From time to time in this column I will highlight upcoming venture capital and startup events. In this case it is a conference of venture capitalists in Milan in late November. Here is the information:
Kultur Convivio:
venture capitalist europei a confronto a Milano
Una giornata per discutere del fenomeno emergente delle start-up web, del loro peso sull’Economia, dei modelli di business e dell’evoluzione possibile
Milano, 24 novembre 2011
Osteria del Treno
Via San Gregorio, 46
You can see more at www.kulturconvivio.com
The event is organized by Nico Sica of Grafo Ventures. He has chosen to structure the day so that it is a series of tables, which fosters more intimate discussions among the participants. That alone promises to make the day interesting—avoiding the usual interminable PowerPoint presentations.
Here, the primary group will be venture capitalists and not just Italian VCs: They are coming from Ireland, the UK, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and France. Startups are also invited.
They will be talking about business models in the digital media area. As Nico writes:
Quali sono le principali opportunità di investimento e i trend nell’universo dell’online e dei Media digitali? Questa la domanda chiave intorno alla quale ruoterà la giornata. Il tema forte della discussione sarà quello dell’evoluzione possibile per le giovani e dinamiche start-up che stanno animando il panorama web europeo. Quali modelli di business? Quali percorsi di crescita e quale contributo reale potranno dare alle Economie nazionali e alla crescita dell’occupazione?
Roughly translated, this says:
What are the main investment opportunities and trends in the universe of online and digital media? This is the key question. The strong theme of the discussion will be the possibility of successful evolution of young and dynamic start-ups that are animating the European web scene. What are the business models? What paths of growth contribute to both national economic growth and job creation? (Translation provided by me, with the help of Google Translate.)
I like this topic and this structure. Plus, the committed guests include some of the major luminaries in the European VC world. All worth the registration price.
This is another crucial step in building the much-needed startup ecosystem. By strengthening the network bonds among these funds, Nico enables them to work with each other on many different topics–co-funding or on simplified term sheets or follow-on funding. The face time works to the benefit of the startups because it makes the VC part of their world both more efficient and more effective.