Monthly Archive for March, 2010

The view from ICT Centrope in Vienna: wrapping up the CITT project

Published on March 25, 2010 in About CITT, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. 0 Comments Tags: Bernhard Schmid, CEconsult, Centrope, CITT, Europe, ICT, nowEurope, vesely, vienna, vite.

All good things must come to an end. I was in Vienna last week with Vlastimil Vesely and our CITT partners to present our results at “ICT Centrope”, the project’s final conference. The event was well attended. I’m pleased to say we ended the project on a high note.

Featured in the photo from left to right are me, Zuzana Lettner and Katharina, and Vlastimil Vesely. Zuzana (VITE) was our original project coordinator, but roughly halfway through she project she left for her maternity leave. Christoph Henrichs took her place and did an excellent job of finishing up the project. Thanks also to Bernhard Schmid, who took the photo.

My colleagues did a good job of summing up the conference and so for that, I will refer you to the ICT Centrope web site.

Notes from Boston: the state of US venture capital

Published on March 21, 2010 in Current events, Facts, figures & trends and Venture capital. 0 Comments Tags: creativity, entrepreneurial mindset, equity investment, Innovation, investment, regional, risk, silicon valley, Venture capital.

In Boston, I recently attended the Annual VC Outlook Dinner, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the world’s largest not-for-profit organization for entrepreneurs. The evening provided a snapshot of the investment climate here in the United States. Some of these insights may be applicable to other parts of the world, including Central Europe.

The evening included a panel discussion and dialogue. The panel was made up of representatives from six leading US venture capital firms: Highland Capital Partners; Battery Ventures; TVM Capital; Atlas Venture; Bain Capital Ventures; Commonwealth Capital Ventures; and Greylock Partners. These investors offered their views on the health of the US industry; what makes the investment climate in Boston different than Silicon Valley; and the importance of talent in the investment.

Here are some panel discussion notes. These views were shared by the majority, but I provide this recap with a disclaimer that these are opinions and interpretations. Perception may not match reality, but can influence reality.

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Central Europe: the view from Boston

Published on March 18, 2010 in Hungary and Innovation policy. 0 Comments Tags: Asia, central europe, european union, foreign direct investment, Hungary, technology transfer.

[This post introduces our newest nowEurope contributor, Toby Elwin, writing from Boston - a regional US tech hub once on par with Silicon Valley, but recently finding themselves fighting for relevance. Toby also has deep career experience working in Hungary and China. He'll be looking at Central Europe from a comparative perspective - Steve Carlson]

My interest in Hungary and the region stems from an opportunity to study an advanced business degree in Budapest. After living in America and China, two countries that dominate both their region and much global news, Hungary, the size of Pennsylvania, was a distinct change of perspective.

In 1999 I arrived in Hungary, straight from China. The country and many of the seven countries that border Hungary were shaking off decades of planned-economy paralysis. The region was entering a renewed sense of opportunity and Hungary was stabilizing its voice in the region, in Europe, and in the world.

The opportunity, and the challenge that lay ahead, for Hungary and others in the region was to set the proper goal. The more I worked and studied at Central European University, the more I discovered a region, from the Czech Republic through Mongolia, full of immensely brilliant, able people to have an impact on a global scale. With a brilliant work force, many in government chose a low-wage competitive strategy. I felt then, as I do now, the race to the bottom is a short-term solution.

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What I learned by ignoring the presentations at BarCamp Budapest and talking to the audience

Published on March 12, 2010 in Business innovation, Current events, Hungary and Venture capital. 9 Comments Tags: arcus, barcamp, Barnabas Malnay, best practices, budapest, business, CEO Chris Mattheisen, e-commerce, entrepreneur, facebook, funding, huffpo, Hungary, Innovation, iwiw, jeremie, Julia Krysztofiak-, kitchen budapest, Magyar, magyar telekom, mike butcher, recession, startup mode, Venture capital.

Hungarian attendees seemed more pessimistic than I did about what we saw this week at BarCamp Budapest, at least according to my random sample of conversation. I enjoyed thoroughly being one of the only foreigners at hand, along with TechCrunch Europe editor, Mike Butcher and a handful of presenters. The best English-language tweet of the day came from Julia Krysztofiak-Szopa (AdTaily).

with all due respect for the #barcamp #budapest speakers – powerpoint presentation suicide & u don’t have to speak magyarul to notice it.

The truth is I hardly watched any of the presentations, except to occasionally poke my head in the door. I had been lead to believe that at BarCamp, the audience is the content, and so I used this as my excuse to largely ignore the prepared program and talk with people about what’s currently happening in the Hungarian online market.

Everybody’s heard about Jeremie, and several people I met had a business idea in their back pocket. The ad recession hit hard last year, and revenues are down across the board. One local media agency, Arcus, recently imploded. I have the impression that a good number of talented people are knocking around for opportunities.

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BarCamp Budapest is ground zero for Hungarian startups

Published on March 8, 2010 in Business innovation, Current events, Hungary and Venture capital. 1 Comment Tags: budapest, budapest bank, entrepreneurs, ground zero, Hungary, jeremie, magyar telekom, mike butcher, professional investors, startup mode, startups, vc funds.

This week is ground zero for Hungary’s nascent startup market. Eight new Jeremie VC funds are still in startup mode, and literally any day now they will be flush with EU cash – roughly €160M all told – with four years to invest this money. What better timing for a startup competition?

The BarCamp concept isn’t new, nor is it new to Budapest. What is new is that this fifth edition of the Web 2.0 Symposium / Bar Camp Budapest features a startup competition sponsored by Budapest Bank. Each of six finalists will be given 10 minutes to present their business ambitions to a jury of professional investors. The first three finalists will win undisclosed ‘valuable prizes’.

However, that’s not why I’m going. I go to these kinds of events to meet the other attendees.

A cursory glance through this event’s attendee list suggests that I’ll be one of the oldest people in the room. I know most of the older generation of entrepreneurs and investors, but we are clearly the minority.

The one constant in Budapest is change. I played a small part in Hungary’s last startup boom (1999-2001) but I have very few preconceptions about what and who I’ll discover this Wednesday at BarCamp Budapest. This is a new generation.

I do find one thing remarkable, though. The conference materials are available only in Hungarian, but the two keynote speakers are English-speakers.

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Bulgaria embraces entrepreneurial spirit with CEE Chips, but is Central Europe ready?

Published on March 3, 2010 in Business innovation, Current events, Useful resources and Venture capital. 2 Comments Tags: Aleks, angel investors, angelsoft, archimedes, balkans, capital seekers, cee, central and eastern europe, central europe, critical mass, investment brokerage, investment network, linkedin, Petkov, vc, younger generation.

CEE Chips bills itself as an online investment network that connects businesses from Central and Eastern Europe seek funding with investors from all over the world. I came across CEE Chips, when founder Alexandar Petkov sent me a contact request at LinkedIn. He offered me free access to his site, and so I had a look around.

The concept of online investment brokerage isn’t new, but to the best of my knowledge this model has never been applied specifically in this region. The US market leader appears to be Funding Universe, but I’m more familiar with Angelsoft. The logic behind such sites is obvious: entrepreneurs want money, and investors want dealflow. Success mean building a critical mass of investors and deals, and providing both parties the means to evaluate each other and build trust.

So the question is, will CEE Chips be able to build that critical mass in Central Europe?

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