Preparing 2009...

With the beginning of the new year, we are glad to announce a few important news.

To start with, we are getting organised to set up a governance for the long term of the foundation.

From the beginning of the 2009 we established a new board of directors.

I (Marco Marinucci) will be joined by Fabrizio Capobianco and Matteo Daste, good friends who have been involved with the initiative since its inception.

The second important news is the launch of the MtB GYM, the project for mentoring and incubation of startups in Silicon Valley that we initially annouced in Venice in October.

Fabrizio and Matteo will be also involved in the GYM as partners, bringing their unique experience, namely, as entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and founder of BAIA and attorney.
The GYM will officially open in Febrary, physically with a space within the Plag & Play center in Redwood City (CA).

More to come on both the new governance of MtB and the GYM...

BEST - Fullbright is open

On Jan 13 Ambassador Spogli launched the 3rd edition of the BEST program.
Here are the details:

Fulbright BEST (Business Exchange and Student Training) favorisce il cambiamento culturale nelle giovani generazioni di scienziati, proponedo un modello imprenditoriale basato su innovazione e trasferimento tecnologico. Il programma, promosso dall’Ambasciata Americana a Roma, è rivolto a giovani ricercatori nel campo dell' ICT, Biotech, Tools and Machinery, Energy and Green Technology che lavorano su promettenti idee imprenditoriali, risultato di progetti di ricerca, da trasformare in un business gestito in prima persona.

Il programma prevede una full immersion di sei mesi nella Silicon Valley, regione californiana in cui sono nate e cresciute alcune delle aziende globali protagoniste della crescita negli ultimi venti anni. I partecipanti frequentano corsi accademici su imprenditorialità innovativa, marketing, finanza e gestione aziendale presso la Santa Clara University, e uno stage presso un’azienda ad alto potenziale di crescita operante in un settore merceologico coerente con l’idea imprenditoriale proposta. Sono previsti anche seminari presso altre due prestigiose università, Stanford e Berkeley, e opportunità di networking in collegamento con business communitiesitaliane e americane. La terza edizione dell’iniziativa è stata realizzata con il contributo di: ALCOA, Amgen Dompé SpA, Booz and Co., Comune di Milano, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Enel Green Power, Farmindustria, IBM, Mediaset, Poste Italiane, Provincia di Benevento, Regione Toscana.

Per partecipare è necessario presentare il proprio progetto entro il 27 febbraio 2009.
Il bando e altre informazioni utili sono disponibili sui siti: http://italy.usembassy.gov/best/ http://www.fulbright-best.it/

...the 2008/9 Finalists are...

 Here are the MtB 2008/2009 Finalists: 

• im3D(Medical images, CAD)        
  
• Free pack net  (development and rental of reusable transport package)        
  
• Nanoxer  (new materials, nanotechnology, insulation)        
  
• Zooppa  (crowd sourcing video advertising) 
  
• Passpack  (SaaS secure password storage)        
  
• Eris 4  (BSS/ OSS, billing, ecommerce marketplace)        
  
• Galgo/GliAffidabili  (Peer-to-peer services marketplace, social rating)
  

Congratulation to all the selected projects and thanks to the Selection Committee for their hard work.

The long preparation to the 2009 Silicon Valley tour will start officially next week.

For now, let's just enjoy the week end after a very long (as you can tell from my face) entrepreneurship week....

Here's the video that aired yesterday during the event in Florence.

Inviting Finalists: Nov 20 !!

On Nov 20th, during the workshop: "Nuova Imprenditorialita': operazione valore" we will officially communicate the projects that will be invited to the Silicon Valley road show in 2009.

The event is organized by "Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna" and will take place in Florence as part of the week long Global Entrepreneurship Week, promoted globally by the Kauffman foundation.

The event will be streamed live on the website of Scuola Superore Sant'Anna, and through this direct link.
The declaration of the finalists will happen at around 12-12.30....

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?

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).

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

Selected Projects for Venture Camp

After a 2 weeks selection process, with the support of our Selection Committee coordinated by Anna Gatti, we are glad to communicate the 14 projects that will be invited to present during the MtB Venture Camp.

The projects are... (roll of drums...):

• Wiva Group
• T4A
• im3D
• Free pack net
• Nanoxer
• YUBUK
• Zooppa
• Athonet
• Passpack
• Base 16
• Aermatica
• Amped
• Eris 4
• Galgo/Gli Affidabili

We'll be providing more information about them soon. The selection was based on a number of hard factors (financials, product quality, stage of development, etc.) but also some softer ones (i.e. represent a wide spectrum of innovative solutions, limited presentation spots).

For now, congratulations to the selected startups and thanks to our selection committee.

For all the remaining projects, do NOT fear.
During the event, we are planning to carve some dedicated time to allow 1:1 meetings between all the startups and the potential investors. 
Stay tuned for more information on the match-making process.

In the meantime, start making your plans for a memorable long week-end in Venice (the availability is limited).

-

MM

MtB on Corriere.it

There's an interesting article today on Corriere.it talking about us.

Here's the link, and here's an excerpt.

I had the chance to spend several days with Marco Pratellesi (director of corriere.it) a few weeks ago, during his "Silicon Valley-strategy-trip" as he calls it. I have to chance to interact with several journalists for my job. Marco strikes me for his forward thinking that is making him a bit of an ousider in his industry.

[ MIND THE BRIDGE – Mind the Bridge è una associazione nata nel 2007 con l’obiettivo di creare per la prima volta un collegamento diretto tra business plan italiani e le start up della Silicon Valley. “La missione che ci siamo dati – spiega Marco Marinucci, responsabile Content partnership di Google e anima dell’associazione – è individuare progetti italiani nel campo delle tecnologie e aiutarli a sbarcare nella Silicon Valley dove possono trovare imprenditori pronti a scommettere e investire sulla bontà dell’idea”. Tutto ruota intorno a un evento organizzato annualmente. L’associazione attraverso il sito raccoglie progetti e idee da presentare alle start up americane. Per il 2008 la deadline per l’iscrizione, che si può fare dal sito, è il 4 settembre. I progetti inviati vengono sottoposti al comitato di selezione, formato da 12 imprenditori e venture capitalist. I venti progetti scelti verranno poi presentati al “Venture Camp”, un evento che si terrà il 10 e 11 ottobre al Parco Scientifico Tecnologico di Venezia. Da qui usciranno i 5-6 progetti da portare in aprile nella Silicon Valley per presentarli ai venture capitalist americani. “L’associazione – spiega Marinucci – vuole essere prima di tutto un canale pratico che individui nuove idee interessanti in Italia e le aiuti a sbarcare nel mercato internazionale degli investitori per accedere a partnership o investimenti. Noi li affidiamo a mentori che in 4-5 mesi li aiutino a focalizzare l’idea imprenditoriale e a scrivere un business plan che possa avere maggiori possibilità di successo. Poi, ad aprile, li portiamo qui e li facciamo incontrare con investitori e società che studiano il piano e valutano su quali investire o stringere partnership”. L’anno scorso il successo è stato incoraggiante: dei 55 progetti presentati ne sono stati selezionati 5 e tutti sono andati avanti con sviluppi che vengono regolarmente seguiti sul sito. “Ci arriva di tutto – spiega Marinucci _ dal ragazzo fresco di università con un’ottima idea ai centri di ricerca e all’aziende che hanno anche 10 anni di attività, ma che in Italia non sono riuscite a decollare”. ]

MM

MtB Workshop in ROMA

On April 15th we held the 1st Mind the Bridge workshop in Rome.

The event took place in one of the endless wonderful palaces in Rome, now base of the Center for Italian-American Studies.

Getting back to Rome after a few years, mostly spent in the "new world", kind of made an impression on me. We need a constant memory refresh to remind the beauties that surround us in Italy.
The same applies for the event we had. I was extremely pleased that in such a short time we were able to put together likely the best of the current Italian entrepreneurship ecosystem.
On one side, in the morning we had presentations from the best of breed of Italian seed and VC investors (here's the list of participants).
Their presentations were very practical, informational and down-to-earth.
In the afternoon, the ball moved into the start-up field. We participated to parallel presentations of 28 start-ups, most of them participants of the first edition of the MtB business plan competition.
Here's a list of the presenting start-ups, and a short description.

Now, it goes without saying that we have some margins for improvement, in selecting, presenting and receiving the new great business ideas our country is producing.
But it was refreshing to see gathered a smart group of prospective entrepreneurs on one side and a growing group of local investors on the other, talking the same language, try to build critical mass, sharing information candidly.
I had the impression that a new wave is just starting, and it's just thrilling that Mind the Bridge is among the drivers of such a change.