Transatlantic Web 2.0 talent-spotting exercise
Delegates from twenty of over a hundred applicant UK start-ups flew out on Saturday to take part in Web Mission 2008, to coincide with the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.
Michael Birch, founder of social media network Bebo, has said that the gathering ‘represents an amazing opportunity for the best of entrepreneurial UK talent to visit Silicon Valley, and learn for themselves the differences that make the US a breeding ground for innovation and, more importantly, successful execution of ideas.’
The event was organized by entrepreneurial networker Oli Barrett and social impact consultants Polecat. The judges were them, along with Doug Richard, the UK-based Californian who proved too hard-nosed for the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, and UK Trade and Industry.
They selected companies that could do meaningful business in the US, and which also illustrated the depth and breadth of UK talent.
Richard was impressed by the quality of the applicants. ‘Some of these companies are as good as anything coming out of the Valley,’ he declared.
The chosen twenty are: Coull; Dothomes/Byteplay; edocr; Exabbre; Groupspaces; Hubdub; Huddle; Kwiqq; Mydeo; Rummble; ShortFuze; Silobreaker; Skimbit; Slicethepie; Trampoline Systems; TrustedPlaces; Where are you now; Webjam; Zebtab; and Zogix.
