Lessons learned at the Gym

People say, time goes by so quickly when you love what you are doing. Well, it seems to be true. A month spent at the Gym? No way, there must be a mistake! But the truth is these days went by really fast and indeed a month has gone.

At the farewell party, while eating the famous focaccia made by Vittorio Viarengo, we asked the startups which are the key lessons they learned during their time spent in Silicon Valley. Here a summary of their thoughts.

1. Timing: In Silicon Valley timing is key. In Italy we are not less smart than people here but we need to learn to keep their pace.

2. No understatement: Too often Italian entrepreneurs underestimate their own qualities and capabilities. In this month here, the startups achieved top posititions at international competitions as at the Plug and Play Internationa Expo. These great results gave them the concrete awareness of their potential in a highly competitive arena as the SV.

3. Networking: The density of people that can give you advices, suggestion, feedbacks and introductions to other people is enourmous in SV. Exploiting this unique SV potential is an essential ingredient for being successful.

4. Packaging: Italian entreprenuers often tend to focus on technical quality, functionalities of the product and competitive price, even too much. But a product need to be appealing for a customer also from an aesthetic standpoint. In SV entrepreneurs have a talent to present products in an appealing way for the customers.

5. Shipping: Feedbacks are very useful and in SV you can find them everywhere. However there's a point when you need to stop collecting feedbacks and start executing. You are the person that cares most about your business, you need to feel you are doing the right choice yourself.

6. Pitching: Pitching is like playing a comedy in a theatre, you need to practise a lot for a good pitch. However you can't be a good actor without the talent for improvisation - in SV there is always an opportunity to pitch and you need to be ready for 30 second pitch, 1 minute pitch, 2, 4, whatever time the other person gives to you.

These were the main lessons we collected but we are sure each startup has a full list of lessons that he/her will remember for a long time.

So, dear startups, wherever you will be in the next future we hope you will share with other aspiring entrepreneurs what you have learned here!

Good luck!

The GYM is open!

Ladies and gentlemen... you can come in!

It all started as the natural extension of what Fabrizio Capobianco was pitching a couple of years ago: let's create the conditions to accelerate the development of hundreds of Funambol...and learn from experience!

A dedicated 1:1 mentor, a set of training modules that help the entrepreneur go straight to core of the practical issues he is facing every day. Particularly in a competitive environment as the Silicon Valley, timing is at the essence.
People don't have time to fool around: more often than not, you have one chance to impress your potential investor, one chance to set up your company with the right legal framework, one chance to mess around with your Visas to come and work in the US.
From every misstep you make, you can be 100% sure that some other similar startup in Silicon Valley has gained more momentum than you.

This is the idea behind the Gymnasium: do not waste energy, focus on what really matters develop the right product!
Take advantage of the knowledge that a network of mentors can provide you (they did learn from the same mistakes!), and use a friendly environment to build your (business) muscles.

You present the key component of your project regularly to a changing group of "experts", that is, people with relevant experience in your area that is willing to give you some constructive feedback.

Hey, better being "killed by friends" multiple times if that means being able to survive in the real world!
That's what the GYM is all about.


We tested it in a condensed version with some of the finalists of the 2008 and 2009 business plan competitions. Passpack had Fabrizio Capobianco as a mentor, Prossima Isola had Matteo Fabiano, and so forth.

Condensed (just a few weeks), but yet impactful (according to the startups!).

We decided to open the incubator to "affiliates" that could sponsor a few months of a limited number of startups. Since 2010 we hosted 4 startups (all from the Politecnico Milano).

The results in their 3 month incubation are remarkable:
- Neptuny: acquired by EMC (large US based corporation)
- Spreaker: additional round of funding
- Genefinity: hired their mentor as their US CEO
- Hyperfair: still incubated, significant commercial breakthroughs


Experiment successful, no doubts. In fact in the last year we have experienced a flourish of this very similar models across the US (500 startups program is the last one the bunch...)


What's the news today? We decided to open the doors to a more significant flow of companies to our space in the one-of-the-kind creative space @ Pier 38, in the (startup) heart of San Francisco.

All you have to do to participate is to sign up here.

We start a new cycle every 3 months (4 intakes per year).
We have a group of 10 startups that will be there until the end of March.
We still have some availability for the sessions of April-June and July-September.

And we'll also have some interesting plans in mind for the second semester...
Once more... stay tuned!

Interview to Francesco Baschieri

Today we want to introduce our special friend,Francesco Baschieri. He is the founder of Spreaker, the first start up that has joined the Mind The Bridge GYM this summer in San Francisco.
Francesco is a serial entrepreneur, passionate about new technologies and business models and always interested in the next innovation that will change the world.
Spreaker, his last adventure, is a true Web Radio 2.0 where every show is created by the audience itself. Spreaker has shifted the paradigm from creating a complete radio stream to producing a single show. Radio stations are then created by assembling single pieces (one after another) into a continuous stream of audio.
“Creating a show is easy and does not require any technical expertise: all the necessary tools that users might need are available online at www.spreaker.com. The DeeJay Console TM allows users to mix live audio input from their microphone with music tracks and sound effects which are available online as part of a large user-friendly library.

The entire service is free of charge for the user: it is Spreaker that manages the whole infrastructure and pay for music royalties.”

At the well-known Pier 38 Francesco has spent 3 months trying to bring his start up to an international dimension: he has participated to numerous events, business meetings and social happenings and was actively participating to the entrepreneurial life of the city. For this reason we thought to realize the following interview in which he presents his company and tell us his experience in the Silicon Valley.

For those that might join our crew in the future, take into consideration all his suggestions.
Ciao Francesco, It was a pleasure to work with you!

The GYM @ Pier 38

Since the beginning of July, the MTB GYM has a new home: Pier 38, in San Francisco, right at the beginning of the Embarcadero promenade, past the Giant's AT&T Park.



The highly stimulating open space of Pier 38, hosts several incubators (the most famous are The Dogpatch and Opinno) for a total of ~ 60 startups. Among them, some famous success stories such as WordPress and a couple of others recently acquired by Google.



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Or the recently arrived GYM startups that have started populating Pier38.
Starting from Spreaker, Francesco Baschieri's creature, that is quickly gaining popularity in the Bay Area with its web radio broadcasting.

Pier38 is also home of Mashape, the web tool startup founded by Augusto Marietti, Marco Palladino and Michele Zonca and one of the TechCrunch's favorite.
Since the beginning of the month the Gym is also home for Danilo Cardascia and Marco Rizzone, our new entries in the MTB family. You'll hear about them soon...

Mind The Bridge awarded grant from Cariplo Foundation

A great news for celebrating Christmas!

The Centre for Innovation and Life Science Management (CrESIT) of Insubria University (Varese) has successfully received over half a million dollar in funding from Cariplo Foundation. The money is for promoting international entrepreneurship in Italy. The Project actively involves Mind The Bridge as main partner.


The goal of the grant is to provide the most promising start-ups and young tecno- and bio-entrepreneurs from Lombardy and West Piedmont areas with in-depth training and mentoring.
For the 2 most promising start-ups (selected through the 2010 Mind The Bridge Business Plan Competition) the Project will sponsor the participation to the Mind The Bridge Gym in Silicon Valley, while the 2 university and Ph.D. students with the most innovative business ideas will be admitted to an intensive internship program organized by a top university in Silicon Valley.
Roadshows for presenting the Project and the Mind The Bridge Business Plan Competition will be organized in the first quarter of 2010. We target to present in all universities (both scientific and business faculties) and incubators. The target area (for the purpose of the grant) is Lombardy and West Piedmont, but we are obviously open to organize presentations all over Italy.
Please contact us if you are interested to host a Mind The Bridge roadshow (information@mindthebridge.org).
For this Project CrESIT and Mind the Bridge partner with the Foundation of Politecnico of Milan and CIBIE (the Centre for International Business and the International Economy of University of Pavia).

Venture Camp mode: on.

The Venture Camp started about 5 hours ago.

The Sala Buzzati at Corriere della Sera is filled up, start-ups are having their 5-minute pitches, and a loud applause follows every speaker.

The atmosphere is really exciting, and we had to prepare a waiting list for tomorrow's session.

We'll catch up later with more, for now, enjoy the first pictures from Milano!

How to present your idea to a venture capitalist. The seminar in Milano, Italy, Oct. 20-21.

It's your chance to learn all techniques, tips and tricks. Don't miss it, apply now!



See you in Milano!

Startup in the spotlight: Prossima Isola

Today we start a round of interviews with this year's semi-finalists.

The first entrepreneur we've spoken to, through Facebook first and then in person in our Milan office, is Daniele Idini, co-founder of Prossima Isola.

Their "Whereisnow" project is one of the Mtb 2009 semi-finalists.

Q.
Daniele, can you tell us briefly what is your company about?

A.
WhereIsNow is an innovative Internet service which allows every kind of information to become"self-updatable": it applies to documents, addressbook or web links.
WhereIsNow allows any user, in a quick and easy way, to have the
contacts (email phone number, fax, etc. ..) of friends or colleagues
always updated, to check for the latest version of a price list or a
technical document and to be sure that an article on the web is always
reachable even if the address has been changed.

Q.
How did you get in touch with the Mind the Bridge project?

A.
Thanks to my associate Marcello Orizi, he is much closer than me
finding these opportunities (ah ah ah!)
In fact the first time we heard from "Sardegna Ricerche" during the
entrepreneurial training course shortly before the final of MtB 2008.
Then we had the opportunity to learn more about this project through
the community startupbusiness.it, through BAIA (Business Association
Italy America) and some other channel on the Internet as Twitter.

Q.
How do you think that the MtB experience can help your company to
develop a global presence?

A.
We believe that MtB can give greater emphasis in our project
against a Venture capital and that a Venture Capital can bring his
experience in our company so as to take off our ambitious project in
the global market

Q.
What are your expectations regarding the time you could eventually
spend in Silicon Valley?

A.
First we are ambitious to know and compare with the world elite in
our sector. This will let us know if we are going in the right
direction and will allow us to expand our knowledge and thus to grow
professionally. Then if we could also find an investment from a
venture capital of the Silicon Valley...it would be the top :-)

Q.
What are your personal view of the Italian startup scene?

A.
I think that in Italy there are many good ideas but many of these
remain in drawers for various reasons. First of all, many young people lack the culture
of risk. For example, my associate and I have
given up a safe and a well-paid job to pursue our vision and our
dream. It is true that developing new ideas and create a startup
requires also, in addition to a great business capacity, the help of
someone who has had similar experiences, a good amount of money and a
bit of luck. In Italy is not always easy to find these ingredients

Q.
Best of luck, Daniele, and thank you for your time!

A.
Thank you for your interest in our company and... see you in Milan in November!

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...

H-Farm, farming humans better than Google

I'm just back from 2 full months in Europe, something that I hadn't done since 2001.
In particular, I spent most of June in Italy.
Of the thousands stereotypes that we hear about Italy, 2 resonated particularly with me in this trip:
1: what happened to the young people? and
2: oh my God, exceptional average food quality really makes a difference.


I had the chance to visit several startups, incubators and corporations.
Among them, my visit to H-Farm was one of the highlights.

Started in Italy less than 4 years ago, H-Farm is already an outstanding success that deserves attention.
Their creativity, starting from the incubator model itself (in fact I'd call them a "company engineering" venture rather the inflated "incubator" term), from the setup of their offices (old farms in the middle of nowhere, renovated hi-tech style, in a technology-farming fusion that includes cow statues and toy-robots) is a notch above everybody else working in the startup creation field these days.
The 2 founders and good friends Riccardo Donadon and Maurizio Rossi have really pushed the envelope of farming talent to streamline new businesses born to be acquired.
The results? 3 important exits under their belt to groups like WPP and RCS (who can claim that in Italy?), a venture that can attract talent from all over the world (several hundreds employees) and the possibility of writing history with the new spur of Italian innovation in the world.

Out of their stable of 17 home-made startups, there's also Zooppa, the mythical winner of our 2008/09 BP competition, nowadays fully US based.

When you walk about their stables, among locally produced fresh organic fruit, video monitors showing international media news-war-room like and panels reminding the visitor what H-Farm stands for, you definitely have the feeling to witness something remarkably fresh in the almost-dead panorama of Italian innovation.

Riccardo and Maurizio will be facing some challenging times to come, a direct result of their success. The expansion in US and India and the steep increase of startups incubated will put undoubtedly some strains on their so-far-successful model.
But risk taking is their bread and butter, and we sincerely root for them.

Chapeau for H-Farm, fellows!

MTB @ Forum Televisione Digitale

This is a 3mts introduction of Mind the Bridge (business plan competition and Gymnasium) for the "Forum Europeo Televisione Digitale", pan-european event on digital TV, taking place today in Lucca.



The organizers, in particular Andrea Michelozzi, have been doing a great job in endorsing our project.
As a result, we now expect a lot of good ideas on digital TV and the likes...