There is one little thing I would like to suggest.

Say I get an email from a client A in New York to schedule a meeting at 9am followed by another client B in New Zealand for a meeting at 1pm. They are both scheduling a meeting at the same time because I’m sitting in Lisbon so I’ll have to reschedule at least one of them. It would be very practical if Yoomit could make the time conversion and eventually warn of overlapping meetings. Is it too much to ask? Maybe it is but anyway here is the suggestion. Anyone else feels this pain? :)

p.s. I’ve also sent a message to the guys at MuchBeta. Let’s see if they say something.

LX Factory, Alcântara,  starting at 144€ per month

http://liberdade229.com/

Av. da Liberdade, starting at 204€ per month

http://www.coworkpicoas.com/

Picoas, starting at 181€ per month

Note that coworking is not about the price, it’s an opportunity to socialize and work with other entrepreneurs and like-minded people.

Being a sun shinning day outside I wasn’t quite sure if he was talking about the weather :) but of course he was talking in terms of the conditions and general atmosphere in Portugal to start and run a business. Here’s a brief overview of what I told him and what I think after having put some thought into it.

1. Talent

It’s hard to find and recruit good talented and ethical workers. It’s even harder to get them to stay with you in the long term. This “individualistic attitude” and aversion to risk was indeed pointed out in a report by the European Commission in 2006. Maybe the solution here is to recruit more foreigners that would like to live here?

2. Entrepreneur Support

The initiatives to support entrepreneurs pretty much boil down to strategic propaganda by the government and are extremely bureaucratic. They have to treat everyone the same way, it doesn’t matter if you’re starting a tech company or a hotdog booth.

3. Net 60/90

We have Net 60 or Net 90, payment 60 or 90 days after invoice date – the government and big corporations all seem to use this. That’s really bad for entrepreneurs because after a sale there’s still 2 to 3 months before getting any money into your account.

4. Not a big market for mergers and acquisitions

The likelihood of your business getting bought by “bigger fish” is very low. Can you list tech companies that were acquired or merged? There are no examples of successes so there is little incentive to try something like starting a startup to sell in the first years.

5. Universities are not entrepreneur oriented

The creation of startup companies is not adopted by the Universities as a priority and as a result most students finish their degree without never ever thinking about the possibility of starting their own company. It is something so remote that it is not even worth thinking about.

6. Anti-entrepreneur culture

Most of the older generations does not recognize any value in someone that takes the risk of starting a company or going self-employed. It’s simply not appreciated. A friend that runs a startup told me his mother didn’t believe he was working until she saw his name on the newspaper.

On the positive side,

1. Climate

the weather is very good. According to an article by BBC, “Its southerly latitude gives it a Mediterranean type of climate, similar to that of the state of California, but one where the summer heat is tempered by the Atlantic influence.”

2. Food

and the food is great (we were having Sushi so I don’t think this point applied very well at the time). Portuguese food varies but fresh fish and shellfish are found commonly on every menu, and the country is full of specialty seafood restaurants.

3. Taxes

Our taxes are still lower than most countries in Europe. The tax burden is at 36.2% for singles with no kids (I would say the typical entrepreneur) in Portugal, compared to e.g. 51.8% in Germany. (OECD, 2005 data)

4. Green Receipt Book

Although a plague for employees (because companies misuse them) , the green receipt book (Caderneta de Recibos Verdes) is actually a helpful measure for entrepreneurs because they allow to hire people with less costs on the first year of company operations.

5. Tourism

The climate, beaches, lifestyle and leisure activities that attract companies, researchers and students to Portugal are also the mainstay of the country’s tourism industry, which accounts for more than 10 per cent of gross domestic product.

6. Community

The amount of Hackers, Makers and Geeks in Portugal is growing and so is the number of group meetings that you can find. Many are held monthly or at least regularly.

Please note,

this is of course far from being complete, accurate or even meaningful. I was careful enough to include a few positive points to counterpart for the negative ones. I didn’t want to be accused of pessimism, a point many would have listed here as well.

http://ineo.pt/2010/02/podcast-goncalo-quadros-critical/

Do outro lado do oceano, as histórias são bem diferentes mas também valem a pena ouvir :) Aqui fica um vídeo de um painel com 6 estudantes de Stanford que criaram empresas nos seus 20 e poucos anos.

“Six young Stanford grads and entrepreneurs — Steven Garrity, Clara Shih, Kimber Lockhart, Jeff Seibert, Josh Reeves, and Tristan Harris — share their experiences starting companies and raising capital. While being in their 20s may seem to be an obstacle to outsiders, they said they “flipped” this liability into an asset — focusing instead on their raw ability to bring innovative ideas to life. They advise all young entrepreneurs to be persistent, opportunistic, and scrappy. “

http://www.coworklisboa.pt/

“Many people strive for the freedom that working for themselves and freelancing brings. You can work odd hours in your pajamas at home, travel to exotic locals but still be on the job, not have to clock in at an office. After the initial exhilaration of being independent cools a bit, there is something missing- co-workers and the social environment that working for a company can bring. Enter Co-Working. Co-Working is an idea that independent workers still want and need social interaction and structure during working hours. Going stir crazy working in your living room? Can’t stand that Madonna remix album they keep repeating at the cafe? Want to bounce your ideas off some other geeks? Co-Working!”

In this video Jason Calacanis talks about his experience as an entrepreneur and also what it takes to succeed in creating a successful startup company. It starts off a bit slow but after warming up Jason really nails it: “you go through the world as a Samurai, you just walk through all this noise, with a huge sword right on your belt, which you know you can take at any moment and just cut someone in half”. A must watch if you’re into startups.

Via MV

Durou Sexta e Sábado o dia todo. Sexta falou-se sobre Estratégia, Modelos de Negócio, Gestão Financeira, Contabilidade e Fisco. Sábado falou-se sobre Criação de Negócios e Marketing.

Já tinha feito o Kickstart Mini-MBA com o Mário Valente e portanto algumas coisas não eram totalmente novas para mim. A parte sobre Marketing ficou a cargo do Patrick van der Walk e posso dizer que simplesmente adorei a talk dele. Claramente conhecer o Patrick e poder trocar impressões com ele é uma valia extremamente grande.

No Sábado à tarde as equipas fizeram o seu “elevator pitch” e também uma apresentação de cerca de 30 minutos sobre os seus projectos ao conselho consultivo da SeedCapital, constituído por pessoas da área financeira, propriedade intelectual, advogados, etc.

Algumas coisas que deu para perceber:

• Quando se começa a pensar numa ideia para um projecto, que eventualmente pode justificar a criação de uma empresa, nem sempre se tem a noção do que isso implica. Quando se faz os fluxos de caixa, mesmo que em forma de previsão, percebe-se que para ter uma empresa é preciso conseguir um certo volume de negócios para compensar a criação da mesma. Os fluxos de caixa são úteis também para se perceber que investimento inicial é necessário. Deixa de ser uma coisa totalmente inventada e passa-se a ter um plano concreto no papel que permite ver mês após mês se estamos a ir no rumo certo ou se é preciso ajustar alguma coisa, e.g. o esforço de vendas ou o esforço de marketing.

• Talvez mais importante de tudo foi o ter percebido mais uma vez a importância de sair da zona de conforto e ir falar com as pessoas sobre o que é importante para elas e se a nossa ideia vai resolver um problema real.

O que a SeedCapital está a fazer é diminuir as barreiras à entrada que existem em Portugal para os novos empreendedores tecnológicos. A maior parte das iniciativas do género (IAPMEI, bancos, etc.) são extremamente burocráticas e tratam tudo da mesma forma, seja o vosso negócio uma carrinha de cachorros ou uma coisa tecnológica. Normalmente é logo exigido um plano de negócios e não há ajuda para o elaborar.

A sensação que tenho é que o processo na SeedCapital é mais gradual e faseado. Tendo uma ideia que à partida parece ter potencial aprende-se a que perguntas é preciso saber responder para analisar a sua viabilidade, em oposição ás outras iniciativas onde é preciso responder ás mesmas perguntas (possivelmente mais), sem estar consciente da sua importância e de como chegar ás respostas, e isso é fundamental.

High-Quality Audio Streaming

High-Quality Wide Screen Video Streaming

Don’t you just love it?

DVD-Quality like.

But then I found out about Fabchannel.com, now closed after 10 years in business, and moved on.

What I mean by this is the following.

Right now you might be struggling with something. Your startup, your thesis, your project, whatever.

Have you thought of all the experts in the world that can help you? They are all at the distance of an email. All the entrepreneurs, all the scientists, all the teachers in the world. It might take just one email to change what you’re doing to be something awesome. Why not take the action?