Tractis will be at The Next Web

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The Next Web” (Blog) conference will be held in Amsterdam on 7 July, dealing with how web technology will change the way in which we browse the Internet, make business and live. I hope it’s successful because this type of event is much needed in Europe.

I have known Patrick de Laive and Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, the conference organizers and the entrepreneurs behind Fleck (Blog), for a few months. Fleck is in a similar situation to that of Tractis: seeking financing. Patrick has shared with us advice and some horror stories. From what he says, the venture capital situation is better in the Netherlands than in Spain but not by much. Offers from US investors always have one more zero than from Europeans. My opinion of Spanish venture capital (the only one I know) can be summarized as follows: sometimes I would like to put them all in a pot, place some loudspeakers as tall as buildings, and sing them a song. At full volume. 10 times. One for each lie. But only sometimes, afterwards the thought goes out of my mind.

My main aim is to contact potential investors. Several top-tier venture capital firms will attend the conference. I would love talk to the people from Atlas Venture (they manage 2 billion dollars to invest!) and Mangrove Capital Partners (the Skype investors). I hope I can do this. The Atlas Venture people have set up a curious test: they’ll give you the opportunity to give them an elevator pitch at the hotel. An elevator pitch consists in explaining your idea in 30 seconds. The term comes from the time which, in theory, you have to get into an elevator with an investor and tell him your idea before he leaves. You can tell that they’ve taken it literally. I hope I don’t coincide with Sonali De Rycker because I’ll lose my concentration. I would like to meet Michael Arrington of TechCrunch. It would be wonderful if he decided to participate in Tractis’ beta. Wish me luck :D . I’ll tell you all about it.

By David Blanco
Saved in: Conferences, Tractis, Venture Capital | No comments » | 26 June 2006

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