Jamón, Jamón
We got back last night from Innovate!Europe. Having worked in the software industry in Europe for the past 15 years (and as an entrepreneur for the past eight), I’ve been frustrated frequently by the lack of respect accorded to European technology startups. It’s been common for companies to set up a U.S. corporation just so that they can pretend to be American, since the assumption has been that European software companies are not to be taken seriously. Access to capital, effective marketing of new products and connecting with potential partners have also been major problems for new tech businesses on this side of the pond.
All this to say that it was incredibly uplifting to be at a conference with so many exciting startups and clueful venture capitalists. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the European software industry has finally arrived. Much of this is doubtless a result of Skype’s high-profile success. The States, and especially Silicon Valley, have always had the advantage of slews of well-known precedents for eye-popping IPOs and trade sales which serve to motivate the next generation of entrepreneurs. Now (finally!) Europeans have a company they can look to when they start to worry about whether it’s really possible to create a worldwide brand and achieve a grand-slam home run of an exit without being based within spitting distance of Highway 101.
Besides driving the message home that there are many more success stories of this type to come, the conference was impressively well-organized. I don’t know whether it was the relatively intimate atmosphere, the layout of the conference area, the frequent breaks for mingling, the use of special “connectors” (i.e. gregarious PR people tasked specifically with preventing introverted geeks like myself from hiding in the restroom until all the scary people go away) or a combination of these, but we met a fantastic number of smart, interesting folks who I’m sure will be the engine of the coming European software juggernaut. I sincerely hope that many of these encounters will turn into lasting friendships.
After an excellent weekend in Barcelona prior to the conference, we got an insider’s view of Zaragoza nightlife thanks to a portfolio company of one of our investors that is located in the region. In true Spanish style, they invited us to join them for dinner at about 10pm on Tuesday night. We knew we were in trouble when the gins-and-tonic we had ordered as aperitifs arrived in glasses the size and shape of a goldfish bowl. The rest of the meal presented a similar paradox: far too much to eat/drink, far too good not to. So we did.
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The following day we were not the freshest and most alert entrepreneurs in attendance. This didn’t present us from heading out again that night to Casa Colas, another restaurant recommended by the aforementioned porfolio party animals/culinary sadists. The dinner was originally conceived as an intimate tête-à-tête with Mike Arrington, but we managed to rope in the what eventually seemed like every conference attendee still in Zaragoza.
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Special credit goes to Andrew Carton for deploying his impressive linguistic abilities and managerial talents to ensure that even the non-Spanish speakers in the crowd were amply fed. We then milked the Zaragoza nightlife for all it was worth and staggered home when what appeared to be the last open bar in town finally closed. An hour of sleep, a frenetic packing session and at least one aspirin later we were on our way to the station for the early train back to Barcelona and thence to Prague.
Hair of the dog that bit you?
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Mathew, good times! I loved the four hour dinner to top things off.
Comment by michael arrington — 5/19/2006 @ 6:40 pm
Matt - indeed a _lot_ of fun! Was truly great to meet you and Cedric. We’ll have to do that again soon in Prague or London.
Cheers, A.
Comment by Andrew — 5/19/2006 @ 7:21 pm
I beg to differ, Matt. European SW industry is not so young as you thing, it didn’t emerged after the Skype’s success. It’s been around for a while longer, just not in cross hair of VC’s. If an initiator of Europe’s focus at knowledge industry is to be identified, I’d look for it in Finland. Yeah, NOKIA’s the most admired european company, that’s it.
Anyway, good to hear from you the things are getting better here in Europe.
Once again, congratualation!
Comment by funTomas — 5/19/2006 @ 8:45 pm
So you had real fun Mathew. Even i loved the four hour dinner above all. But i would rather say never to put such pics in front of a hungry Georgealan either……..could be very dangerous.
Comment by Georgealan — 6/28/2006 @ 9:32 am