European Tech Tour - Web & Communities Summit: a great web 2.0 event

The European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit was a great success.

Attending the event was an exceptional opportunity to network with the top European VCs, the top 25 start-ups and their CEO/Founder, the top executive search firms, and the media (press & prominent bloggers).

I have only heard a extremely positive feedback from all the finalists and the delegates.

Congratulations to the organizers: Sven Lingjaerde, Founder & President at European Tech Tour Association, and Yann Mauchamp, Executive Director Web & Communities Summit 2007, and to their team members: Simone Theiss, Meryll Moreau, Pamir Gelenbe and Stephane Ville to name a few.

The 25 finalists
I met with most of the CEOs, and they were all very enthusiastic about the Summit.


Depending on the stage of their company, their expectations & goals varied quite a bit.


But they all agreed that the Summit was a superb opportunity to:
* raise your profile and gain more exposure in the industry
* identify potential investors (and more likely, being identified by VCs)
* network with other entrepreneurs
 
The 25 start-ups which have made the final are:
Amiando, Bragster, coComment, CyberSports, Dailymotion, delilui, Double Trump International, Flashgames247.com, Goojet, Handmade Mobile, MyThings, NEO, Polar Rose, Qype, Refresh Mobile, Seatwave,  sMeet, TestFreaks, Truphone, Wazap, WeFi, Wikio, WooMe, Xcerion, Zyb Technologies.

Sectors: dating, internet content - video, online ticketing, e-commerce, online advertising, online games, mobile internet, mobile telecom, social networking, virtual worlds.

Congratulations to the teams behind those innovative startups!

Interviews
A special thank to Meryll Moreau who give me a hand and helped me schedule the video interviews.

I think we have done extremely well, with 17 video interviews shot in just one day:
* Wikio - Pierre Chappaz, Founder & CEO (ex-Founder of Kelkoo)
* Dailymotion - Mark Zaleski, Chairman
* CyberSports - Malcolm Clark, CEO
* Seatwave - Joe Cohen, CEO
* smeet - Marc Fleischmann, CEO
* TestFreaks - Kristofer Arwin, CEO (ex-Founder of Pricerunner)
* Flirtomatic - Mark Curtis, CEO
* cocomment - Matt Colebourne, CEO
* Goojet - Marc Rougier, CEO
* Amiando - Felix Haas, CEO
* mippin - Scott Beaumont, co-Founder
* neo - A.Nabergoj, CEO, and M.Pangerc, CTO
* WeFi - Amit Shaked, VP
* Bragster - Bertrand Bodson and Wil Vernaeve, co-Founders
* DiLeLui.com - Jerome Boudot, CEO, and Celine Salomon, co-Founder
* navx - Jean Cherbonnier, CEO
* YouFig - Allon Mason, co-Founder
 
Great networking
I met over 65 people one-to-one from the following companies:
24 access, Accel Partners, Amastrust, amiando, Atlas venture, ballou>>pr, Bragster, Brown Rudnick, BusinessWeek, Calibre One, Clipperton Finance, ClusterBridge, cocomment, CyberSports, Dailymotion, dilelui.com, eBay, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, endeavourvision, European Respiratory Society, European Tech Tour, EuroUS Ventures, Flirtomatic.com, Forsyth Group, goojet, GPXS, Heads!, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Invision, IQ Capital Partners LLP, iris capital, LegitiName, LeShop.ch, Logitech, Lund XY, mippin, navx, neo, OpenWays, Partech International, Perey, Profession web.ch, Reuters, Sesame Partners, smeet, Swisscom, SwissCyber, Test Freaks, Weber Shandwick, WeFi, Wellington Partners, Wikio, World Economic Forum, Xcerion, youfig, zyb.

Photos

Thanks again to Yann and Sven for inviting me to cover the summit.

Tech Tour 07: Interview with Jean Cherbonnier, Founder of navx

I met Jean Cherbonnier at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. His company, navx, wasn't one of the 25 finalists but Jean had the chance to present his company during the summit.

Interview with Jean Cherbonnier

 

Tech Tour 07: Interview with Allon Mason, co-Founder of YouFig

I met Allon Mason at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. His company, YouFig, was not one of the 25 finalists but he was one of the exhibitors.

Interview with Allon Mason

 

Tech Tour 07: Interview with Amit Shaked, VP at WeFi

I met Amit Shaked at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. The company he works for, WeFi, was one of the 25 finalists.

Interview with Amit Shaked

 

Tech Tour 07: Interview with B. Bodson & W. Vernaeve, co-Founders of Bragster

I met Bertrand Bodson and Wim Vernaeve at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. Their company, bragster, was one of the 25 finalists.
 
Interview with B. Bodson & W. Vernaeve

 

Tech Tour 07: Interview with Marc Rougier, CEO of Goojet

I met Marc Rougier at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. His company, goojet, was one of the 25 finalists.

Interview with Marc Rougier

 

Tech Tour 07: Interview with A.Nabergoj & M.Pangerc, neo

I met Andrej Nabergoj and Matej Pangerc at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. Their company, neo, was one of the 25 finalists.

Interview with A. Nabergoj and M. Pangerc

 

Tech Tour 07: Interview with Scott Beaumont, co-Founder of Mippin

I met Scott Beaumont at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. His company, mippin, was one of the 25 finalists.

Interview with Scott Beaumont

 

Tech Tour 07: Interview Felix Haas, co-Founder of Amiando

I met Felix Haas at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. His company, amiando, was one of the 25 finalists.

Interview with Felix Haas

 

Tech Tour 07: Interview with Matt Colebourne, CEO cocomment

I met Matt Colebourne at the European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit in November 07. His company, cocomment, was one of the 25 finalists.

Interview with Matt Colebourne