A VC - Latest Comments in The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

fredwilson — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:19:12 -0000

Jens. I was in berlin today

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

jensbest — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:14:27 -0000

Hi Tim, greetings from your "colleagues" in Berlin from www.betterplace.org. You doing a great stuff.

Best Regards

Jens Best

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

jensbest — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:11:15 -0000

Another great Scandinavian Gathering you sholdn't miss is the annualy SIME in Stockholm hosted by Ola Ahlvarsson.

All the Best from Berlin

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Morten Saxnaes — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:49:02 -0000

Hi Fred
Thanks for an interesting read. I work for the Innovationcenter Denmark in Silicon Valley. We are a government agency that assists Danish startups in entering the US market, so your thoughts on the Scandinavian startup scene, is very interesting to me. You write that there isn't a big difference between the startup community in scandinavia and Silicon valley, so do you think the success rate for startups are the same?
This might be a tough question to answer, but do you see a difference in the mentality of startup\founders in Scandinavia and the US, and between VCs in Scandinavia and the US?

Are you saying that startups in Scandinavia should stay in Scandinavia an try to get foothold on the European market before going for the US market?

www.innovationcenterdenmark...

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

leigh — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:23:05 -0000

Oh sorry i wasn't considering the drunk Finns as tourists - i see them more as part of the culture. :)

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

A. T. — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:54:28 -0000

"It's still not overrun with tourists" - I don't insist but it might be interesting fact that everyday vodka-tourists loaded on ferries in Helsinki (and not only Helsinki when it comes to that) cross 80+ km gulf just for sake of ... ahem, tourism... may be your half-of-family left Tallinn way time ago ;)

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

fredwilson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:56:06 -0000

Tallin is the main city in estonia (at least I think it is)

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Ethan Bauley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:51:08 -0000

i like the sound of that a lot...is there a city or two in particular?

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Ethan Bauley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:50:06 -0000

ha, good point!

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

fredwilson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:47:05 -0000

Well I am honored to be the only blog your friend reads is this one

I like myc4 and plan to invest some money on the service this coming week

Fred

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

tim vang — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:43:20 -0000

Hi Fred,

What a small world we live in!!

Last night one of my friends, who I haven't seen for quite some time, popped by for an espresso and a chat. He opens the conversation with the following:

"I only read one blog! This blog is written by a NYC VC that happens to have the same stereo as me (SONOS) - and guess what he wrote about today... "MYC4"!!!!"

I happen to be the Co-founder of MYC4, so I was of course happy to hear that our company made it to your blog...

I look forward to see you on www.MYC4.com

GREATings

Tim

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Ada — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:31:10 -0000

Hey Fred, Thanks for this post! I have been living in Copenhagen for almost 2 years now, getting involved with the Venture scene there and it is really great to have your take on it. Best, Ada

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

leigh — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:54:19 -0000

The half of my family that is Estonian said that it's the new Prague - not only the tech scene is thriving (which it is) but culturally, musically, it's been exploding in the last number years. It's still not overrun with tourists so probably worth the visit before everyone figures it out. Just don't ever visit there in the winter (I couldn't believe how dark it was - think about an hour of day when you could take a photo without a flash)

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Arno Nel — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:26:23 -0000

testing disqus

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

fredwilson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:54:05 -0000

And you and all of us (or most of us)!

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

fredwilson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:30:04 -0000

No I have not

I will check it out

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Ethan Bauley — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:26:53 -0000

thanks for sharing fred, you're the man! really interesting...somehow i'm most interested in estonia now...

the internet would be worse off w/o u

- e

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

fredwilson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:31:07 -0000

I went to open coffee paris today and it was great

I met at least a dozen entrepreneurs

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Jay Parkhill — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:22:36 -0000

Yay microlending! I've been a (small) lender on kiva.org for a while and it is amazingly cool to see the people to whom your $25 can make a real difference- though I also wish there was a way to get followup after the loan has been paid off.

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

mathewgj — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:52:43 -0000

fred- have you seen pagegangster? from cph and similar to issuu?

for example: http://www.pagegangster.com...

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Louis Berlan — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:49:53 -0000

I'd read about Issuu, it definitely looks interesting - especially if electronic paper makes it in a big way. There would be a market for an "iTunes Music Store" of "print" content, where books, newspapers, etc. were centralized, and where your daily paper could be downloaded like a podcast. I know it's the idea behind the Kindle, but they're not there yet...

Have you met with anybody in Paris? What do you think of the startup scene here?

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

fredwilson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:40:41 -0000

i have thought the kindle is silly, but i am beginning to rethink that given how many of my friends love it

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

fredwilson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:23:07 -0000

I'd like to but it won't happen this trip. I'll be back for sure

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

Berislav Lopac — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:53:08 -0000

Fred, since you are in Europe, why don't you take a short trip to Croatia? We've also got a number of interesting startups, and the most beautiful sea in the world! ;)

Re: The Scandinaivian Startup Scene

vincentvw — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:50:52 -0000

About the advertising-businesses & growth. On the one hand, I would think that one exit-strategy is to be acquired by a global player who wants to gain a local foothold. Seems smart to me, especially if you're a local market-leader. On the other hand, European companies (in theory) are better positioned to exploit the fragmented nature of this continent, something that doesn't always work as well for their US counterparts. Historically, there are plenty of success-stories in that area too.