The end of 2007 was active on two fronts, supporting the Seedcampers in finishing their 3 months in London and laying the groundwork for Seedcamp on the Road.
We ended Seedcamp ’07 with Investor Day in late November. All Seedcamp investors were on hand to see the progress made by the teams in a short 12 weeks. A lot of people ask if the Seedcamp has been a success. Its too early to judge but we’re measuring success in steps:
1) Seeedcamp Week – It was a hectic week that showed the drive of 268 applicants across Europe, including the 20 teams that came to London, in building their startups and products. The mentors demonstrated their dedication to help new entrepreneurs start their companies and there was an extremely high quality of interaction and impact for both mentors and the 20 teams during the Week. 6 teams received funding and continued support.
2) 3 months following – Our biggest goal for the 3 months was to show tangible progress for the teams in 12 weeks given privileged access to an effective and relevant group of mentors, partners, and investors. The teams have been successful in that they have focused on little else besides driving their product and companies forward, all have established critical new relationships by leveraging the mentor network, and several have closed their next round of funding. I think many investors were surprised to see so much progress in such a short time. See Buildersite’s annoucment in Techcrunch , and look for similar upcoming news from Kublax and Zemanta.
Over the course of the next few months, we are working with various conferences/groups to talk about Seedcamp in the local communities and share the learnings from this first year. We will be running sessions with local and internationally based mentors, investors, and experienced entrepreneurs in Poland , Belgium , Sweden, Slovenia, and Ukraine amogst other regions. If you are interested in working with us on any of these events or others in your areas, please contact us at info@seedcamp.com We will be putting up a calendar on the site of all the events we will be attending. I also wanted to note a great UK event called Start-Up Clinic for entrepreneurs from Ryan and his team at Carson Workshops. Seedcamp will additionally be supporting university competitions such as Idea Idol at Oxford and VCIC in conjunction with LBS.
Looking forward to continuing to work with all our friends and Seedcamp community in 2008!