11 great resources for European start-up news

Written on 7th November 2008                                                                                                              10 COMMENTS
Guest blogger, sharing views on The Next Web

Written by Patrick Cushing (who included our blog as the first one up, thanks ;-) EJP)

A few weeks back, I wanted to realize the global interconnectivity of the web startup industry. As the global financial system crumbled for its lack of transparency, I wanted a better picture of the global web startup system and where it was going. So far, I’ve covered the Middle Eastern and Asian startup sites on Enter Venture. Now, let’s visit the top startup sites coming out of Europe.

1. The Next Web

First up is The Next Web — of course! The Next Web covers anything and everything related to the future of the web, no matter where it comes from. That said, the team is largely European (largely Dutch) so their coverage gives generous play to European startups. Posts run the gamut from startup reviews, reactions, and general industry news including a recent reaction to Jason Calacanis, a Romanian music site review, the Pope on Twitter, and some great advice for entrepreneurs in this economy.

2. Arctic Startups

Arctic Startup reviews internet and mobile startups from Nordic and Baltic countries, and they’re one of my favorites on this list. The site has a great, cool blue design that is unique but still evocative of TechCrunch. I appreciate the honest way they present new startups, with a description of both the strengths AND the weaknesses of the company / application.

3. alarm:clock euro

alarm:clock euro, like it’s American counterpart alarm:clock, reports on the comings and goings of VC money in Europe with a focus on funding rounds and buy outs. Each post comes with a description of the startup, the amount they’ve been funded for, and (the interesting part) a few thoughts about why they think the investment is a good or bad one.

4. TechCrunch UK

TechCrunch UK is TechCrunch for startups in the UK . (I’m assuming people know what TechCrunch is.) Amazingly, it appears as if its entirely written by one guy, Mike Butcher. Here’s hoping he gets that star intern he’s looking for.

5. TechCrunch France

TechCrunch France covers the French startups scene as well as translates and re-posts a portion of TechCrunch’s original posts.

6. Startup 2.0

Startup 2.0 is a pan-European startup contest that took place last May (and presumably, will be held again). Voting takes place online for a chance to win ad space in TechCrunch, a Microsoft software pack, and Sun hardware. Personally, I would have expected a better prize than with something closer to what VenCorps offers.

7. Altaide Valley

Altaide Valley is another blog focusing on the connections between France and Silicon Valley. The blog is owned and operated by Altaide, a French strategic technology firm.

And yeah, like their tagline “Birding France and Silicon Valley” suggests, all the articles are written in English.

8. Tigerprises

Toivo Tanavsuu’s TigerPrises covers Estonian startups and general technology trends in the Baltics, particularly mobile. Toivo also writes for Arctic Startup and the blog you’re looking at right now.

9. Startupbin

Startupbin covers web startups in Finland. Timo Paloheimo is another blogger from Arctic Startup, and he’s also created Google minus Google — a Google search site without Google sites in the results.

And here are two more

Other European startup sites worth noting are SwissStartups.com and SomBiz (a Finnish, invitation-only Web 2.0 entrepreneur network). If you know of any other startup sites that I’m missing (especially non-English sites), please let me know in the comments!

Europe, Jason Calacanis, Microsoft, mike butcher, TechCrunch, Techcrunch France, Techcrunch UK

10 Comments »

Credit Crunch Customer Care from TechCrunch UK & Ireland

Written on 6th October 2008                                                                                                              4 COMMENTS
David Petherick, Contributing Editor, United Kingdom

TechCrunch UK & Ireland has responded to the current economic gloom and doom by announcing that, for this week only, adverts on its Crunchboard Network will be provided free of charge.

Editor Mike Butcher announced this on Friday, and the free ads offer runs for all of this week.

“In recognition of the tough economic times we’re facing, and the fact that lots of startups are looking for people right now, I’m – perhaps naively? – going to have a go at kick-starting the market. But the “market” we are in is not just about jobs. It’s about office space. It’s about trying to find a mentor for your startup idea. It’s actually a bit like putting a band together – “drummer wanted, must also know Rails”! It’s about a lot of things that just don’t fit in to a box that most adverts try to shoe-horn you into.”

We think this is a really classy move. Of course, it helps TechCrunch to alert people to the existence of, low pice of, and (we’re sure) effectiveness of their ad platform. But it’s the timing, and the sentiment, that makes the difference – they’re recognising times are tough, and doing something simple to help. Good for them – they deserve a pat on the back, and your support – pass the word to anyone who might benefit from placing an ad at Techcrunch UK & Ireland, and take a look at what’s being advertised there.

The only thing we’d suggest is that Mike take a look at automating the process of getting ads live – the current system appears to be that you email him your ad, and he slaps the ad up when he has a moment. It’s nice personal touch, but perhaps it’s worth thinking about ’scaling’ that process – Craigslist and Ebay are sort of useful models to work from…

UPDATE: Help ignite the startup community by grabbing the widget for the Crunchboard and adding it to your site or blog.

advertising, Business and Economy, crunchboard, mike butcher, TechCrunch, Techcrunch Ireland, Techcrunch UK

4 Comments »

Two nifty ways to still receive Twitter SMS updates

Written on 18th August 2008                                                                                                              7 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Last Thursday, European Twitterazi experienced a bad start of the day. Their beloved micro blogging service would no longer send SMS updates. Smart phone users can still find ways to receive updates about Twitter conversations. Yet people with less sophisticated mobile devices are in the dark now.

My co-editor Patrick suggested that Twitter should offer a pro-account option, so that people would have to pay for SMS updates. But co-founder Biz Stone wrote on the Twitter blog that he didn’t share this opinion:

International billing is a significant project and not something we are comfortable focusing on before we have a dependable offering. It’s not right to charge for spotty service—and we know there are bugs.

How to get SMS text messages updates

Although Twitter still sends updates to 96 percent of its users, the remaining 4 percent is pretty pissed of. Especially in the UK, Twitter users are quite angry. Read for example the comments on this TechCrunch UK post.

The first commenter on the Techcrunch UK post was Paul Bradshaw from Online Journalism Blog. He called it a “stupid move” and was “in a very bad mood”. He even sacrified his Twitter avatar for the cause. But for Bradshaw, it doesn’t end with just being angry. He’s now actively looking for ways to still get SMS messages from Twitter. Here’s his try:

• Via Jaiku: the invite-only micro blogging service from Google still sends SMS updates to all its users. So a solution would be to feed your Twitter account into Jaiku, then create another account that receives the updates from the first Jaiku account.
• Redirect emails to phone: some mobile operators allow you to forward email via SMS messages to your phone. Create a filter in Gmail that forwards Twitter mail to a special email service of your operator

I realize I’ve described the solutions in a rather cryptic way. Did that on purpose, as I don’t want Bradshaw to miss the reward for his work. So check out the step-for-step instructions on his blog.

Biz Stone, gmail, Jaiku, mobile, paul bradshaw, sms, Techcrunch UK, twitter

7 Comments »