The World is Global, Baby: 6 Companies Launching Elsewhere
by Amanda Foley
This week, the London contingent of team audience.io hopped over the Irish sea for Dublin Web Summit, the impressive tech conference organized by Paddy Cosgrave that has exploded in popularity in the four years since its inception. It has grown from a few hundred attendees to roughly 10,000 this year, featuring headline speakers such as Elon Musk and Tony Hawk.
While Courtney was teaching workshops on how to launch your startup in the US, I was hitting the ground in the startup showcase area, meeting early-stage founders from all corners of the globe. Since the startup world exists outside of our beloved hubs of London, New York (and okay, Silicon Valley), I was curious about meeting founders out of of up-and-coming or significantly smaller tech communities. Obviously, there was an overwhelming consensus on "safety nets" as a main factor into why people choose to stay close to home when starting up, but I were curious about other aspects of their regional tech communities or culture that motivates them to stay local….or in some cases, pack their bags.
I snagged intimate chats with founders from half a dozen different countries, and each one offered up thoughtful tidbits about the startup community in their home city…and why they chose to make the journey to Ireland for Web Summit!
1. Manilo Accardo, Founder / CEO of Sailogy
What does it do? Platform for renting sailboats in the Mediterranean
Location: Ticino, Switzerland
What do you love about about the Swiss tech scene?
I'm Italian, but I relocated to Switzerland after closing our series A round with Swiss investors. Switzerland is great for startups! Legislation, taxes and bureaucracy are lean. Local government and agencies have a lot of programmes to fuel innovation and bring talented people to the area. We're also lucky receive lots of ancillary services from a fantastic swiss company called BravoFly, supporting us with issues related to HR, finance, marketing and PR.
Why did you come to Dublin for Web Summit?
I came here to meet with international media, find partners and find out about new trends in the tech world.
What did you learn?
I need to do way more more networking!
2. Chris Breikss, Founder / VP Marketing of MonkeyBox
What does it do? IT asset management and password sharing web app
Location: Vancouver, Canada
What do you love about the Vancouver Tech Scene?
What I love about the local tech scene in Vancouver is how eclectic and diverse it is. Vancouver is a melting pot of numerous cultures and has bred a tech scene that is diverse culturally and by industry. Also, the growing foodie scene has spawned a number of food/ tech related companies which makes my belly happy!
Why did you come to Dublin for Web Summit?
I came to WebSummit to launch Monkey Box as part of the Alpha Startup Program. Web Summit provided a hard deadline to get the company launched and get the front end marketing site finished. We launched the site and started accepting customers during Web Summit which was a major achievement and milestone for us! We received strong favourable feedback from customers, media and potential investors, which validated our concept and business model.
What did you learn?
The one thing that I learned this week was that you need to treat everybody that you meet with dignity and respect as some of our best contacts came from people that we didn't necessarily expect we would have a chance to connect with. I also met three different startups whose founders were under 16 years of age….including an 12 year old java developer who was building mobile apps!
3. Alja Isakovic, Co Founder of Cube Sensors
What does it do? Technology to help you understand how the air quality in your home or office is affecting your health, comfort and productivity.
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
What do you love about the Ljubljana Tech Scene?
Ljubljana is small enough to manage on foot or on a bike, but still just big enough for an active tech community. It's based in the centre of a beautiful country with stunning scenery and outdoor lifestyle. I love the fact that the tech startup community in Ljubljana is always growing and we're helping each other along the way.
Why did you come to Dublin for Web Summit?
We start shipping in just a few weeks, so we attended Web Summit to introduce our final product and meet potential investors!
What did you learn?
The most valuable thing about Web Summit was being able to get so much direct feedback from the amazing attendees. It's going to help us build an even better product.
4. Oren Elbaz, Co-Founder of TinyTap
What does it do? A platform to help children (and their parents) create and share mobile games.
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
What do you love about the Tel Aviv tech scene?
As it’s often said about small tech communities, we love our Tel Aviv tech scene because it feels like a family. We’re always helping each other. There are really amazing, talented people in Tel Aviv. We’re happy in Israel but are looking to have a presence in the US sometime in the future.
Why did you come to Dublin for Web Summit?
My former CEO, Gilad Jafet (the founder of MyHeritage) recommended that we come to Web Summit to meet with media, investors and other founders from around the world. We’re looking for funding, so we thought it was a great way for a bit of exposure.
What did you learn?
We learned that far more people at Web Summit have heard of us than we previously thought! We met with so many people who use our app with their children, and we received a lot of very positive feedback!
5. Mario Vasilesco, Co-Founder of Rewordly
What does it do? Quantified digital magazines powered by you or your team's online voice. Turn your existing reading and writing online, across all streams, into a single destination for branding and business.
Location: Paris, France
What do you love about the Paris tech scene?
Most of our team is currently working out of Paris, France, with our Co-founder/COO, Eduard, based in Bucharest, Romania. We’re from Toronto, but other opportunities ended up bring us to the City of Light so we jumped at the chance. The Paris tech scene is exploding right now - it's gone from relatively nothing to a very substantial something over the course of the past couple of years. So I would say our favourite thing has to be the youthful energy that surrounds it. A lot of curiosity and enthusiasm. If you want in, there's no shortage of enthusiastic collaborators and supporters!
Why did you come to Dublin for web summit?
We came to Web Summit to meet prospective users and get feedback on the latest version of our platform. Needless to say, the interest and enthusiasm was extremely encouraging. It's always fun to see somebody stop dead in their tracks with an unmistakable look of intrigue on their face when passing your booth!
What's one thing you've learned this week?
The rapid-fire pitching and customer development that hosting a booth brings is probably the best way to zero-in on your most valuable use-case. Also, always have a demo video ready - WiFi should never be counted on.
And finally, one company who is leaving behind sunny Spain for NYC & Silicon Alley…
6. Alex Guerra, Co-Founder of Moodyo
What does it do? Social Shopping. Shop smarter with the help of your friends.
Location: Seville, Spain...but soon, NYC
You’re in Seville now, but you’re headed for New York?
Yes, right now we're now based in Seville but we're planning to move to New York by the beginning of 2014. We’re all from Seville, and that’s the main reason we launched here. The local tech scene did not exist just a few months ago. In fact, until very recently, 99% of the people in Seville didn’t even know what the word "startup" meant. Now there are people trying to create a real startup ecosystem in Seville, which is great, but there must be a greater effort from authorities and institutions in Spain to support this. New York and the United States has a much better culture for startups.
Why did you come Dublin for Web Summit?
I received an invitation from the Web Summit team back in May, after we exhibited at Startup Alley at TechCrunch's Disrupt NY. We decided to come because we thought that it could be a great opportunity to show our product to potential partners, investors and meet lots of interesting people.
What's one thing you've learned?
Well, not just around Web Summit, but I’ve come to a few revelations in general recently.
I've learned that there's still a big difference between European and American ecosystems. In Europe it seems like you’ve only made it when TechCrunch or Mashable deem you as the “Next Big Thing”....which is sad because many companies have tried unsuccessfully to be featured in European tech blogs first.
I've also learned that there aren’t many marketing agencies specialized in startups. A lot of companies are offering the traditional ways to market one product (banners, promoted content...) and that just doesn’t work anymore, and it wastes precious money. Lastly, I’ve learned that European investors are still focused on initial revenue instead of interactions and engagement.
And lastly, my own perspective as a Canadian-bred Londoner at Web Summit:
It was definitely a whirlwind meeting founders from so many different countries in one spot, all offering up their own perspective on how & why they've chosen to make it work at home, or in the case of Moodyo, head for the bright lights of NYC.
Despite the difficulties that startups outside the US can face when it comes to funding or media attention, it still makes my heart sing that the startup movement is going global, and that more and more cities are becoming hubs for this kind of tech entrepreneurism.
Until next year, Web Summit!
