Hello!
The comments on this profile are unclaimed and thus are unverified.
Do they belong to you? Claim these comments.
James
Is this you? Claim Profile »
8 months ago
in What is a startup? - Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist on Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist
The serious allegation being that oral sex was involved during the composition the list? hmm...
I don't want to add too much controversy to the debate but weigh in on the fact that it is a challenge to create a list of European companies without significant involvement from European advisors. (something which is difficult to do in a short time frame considering they have to travel from their home country to take part in the advisory board) - It is a point we are very keen to address next year and is therefore very much a learning experience and work in progress. Thank you kindly for counting the companies out of the 100 to provide percentages for each country Pat ;)
However - in the discussion on web startups at Essential Mediatech yesterday, the question of geography became fairly irrelevant - if you actually look at some of the UK based companies in the Mediatech 100, many have non-UK entrepreneurs at the helm - Playfish, WAYN, King.com, Webjam to skim but a few off the top of the list. Whether or not the UK is a more attractive place to start and base the HQs of a web based company than other places in Europe is an entirely different issue.
It would be great to have more "mainland Europe based" in the list next year; but I think it is a fair comment to state that even many of the UK companies have a pedigree grounded throughout Europe. Indeed, in todays hyper-connected world, one often needs to be able to attract the best talent, investment, clients and interest globally to build a great company. Many locations throughout Europe are great for this, not only the traditional centres like Paris, London, Berlin, Munich, Brussels, Stockholm, but even small regions where all that is needed is a few driven individuals with a positive outlook and great idea (and an internet connection).
I tend to agree with Jonathan and Jens above that although a startup (like other buzz words in common use like clusters, the cloud etc) is a pretty darn malleable word - it usually means a small business with a fresh proposition, combined with the state of mind or self-definition as a startup of the small few that work at the company. I suppose one clear threshold is when the founders stop calling their enterprise a startup and everyone else politely follows suit.
btw - I work at Library House and controversy is great PR. I think this thread has been awesome as such!
I don't want to add too much controversy to the debate but weigh in on the fact that it is a challenge to create a list of European companies without significant involvement from European advisors. (something which is difficult to do in a short time frame considering they have to travel from their home country to take part in the advisory board) - It is a point we are very keen to address next year and is therefore very much a learning experience and work in progress. Thank you kindly for counting the companies out of the 100 to provide percentages for each country Pat ;)
However - in the discussion on web startups at Essential Mediatech yesterday, the question of geography became fairly irrelevant - if you actually look at some of the UK based companies in the Mediatech 100, many have non-UK entrepreneurs at the helm - Playfish, WAYN, King.com, Webjam to skim but a few off the top of the list. Whether or not the UK is a more attractive place to start and base the HQs of a web based company than other places in Europe is an entirely different issue.
It would be great to have more "mainland Europe based" in the list next year; but I think it is a fair comment to state that even many of the UK companies have a pedigree grounded throughout Europe. Indeed, in todays hyper-connected world, one often needs to be able to attract the best talent, investment, clients and interest globally to build a great company. Many locations throughout Europe are great for this, not only the traditional centres like Paris, London, Berlin, Munich, Brussels, Stockholm, but even small regions where all that is needed is a few driven individuals with a positive outlook and great idea (and an internet connection).
I tend to agree with Jonathan and Jens above that although a startup (like other buzz words in common use like clusters, the cloud etc) is a pretty darn malleable word - it usually means a small business with a fresh proposition, combined with the state of mind or self-definition as a startup of the small few that work at the company. I suppose one clear threshold is when the founders stop calling their enterprise a startup and everyone else politely follows suit.
btw - I work at Library House and controversy is great PR. I think this thread has been awesome as such!
10 months ago
in Video search on The Equity Kicker
Hi Nic - we're tracking 15 "video search" companies with investment in one company in April 08. Veveo, Everyzing, Nexidia and PureVideo lead the pack purely in investment terms.
