Ryan Carson - Carson Systems, Richard Moross - Moo, Mike Arrington - TechCrunch, Mike Butcher - Vecosys, Chris Messina - Citizen Agency, Saul Klein - Index Ventures, Max Jennings - eMomentum, Colin Donald - Futurescape, Tariq Krim - NetVibes. * Richard - Afraid of failure in Europe * Mike A - Stop talking and start doing, if we want to be like Silicon Valley. Smart people move to Silicon Valley which is a big help * Mike B - Subject is 18 months out of date. Not due to lack of talent or people. More due to fragmented nature of Europe. It is not one country. * Chris - push yourself to take a risk. Look at how BarCamp flourished worldwide. Need for diversity which we have in Europe. Look to OpenSource. * Saul - Mentioned his blog post (which was superb).Stop comparing ourselves to Silicon Valley. Great European companies bueing built. Skype shows how it can be done. Ditto last.fm,NetVibes, FON. Zend, MySQL, TBL! European entrepreneurs think multi-country day 1 unlike the US. This echoes what Judy Gibbons said at last years Web2 conference in Dublin. * Max - Lack of Seed Funding below VC level. Education in US is more business oriented. * Colin - Should highlight successes in Europe and the successful exits. he listed a bunch of sites purchased by Associated Newspapers for a total of £85m. * Tariq - Has been entrepreneur in US and France. In Europe everyone tells you it will not work. Must address diversity immediately. Broadband availability and services often better in Europe. Internet industry not taken as seriously in Europe. The silly attempt to build a Euro-Google shows how clueless so many people are. Internet in Europe is too much in the hands of telcos who have a different agenda from the rest of us. * Mike A - Saul talking bull about Bush. * Saul - Was really trying to point out the non-global focus of US companies. The internet is growing faster outside of the US. European comanies are outward looking by default. * Mike A - Valley is outward looking. Embrace Europe e.g. buying Skype. * Question - will there be more and more specific-geography businesses? * Saul - No apart maybe from eCommerce where scale is an issue. * Chris - thinks there will be lots of local businesses. Use global platformsto create local services e.g. on top of Skype. Long tail approach * Chris - MOO is global already without much hassle. * Question from Ian in BBC Backstage - No good funded public broadcaster in US. Not sure I understood his question? Did BBC Micro provide any advantage? * Colin - Market distortion by BBC? e.g. trying to create an educational web-site going up against BBC is very difficult. * Tariq - BBC should open up all archives without DRM * Question - What can UK learn about building community from Silicon Valley * Ryan - bad question. Assumes the Valley people know more. * Mike B - Failing up culture in US * Saul - Silicon Valley has 35 years of succeeding and failing. It will take us time to evolve. * Chris - Depends on your definition of success. May not be the sameas Silicon Valley. What do you want to create? * Mike A - Other than exit/sale, what other definition of success is there? Should shut down the BBC. Should have third series of The Office - would be if there was a profit motive. Why is BBC launching a kids social network and distorting the market and ruining investment chances of some startups. Oooooh! * Ben Metcalfe - Lifestyle is much mre intense in San Fran. It is up to individuals to step up to the mark and take the chances and raise their game. * Saul - agree. Shame you have to go to the Valley to realise that. You really really need to want it. * Tariq - Burst a bubble: Valley came from military and NASA. * Question - State induced laziness? 38 hour working week would be a part-time job in the USA. Issue of perception of Serbia - who the hell are these guys from some backwater? How do they overcome that? * Colin- Webapps can go global from anywhere. But doing a UK web-app could easily be beaten by a US competitor if there is not some specific local defensibility. * Question - how the hell do you get Angel Funding in Europe? * Phil Wilkinson - Angels to provide not just funding but expertise.How do we replicate that support network * Question - Does social welfare inhibit start-up creation? * Question - how do we encourage companies to stay in UK rather than going to the Valley? * Saul - Send him a mail if you want funding. Nikalas from Skype has a seed fund. Frederic Court has seed fuding. * Mike A - How the hell do you guys not know who has the money? Why are you not all hovering around each other? * Tariq - Starting to get a network of entrepreneurs around Europe who have had success and are willing to help the next generation. * Mike A - Victim mentality re Croatia and Social Welfare. We cannot think that way. Tariq is surrounded by women in bars in Silicon Valley :-) * Question - Get rid of Fox News * Question - How to sell a web business,to who and where? * Saul - Lots of UK media companies buying web businesses. Sell to who gives most money and gives best home to your idea * Question - Awards and encouragement to very young entrepreneurs. * Question - Why did Skype go to Valley to get first round * Saul - Not true. * Question - Should start-ups spend time in the Valley? * Max - What is this awe of Silicon valley? It’s like the British Film industry and Hollwood? Just execute. * Mike B - One final sentence from each of the panel members: * Tariq - You can do anything from Europe. Believe you can build a global company * Colin - Global or local. Do something interesting * Max- Be confident * Saul - Don’t wory about failing * Chris -define you own success and go for it * Richard - No Magic. Do it better. * Mike B - Educate yourselves.Get information.