I’m not sure when I first heard the term. Probably in my early startup days, when all I knew about any other companies than my own was from TechCrunch. In 2009 the industry started filling up with successful entrepreneurs, who joined cool new funds with hip names, promising to pick and manage investments based onRead more

“Look at Them, Prisoners of the Gutter, Condemned By Every Syllable They Utter”. Recently, on yet another judging panel at a startup conference pitch competition, I had to think of this classic line from one of most enjoyable movies of all time; the 1964 My Fair Lady adaptation of Shaw’s “Pygmalion”. On stage was aRead more

One of the truly fascinating things about entrepreneurship is that we all associate very positive feelings with the word. Yet, when it comes to the mental image of entrepreneurship, we have a completely different idea of how it looks like, depending on where we come from. In Western European culture, where job security and personalRead more

Some technologies are just harder to fall in love with than others. Having witnessed Google’s self-driving cars in action a number of times in Silicon Valley, I always marvel at the amazing feat of engineering. And I also appreciate the future, without traffic jams on highways and cities without parked cars in the streets. AndRead more

One of the more fascinating things about entrepreneurship, and especially startup entrepreneurship, is how it is impacting societies far away from places like Silicon Valley or New York City. Someone once said that startups today are like rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s; a cultural phenomenon galvanizing the dreams and ambitions of an entireRead more