Essentials of the weeks : february 15-28

Dear friends, it looks like startup funding is being debated a lot lately, as different ecosystems are battling for the best spot, and that more and more startups are competing for the same amount of money. The new crowdfunding bill, that easily passed the senate a few months ago, was supposed to open a lot of new opportunities for young companies. Unfortunately, it is now stuck in the Senate, because its opponents feel that it has to be much more regulated before being made legal !

Entrepreneurship ecosystems : California still on top, Massachusetts beats NYC for second place !

President Obama insisted, during his State of the Union address, on the fundamental importance of entrepreneurship for the US economy, and he especially called upon the different states to do their best to create attractive environments for entrepreneurs, referred today as “entrepreneurial ecosystems”. Well, when one looks at the data revealing how each state is doing in its attempt to attract entrepreneurs, the gap between the best and the worse is quite striking !

California still on top !

The first spot is undoubtedly occupied by California, and 2011 statistics confirm the domination more than ever.
Home to a great ecosystem composed of great universities (Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, etc.), big Venture Capital funds, great start-ups and innovative companies, the region is also inhabited by a very powerful entrepreneurial spirit, never equaled anywhere else in the world. The results ? California attracted more than 50 % of the venture capital money in 2011, for a total of more than $15 billion, and was home of some of the biggest IPOs of the year (Linkedin & Zynga…) and Facebook is expected to beat the record in a couple of months. Also, California keeps attracting the most innovative companies, that sees the region as a “start-up heaven”.

Massachusetts & NYC battle for second place.

Venture Capital In 2012 : A Cautious Optimism

The last numbers of 2011 just got released : 2011 was a very good year for Venture Capitalism in the U.S. With more than $30B invested in startups in 2011, representing a 30% raise, this is the biggest record in a decade ! VCs were optimistic at the beginning of the year, and they were right to be so. And every industry sector benefited from the pouring money coming from the VCs, some more than others of course.

Essentials of the Week : January 9 – 20

Seems like nothing can stop the dynamic pace of innovation that is happening at the beginning of this year ! As usual we dig for the best and latest news, and the harvest is very prolific ! And NO we are not talking about Megaupload’s closure by FBI ! Enjoy these articles and don’t hesitate to share them !

Article of the Week : 
2011 Venture Capital Report – A Record Year with $30.6 Billion Invested in 3051 Deals – CB Insights

Essentials of the week : January 2-9

Dear all,

welcome back for this new edition of the Essentials of the Week, the first of 2012 ! The year is off to a flying start with great news and forecast for the weeks and months to come. No doubt that Innovation & Entrepreneurship will be the flagship of the year, and the key to growth & definite recovery. Take a look at our selection !

Article of the Week
Is Massachusetts Losing its Edge ?  – John Towne – Business Telegram

Innovation
5 Steps to Increase Innovation Skills Set – Innovation Management – Marc Juszczak
Tony Fadell’s Newest Invention is the iPod of Thermostats – Fast Company – John Pavlus

Harvard finally embraces entrepreneurship with the I-Lab

 Last week, Harvard’s President Drew Faust and Boston’s mayor Thomas Menino gathered for the launching of Harvard’s brand new Innovation-Lab, whose great goal is to foster Entrepreneurship projects in the various faculties composing the University. The $20 millions facility will offer collaborative spaces, rooms, mentoring supports and entrepreneurship classes to all students willing to develop a project on their own, be it with other Harvard student or “outsiders”. While its development model is still to be determined, Gordon Jones, director of the Lab, plans to let the student envision the future of the lab. Sounds a lot like developing a startup! 4 000 students already visited the I-Lab during it’s opening day, and a startup scramble week end engaged some of them to explore and develop business ideas.

While the I-Lab is still a kindergartner compared to similar facilities such as the MIT Media Lab or Stanford’s Desisseroth Lab, it ambitions to become a must-go place for Boston based entrepreneurs. Will that be enough to keep the most promising startups to fly to Silicon Valley ? Let’s hope so !

Read the whole article in French

Essentials of November 1-7 2011

Dear Readers, it is my pleasure to introduce you to one of our new section of this blog : The Essentials of the Week !
Every week we will scrutinize the web looking for the best news in Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Tech Transfer and Business, and gather them in a single article. The best of the web put in a nutshell !

Article of the week:
The way companies are getting financed is Completely Changing – Business Insider – Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

Entrepreneurship
Venture Capital’s Boom & Bust Cycles – MedCity News
7 Start-ups Changing Peer-to-Peer Commerce – Inc.

Strategy
How to Master the Ansoff Matrix – Inc.
Zuck: “If I were starting (Facebook) now, I would have stayed in Boston.” – Gregory Gomer – Bostinnovation
How the Rift Between Sales and Marketing Undermines Reps – Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson – Harvard Business Review

Innovation
The future of innovation Management: 5 keys steps for future success – Rick Eagar – Innovation Management

Enjoy the reading !

NETVA 2011: French entrepreneurs “dive” into Boston’s ecosystem !

From September 18 to 24, five promising French startups, laureates of the 2011 National competition NETVA (New-England Technology Venture Accelerator), came to Boston to participate in a unique and customized coaching and business development program prepared by our office.

The ultimate objective of NETVA is to connect these innovative companies withBoston based corporate and academia partners, and facilitate the development of innovative French startups in theU.S.

Selected nation-wide by a Franco-American committee, the five laureates of the 2011NETVA edition have been granted an intensive accelerator week in Boston from September 18 to 24, during which they received customized coaching from local U.S. entrepreneurs and experts of early stage international development.

Moreover, they have been matched with a personal U.S.mentor as well as with some prominent technology and entrepreneurial leaders in the Bostonarea. During July of this year, both the laureates (5) and candidate startups (28) were offered a three-day long preparation workshop at the invitation of the Microsoft Inc. headquarters inParis.

During the week, the laureates met more than 250 new connections in the Boston area, and each of the laureate had 15 one-on-one meeting scheduled with potential partners, investors and advisors !

NETVA partners with a large range of Boston institutions, including “MassChallenge”,the French-American Chamber of Commerce (FACCNE), the French Foreign Trade Advisors (CCEF), MLSC and MOITI.

The highlight of the 2011 NETVA edition was a panel discussion, held at “MassChallenge” premises in South Boston. Entitled “Traditional and Alternative Startup Funding, a Transatlantic Perspective. The event attracted more than 100 experts of the area !

The 5 startups selected this year are

• Blue Industry & Science (develops and sells laser-based systems dedicated to measuring and monitoring Indoor Air Quality)
• Synthelis (production and characterization of membrane proteins)
• SûretéGlobale Org (develops real-time geographic-predictions software,  to prevent and manage territorial risks)
• BF Systemes (technology for underwater and real-time automated microbubbles monitoring)
• GMP Orphans (develops drugs addressing orphan diseases)

3 of them are already envisionning to set up a subsidiary in the area !

NETVA will come back next year, fostering new relationships for promising French Startups !