And the Winner 2012 is... Timbuktu!

The Latins (and Italians...) called it "par condicio". After 2 years at Stanford, the show-case of the Mind the Bridge startup finalists for 2012 moved to UC Berkeley, kindly hosted by the European Business Association of Haas Business School.
Different side of the bay, same full house, same temperature (after 4 years, the summer-like conditions for our IID are almost guaranteed).
160 people attended to see what this new wave of Italian innovation has to offer.

They were not disappointed.
After an engaging keynote by Peter Arvai, the founder of the super cool Prezi (he's also a super cool dude), the 11 finalists of the MTB and Intesa Sanpaolo initiatives took the stage.

By design, we want to present a diverse showcase of different technologies, ranging from new media to enterprise software to green tech and bio-med.

Among a wide group of investors, this year's Investor Committee was composed of:

• Fabrizio Capobianco (coordinator) - founder Funambol
• Ronald Weissman - Band of Angels
• Pietro Lomazzi - Noventi VC
• Ettore Leale - Xplorer Capital
• Adam Smith - AOL Ventures
• Peter Arvai - founder Prezi

Their role, as usual, was to grill the startups on the critical business aspects after the 5-min presentations (alas, no-one in Prezi yet!).

And to pick the most promising ones.

Solid presentations across the board.

Here's what they finally came up with:

Results:

1) Timbuktu Labs:

An award-winning Ipad magazine for kids and parents. Engaging the content (they partner with the relevant Reggio Children center), engaging the 2 female c0-founders (creative, energetic and competent)

2) Kitotech:

a revolutionary bandaid proprietary technology, integrating chitin nanofiber. Enhanced healing and minimize scarring (I need it now!) Kick-ass team (HQ in Seattle).

3) BrainControl:

A mind blowing technology (seriously!) to provide simple commands with your thought (a helmet reads your EEG signals). Serious kick-ass stuff.

In gaming or military could be a killing.

Pasquale (CEO), instead, has decided to use it to provide some comfort to folks with multiple sclerosis, ALS, etc. Why? Because that's what drives him!

Chappeau (he didn't get the first place because "marketing matters a lot", investors said...)

To all our startups: a pretty darn good job.

Now it's time to go out and prosper!

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...).

Fourth week at Mind the Bridge Gym - Highligths

Ladies and gentlemen, our ten startups are almost at the end of their adventure with the Mind the Bridge Gym. However, they have no time to think about that, they are using every single second of their day to take advantage of their experience here!

This week we run several seminars as part of the Gym Edu program. The following are the most notable:

IP Rights: Vijay Toke, expert in IP rights, talked about patents, trademarks and copyrights - According to its technology a startup needs one more than another, but when a company grows up likely a combination of the three will be necessary to fully protect your intellectual property rights.

Innovation and Human Resouces: Vittorio Viarengo shared with us his meaningful experience with his startup focusing on team building. People is one of the most important ingredient for a startup. Always hire people that are smarter than you are - Class A person hires class A people, class B person hires class C people. Also, are you an entrepreneur-like guy or more a big company-like guy? Consider the 5 Fs principle. In a big company you have more time for Family and more Force; working in a startup is Fun, and has, as potential, Fortune and Fame. Which set of Fs fits you better?

The art of Networking: Evan Nisselson talked about the power of networking. One of the most important asset an entrepreneur might have or build is his/her contacts portfolio, especially in Silicon Valley. Be very smart in using it in a proper manner.

A first great result from one of our startups! Giovanni Venturini, CEO of Agroils, after few days here signed a partnership with Roberto Crea, PhD to start a new company Biosolids Technologies. This is the startup he's going to present at the Italian Innovation Day.

On Friday we had the last session of Gym Fridays' presentations. All three sessions were a big success, with an increasing number of people coming to assist to the presentations providing very useful feedback. This Friday we had some Gym Mentors and people from Microsoft and Guidewire group.

A few but intense days left with the 10 startups getting ready for the Gran Finale at the Italian Innovation Day at Stanford. We look forward to seeing their presentation after a month training at the Gym. Good luck guys!

10 more startups flying to San Francisco

The time has come!
10+ more reasons to add a direct flight Italy-San Francisco...
Today, 10 Italian startups are in the midst of their trip that will take them to the Silicon Valley.
From March 1st through the end of the month (or more), you'll find them @ Pier 38, guests of the MTB GYM.
7 finalists of the MTB Business Plan Competition (Xapio, Minteos, Smania, Risparmio Super, Eralos3, Mopapp, Porco Vino)

this year will be joined by 3 startups coming from the Intesa SanPaolo Startup Initiative (Agroils, Glossom, Skipso).

You can find the full description of the startups activity here.

The startups will go through a pretty intense 4 weeks of activities, filled with training modules, meetings with 1:1 mentor, group presentations and networking events.

If you are in the area, come and say hi to the founders on Friday, March 4th, we are hosting a welcome party for them (=drinks @ MTB GYM).

Since you are there, pencil down another date: March 31st.

They will present in front of a large audience @ Stanford University during the so called

Italian Innovation Day event (more to come on this one :-) )

The Italian flag is flying higher in Silicon Valley these days... let's keep it up!!