Archive of thenextweb.com
Written on 29th April 2009
1 COMMENT 
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
My cat is pretty quick but I am smarter so I can catch it if I want. My cat can also catch mice. I’m not sure if mice are dumber or smarter than cats but they CAN be caught by cats. But I can’t catch a mouse with my bare hands. They are simply too fast for me.
I can catch my cat and my cat can catch a mouse but I can’t catch mice.
Are you following me? This makes sense, right?
But it doesn’t make sense to big companies. They figure:
‘We have enough money to buy this little start-up that offers this solution to this problem so we sure as hell can just build this solution ourselves and save us the trouble and money of buying it’
But the ‘Buy or Build’ decision is slightly more complicated than that. The fact that you can buy a company doesn’t mean you can also build what they can build.
Being a cat catcher doesn’t make you good at catching mice.
Scale DOES matter.
More mental ammunition for you if you ever find yourself negotiating with a big company.
But wait! It also works the other way around! Catching a mouse or catching 100.000 mice is not the same. When you catch one mouse you are dealing with one mouse. If you are catching 100.000 mice you are dealing with mousecatchers. Herding mice or herding mousecatchers are two very different things.
But you knew this.
Maybe you didn’t know this: cats don’t play with mice for fun, practice or out of ignorance. They play with mice because the terror of being eaten alive by a cat makes the mouse’s meat taste sweeter. Apply that to the cat & mouse games that are played during negotiations and you can figure out what I could blog about that.
Previously published here.
Written on 1st April 2009
1 COMMENT
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
At all the previous Next Web Conferences we always organized networking events for attending investors, journalists/bloggers and start-ups. These people are attending in huge numbers and are all interested in meeting each other. Instead of relying on chance we decided to actively introduce them to each other which has lead to lots of lasting relationships, articles and funding rounds.
This year we are hosting a speedpitching session on Friday morning. If you are attending the conference and have a start-up, invest in companies or want to report on interesting companies sign up here:
Press sign-up:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pSAeyS-eQG9M4zrcNIpq4Qg&hl=en
VC sign-up:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pSAeyS-eQG9PbAeAuFvfBBw&hl=en
Startup sign-up:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pSAeyS-eQG9N0SjI4dVqBRA&hl=en
We will actively introduce people to one another using the conference business network (powered by ConfNetwork, to connect you before the conference so you can meet up with potential investors in advance.
See you at the conference right?!
Written on 1st April 2009
2 COMMENTS
Pieter-Paul,
Dr. Song Li, a very successful Chinese web-entrepreneur, seems to be pulling it off again. He recently launched Digu (嘀咕), a Chinese miniblogging service currently still in Beta that people in the West will soon unrightfully refer to as ‘the biggest Chinese Twitter’. Ok, admitted, Digu shares some major similarities with Twitter: it is a microblogging service and has a Twitterrish (or new Facebook startpage?) interface, but there is plenty more to it.
So what makes this service so special compared to Twitter or the many Chinese Twitter copycats such as TaoTao, FanFou, Jiwai, Komoo (checkout their funky design!), Zuosa, etc etc? First of all Digu – which sounds like whisper in Chinese – focuses a lot more on both entertainment and mobile. For instance from the start users can also share pictures rather than just text and hyperlinks. Besides a fancy looking design and offering a set of animated emoticons that’s basically it as far as differences go. But wait, that’s not the interesting part of the story! The interesting part is Digu’s strategy for becoming ‘The Chinese Twitter’ or whatever you want to call it. (more…)
Written on 31st March 2009
29 COMMENTS
Patrick de Laive, Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of The Next Web Conference. Twitter: @patrick
Update: Vote Now!
Yesterday we emailed 43 startups that they were selected to give a 5 minute demo/presentation for The Next Web Rising Sun Startup Rally. The jury had selected these 43 companies out of almost 200 companies who applied. It is very difficult to pick 43 start-ups from 200 submissions and the jury spend a lot of time checking out all the information presented to them to make an informed decision.
Of course a lot of startups were disappointed that they didn’t make the cut. I can imagine the frustration these people feel as I’ve been rejected in many Startup rallies as well. I received many emails, calls, IMs and tweets asking for ‘5 minutes of my time’ and a second chance. This and the fact that many startups are really cool got me thinking on how we could give them a second chance…
I think the jury did an excellent job and have invested a lot of time to rate all companies (thank you Barend, Adeo and Stewart) and we stick with the choices we made. But we still decided to adopt the idols (Pop Star) model and let the people, our audience, help us pick 3 of the 24 companies we will see on stage at The Next Web.
We have room for 24 start-ups presentations on stage. 20 start-ups will be selected by our jury, 1 start-up will be selected during the conference (from attending start-ups with a booth) and 3 start-ups will be chosen by the audience by votes.
So here is your second chance to present your startup at The Next Web Conference. If you want to take advantage of this opportunity, read this closely.
How you can join
- Record a 90 second pitch why you should be presenting at The Next Web (not a second longer).
- Upload it to youtube with the tag ‘tnw09demo’
- Leave a comment here with the url to your movie
We have developed a voting mechanism and post all videos here on Thursday and let our audience vote on them. The top 3 startups with the most votes will be invited
Who can join?
Any startup can join, if you’ve submitted your company for the Rising Sun Startup rally or not. As long as you enter your movie before Wednesday 14:00 CET.
Written on 12th March 2009
1 COMMENT
Nicolas Mertens,
After meeting some great people and hearing some good talks on stage,
it was time for the startups to do their elevator pitches. I love startups and I love to hear them pitch! A good pitch should be brief and to the point but without losing sight of your companies message and with a hint of mystery.
It was moderated today by Sien Luyten, Founder & Managing Partner Oraura.
The jury and audience selected 3 startups from the group of 20 finalists :
Jinni (Israel)
Mendeley (UK)
Myngle (The Netherlands)
The overall winner was Mendeley, based in London. They described themselves as the “Last.fm for research”. The startup essentially aims to enable academics to manage and sharing their research paper inventory and at the same time discover like- minded people and papers thanks to a recommendation and matching algorithm.
The People’s Choice Award went to Myngle, based in The Netherlands, pitched itself as a ‘new way to learn languages’. Myngle was founded by ex-eBay employees and operates a platform for online language education where teachers and students can virtually connect and determine if there’s a match for an online course to start between the parties (from both sides).
We have The Next Web Rising Sun Startup Rally coming up in April, sign up closes the 15th of March… So hurry up!
Written on 9th February 2009
10 COMMENTS
Ayelet Noff, Next Web WebTipr Israel
With so much information on the internet today and the content continuously growing, it can be very difficult to discover an online media site where your voice can be heard. Uncovering a place where you can make a difference and have an influence is even more difficult. A new Israeli start-up, BloggersBase.com hopes to fill that void. This unique blogging platform is an online citizen journalism magazine that is powered by its readers. Here, readers and bloggers alike can discover top quality content while simultaneously influencing the magazine.
BloggersBase.com is a competition-based content discovery platform where bloggers submit content on a variety of topics, and based on readers’ ratings, the highest quality content is discovered and featured on the site. The magazine consists of multi-authored blogs, each on a different subject. There are four main topics categories: Entertainment, Technology, Lifestyle and World Affairs, containing together ten different blogs. Based on reader ratings and responses, the highest quality content is discovered and featured on the site. The rating system is not the standard vote “up or down/yes or no” as seen on other social networks such as Digg or Mixx, but rather is on a scale of 1-10 and is based on a variety of criteria from professionalism and relevance to writing style and creativity. The more accurately you rate, the higher your influence becomes in deciding which content makes it to the main blog. This reader influence is one of the things that make BloggersBase such a unique platform.
The rating system applies to more than just the actual posts, but to the users as well. When you first register for BloggersBase, you are given a title as a reader and as a blogger. As a blogger, you begin as a Newbie and work your way up the scale to Scribe, Penman, Composer, Essayist, Columnist, Author, Wordsmith and eventually Scholar. Your rank is determined by the number of posts you have submitted, their scores, and the responses generated from these posts. As a reader, you start off as a Subscriber. In the beginning you aim to match the crowd’s opinion and as your ratings become more accurate, you gain influence and begin to move up the reader scale to Appraiser, Commentator, Reviewer, Critic, Analyst, Trend-Setter, Sage and Oracle.
Another distinctive quality about BloggersBase.com is the ongoing competition across all categories. This competition enables bloggers to take advantage of reaching their target audience while also earning the chance to receive money and maximum exposure for their blog. To be eligible for the competition, bloggers submit posts a.k.a. “Nuggets” into the “Goldmine”. At the end of each competition time slot, the top bloggers in each topic earn the opportunity to co-author the main blog for their category, resulting in added exposure and respect. In addition, the top two bloggers in each topic receive special monetary prizes and have the privilege to co-author the main blog for the following week and continue competing.
Although BloggersBase is a new platform, it seems to have great potential for becoming a reliable source for quality content which it’s bringing to the web in an exciting and different way, giving power and influence to its readers as well as exposure and prizes to its bloggers. To read some of the highest rated and most viewed posts on BloggersBase visit the links below:
Woman, Are you still touching yourself for Cancer?
Why You Should Turn to Social Media During this Economic Crisis
The Four Stages of Twitter
Inauguration: Left behind, but still Thrilled
Written on 26th November 2008
8 COMMENTS
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
Andrew Keen is visiting The Netherlands to speak at Marketing3 today and last night I was invited to meet him for a drink. As you might know Andrew Keen is the self proclaimed ‘Antichrist of Silicon Valley’ and the author of the bestselling book “The cult of the amateur“. He is hated by many tech lovers and visionaries and I was slightly nervous at the prospect of meeting him as a Next Web fan.
Vertically Challenged
The first thing you notice when you meet Andrew Keen is that he is a lot shorter than you think. Okay, I’m Dutch and we are the tallest people in the world but even for American standards Keen seems, well, vertically challenged. The second thing you notice is that he is actually a flexible and reasonable guy (something he keeps repeating throughout the evening) with great stories and a good sense of humor.
The Entertainer
Most of all, Keen is an entertainer. He likes to stir up a good discussion and not because he wants to make enemies (although he has many and keeps mentioning them “Oh, you know who also really hates me! Lawrence Lessig! And did I mention Tim O’Reilly? He HATES me too!”) but simply because he thinks that everything gets better with competition. In typical Andrew Keen fashion, since there seemed to be no discussion on Web2.0 and only people in favor – he decided to become, well, the Antichrist of Web2.0.
I asked him about his plans for the future he smiled and said “What is even more sacred than Web2.0? Democracy! I am going to write a book about that”.
I cringed in my seat. The audacity! Is nothing sacred? Nope, not for Andrew Keen. He makes a living on questioning what nobody wants to question.
The Internal Entrepreneur
At the end of the conversation Keen managed to surprise me again. We were talking about technology in general and suddenly he started talking about his dreams for his own start-up:
“You know, I have nothing against technology, or the web, in general. I tell people to use all the Web2.0 tools all the time. They are great! In fact, my dream is to start my own Web2.0 start-up. Something with good content delivery.
Really! If you would take a dedicated team of professionals I’m sure it would be possible to take on CNN. Using Web2.0 tools and a team of smart people it is certainly possible.
That is my dream.”
A Guy With A Dream
Andrew Keen presents himself as the Antichrist of Web2.0 but underneath that wrapper he is actually just an idealist who thinks that throwing a monkey wrench into the machinery is a necessary act to make the machinery better. Sometimes to get to the truth you need to play good cop/bad cop. Andrew Keen plays bad cop and can be very convincing.
Just remember that besides bad cop, antichrist, author and monkey wrench slinger he is also just a guy with a dream.
Written on 1st August 2008
4 COMMENTS
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
On 1 and 2 December 2008 the second edition of the European Venture Summit will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany. The first edition took place in Lisbon with more than 400 prticipants. If you have a start-up and want to present your company to 360° Capital Partners, Earlybird Venture Capital, Go4Venture, Innogest SGR, Forrester Research GmbH, Northzone Ventures, Biznessence, AGF Private Equity, Quest Management NV, Schneider Electric Ventures and almost every other european VC than you might want to consider applying as a presenting company.
The event might not be as cool & hip as Techcrunch40 but it does have a European focus and almost everything seems to be sponsored by the City of Düsseldorf, Ministry of Innovation, Science, Research and Technology of North Rhine-Westphalia and Microsoft including the “Gala Evening Dinner”. Free food? I’m there!
Here are some of the other benefits of presenting at the European Venture Summit:
- Complimentary at no charge access to both days of the Summit and the Venture Academy on the prior day.
- Up to 4 pre-arranged One2One Meetings of 20 minutes each with venture capitalists and corporate executives interested in your sector to discuss your business needs .
- Public Presentation in front of a panel of investment and business experts and an audience of venture capitalists and corporate executives (an 8-minute presentation and a 7-minute Q&A session) .
- Quality Interactive Networking in an exclusive environment that focuses on investment and partnership at presentations, lunches, coffee breaks and during the dinner.
- European Visibility on the Summit website once officially-selected to present and in a 2-page Company Profile in the Binder distributed to all 400+ participants from across the continent .
- Intensive Coaching at the Venture Academy on the day before the Summit; the Sunday 30 November 2008, so that you can gain inside strategic knowledge from leading industry serial entrepreneurs about how to promote & present your company to obtain investments and partnerships.
Only 100 companies will be able to attend so register quick if you are based in Europe, have a hot start-up and might consider getting funding in the future.
Written on 3rd June 2008
6 COMMENTS
Eric Bun, business innovation consultant
Dragon’s Den is a TV program which enables entrepreneurs to present their start-ups to VC’s and of course for the next Webbers – who’re happy to meet start-ups and new business ideas – a must see. Especially when someone is presenting a business plan which relates to social media, communities and next web functionalities and this happened yesterday. An entrepreneur presented nextlifemeeting.com which is a social website for people who want to meet their counterparts in their next life
NextLifeMeeting.com is a website for people who believe in reincarnation and want to make an appointment with like-minded in the future. You can define your profile on the website, define your profile of your past life……What? Wait a moment…..Ow, I see, if you follow the course at mypastlife.com you can uncover your personal life and profile of your past life…. Anyway, after you filled in your past life experience you can specify your focus in your past and future life and based on this focus you can make an attempt to meet each other in the nextlife. (As you would understand, you won’t be able to remember your password and profile, so focus points should enable you to keep your appointment in your next life – I guess).
As a I’m not an adherent of the faith related to reincarnation I don’t see the added value of social communities and social media for this project. And to be honest, I fully agreed with the VC’s who choose to not invest in the idea because it is simply worthless. Besides the architecture, interface and content (mix of Dutch and English) leaves much to desired. Therefore, credits to the creative brains behind the idea, negative kudos to the executor. I don’t want to meet you in this and next life at all.
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
