With GMB union protestors outside and some of the most powerful investors in the world inside, SuperReturn 2007 was always going to be newsworthy. Add to the mix an unprecedented level of controversy surrounding the power exerted by private equity companies and more than 100 journalists ready to take note and you have a recipe for a conference hitting the headlines right across the globe.
Benchmark Europe has confirmed it has invested $12.5m in Finland-based Igglo.fi to expand into the UK. The move comes as a number of other ‘aggregator’ search sites for real estate start to ramp-up in the UK, in particular Nestoria, Zoomf, OnOneMap and Extate.
I’m not entirely sure how to choose a winner. I was thinking about getting each person (who’s interested) to explain what their company does to a waiter in 1 minute – thereby encouraging them to get their pitch perfected so that non-industry people would get it.
What did we learn? I had to grumble that it is amazing how hard entrepreneurs find it to explain their product in the most simple terms. Segala’s Paul Walsh - one of ten bloggers dressed in black in the back row - told me that at Curry 2.0 in Dublin, the winner is the entrepreneur that can explain his product the most clearly to the waiter. And the waiter chooses the winner. [Sidenote: Someone turns to row of 12+ bloggers and asks them to keep the typing down. Maybe they are at the wrong conference?]