JFDI Asia incubator launches bootcamp program for 2012


Initial funding of $15k, working resources and intensive mentoring for 100 days. Right after that, a meetup with investors and the chance to attract seed funding. This is what JFDI Asia, a new incubator based in Singapore, is putting on the table.

The Joyful Frog Digital Incubator, member of the TechStars network , has launched a bootcamp program for 2012 and the registrations are open until December 16th. For more info, check out the incubator’s website.

Why should JFDI be appealing to you?

“JFDI is located in Asia because the next billion Internet users are coming online here. Eastern Europe can benefit by bringing their talent , experience and fresh eyes to build successful businesses here that ride on that opportunity”Hugh Mason, co-founder and CEO of JFDI Asia.

“Singapore is a fantastic place to launch a startup with amazing talent and infrastructure to plug into! It is the hub of the hyper-growing Asian economies and is rated one of the most business friendly countries on the planet. Singapore is also fascinatingly multiculturally vibrant, beautiful and safe, consistently placing it among the most attractive places to live and work.”Boris Nordenstrom, founder of Jobline International, JFDI investor/mentor.

HTW2011 videos: Carlos Espinal’s keynote on Trends in seed investing


Carlos Espinal, partner at Seedcamp, held a keynote speech at How to Web 2011 called Trends in seed investing. He went through some very interesting case studies on companies that were in the same time innovative and appealing to investors. He spoke quite a bit about the concepts of democratization and simplification of services as two of the major innovation handles, while also giving a few ideas on areas that are right for disruption

One interesting thing we found out from Carlos is that a third of the companies in Seedcamp come from Eastern Europe. Wow, right? Watch the full video for his explanation on this and many more interesting insights.

HTW2011 videos: Michael Breidenbruecker – Created by data

Michael Breidenbruecker, founder of RjDj and one of the original founders of Last.fm, delivered a talk at How to Web 2011 entitled Created by data. Watch his talk for some cool insights on how the two music services were created.

Learn more from Michael about how he thinks product should find its customers and not the other way around, how “attention data” is the glue of web 2.0 and many other great ideas. Michael also did a cool demo showing how the RjDj app creates a soundtrack for a jogging session, based on the type of physical activity the user is making.

Oh, and by the way, the panel on mobile that Michael mentions a few times during his talk is this one. ;)

HTW2011 videos: Panel – Future trends in mobile

How to Web 2011 included a panel on the future trends of mobile. The panel was moderated by Martin Bryant, european editor at TheNextWeb, and included Thai Tran – founder and CEO of Lightbox, Felix Petersen – co-founder of Amen, Philipp Kandal – co-founder and CTO of Skobbler, Dan Romescu – CEO of Augmented Citizen Foundation and Dragos Chivu – director data marketing at Vodafone Romania.

Watch the video for some nice thoughts on where the mobile web is headed. Some of the topics covered were the “mobile first – mobile only” concept, the opportunities that the mobile devices offer to developers, how carriers support the increasing usage of the data networks and innovation in appstores. Of course, trends like QR codes, augmented reality, NFC or Siri didn’t go unmentioned.

HTW2011 videos: Thai Tran – Android: Opportunities and challenges

Thai Tran, founder of Lightbox, held a talk at How to Web 2011 on Android’s opportunities and challenges. He described the thought process behind their choice of developing apps especially for Android, how the Android market has evolved in the recent past and what Lightbox’s bet on the future is. He also talked about the challenges that Android poses to its developers, like the fragmentation of the market between many OSs and between the oh so many Android devices existing on the market. Thus, making it very difficult for developers to test their apps in all of these cases.

He also spoke of the need for better developing and testing tools for Android and the need for the Android market to mature in order to help developers monetize their software. Watch the full video for more info and some insights on what Thai thinks is very helpful when you’re trying to get Google’s attention to get on the featured apps page – a feature that helped the Lightbox app a lot.

HTW2011 videos: Michael A. Jackson – Raising seed capital


Michael A. Jackson, angel investor and mentor for Seedcamp and StartupBootcamp, held a talk at How to Web 2011 on Raising seed capital. Michael gave a practical guide to raising seed capital, describing what you should look for in an investor, the attitude you should have when approaching investors and how you should negotiate your terms. He also gave a few insights on the questions that an investor asks himself when evaluating a startup.

A few take aways from Michael’s talk: respect the “three ass rule”: have a smart ass team building a kick ass product in a big ass market, don’t pay money for advice – pay everything with shares and equity, and never give away the majority of your company.