We allow startups to push their stories in the system. The platform does some semantic analysis, figures out what is your startup is doing and pushes it to the right blogger/journalist in the right market. On the other hand, bloggers get access to a stream of stories that are suited either to their preferences or to the topics they tend to write about. Essentially something like match.com but with startups and bloggers.
Been wanting to change that for a long time, but yes, you are actually right. That's the reason why we changed the main site's look, but the blog is lagging behind. The fact is, that the side column isn't that important, as it's meta info, but you're right, thxs.
Hey, fair point, so, I'm a huge believer of positive feedback, so what are your suggestions? What parts don't you understand? How would you rephrase it? Very open to suggestions :)
Yeah totally agreed. What I wanted to say is, hey, every app has some degree of social element, let it be sharing, connecting, etc. As you said, there is no obligation to use it, but it's there if u want it. 4SQ for example has the sharing part, but it's opt out.
Thanks man! Highly appreciated! Yeah, we've been keeping an eye on Garage48 and Alex has been keeping us up to date :D This is my own opinion but it would be really cool :) The more the merrier! :D
Because it's a way to bridge different cultures and problems of each European area. Some startups can't move around, but would love to tap into what other startups are doing around Europe. The same is specially true for investors who normally only work locally. A structure where they can tap into startups all around Europe and chat with other investors, mentors, etc. is extremely valuable.
Plus, by operating in different countries we can leverage and scale certain things that help us help more startups. :)
@Ramine we're not talking about being the first European in terms of the first program in Europe, but in terms of being the first ones that operate on a PanEuropean scale with the same program in 4 different countries. Sorry for the misconception, didn't want to infuriate people or to think it was a PR stunt.
One of the basic things it's that's the first time an accelerator program operates in 4 cities across Europe with a cohesive proposal.
There are indeed other accelerators, non of them in Europe. Seedcamp isn't an accelerator, neither is HackFwd (they're and I quote: "pre-seed investment company designed to enable great people to launch great ideas").
The Difference Engine and Springboard in UK are accelerator programs but they only operate in UK (and Jon is a great friend of ours).
There is no accelerator that currently operates across Europe and that's a fact. No bragging, no marketing stunt, no PR. That's the reason we do it, because it's needed and it doesn't exists.
Not that I used that, but I'm a diagonal reader myself and I do appreciate the bold parts. But as I said before, there are 2 things that don't work too well, which is, the current blog theme isn't great and too much bold parts on my side.
Mostly distance. To manage your portfolio, most of the times you need to do introductions, personal meetings, lunches, etc. That's hard when u have an ocean in between. That being said, each day that goes by there are more US investors setting up shop in EU, which is appreciated :) I wonder though, who runs those shops, Americans or Europeans.
As I said on the blog comments too, I would argue this is much more wide spread than just Europe. Take many Asian countries. A lot of governments are trying to artificially create entrepreneur driven markets / spaces with diverse levels of success. As I said today to a friend, it's not about the money, but about where you allocate it. And to do that, you need people that truly understand the problem, not outsiders with nothing more to do but to play "investor".
Couldn't agree more. Recently I gave a talk about startup financing where I had to explain some of the most crude clauses of term sheets that "were" used in the US 10 years ago, but that "are" used by VCs in Spain currently :(
ah damn, my bad, hehe well, I know a lot of people that do fast reading and having it in bold makes this easier, but yeah, maybe this time I over exceeded myself :P