Here are the 15 startups admitted to 2011 Venture Camp

Here we are. After collecting the feedback from all the Instructors @ MtB Boot Camp in Turin, our Selection Committee has finally completed its job. They had a hard time to pick-up the best 15... since all the 29 startups we selected for the Boot Camp in Turin were actually very good. But a choice has to be made. And, most of the time, it is a tougher to say no than yes...

Below you can find the list of the 15 startups admitted to pitch at the Venture Camp 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 we organized last week.

Kudos to the selected startups but also to those that did not make it: you are good, tune a bit your business plan and never give up! We are working to organize an event dedicated to you as well as a subset of the startups that have not been admitted to the Boot Camp. We are confident that some of them have a great potential and can be the next protagonists! We are going to work with you guys...



STARTUPS ADMITTED TO 2011 MIND THE BRIDGE VENTURE CAMP

Arkimedia
D-Orbit
Frestyl
Gowar
Iubenda
Mangatar
Naevi in silico
NextStyler
Phlur
Sounday
stereomood
Timbuktu
Treedom
Vinswer
Vivocha

See you in Milan @ Venture Camp and leverage the support of your brand new Stanford interns (more info here)

MTB and Stanford solidify their partnership

I'm just back from Florence where I spent two days teaching with Tom Byers @ Stanford Campus. I had the privilege to work with the Stanford students attending the Comparative Analysis of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Course that Tom is teaching in Italy this term. Really, really bright guys.

I'm back from Florence with two phenomenal news.

Phenomenal News #1) Tom Byers will be one of our key notes speakers at the Venture Camp on Nov 4th-5th @ Corriere della Sera in Milan. He is undoubtedly one of the top expert in the world re: entrepreneurship and a terrific speaker. Then you can't miss the chance to hear from him in Italy.

Phenomenal News #2) 15 Stanford students will be assigned as "shadow interns" to the 15 startups admitted to the Venture Camp for a 2 mos period. This way our startups will benefit from the smart support of some of the most brilliant students in the world. They will be at their disposal for testing the product, doing some market research, improving the pitch, ... and, most important thing, add a fresh Silicon Valley perspective to each team... Enjoy!

Let’s Boot Camp!

Terrific speakers, awesome venue, promising startups! We are talking about the MtB Boot Camp that kicked off last Thursday in Milan (hosted by the Social Media Week) to continue for the 29 semifinalists at OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin.
More than 300 people attended the MtB Boot Camp Open Forum. Alberto Onetti (MtB Chairman) anticipated some data from the Mind the Bridge Survey 2011 “Startups in Italy. Facts and Trends” that will be presented in November at the Venture Camp. Then a group of terrific speakers animated the stage: James C. Roberts III (Lawyer & Managing Partner at Global Capital Law Group), Marco Magnocavallo (Co-Founder at Blogo and Wikli), Stefano Maruzzi (Country Director at Google Italy), Pietro Bezza (Managing Partner at Connect digital media ventures), Massimo Ciociola (Founder & CEO of MusiXMatch) and Piero Bassetti (President of the Giannino Bassetti Foundation).

Central theme for the day was the ability to embrace a culture of risk in Italy, magisterially captured by the “pony allegory” narrated by Charles Versaggi (President of Versaggi Biocommunications®), the MtB Boot Camp Director.
September 23 and September 24, different venue (Turin), but same enthusiasm: the 29 MtB semifinalists went boot-camping @OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni (Stazione Futuro the tag for our place, quite evocative), together with a stellar group of mentors.

Learning sessions in the morning and GYM pitching session in the afternoon. Hosted and sponsored by TOP-IX Consortium, this two days program represented both a great opportunity for startups to learn and get inspired by our Boot Camp instructors and an invaluable occasion to test themselves and improve their communication skills. Among the mentors, led by Charles Versaggi: Ivan Farneti (Partner at Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures), Marco Magnocavallo (Co-Founder at Blogo and Wikli), Elisabetta Ghisini (Founder at Verba - International Communications) and Stefano Bernardi (Dave McClure’s Shadow at 500 startups).
Moreover, as already specified in our previous posts, this event represented a further selection step in the process that will bring 15 startups to the MtB Venture Camp in Milan at Corriere della Sera and later on to Silicon Valley.
Curious to know about the top 15's names???

Just stay tuned!

The end of Pier 38 (the way we know it)

It's official. By the end of the month, all Pier 38 tenants (~70 startups to our last count) will have to move out.
It doesn't really matter what's the real story behind it (Chronicle, Techcrunch) , the 400 people signing a petition or the visit of the mayor of San Francisco.

What really matters is the bottom line.
On Sep 30th, Pier 38 will stop being that unique, creative, open, vibrant hub for startups as we've known it.

We can't say enough about how this pirates cove had an impact on our beloved organization.
It's been our first home. But since we moved in, just over a year ago, things have happened faster than we all expected.

The open, anarchic spirit of this place, almost a commune where nobody has any other interest than promoting successful startups, has been deeply inspiring.

Here's where we started organizing events for all possible occasions, the end of a startup summer school, a large group of visiting students, GYM Openhouses and demo days.
You name it.
That's also where my 5-year daughter (with other 90 something people) ended up celebrating her graduation from Preschool.
It's all good.
We are definitely not worried about our new home. In fact, we'll be moving to the One Market building, another San Francisco landmark.
It's a great opportunity to grow. And we'll take it.
But, as good pirates after a successful assault, we want to honor our first battleship, or rather, our beloved galleon.

On 9/20 we'll host our GoodBye party for Pier 38. Drinks, startups and laughter. Pier 38 way.

From Marco Marinucci

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

Startup School - A new edition coming in October

Two editions of the schools gone and - here the big news - not one, but two to go!

Indeed, given the high number of applications for the first three editions of Mind the Bridge Startup School, we decided to organize a new edition in October (10th - 28th)!

So, halfway through the 2011 Startup School activities we can definitely say we are pretty much proud of how things are going. We've hosted 12 students with different ages, from different background and coming with different goals, but every student leaves the school as they've experienced a "life changing" period. Students visited some of the most prestigious incubators and accelerator, 500 Startups, Plug and Play, Rocket Space, prestigious universities as Stanford and Berkley and the Singularity University; they participated to a few incredible events in the area, as Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, giving his speech at the Singularity University and Steve Blank talking about Entrepreneurial Education at Parisoma. Moreover a few terrific new speakers, Burton Lee, Hartmut Essingler, and Gigi Wang.

These were the regular activities MtB Startup School offers, but along these activities the students had the possibility to breath the Silicon Valley incredible vibe of energy, good ideas and technology and people.

The energy and the dynamism of the Silicon Valley are two things that surprise students every time here. "In three weeks I've learnt so many things and talked with so many interesting people; I've also talked with another startup for a possible agreement on the product development. I've experienced so many things in three weeks that have never happened in Italy in a long time." Or "Here nobody wants to read a 80 pages business plan, things are so dynamic that you need to pivot your business idea so many times according to the reaction and feedback you get from your users. A 10 pages deck is what you only need and then just talk and get feedback."

The easiness to get useful feedback is also another things that thrills students. "Here you don't need to talk with three assistants to get in touch with the CEO of a company. You just go to one of the pool party in the Valley and you can meet him there, drinking a beer with his/her t-shirt and his/her flip flop talking with other startups.". Or "The density of talented people here is incredible, you can go everywhere, just get a coffee and you can find a person ready to give you feedback on your startup and to pitch his/her startup. There are no issues here in sharing ideas, while in Italy it seems more difficult either because people are afraid that someone can steal their idea or because the person listening can simply destroy the idea but without constructive feedback. Here in Silicon Valley, people always give reasons either for a positive and for a negative feedback".

Our intent is to improve and enrich even more the activities of the school! So, if anyone is ready to experience all this and much more, the applications for the October edition are now open! Availability is limited so hurry up!

For more information contact summerschool@mindthebridge.org.

MtB Boot Camp 2011.. One more reason to be in!

The deadline (July, 31st) to participate in the Business Plan Competition is approaching and it’s time to give you one more reason to be in.
For the 25 best startups selected in the competition MtB reserves a special path that includes education, training, networking, visibility, connections with the Silicon Valley.. In one word “Opportunities”.

First stage: 3 days, 9 instructors and 2 cities, Milan and Turin!

We are talking about the MtB Boot Camp 2011, a 3 days of exclusive intense, hands-on workshop led by exceptional instructors and devoted to the 20/25 startups that will pass the first selection. This first phase represents a unique and outstanding occasion for the selected startups to receive valuable advices useful for structuring their business plan. Charles Versaggi, Ivan Farneti, Marco Magnocavallo, James C. Roberts III are some our excellent Boot Camp Instructors having the hard task to inspire, follow, comment and evaluate your project.

Let’s find out something more about them..

Charles Versaggi (president of Versaggi Biocommunications): Mr. Versaggi is our MtB Boot Camp Director. With nearly 30 years of strategic marketing and communications experience, he helped launch a number of industry firsts in life science field. His charisma had already won the attention of the last year’s startups and we are confident he will gain yours too.

Marco Asquini (Co-Founder, Italian Angels for Growth): Mr. Asquini is an industrial designer, serial entrepreneur, restructuring specialist, and the co-founder of Super//Fluo, a Pordenone-based company focused on the design and creation of Friulian TVs, plasmas and LCDs. He is also co-founder of the Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), the largest angel investment group in Italy aimed at promoting Italian entrepreneurship.

Ivan Farneti (Partner at Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures): Mr. Farneti has been an active venture capital investor in start-up businesses both in Europe and in the US since 1997. He is a Partner at Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures where he focuses on enterprise, internet and mobile software and services. 

Marco Magnocavallo (Co-Founder at Blogo and Wikli): Mr. Magnocavallo is a serial entrepreneur, product manager and technology executive. Known as an angel investor and a successful serial entrepreneur, Marco has recently invested in companies in the US, UK and in Italy including: WebMynd, NextDigest, NoiseToys, Iubenda and Fubles. The latter was one of the finalists of the MtB past edition.

Massimo Ciociola (Founder & CEO of MusiXMatch): Mr. Ciociola is founder and CEO of MusiXMatch , a new startup focused on Music + Online Ads Platform. He has more than 11 years worldwide experience in Mobile Entertainment and Music Market. In 1999 he founded one of the first Mobile Entertainment player: Wireless Solutions spa, then part of DADA Group in 2001 (DA.MI).

James C. Robert III (Lawyer & Managing Partner, Global Capital Law Group):
Mr. Roberts is the managing partner of the law firm, Global Capital Law Group, and CEO of its affiliated strategic consulting firm, Global Capital Strategic Group. His work (in both law and consulting) span several fields: startups, venture capital, licensing, international expansion and mergers & acquisitions in digital media and technology (e.g., cross-platform or mobile projects), cleantech and other advanced technology initiatives, especially those that cross borders.

Pietro Bezza (Managing Partner at Connect digital media ventures): Pietro is a passionate entrepreneur turned active early stage investor, with 12+ years experience in Internet, Mobile and Media sectors. He is member of IAG; he is Mentor at Seedcamp and Oxygen Accelerator.
Pietro acts as angel investor, co-founder and/or advisor in internet-based and consumer brand project and in promising startups, such as RisparmioSuper, winner of Mind the Bridge Business Plan Competition 2010.

Alberto Onetti, Chairman of Mind the Foundation and Leonardo Camiciotti, Development Program Director at Top-IX Consortium complete this magnificent frame.

The MtB Boot Camp represents also a compulsory step for deciding the 15 semifinalists that will pitch at the MtB Venture Camp. However, regardless of the selection results, thanks to the MtB Boot Camp you will have terrific advantages. Besides benefit from the experience of our prominent Mentors in helping you dealing with your business plan structure, you will soon have the opportunity to get in contact with strategic people, investor and entrepreneurs. Entering in the “Mind the Bridge world”, indeed, will give you access to the Silicon Valley network, an incredible opportunity to see your business taking off.

But when and where the MtB Boot Camp is going to take place?
The workshop will open in Milan with a Public Forum held in September 22nd in occasion of the Social Media Week. Then the MtB bandwagon moves to Turin for a 2 days of lessons, pitches and suggestions (Sept 23rd, 24th), reserved to the 25 selected startups, to help them in clarifying, creating and communicating their business vision, proprietary science and technology into a viable business plan, worthy of financial support. This year, thanks to the partnership with TOP-IX Consortium these two intense days will be held at OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, a masterpiece of industrial architecture set up to celebrate the 150 years of Italy in the heart of Turin

.

What are you waiting for? Send us your Biz Plan and save the dates!

Nicola Allieta, the jackpot winner

Back in Febrary we announced the amazing opportunity for the best recent graduate to join us in Silicon Valley, supported by a significant package.

Now, a few months later, the dream came true for one lucky candidate.

We are excited to introduce Nicola as a new team member, based out of our HQs in San Francisco.

Here's his story:

A true man of the valley. To the Silicon Valley, home to many of the world's largest hi-tech corporations, from the Aosta Valley known for...well...cheese. No matter how much he has traveled since leaving his native Aosta after high school, it seems that Nicola was destined to settle down in a valley.

Nicola started his education in management at at the Università degli Studi di Pavia where he graduate in Marketing and E-Business. During this period he spent 1 year in Strasbourg through the EU Erasmus programme. He then completed a three-year graduate Master programme in Management at the French ESCP Europe spending 2 years across London and Paris. He recently graduated in Business Administration at the University of Turin.

His professional background is mainly in the entertainment industry having worked for a film financing boutique in London and a major distribution and production company in Paris. Nicola’s interest in entrepreneurship sparked through an international research project on business incubators.

The survival challenges faced by startups and the risks undertaken by venture capitalists remind him of the often hazardous business of entertainment. In both ventures the challenge is to pre-determine the outcome, be it a Fortune 500 company or an Oscar winning blockbuster (although Nicola does spot the differences between a sci- fi script and a business plan).

You'll hear more from him here and here.
Questions? Feel free to contact him at nallieta@mindthebridge.org

Startup's.. cool!

People living in San Francisco during this weeks will certainly agree that there's not a full summer in the city, the fog and the cold wind are good and habitual friends here. Although the cold summer, 5 guys decided to leave the 95 °F (35 °C) in Italy to attend the first edition of Mind the Bridge Startup Summer School. They brought a few sweaters in their luggage, a business idea in their mind and a lot of excitement for this life-changing experience.

Simone Lini, 21 years and at his second year at Bocconi university, is developing a business on a carpool system. Massimo Garzulino and Danilo Spanò, 25 years both and at their last year respectively of Law and Business School at University of Pavia, have a patent on a wall mobile charger. Andrea Amedeo, 32 years and expert in communication, is developing a systems of feedbacks on top of a social network and finally Andrea Morra, 34 years, physicist and MBA, is developing a tracking system to avoid falsification of goods.

Whatever their idea, they decided to spend their holidays to get their first experience of the startups world in the most entrepreneurial area in the world, the Silicon Valley, because yes, also in Italy for increasingly more people "startup is cool"!

And in the big debate between "born-to-be entrepreneur" or "trained-to-be entrepreneur" they just jumped in the action without waiting for other people's answer to this big question, deciding to try, to share their project with the speakers of our seminars and with other startups in the area, ready to see their business model destroyed and to rebuild a new one with the feedbacks received.

Are those guys born to be entrepreneur? I guess they just took the risk to become one.

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!