San Francisco vs. Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is not so big. Along the 101 route, between San Francisco and San José, you find cities like Palo Alto, Redwood City, Menlo Park, Cupertino or Mountainview, in which the big Internet firms have developed. But there are many differences between San Francisco and the rest of the valley.
Continue reading »
Meetups in Silicon Valley vs Meetups in Madrid
I went today to the Newtech Meetup in Palo Alto, which so far is the one I have enjoyed the most in Silicon Valley. Around 150 people showed up and 3 companies could demo what they are doing. At the end, around one hour of hard networking. There are many differences between these meetups and the ones I am used to in Madrid.
What’s going on in China?
My next trip will be to China. One of the good things about being in Silicon Valley is that I get to talk to lots of Asian people. This is packed of them! I had a very interesting conversation this evening at dinner with a Chinese entrepreneur. She started up this software factory in Chengdu and has just impressed me so much that I think this is going to change lots of things in the way I do business.
Continue reading »
Spain in the Top 5 of social networks use
Spain is one of the countries of the world in which people spend more time on social networks. According to a recent study by comScore, a Spaniard spends an average of 5.3 hours every month on social networks, while world-wide it’s just 3.7.
Continue reading »
So what does Stanford have?
I’ve only been 5 days in Stanford and it looks as if I had been ages here. This university is impressing and I think it has a lot to do with what’s going on in the Silicon Valley. Don’t forget that Yahoo and Google were born here and that most employees of Facebook come from this university.
Continue reading »
Coming to America
I’ve just arrived to Palo Alto & Stanford, the heart of today’s Internet. I will be staying here for almost two months trying to learn how politics and government are changing because of high tech and Silicon Valley’s geeks. I don’t know if I will get to know the secret formula, but I am going to try it hard and two months seems like enough time for it.
Continue reading »
How do micro-funds work
For this year’s Startup 2.0 competition we have tied up with SeedCamp, which is probably the most successful European micro-fund. What’s this? It’s a mix of incubator and fund. They are also called accelerator funds. Entrepreneurs come to them to ask for the money and advising they need to build their first business plan.
Continue reading »
Please, EU get your hands (and our pockets) away from the social web
I just heard that the European Commission admits having lost 9 million euros in a Youtube-like multingual site and 5 million in a Facebook-like site. This is the third time the EU Government burns money trying to copy American successful experiences. I remember a European search engine, Quaero, leaded by France and the European Wikipedia, Europeana, whose servers went down almost inmediately.
Continue reading »
Silicon Valley vs. Europe: Mike Butcher has something to say
Back in May 2008, when TechCrunch UK‘s editor Mike Butcher came to Barcelona for Startup 2.0 and for a TechCrunch party, he had something to say about the Silicon Valley vs. Europe dilemma. He thinks that each part of Europe can become a component of what Silicon Valley is nowadays: German entrepeneurship, Spanish sun, British finances, etc. Is this realistic?
Youtube vs. Dailymotion
The differences between Europe and the US is one of the most interesting subjects for me. I have been following the debate between Michael Arrington and Loic Le Meur and have an intermediate position, as I love Europe but think that the US is doing much better than us. One of the best examples I ever heard of this is the Youtube vs. Dailymotion story.
Continue reading »
