Vaekstguiden.dk

There are so many offers of public help for startups and SMEs in Denmark that a specific site, Vaekstguiden, was created to simply list them.  If I remember right, there was talk of at over 150 programs when the site was launched.

Here’s the blog entry I don’t have time to work on: find out the total pool of startup and SME resources and calculate how much is consumed by the elephants, namely Vækstfonden, the five Væksthus, and the five Innovationsmiløer.  Would it make more sense to measure what works and consolidate resources on the winners?  Or is it ok to run lots of smaller experiments and leave room for innovation?  The jury is out.

Earlier this year Northzone closed a new fund worth 90 million EUR and today Via Ventures announced that it has raised 134 million (a nice and round 1 billion DKK).  Northzone is an investor in Spotify and Stepstone and Via Ventures’ portfolio includes Zoomio and and KMD, among others.

Cynics will say that doesn’t help early stage / pre-seed startups but I think new oxygen anywhere in the system helps by creating a pull effect.  As more mature companies — which are the Northzone and Via Venture targets — get funded, seed and angel investors will develop more appetite for their targets.  All good for entrepreneurs.

Interestingly, the only investor in the new Via Venture fund is ATP, Denmark’s largest pension fund.  It’s encouraging to see a large institutional investor who still believes in venture as an asset class.  And it turns tens of thousands of Danish employees into startup investors, so who says Danes aren’t entrepreneurial? 

I don’t know how much real value you can get by locking people up in a room, even if they come up with an awesome list of ideas, but I intend to bring my two cents.  I’d like your input as well.

Add your comments below or email af[at]startupbootcamp.dk and I will compile the best input for the meeting with Brian Mikkelsen.

Here are 5 concrete suggestions to help entrepreneurs in Denmark which I’m taking to the meeting.  I’m a foreigner and 8 of  the 10 Startupbootcamp teams are foreign so I focus on that angle in points 2 & 4 but the others apply to every entrepreneur in Denmark.

1. Create an elite, but open, entrepreneurship space in Copenhagen.
   What: a super cool 400 to 500 sq. meter open office space with an event space and a “startup cafe” which becomes the hub of  entrepreneurship in the city.  This should be non-profit, run by a lean admin team, and overseen by a group of selected serial entrepreneurs.
   Why: “elite” and “open” can seem contradictory but the idea is to have a by-invitation only working space for elite entrepreneurs combined with an open event space where all the cool events are held (from F1rst Fridays and Startup Weekends to Startupbootcamp and many others). I have a real issue with traditional incubators: they act like real estate businesses.  If you can pay the rent, you’re in.  This space would select its tenants based on the quality of their project.  Quality people and projects attract other quality people.  And quality people are at the heart of entrepreneurship – they have to have a space and events which enables them to meet.
2. Subsidize housing for qualified foreign entrepreneurs.
   What: Housing for young elite foreign entrepreneurs should have as much focus as student housing.  Give selected entrepreneurs access to subsidized housing for 6 to 12 months and make it easy for them to move to Copenhagen.
   Why: the biggest barrier the Startupbootcamp teams faced when moving to Copenhagen was housing.  These people are highly mobile, they’ll go to London or Silicon Valley in a heartbeat.  Let’s play to our strength and differentiate ourselves by making it easy for foreign entrepreneurs to move to Copenhagen which is one of the coolest cities in the world.
   
   
3. Support more startup-creating events such as Startup Weekend
   What: the Danish government is focusing on entrepreneurship education which is great.  But let’s put as much resource on creating events which get people off the fence.
   Why: Entrepreneurship is a funny thing: everybody talks about it but very few people do it.  It’s risky, hard and doesn’t always pay off.  The April Copenhagen Startup Weekend saw the creation of 10 startups in 54 hours, three of which are still running: Planely, AutoButler and Memolane which raised 2 mio. USD from Venture Capitalists.  As far as I remember the Aarhus Startup Weekend produced at least one company which is still going.  The budget for one of these events about 80K DKK, an awesome return on investment for Denmark.
   
   
4. Create an entrepreneur tax relief scheme similar to the “Forsker skat”
   What: highly qualified foreigners get up to 5 years of tax relief, the same should apply to elite entrepreneurs.
   Why: the Danish corporate tax rate is relatively competitive with the rest of Europe.  The same can’t be said of the personal tax rate.  Denmark invests millions in tax relief to attract researchers – who add tons of value, no doubt.  Elite entrepreneurs do as well.
   
   
5. Fix the “Iværksætter skat” issue so Danish Business Angel start investing again
   What: this issue has been pounded by the DVCA and others but it’s worth repeating: don’t double tax Business Angels.
   Why: Anything which slows down Business Angel investment is BAD!  Business Angels invest their hard-earned cash and they have lots of alternatives to investing in high risk early stage startups.  This is such a no brainer it’s a wonder it hasn’t been fixed.

This is scratching the surface.  I’m sure you have tons of other ideas.  Share them by commenting below or emailing af[at]startupbootcamp.dk and let’s have a go at influencing the Danish government for one of the coolest causes: creating more startups in Denmark!

The Startup Weekend and [Startup Digest] teams have put together an awesome event in Kansas City. 125 SW organizers and SD curators are gathering for 3 days of workshops and brainstorming sessions on how to take these two initiatives forward. There are over 20 countries represented including Japan, Australia, South Africa, Chile and of course Denmark!

Kansas City is the home base of the Kauffman foundation which supports entrepreneurship and education (among other things they are behind the Global Entrepreneurship Week). Clint, Marc and Franck, the Startup Weekend crew, are ecstatic as they’ve just received a very large grant from the Kauffman foundation which will see them through an ambitious 3 year expansion.

We’re here to figure out how to improve Startup Weekend events themselves and how to build and improve the global community.

We just went through intros for the SW people, an amazing collection of startup fanatics:

Lexington, Kentucky
Galicia, Spain
Kansas City
Thailand
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Lithuania
Seattle, Washington Seattle 2.0
Melbourne, Australia
Paris, France
Singapore & Hong Kong
Boston, Massachusets
Sofia, Bulgaria
San Francisco & Toronto
Santiago, Chile
Portland, Oregon
Taipei, Taiwan
Chicago, Illinois
Prague, Czech Republic
Geneva, Switzerland
Vancouver, Canada
Boise, Idaho
Indianapolis, Indiana
Tokyo, Japan
Bucharest, Romania
Kentucky
Los Angeles, California
Detroit, Michigan
New York, New York
Honolulu, Hawaii
Omaha, Nebraska
Houston, Texas
Toronto, Canada
Corallis, Oregon
Denver, Colorado
Oman
Women 2.0, SF
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Dallas, Texas
Tel Aviv, Israel
Copenhagen, Denmark

-IBM Smartcamp is struggling to get enough applicants. Paris had over 150 teams apply! Sure it’s Paris, but this is Denmark!
-The Nordic Venture Forum had to combine its two pre-academies (free training and feedback for startups) into one due to lack of sign ups.
-Startupbootcamp, which I run, had a limited number of Danish applicants.  Luckily we had some great Danish applicants supported by many international teams.

But what’s up?  Is there a shortage of Danish startups?  Do they see this as diversionary activity? Is it the infamous over-focus on the product syndrome?  Denmark has really come on the map in the last 18 months.  TechCrunch held an event here in the summer.  Seedcamp was here as well.  Innovation Exchange (a European Venture Capital Association event) is coming and much more.  We’re on the map.  But Danish startups are going to have to come out of their closets!

I still meet Danish entrepreneurs who ask that I sign an NDA before they’ll even share their idea.  Come on, who is going to steal your idea?  It’s about execution, every good investor knows this; and entrepreneurs should as well.  What entrepreneurs should focus on is getting lots of input and confronting their idea and product with the real world.  They’re only going to get better as a result.  Events like IBM’s Smartcamp and the Nordic Venture Forum should be swamped with applications from startups wanting to meet the mentors, and other entrepreneurs.

I just don’t get it.  Tell me if I’m missing something…

(disclosure: I will be a mentor at the IBM Smartcamp, and Startupbootcamp partners with the Nordic Venture Forum – but there is no financial relationship with either)

The main take aways:

• Angel investments fell by 35% between 2008 and 2009
• Danish Angels expect to make more investments and exits in 2010
• On average Danish Angels plan to invest 1.1 mio. DKK and to make 1-2 investments in 2010

(doc in Danish)

Silicon Valley Academy Boot Camp Intro vers 1.1 A4
SVA Workshop Agenda DK 15-16jun2010

“Alex, a young friend of mine, a ~20 yr old student, is fascinated with startups. Which events, fora and networks do you think he should follow, where a 20 year-old “beginner” will fit in?”

Not easy – in Denmark.  Here’s what I replied, slightly edited (what am I missing?):

“Morten Krarup Kristensen (Niels Brock student who has helped me with First Friday events), is working on a First Friday edition for young entrepreneurs. [watch this space for news]

Otherwise subscribe to the Copenhagen edition of [Startup Digest] which I edit – not an easy job, there’s not always a lot of choice.  And keep an eye out on Startupbootcamp (the events page, and subscribe to the newlsetter and the RSS feed).

http://www.vonhaller.dk/ is an interesting blog by Martin von Haller and the very strange Morten Lund is sometimes entertaining: http://lundxy.com/.  I think Amino is of very uneven quality but worth a look.

May 2010

• Tech Crunch Nordic is coming to town!
• …followed by Mini Seedcamp.
• The Aarhus Copenhagen Startup Weekend is approaching fast. Ticket sales have started, go here to sign up. See you on June 11th 2010 at Incuba Science Park.