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Mini Seedcamp Paris aims to connect the region's start-up community with the wider European start-up scene.
We will be bringing together 20 of the region's best seed stage tech start-ups with experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and developers from both France and all over Europe to participate in a day of intense mentoring, panel discussions and presentations at the super-cool Microsoft Technology Center in Paris.
This year, Mini Seedcamp Paris is extending its search and inviting fresh and fantastic talent from beyond France to include Spain and the Benelux region. By doing so, we hope to unearth even more promising start-up teams that are itching to break through the surface and build a kick-ass business.
As a team in Mini Seedcamp Paris you will:
Team applications are open until February 9th at midnight. You can apply by going to the following link: http://apply.seedcamp.com/
Mike Butcher of TechCrunch joined us on the 26th and 27th of November at Sofinnova to meet some French start ups -- we called it his "French Start-Up Speed Dating Day." The list included:
Later than night, we had cocktail at my house, but those pictures are NSWF, as usual.
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One last interview with Ken before he leaves us to go back to the states.
The key event for all European early-stage start ups:
Deadline is August 10th, see you in London.
As you know by now, I spent the day with Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures yesterday -- BPR, Chausson Finance, Altaide and Open Coffee Paris all helped get 16 French start-ups in a room to present to Fred. A few photos of the day here.
After reading Fred's post and thinking more about the conversation that unfolded over the day, I come away with this: French entrepreneurs are heros, plain and simple. In the US, entrepreneurs are lauded. Here, they are looked upon as erratic, people who are insane not to take the safe route. Sure, Lucie-Anne and I are entrepreneurs, too, but we're American, and in France, that pretty much excuses us. Also, I come from a family of entrepreneurs: I am the third generation. My father's reaction was "What took you so long?"
When I look at the hurdles that these people have to overcome: the ridiculous laws, the lack of resources, the lack of a vibrant community to support them (though we are actively working on changing that!), and finally, the overwhelming, crushing sense that as an entrepreneur, you are doing something odd or outright subversive, well, you can see why these guys are my heros.
On a different note: huge thanks to Phil Jeudy, Louis van Proosdij Duport, Jacques Froissant, Raphael Labbe, Marc Brandsma and especially my trusty sidekick and partner in crime Ken Newcomer for all the help in organizing. See you at the Pont Party!
Longer post to follow, but right now I am at the offices of Chausson Finance with Fred Wilson, meeting with some really dynamic start-ups. Such a pleasure, this is the stuff I live for! The line-up:
U-Lik
Lemonway
FriendsClear
Fair Play Interactive TV
Vozavi
ShotRush
Wixi
INT13
Level134
mypronostics.com
Yoowalk
Stupeflix
DoYouBuzz
Haploid
Via Mobility
DotEmu
The Center for Social Media released the "Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in Online Video" earlier this week. You make think this is a yawner but its actually pretty important, as it takes on copyright infringement in the U.S. head-on. Most Americans think that if they take something off the web and use it, they are committing copyright infringement (not that this stops them). The Code reflects the latest changes in U.S. copyright law that has expanded the understanding of fair use to include 'transformational effect.' What does this mean? Basically, provided you are making a truly new use of the content, you are free to make money off those copyrighted images and video and sound.
Several public broadcasters have endorsed the guidelines. Fingers crossed. Not that this means that things are going to change in Europe, but one can hope.
Note that the Center for Social Media's web site has nifty resources for mashers and mixers.
