app, telephone) management system for car pooling. The presenters got a lot comments, feedback and tips that for sure will help them to focus more on their business and exploit their business idea.

Danmax Tech Solutions, tpenso and iLIKE.TV presented their prototypes and products.

Danmax Tech Solutions produces an universal charger for cell phones to be applied into the wall’s outlet.
iLIKE.TV, structured as a web tv channel on cross-media social platforms, allows users to be involved to the shows, influence and interact with them via a secondary screen.
tpenso presented its product - Margerita Salvadita - an innovative device that reduces the risk of needlestick injury from syringes.


Then a lot of good and promising ideas…and - for one of them - an incredible opportunity to make it happen.
We were able to open the door of the MtB Gym to one of the 6 startups. This thanks to Durabo, whose general manager - Tommaso Mazzocchi - volunteered to offer this opportunity to one of the startups in memory of his father Antonio.
Carlo Giuberchio, tpenso founder, received the best of the day award. For him a 3 months stay at the Gym, the mentorship program held @ Pier 38 in San Francisco. Great opportunity for exploiting the business potential of his device!

Carlo, see you in two weeks in San Francisco! All the others, see you on Wednesday next week in Genova!

Startups admitted @ Gym Session in Pavia

On Friday the 17th (yep, Friday the 17th...), we are in Pavia for the second date of our Italy Tour 2011. In the afternoon we replicate a Gym session, with a bunch of startpus pitching in front of a panel of venture capitalists and seasoned entreprenuers.
As usual we received a lot of applications.
Anyway, here are (in alphabetical order) the startups we selected for the Gym in Pavia:
- Danmax Tech Solutions
- Easygoing
- iLIKE.TV
- Linksten
- The White Rabbit
- tpenso



As we always point out, not being in the list above does not mean that there is no potential in your plan. You can largely benefit from the discussion of all the business ideas as well as the education program in the morning(BTW Charles Versaggi is joining me on the stage...terrific opportunity to learn). Thus we are looking forward to meeting all the startups (not only the selected ones) in Pavia, where to share insights and provide some feedback.
We strongly suggest to take part to the whole event with your entire management team (please register with all the members if you haven't yet done). Startups admitted to the Gym session have 8 minutes for presenting their idea (we will send you a template for helping you in structuring the presentation). Presentation will be followed by 20/25 minute time of Q&A.

Presenting the RCS Digital Publishing Prize

Great news for the startups attending the Mind the Bridge Business Plan Competition!
Starting this year, we have a new important award that further enhances our partnership with RCS Mediagroup.

The RCS Digital Publishing Prize has been officially presented last week in New York City @ the Italian Innovation Day. The Prize aims at supporting innovation in the publishing, advertising and media industries. More specifically, the goal is to improve either the user experience of digital readers (content, value, etc.) or the appeal of digital publishing platforms for advertisers.


That's how Alceo Rapagna, CIO of RCS Mediagroup, introduces the goals of the RCS Digital Publishing Prize.
The startup awarded with the RCS Digital Publishing Prize will be incubated – free of charge - for a period of three months at the Gym Program in San Francisco. A terrific chance to turn your business idea into a solid and sound business plan and create business and funding connections in the ecosystem of the Silicon Valley!

What do you have to do to apply for the RCS Digital Publishing Prize?
Just have a disruptive idea in the digital media/publishing space and make the application to the Business Plan Competition 2011 (deadline is Jul 31st).
Digital Innovators, we want you!

Startups admitted @ Gym Session in Firenze

As you know, on Friday the 13th, we are in Florence for the first date of our Italy Tour 2011. In the afternoon we are going to replicate a Gym session, i.e. part of the mentorship activity we regularly run in Silicon Valley with the incubated startpus: companies pitching in front of a panel of venture capitalists and seasoned entreprenuers.
We got a lot of applications from Tuscany. Our Selection Committee worked pretty hard for preparing the short-list of startups admitted to the Gymnasium in Florence. Not an easy task since we received a lot of plans, all of them quite interesting and promising.
Anyway, here are (in alphabetical order) the startups we selected for the Gym next Friday:
-COOLLA.ME/SMARTEX
-ECO CONGRESS
-JOOINK
-PAPERMINE
-TREEDOM



As we always point out, not being in the list above does not mean that there is no potential in your plan. Thus we are looking forward to meeting all the startups (not only the selected ones) in Firenze, where to share insights and provide some feedback.
We strongly suggest to take part to the whole event with your entire management team (please register with all the members if you haven't yet done).
Startups admitted to the Gym session have 10 minutes for presenting their idea (we will send you a template for helping you in structuring the presentation). Presentation will be followed by 20/25 minute time of Q&A.
The key word of the Gym is open discussion and honest feedback. Then partecipating to the Gym session is a MUST for all the startups, not only for the ones we selected to present. Everybody can largely benefit from the discussion of all the business ideas as well as the education program in the morning.

Firenze: here we come

Next week, on Friday (May 13th) we are in Florence, with the first date of our Mind the Bridge Italy Tour 2011 (next dates are Pavia and Genova, both in June). The venue is the Sala Assemblee Confindustria Firenze, Via Valfonda, 9.
It is a full day program (here you can find the updated program): Startup School in the morning (with Alberto Onetti on the stage) and a session of our MtB Gym in the afternoon.



As you know, in the afternoon we are going to replicate here in Italy our Gym, i.e. the mentorship activity we regularly do in Silicon Valley with our startpus admitted to the program: companies presenting their business plans in front of a panel of venture capitalists and seasoned entreprenuers. Open discussion, comments, honest feedbacks. Ultimate goal is fine tuning the business idea (what and where it works, where and what doesn't) and making the value proposition more effective.
We are collecting applications. If you are interested to present at the MtB GYM session, please send your executive summary to Firenze2011@mindthebridge.org. We will select the most promising projects that will be presented to the panel of experts. Deadline is May 6th, then hurry up, don't miss the opportunity!
If you are just interested to attend to the event, please remember to reserve your ticket: it is free, but admissions are limited. Here is the link for RSVP.
During the morning session we will present the Business Plan Competition 2011 (providing insights and tips) and the terrific Prizes we introduced this year:
the Premio Gaetano Marzotto (check the website for details) plus others (one will be announced tomorrow in New York @ the Italian Innovation Day, stay tuned...).

MtB Italy Tour 2011: here are the dates

We are going to hit the road again. After the opening on February 11th in Rome, we will be in May in Florence and in June in Pavia and Genova. Do not miss the opportunity to get in contact with our speakers and learn from them the key elements to start a new business.




Here the incoming dates and venues of the Mind the Bridge Italy Tour 2011.
FIRENZE, May 13th
PAVIA, June 17th
GENOVA, June 22nd

Why the MtB Italy Tour?
We receive every day a lot of requests about how to prepare a business plan, how to talk with a venture capital, and so on. Many of you ask feedback about his/her business idea. The MtB Italy Tour is going to provide some concrete answers to these requests. 
The morning session (MtB Start-up School) is aimed at providing education re: entrepreneurship, business planning, venture capital market and Silicon Valley eco-system. Business school style, with a pragmatic approach (we give you the “nuts and bolts”). The modules are provided by Alberto Onetti, Chairman of MtB Foundation, and other top notch experts.
In the afternoon we replicate a session of our MtB Gym, the mentorship program we run every week at Pier 38 in San Francisco with the startups admitted to our incubator. A panel of investors and entrepreneurs provide comments and feedbacks to selected start-ups that present their ideas. If you want to be considered for the MtB Gym sessions, please send your executive summary to the email address indicated at the webpage of each event.


What’s the goal of the MtB Italy Tour?
The key word of the Gym is open discussion comments, honest feedbacks. Ultimate goal is fine tuning the business idea (what and where it works, where and what doesn’t) and improving the presentation. Then participating to the Gym session is a must for all the startups, not only for the ones we selected to present. Everybody can largely benefit from the discussion of all the business ideas as well as the education program in the morning.

Who are the recipients?
If you are a wanna-be-entrepreneur with an innovative business idea, a research or Ph.D. aiming at creating a spin-off or a startup at the early stage, this program is something you can’t miss.

What is required for participating to the Tour events?
Admissions are free, pre-registration is required. You can find details for registration at the webpage of each event.

For further information and updates on the single events please refer to our website

MtB Italy Tour 2011: we hit the road again

The Mind the Bridge Italy Tour 2011 is about to start.
We have not yet defined all the dates and venues of the tour, but we know where and when we start: Rome, February 11th, at 10am.


During the Social Media Week (SMW)in Rome, Mind the Bridge organizes(in partnership with Augmendy)the Startup Lab, to be hosted in a really special venue: the Ministero della Gioventù (L.go Chigi 19).
An amazing line of speakers (including Alexis Ohanian, Reddit cofounder, Euardo Carlos Espinal, Seedcamp Partner, Alberto Onetti, Mind the Bridge Chairman) will discuss how to create successful web startups and provide hints to launch great companies. Giorgia Meloni, Minister of Youth, will join the discussion moderated by Marco Montemagno.
At the end a Gym sessions, with 5 startups lining up and presenting their business idea and plan.
See you there and stay tuned for more information about the next dates!

It was a great Boot Camp!

In Varese we welcomed the 32 startups selected from our 2010 MTB Business Plan Competition. We opened them the doors to our Boot Camp, a 3-day training and coaching program, aimed at helping startups to clarify, create, and communicate their entrepreneurial vision into a viable business plan worthy of financial support. During the workshop, we continued our selection process, extracting the short list of 15 semi-finalists that will present @ Corriere della Sera in Milan on November 5th-6th.


The Boot Camp kicked off with a workshop and public forum designed to address the challenges and opportunities of Italian entrepreneurship. It was hosted at the Faculty of Science. During the Open Workshop Alberto Onetti presented some data about Italian startups and highlighted the main issues entrepreneurs face in Italy while starting up a company (here is the link for the slides). Charles Versaggi, the Boot Camp Program Director, explained how to tell your business story. At the end of the workshop Elizabeth Robinson (Co-founder, NicOX), Marco Asquini (Co-owner, General Manager, SUPER/FLUO) and Maurizio Liverani (Baryon Capital) told their own entrepreneurial story. Francesco Baschieri provided some feedbacks from his recent stay at the MtB Gym in San Francisco. You can access the videos from our MindtheBridgeTv channel on You Tube.


The remaining part of theBoot Camp was held in the gorgeous venue of Villa ToepliTz. The Program was run by top notch instructors and included the following topics:

- The Story: Articulating the Value Proposition (by C. Versaggi)
- Business models and strategy — understanding the value chain (by A. Onetti)
- Project, product or company? How to assess and qualify technologies as a basis for starting a company (by A. Onetti)
- Legal considerations in forming a company (by T. Cherubino)
- Financing: the capitalization process and financing strategies (by C. Maifredi)
- The capital raising process - Pre-money/post-money valuation, the term sheet (by M. Liveerani and A. Onetti)
- Anatomy of a Business Plan (by C. Versaggi and A. Onetti)

It was a great Boot Camp as you can perceive from the comments some participants posted on our Facebook Wall. You can feel the energy and passion we experienced during the 3 days we spent with the startups in Varese.

"Hello guys, I'm really happy to attended the Bootcamp, one of my best experiences. I met very smart people, from whom I learned a lot"
"Great BootCamp! All tutors where really top level. Charles was en-lighting. MtB organizers and Onetti have done a terrific job! Thanks all for the great experience and good luck to all partecipants"
"Thanks all for amazing experience. Thanks to MTB team and to Charles, that he sent us the right enthusiasm to take forward our plans well...See you all in Pavia soon"
"Thanks to all of you Folks! Continue in this direction with enthusiasm, passion and a vision to realize your business dreams!"

Introducing the Italian MtB Team

Together with our activities, the MtB Italian team is growing quickly, with the arrival of 2 new MTB members, Federica and Simona, and the external support of 3 members from the CrESIT reseach centre (Alessia, Marco and Manuela).
Some of you met them in Varese @ the MtB Boot Camp (the pic on the left was taken right there, at Villa ToepliTz). It is now time to introduce them, one by one.


Federica Pepponi has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from Bocconi University. During this summer, Federica was able to manage the hundreds of business plans and ideas we received and coordinated with the Selection Committee members. "Most of the startups submitted the very last day ... July 31st was quite a day (and night), I needed 3 days to recover".





Simona Bielli graduated in Economic and Management from Insubria University. She spent the summer (without enjoing a single day of sun, but meeting "genial minds and delicious people") in San Francisco and now she's back in Italy as part of our team. She coordinated all the logistics of the Boot Camp, chasing the partecipants one-by-one.



For the main events the MtB team is supported and integrated by 3 members of the CrESIT Research Centre (University of Insubria).

Alessia Pisoni holds a Ph.D. from the University of Insubria in Economics of Production and Developmenic and coordinates the CrESIT Research Unit.









Marco Talaia is member of the CrESIT Research Centre and Ph.D. candidate at University of Pavia. He has been Visitin Scholar at San Francisco State University in 2007.










Manuela Menegotto is member of CrESIT Research Group, where she manages activities in the areas of innovation and international business.









All of them are young people. They bring a fresh breath of enthusiasm and passion, and, most importantly, they share our vision: to promote a new Italian entrepreneurial ecosystem that is ethical, highly professional, internationally focused and excellence driven
Thank you guys for the good work you did and will do!

Startups admitted to 2010 MTB Venture Camp

After collecting the feedback from all the Instructors @ MtB Boot Camp in Varese, our selection committee has finally completed its effort. Below you can find the list of the 15 startups admitted to pitch at the Venture Camp event in November (Milan @ Corriere della Sera). The final ranking merges the original evaluation from the desk analysis and the qualitative analisys we performed during the 3-day Boot Camp.

Congratulation to the winners but also to those that did not make it: tune your business plan and do not give up! That's why we decided to open the Coaching session in Pavia also to the remaining 17 startups. We are confident that they can be the next protagonists!
STARTUPS ADMITTED TO 2010 MIND THE BRIDGE VENTURE CAMP

> ADMOBSPHERE
> eRALOS3
> FUBLES
> GET CONNECTED MOPAPP
> INTERVIEWEB
> ISN VIRTUAL WORLDS
> KONKURI
> MINTEOS
> PORCO VINO
> RADIO TOUCH
> ReMEMBRANE
> SMANIA
> UNPLUGGED
> WE SPORT
> XAPIO

Stay connected for more details and ... see you in October in Pavia and in November in Milan!

Selection is completed. And the winners are ...

After spending a full month working on it, our Selection Committee coordinated by Fabrizio Capobianco has finally completed its job. Selecting the best business plans has been quite a challenge, because the number and quality of the proposals we received.
In our selection process we focused on quality, with a particular attention on diversity, including subject matter, geography and gender. We decided to merge the Business Plan Competion and Call for Ideas into a single ranking.
Below, you find the list of the startups admitted to the Mind the Bridge BootCamp (in Varese, from September 23rd through September 25th). It is a 30+ list. During the Bootcamp we will extract the short list of the 15 semi-finalists presenting @ Corriere della Sera in Milan in November.
Congratulations to the selected startups and also to those that did not make it: tune your business plan and do not give up!

> ADMOBSPHERE
> ASV
> BIOPAN
> CITY TOURING
> eRALOS3
> FUBLES
> GANTOR
> GET CONNECTED MOPAPP
> HAPPY MINUTE
> INTERVIEWEB
> ISN VIRTUAL WORLDS
> KONKURI
> MAKOO
> MINTEOS
> NETHICAL
> OKOBICI
> ORANGE CLOUD
> PARKVICE
> PHILANTHROBUSINESS
> PORCO VINO
> RADIO TOUCH
> ReMEMBRANE
> REPUTAG
> SECURO
> SMANIA
> TEAM
> TODAY EXTREME DISCOUNTS
> TZENTE
> UMBRA MED
> UNPLUGGED
> VIDEO PAY ME
> WE SPORT
> XAPIO



The selected startups are admitted - free of charge - to our Bootcamp (that will be held in Varese on Sep 23-25) and to the Coaching session (that is scheduled in Pavia on Oct 14-16). During these two events we provide the startups with tailored training and mentoring and select the 15 semi-finalists to be admitted to pitch at the Venture Camp in November (on Nov 5-6 @ Corriere della Sera in Milan).
More information by email and on our website. See you in Varese!

Business Plan Competition: Selection is ongoing

Deadline for Mind the Bridge Business Plan Competition is over.
This year we received hundreds of Business Plans & Call for Ideas. Really a lot, better than any other previous Mind the Bridge (which is definitively a great sign).
Now it's time for our Selection Committee to start its job (actually they already have). It is quite a challenge given the high number of submissions we received. But we are committed to complete the selection by the end of the first week of September. And we are not going to miss it.
Below you can find the list of the components of 2010 MTB Selection Committee, that is coordinate by our Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol CEO: they are all top-notch Italian and international venture capitalists, business angels and professionals. Thank you to all them for their continuous help and support!
Their goal is to select the best 30 proposals. The selected top 30 entrepreneurs will be admitted free of charge to our Bootcamp (that will be held in Varese on Sep 23-25) and Coaching (that is scheduled in Pavia on Oct 14-16). During these two events we provide the startups with tailored training and mentoring and select the 15 semi-finalists who will be admitted to present at the Venture Camp in November (on Nov 5-6 @ Corriere della Sera in Milan).
If you are confident that you business plan is good enough, please save all these dates.
Stay tuned to check the list of admitted startups.


MTB Business Plan Competition
2010 Selection Committee
Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol (coordinator)
Alessio Beverina, Sofinnova Partners
Claudio Giuliano, Innogest
Fausto Boni, 360 Capital Partner
Leonardo Camiciotti, Top-ix
Gianluca Dettori, Dpixel
Pietro Dova, XG Ventures
Lorenzo Franchini, IAG
Ruggero Frezza, M31
Maurizio Liverani, Classfinance
Massimiliano Magrini, Annapurna Ventures
Nicola Nicoletti, Pricewaterhouse Cooper
Stefano Peroncini, Quantica
Maurizio Petitbon, Kreos Capital
Mauro Pretolani, TLCOM
Nicola Redi, Fondamenta
Elisabeth Robinson - NicOx/Fulbright BEST
Carol Sand, The Angels' Forum, The Halo Funds
Giuseppe Serazzi, PNCube
Maria Silva, Genova High Tech
Pietro Strada, Centerboard Partners
Alberto Trombetta, Finlombarda
Davide Turco, Atlante Ventures, Intesa San Paolo
Luca Ungarelli, Golden Mouse
Charles Versaggi, Versaggi Biocommunications

-10 days to MTB 2010 Competitions deadline

Dear friends,
this is a reminder that the deadline to submit proposals for the 2010/11 edition of the Mind The Bridge
- Business Plan Competition and
- Call for Ideas
is fast approaching: JULY 31 is the last days for submitting your executives summary!
This year competition is accompanied by a number of highly stimulating prizes, on top of the usual goodies (training, presenting at Venture Camp event @ Corriere della Sera, incubation in Silicon Valley).
We would appreciate if you can give visibility to this opportunity to your network through your highly effective communication tools.