My Venture Camp. by Jari Ognibeni

The Mind the Bridge Venture Camp just ended in Milan and after a lot of hand shakes, business card exchanges and hearing a lot of great projects and ideas I got some words in particular in my mind.

OPPORTUNITY.
This is the word that San Giovanni Vincentelli used to explain the economic and social moment we are living worlwide that other called "crisis".
It's amazing how things can be seen differently just thinking a bit different just turning our attention a little right or left in other words to simply believe in our ideas and their accomplishment, to belive we can do it and out there are people that can help you.

STARTUP.
Here there are the protagonist of the Venture Camp: people with ideas! I've been so happy to see and meet startup from all over Italy and different kind of background and industries. What emerged was that startup need a tool, need a direct contact with other people that can help theme to better understand their business, develop their business plan and increase their network.

THE BRIDGE
I like to describe the entire Venture Camp as a bridge from good ideas to their accomplishment; from Italy to Silicon Valley (and back). This bridge is made by people, professionals and off course ideas that strive to move in the same direction: create a new model to develop ideas and bring theme to the world. People out there need this bridge and now they can count on it. The bridge is here and it is real!

These words summarize the experience of beeing for two days with a lot of impressive people, professionals and young entrepreneurs that want to change the world with their ideas.
A big Arrivederci and Grazie to everybody which made this event possible and also a great In bocca al lupo to all the entrepreneurs and startup that have a great project in mind.






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My Venture Camp. By Massimo Carraro.

An attendance that doubled the expectations. A list of attendees where most names had two lines, driving receptionists (us) mad. Jari, Tito and myself guarding the Gala Dinner door with a lady from Corriere with more cojones than all three of us together.



The startup guys with a special light in their eyes. The 'In bocca al lupo!' and the 'Crepi!'. Beppe Severgnini mixing English and Italian with unrivalled elegance. 334 badges done overnight with the invaluable support of my workmates @MonkeyBusiness. A live FriendFeed report of the Sangiovanni Vincentelli - Beppe Severgnini talk. One and a half day as the doorman of Italian technological innovation. Hearing the mentor of dozens of successful Italians in the Valley saying the only way to teach 'how to be available to people is by example'. Tito talking finance and world markets to me while welcoming attendees at the door. Checking in people online, in real time. Realizing that I'd never met some of my MtB teammates untile Venture Camp day (yes it's unbelievable isn't it?). Marco Marinucci calling the Italian team on stage. Meeting a few known faces. Understanding that networking is what it's all about. Understanding that networking is just another name for that age-old activity called 'human talk'.

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Venture Camp mode: on.

The Venture Camp started about 5 hours ago.

The Sala Buzzati at Corriere della Sera is filled up, start-ups are having their 5-minute pitches, and a loud applause follows every speaker.

The atmosphere is really exciting, and we had to prepare a waiting list for tomorrow's session.

We'll catch up later with more, for now, enjoy the first pictures from Milano!







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Mind The Bridge Venture Camp 2009: Showtime!

Tomorrow we will go live with our 2009 Venture Camp. For the first time in Milan, thanks to the support of Corriere della Sera and RCS Media Group that will host the event. The workshop looks promising. 14 really cool Italian startups will line up and pitch in front to investors. During the two days you will have the chance to hear from successful Italian entrepreneurs (like Paolo Barberis from Dada, Massimo Colomban, Alessandro Fracassi and Fabio Cannavale) and venture capitalists (such as Randy Mitchell, Massimiliano Magrini, Matteo Fago, Riccardo Donandon and Germano Carganico). Marco Marinucci and Matteo Daste will provide you with insights about Mind The Bridge. On Saturday morning Beppe Sevegnini will interview Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli, one of the most appreciated "Italians" in Silicon Valley. We will also give voice to our partners and affiliates such as Italiani di Frontiera, Fulbright-BEST, Telecom Working Capital, Fondazione Politecnico.
The event was entirely sold out in a few days. If you are one of the 340 who were so lucky (and fast) to get admitted, see you there. If you aren’t, you can follow the Camp live, streaming on Corriere.it. Enjoy!




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Mind the Bridge on Corriere.it - first steps

A banner in homepage, a detailed article by Marco Pratellesi as introduction, plus 14 insights, focused on all semi-finalist startups and an interesting map of innovation: the collaboration between Corriere.it and Mind the Bridge is bearing the first fruits.

We expect more actions in the following days (watch for the magazine and Corriere in paper...)





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20 years to pull Italy back on its feet

I'm still digesting the overdose of information I gathered during the 3-day Pio Manzu conference.
So many are the reflections on the future of our youth (in particular Italian youth) discussed by eminent experts from all corners of the world, that I could write several days of relevant posts.
Here're a few snapshots: (on. Meloni, first picture) "Italy has been living for the first time ever an era where the current generation are in a worst situation than their parents."
"The trust that Italians place in their media, politicians and future is drastically less than anybody else in Europe (research from La Sapienza university)".

My panel was supposed to play the role of the positive actions facing a situation that is not less than alarming.
Here's my presentation (in Italian).
The general session seemed very similar to a UN summit (or so I can extrapolate). I was sitting in between Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel (who surprised me when I saw him taking notes on his hand, the part with no tattoos), Gianni Minoli (who seemed to like his blackberry a lot) and Emerson Gattafoni (from whom I watch all series), all recipients of a gold medal from the Italian president.

Sitting behind me, the hilarious Bros (1st italian graffiti), who spent most of his time, taking a graffiti of my back (pretty nice actually).

[more to come]

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Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) starts in Pisa on Nov 16

This year, the inaugural event of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in Italy will be held in Pisa on November 16th, at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. The event, organized in collaboration with Mind The Bridge, will be focused on "Research in Italy: entrepreneurship which starts from science and technology".
Marco Marinucci, Alberto Onetti and Matteo Daste from Mind The Bridge will join the event through video conferencing.



For the full program and updates see www.sssup.it/gew.
To register please send an email to generazione1@gmail.com

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Start up in the spotlight: TargetBet.

Let's meet TargetBet's Luca Pettini, while getting ready for November 6 Venture Camp in Milano.

Q.
Luca, can you tell us briefly what is your company about?

A.
TargetBet is a new internet service to support people to place online sports bets and improve their chances of winning.
Basically we give the opportunity to our users to share their bets, compare with other users and be notified when best users place a new interesting bet.

It’s all about turn sports betting social.

Q.
How did you get in touch with the Mind the Bridge project?

A.
I heard about Mind the Bridge about one year ago, reading an internet site that now I don't recall.
I forgot about it, until one day, in my University, I attended a meeting about this great opportunity. The meeting was led by last years finalist, Augusto Coppola (eris4).
His speech was very interesting and I knew from then on, I had to apply to MTB2009.

Q.
How do you think that the MtB experience can help your company to develop a global presence?

A.
MtB literally helped my company an immense amount.
Targetbet's first business plan was born especially to compete in Mtb Challenge: I entered the startup Italian scene with my participation at MtB, it’s the first important step for me and for TargetBet.

Q.
What about your expectations regarding the time you will eventually spend in Silicon Valley?

A.
I think it will be a terrific opportunity for me and for TargetBet: all the people I met during these years told me incredible things about Silicon Valley, it’s like the heaven of entrepreneurs. I think an opportunity like this can be a big step for me, and a bigger one to TargetBet.

Q.
What are your personal views of the italian startup scene?

A.
I’m new in this territory, I don’t know many people from the Italian scene, but what I can say is, I see an incredible force of will: maybe here is hard to find capital, is hard to contact angel investor, venture capitalists, but I met a lot of people with a lot of intelligent and winning ideas: I’m sure that 15min under the flashlight and investors will understand that also in Italy we have a little Silicon Valley.

Thank you Luca, and good luck then!






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Start up in the spotlight: Adant.

Among the 2009 Mind the Bridge semi-finalist, the communication company Adant. We have exchanged a short Q & A session with Daniele Piazza.

Q.
Daniele, can you tell us briefly what is your company about?

A.
Adant develops and markets novel and revolutionary antennas for next generation wireless communications. Our goal is to become world leader in providing antenna solutions that can be used in smartphones, notebooks and wireless access points to deliver unprecedented connectivity.
Our antenna technology is also ideal for RFId systems to enhance its reliability in all main industrial applications.

Q.
How did you get in touch with the Mind the Bridge project?

A.
The first time I’ve heard of Mind the Bridge I was attending a congress on the Italian startup scene in the field of ICT.
Fabrizio Capobianco presented the MtB project. It seemed a great opportunity for us… we started from there.

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 us visibility with Venture Capitalists and provide us with feedback on how to develop a company with a global presence.

Q.
What about your expectations regarding the time you will eventually spend in Silicon Valley?

A.
Many of the most successful companies in the world got started in Silicon Valley. Getting to know better this environment will be a valuable experience. I expect to make connections with investors and other entrepreneurs and to receive important feedbacks for better developing our business.

Q.
What are your personal views of the Italian startup scene?

A.
There are more and more opportunities for entrepreneurs eager to start a business from their revolutionary ideas. There is a growing interest to invest in startups… We are going in the right direction!


Best of luck, Daniele and Adant!



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Start up in the spotlight: WiTech.

Another semi-finalist company, getting ready for Venture Camp 2009: WiTech. Mind the Bridge has interviewed its CEO and EVP Andrea Calcagno.

Q.
Andrea, can you tell us briefly what is your company about?

A.
WiTech is a solutions company founded in 2003 as a spin-off of the University of Pisa, Italy.
The company has gained quickly a foothold in the NGN/NGS scenario focusing on standard 3G and 4G wireless technologies such as HSxPA, WiMAX and LTE. WiTech is the developer of TEA|WiMAX and TEA|LTE, a family of powerful and unique business case analysis tools; as well as the provider of innovative, BPM-enabled OSS/BSS solutions, with a focus on the delivery of turnkey WiMAX CSNs, that leverage the company’s modular and scalable WROP (access & service management) and TelcoGIS (geographic information system) platforms.

Q.
How did you get in touch with the Mind the Bridge project?

A.
Through some friends of mine that work in Venture Capital Sector.

Q.
How do you think that the MtB experience can help your company to develop a global presence?

A.
At the moment I am involved in fund raising activities for my company in order to support its own international expansion; the Silicon Valley is the best location for VCs in Telco Segment and, particular, for 4G one.
I think the MtB experience could accelerate our process.

Q.
What about your expectations regarding the time you will eventually spend in Silicon Valley?

A.
My expectation is to set out our innovative business idea to VCs in Silicon Valley Arena.


Q.
What are your personal view of the Italian startup scene?

A.
I think there are just few startups with good business idesa and well skilled team because there is not the correct Italian VCs culture to support their financial needs and for Italian Startups is very difficult to work with Italian big companies due to political barriers.
You must consider that WiTech is the only Italian start-up that works internationally in WiMAX /4G Segment with innovative products and solutions in Business Case and NG OSS/BSS Arena.

Thank you Andrea, we wish you all the best for your company!



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