How many possibilities?

I'm coming back from TechGarage initiative and I really want to congratulate the LUISS University and Dpixel on how they organized the event. TechGarage tries to setup a stimulating environment where startups can meet with potential investors or even entrepreneurs can exchange their ideas and considerations on the markets.

Btw the big problem is alway the same...italian visionary entrepreneurs! where do they are??

We cannot celebrate things like "Jobrapido", "Downlovers" or similars. And, sure, we cannot invest money and hopes on a "mind" following a future where to be at Hawaii knowing a PC is doing the work for him!

Fiuuuuuuuuuu! A little bit of autogenic training, please! :-)

I am fed up with that situation! Me and Gianfranco got enough bored to leave the event as soon as all the pitches were done. We respect the hard work behind each business proposition...we know how many efforts were done... but we must be concrete and report that we can't go to war with such soldiers and such weapons.

While here in Italy we live this desperate situation, today, some of the best italian businessmen like Fabrizio Capobianco (one of the few visionary italian entrepreneurs able to jump the italian VC's ditch), Federico Faggin (the father of the Microchip), Luigi Luca Cavalli Sforza (one of the best geneticists) and Giacomo Marini (Logitech co-founder now leading Noventi) are going for a meeting with the Italian Ambassador to the US, Giovanni Castellaneta. They will present their own ideas and suggestions for moving towards the big dream of an Italian Silicon Valley working ecosystem. I think we are in good hands!..and I absolutely recall you all that these are the kind of minds we italians should celebrate! ;-)

So as I wrote sometime ago only "strong men do strong business"...I know a lot of extremely talent guys are now working on amazing business ideas and research topics here in Italy. We must make them get out..

TechGarage sounds good but "Seed need Pre-Seed"

I wish to point out to all of you the next TechGarage edition on Friday June 20 in Rome. You can find me and Gianfranco right there looking for good early stage or very early stage business to invest on.

I have started working with Gianfranco, Blucape co-founder and CEO at Believing Capital, focusing on good models able to make high potential global market business take off from Italy.

It seems to us it’s the right time for italian VCs to understand they cannot apply in Italy the same role models usually applied somewhere else.

I’d personally like to share up to seven simple concepts, referring to Italy, we are meditating about:

1) Stop waiting for an high potential - high level seed company perfectly “ready to” raise the big financing round…that means risking to get old without any big stroke :-)

2) Don’t hurry to bet on a race. Discover and growth the ”good horse” instead. We all know who we are looking for:

- owns a big idea but believes to be intended for an higher call

- predestination. He does his job when everybody is looking somewhere else

- deeply understand the market

- high technology skills

- iron will and a lot of passion

- forever young

- very very lucky man (protected by Heaven!) :-))

3) We should start to invest time and money on setting-up a mentoring division able to turn big ideas into big companies. We need to teach the colt how to run or, the same, teach the guys how to use their talent in the right way (the game’s rules)

4) We should see the Talent as a God’s gift. It last forever…thus we can talk about "being serial". No serial entrepreneurs means no pure talents…and no pure talents means big problems for an entire country. We need to start priorizing the social-missionary role the VC should play today in a country such Italy.

5) We all should be humble. The humility is like a filter in front of the eyes. It makes us see things in a different way. Without such a filter we could drink a Martini with Mr. Einstein without understanding who is standing near us. Too much often italian talent scouts are not in the right position to discover the next Einstein!

6) Rome is not San Francisco or London!

7) We must recall nowadays italian schools are not the perfect places to growth high potential world-wide entrepreneurs! We must resign ourselves to relate with unripe young guy and do with them a pre-seed hard work.

Again…Here in Italy seed need pre-seed :-)

Strong men do strong business

Hi again guys,

I’m coming back from an hard working period and I really do have to thanks my big mentors, advisors and friends such as Fabrizio and Alberto.

Fabrizio Capobianco

I think Blucape is really a lucky baby! It’s not a common story having such exciting figures giving an help in bringing out the business highest potential. It’s really true..strong men do strong business. The goal is ambitious..redo the new Funambol or Synopsys. Yet another italian disruptive business with a global potential market. As Fabrizio recently wrote in his blog "I am fed up with being know just for making pizza and clothes". Absolutely! I couldn't agree with you more Fabrizio! ;-)

iphone? no thanks!

Hello everybody...I'm again in our wonderful country coming back from the Silicon Valley roadshow with, of course, a new iphone in my hand and bringing a couple of them to some good friends of mine.

Btw...I had enough time to play with it and I would like to share with you some first impressions.

First of all I share with you a very funny joke I have read somewhere on the web:

John is on a warpath, flashing even his wisdom teeth and striking various poses from men's health. I need to maneuver hard to disable him.
Suddenly I take out my Iphone...
"Wow! you got an iphone... cool, can I see... can you take my picture... " [now she mimics Sharon Stone, making the picture taking process difficult]
"Sure, here it is, I guess it makes my iphone even cooler now..."
"Wow, it's nice, can you bluetooth it to me?"
"No"
"Can you mms?"
"No"
"Infrared?"
"No"
"Well i guess i can't beam you my phone number either..."
"No"
"I see John here has a Samsung i600, i guess that would work..."

So we are still talking about the same big apple's issues: being a closed world and following too much stricts policies.

Specifically:

- No MMS because they encourage you using emails. It can be fixed by all european who love MMS with some available sw add-ons

- No Bluetooth because p2p can damage their itunes business :-)

- a big list of missing features or bad deployed ones! This firmware is really a disaster for a cellphone's lover! :-)

Here's my short "To-do" list for the next coming firmware:

- Finding a method to protect itunes stuff but adding bluetooth data-transfer support. A Mobile Phone that  limit the user in delivering and sharing contents on the move has simply no sense!

- Spotlight

- A very good and easy to use Sync system

- Adding Tasks!! Where's the task application???

- Improve the SMS application giving control on deleting single pieces of the entire "conversation"

- Improve Email application even if I suggest to all to use the Funambol client

- horizontal keyword in every applications, please! :-)

- a power control over SIM

These are the most important features I suggest to add, but I know people is asking up to 30-40 points! Unbelievable :-)

As you can see I don't think that a touchscreen display with some cool effects and an overall great design are such disprutive features.

Surfing the web in a 480x320 display with a cool zoom feature can be fun at the beginning (the wow effect) but after a short time It become a boring and tedious stuff...somthing to be used only when necessary (get a map direction, sync and write emails, etc). Having a next generation phone that limit you to live in a closed world is really frustrating! But even if software can be fixed during time (and I think apple will adjust its policy) we must consider another Hw limit: the battery!

I don't want to alway be with a charger in my hand...what about to have more than one batteries for easily replacing the empty one with a ready to use full one?? ;-) Ok..I see..I'm asking too much!:-)) So let's stay tuned waiting for the new apple firmware and new GPhone and Symbian and Limo Foundation roadmap. I cannot belive that Google will give Apple the same lesson that Microsoft gave within PC market...

Mind the Bridge - another milestone

Here's my new post about the Mind The Bridge initiative. As you know...Blucape is one of the six finalists and I will give you more and more details during time. Here's the Marco Marinucci's post published on the very interesting Silicon Valley Study Tour network. It says more about the people behind this initiative's first edition (Organizing committee & Selection committee). Really impressive! Marco also sums up the next steps.
Here's a video about the announcement of finalists

A wonderful travel in Puglia

Padre Pio invites me to fly higher

Sure a man can fly if The Lord blows in his wings...!

I spent two amazing days in a wonderful land making new interesting friends.

Here we are!
Someone could think we are strange
...maybe
Someone could think we are crazy
...yeah...a little bit
Someone else could think we are joking

DEFINITELY NOT! ;-)

Blucape is a Mind the Bridge Competition finalist!

First of all I do congratulation to all the people behind this great opportunity for italian minds. You know...big initiatives require big resources and efforts. So very thanks to all of you, from Marco Marinucci (idea's creator) to all the involved people and organizations.

Mind The Bridge goal can be summed up in the attempt to help italian talents to tear down all the italian entrepreneur ecosystem walls (we are not talking only about the lack of high quality VCs!)
If you spend sometime looking to all the involved people you can understand two important statements:
1) italians in Silicon Valley are more and more able of having big impact on those left in Italy because they are very estimated for their achievements
2) americans know great ideas can come from Italy
Here's an interesting reportage about Silicon Valley, Mind The Bridge and italian best business ideas established there