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!

First week at Mind the Bridge Gym – Highlights

It seems unbelievable but the first week at MtB Gym has gone!

The 10 startups arrived 7 days ago are giving their first bites to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem. Here the most remarkable activities our startups were involved in this past first week! (full calendar here)

Introduction to the Silicon Valley ecosystem. On Thursday 3rd the 10 startups met Marco Marinucci at Google offices to talk about the main differences between Italy and Silicon Valley. Marco gave them the “first aid kit” for an Italian entrepreneur coming to SV.

Mind the Bridge Welcome party. On Friday 4th more than 70 people landed at Pier38 to welcome our startups. It was a great event that further demonstrated how much the community of Italian entrepreneurs, investors and managers based in the Silicon Valley sharethe objectives and the mission Mind the Bridge is carrying on.

Lunch&Learn about good and bad past decisions. On Monday 7th the startups had a roundtable lunch to share their good and their bad decisions on their businesses. This was a really useful moment to concretely learn from each other.

Meet your mentor. The startups got an introduction to their own mentor. The mentor will guide them through the Gym adventure helping the startup focus on ambitious but yet reachable goals during this month first few weeks in Silicon Valley.

Mind the city! As people say here - work hard, play hard! – Our guys here are very much enjoying the city. Walking all along the Embarcadero? Yes, it’s possible! Get lost in the middle of nowhere with a bike just bought and biking for 5 hours trying to find the way back? Yes, that’s also possible. But our guys love relaxing as well. Just today someone discovered there’s a SPA center at our residence. Do you want to know how many startups we will see at the office starting from tomorrow?

I have a guess but let’s wait for the second week highlights report to know it!

UpStart Roma aims to bring together the italian startup scene

On Monday November 23rd, a small group of entrepreneurs, bloggers and web designers is organizing the first UpStart Roma event.
It will be a networking evening where entrepreneurs, developers, investors, bloggers and general startup geeks will be able to meet each other and create a new tech scene from scratch.

If you are in Rome and eager to meet the growing tech scene, please come along! You can register on UpStart Roma official website, where you can also get all the detailed information about the event.

With this event we aim to create a new network of people that can drive innovation and creative disruption of existing business models with the help of one another.
We would love for you to be part of this.

Disclaimer: I am one of the organizers of the event.

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!