More and more, Berlin is seen as one of the most vibrant european startup scene. And it’s true: things are moving fast there! My fellow blogger Adelina invited me to a new kind of conference – Tech Open Air Berlin Festival – taking place on August 23rd & 24th. TOA is an innovative summer festival made by the community for the community, which has leveraged the crowdfunding approach to test the support of the tech scene and get the minimal financing (they overcame it!) for the event. That’s alone is worth writing on, for me! Focus of the festival will be the networking between participants and not especially with the guys on stage (but the speakers’ panel is worth listening – from serial entrepreneurs to prominent investors). Hundreds of people from across Europe are expected and the organizers hope to …
The mobile ecosystem: get insights and learn tips and tricks!
You’re an entrepreneur, an investor, a developer or simply a guy passionate about new technologies? So get the opportunity to attend the 2nd Swiss Mobicamp, taking place on 1st November 2012 in Bern. Absolutely unique in Switzerland (and maybe also in neighbouring countries? I’d love to be aware of similar events abroad!), the organizers have prepared a serie of interesting talks, workshops, 1-to-1 meeting with industry experts (named the “Mobile Clinic”). There’s even a pitch competition (the “Dragon Den”), where 5 preselected start-ups will fight to win the CHF 5’000.- award (no cash, but some material useful advantages like ticket entrances to Mobile World Congress, etc.) in a Pecha Kucha (20 seconds per slide) mode. Renowned experts like Andreas Constantinou will give some insights on industry trends, useful tips to understand the difference of mobile OS and some ideas for the renewal of the Telecommunication companies. James Money, from GetJar (largest …
Summer time – must read for holidays!
Time is come to relax a bit… Most of you wont really relax, as startup work never ends. But take some time to recharge your batteries. You’re running a marathon, even if you run to the speed of a sprint! On my side, I wont publish new posts until mid August, so you can take time to discover (or read again!) some of my previous articles… if you have nothing better to do! Here is my selection for these coming days, which should be more quiet on the business side: DeinDeal launches an e-commerce incubator Meet a serial entrepreneur and investor from Zürich: Martin Saidler New seed financing opportunity in Switzerland: Hightech Gründerfonds Is Switzerland starting up? What we still need to change (in Switzerland) Meet Christophe F. Maire, a serial web entrepreneur from Switzerland HOW TO make a perfect …
HOW TO choose a smart mentor
As a startup founder, you’re alone. Or your have some co-founders, but who don’t have all the necessary experience and background to cover everything you’ll be confronted to. Alongside building your Minimum Viable Product and trying to convince people, I think that you have to surround yourself by smart people, who can boost your skills and be a honest counterpart. What you need is people who desire to help you, and challenge you. That doesn’t mean being nice everytime with you. But they can help you avoid common mistakes and open your mind. Finding a mentor is not necessary easy. But you’d be astonished how many people really desire to help. But the challenge is not to find a mentor (everyone will be happy to give you advices, even if it’s crappy and they don’t realize it!). Greatest challenge is …
The Mobile Developer’s Guide
During my stay at NEXT Berlin 2012 and just before my departure, I’m fallen over a little guide called “Mobile Developer’s guide to the Galaxy”, edited by the German company enough software. First edition of the guide was released during Mobile World Congress 2009, after noticing that developers and decision makers felt lost in the jungle of mobile applications development. The idea was to provide an objective overview on mobile technologies and help people better define their mobile strategy. The guide provides an outline of applications platforms, explains the process on how to program on every platform (from Android to J2ME to Windows 8) and covering at least what are the prerequisites, the testing and distribution mechanisms. The book also gives you some tips on how to develop accessible apps, implement rich media, location-based services, NFC, haptic vibration and security …
Venture Leaders’ spirit!
Some weeks ago, I attended the yearly event organized by Jordi Montserrat and his team at venturelab at Swiss Institute of Technology in Lausanne, the Venture Leaders ceremony. The “Venture Leaders” is a 10-days business program in Boston, where 20 founders of world-class startups from Switzerland meet potential US partners, investors, and compete with local startups. All participants come home with a deeper perspective of what’s next with their business and a lot of contacts. Jordi used the event to share the spirit of the program, that is: NETWORK… N: Never leave home without it!E: Establish, Extend, Exchange, Engage!T: Travel in pairs!W: Working the Pond – Positively!O: Opportunities are everywhere!R: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat!K: Keep it going! … and be a LEADER! L: LeadershipE: EnergyA: AffabilityD: DependabilityE: ExperienceR: Resilience
HOW TO Make The Perfect Pitch (Part III/III)
This is the third and last post of the serie “How to make a perfect pitch”. If you’ve missed the first and second post, give them a look! This week, we’ll discuss more about soft skills (or Emotional Intelligence Quotient). But maybe some of you have never heard of what soft skills are, According to Wikipedia, they are behavioral competencies, which are also known as interpersonal skills, or people skills, which include proficiencies such as communication skills, conflict resolution and negotiation, personal effectiveness, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, team building, influencing skills and selling skills, to name a few. Related to your presentation, it’s the way you interact with your audience. How you speak is as important as what you’re saying and how you’re moving (be aware of your tics and try to eliminate them). In your pitch, DO: use …
17 inspiring quotes that drive my action
As a fanatic about startup and innovation, I read a lot. And I think I’m not the only one keeping some quotes out of books or articles that inspire you or help you build yourself. Here below are some quotes I’ve selected over time and that I find particularly good and that represent a lot of how I see startup. They did not know it was impossible… so they did it ! (Mark Twain) Be realistic… Ask for the impossible! (Ernesto Che Guevara) Shoot the moon. Even if you miss it, you’ll land among the stars… (Mark Twain) Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life ! (Confucius) I do not work. I have fun 14h a day! (Nicolas G. Hayek) Stay hungry, stay foolish! (Steve Jobs) Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living …