European Founders at Work

In European Founders at Work, several of the top European startup founders and venture capitalists are interviewed to explain their respective paths to building a successful company. It takes a similar approach to Venture Capitalists at Work and other books in Apress' elite At Work series but with a focus on the differences between building a successful company in Europe versus the U.S.

These insightful interviews are presented in a way that will help readers understand the founders local or a global views, how they competed on the global scale, if and how they got funding and their main challenges and opportunities. The companies chosen to be interviewed are a mix of unique worldwide ventures: European-only ventures and even a few copycats of already-proven concepts. As such, it provides a balanced view on the European scene. This mix also includes companies that started in Europe and moved to the U.S., companies who went IPO in their country of origin, companies with European venture capital backing, and companies that bootstrapped their way to success.

Foreword by Saul Klein, Founder of LOVEFiLM and The Accelerator Group.

Other books in the Apress At Work Series:

• Coders at Work, Seibel, 978-1-4302-1948-4
• Venture Capitalists at Work, Shah & Shah, 978-1-4302-3837-9
• CIOs at Work, Yourdon, 978-1-4302-3554-5
• CTOs at Work, Donaldson, Seigel, & Donaldson, 978-1-4302-3593-4
• Founders at Work, Livingston, 978-1-4302-1078-8
• Women Leaders at Work, Ghaffari, 978-1-4302-3729-7
• Advertisers at Work, Tuten, 978-1-4302-3828-7
• Gamers at Work, Ramsay. 978-1-4302-3351-0

What you’ll learn

• Learn from the experiences of successful startups and Europe's leading venture capitalists
• Learn how to succeed in building an European-based venture based venture
• Gain an understanding of European entrepreneurs' world views
• The main differences in mentality, difficulties and opportunities between the U.S. and Europe in starting and running an organization
• Regional differences and strategies that come from the unique European business climate

Who this book is for

• Startup enthusiasts, from potential founders to experienced entrepreneurs and investors
• People interested in the thoughts of leaders who have succeeded in creating successful companies and how they did it
• Managers who might be interested in opening European markets or expanding their company in these markets

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:..... Jos White, Notion Capital, Founding Partner 1

Chapter 2:..... Barton, Inghelbrecht, Mukherjee, and Wang, Shazam.. 15

Chapter 3:..... Lars Hinrichs, XING. 41

Chapter 4:..... Bernard Liautaud, Business Objects 49

Chapter 5:..... Iain Dodsworth, TweetDeck 59

Chapter 6:..... Giacomo Peldi Guilizzoni, Balsamiq. 71

Chapter 7:..... Olivier Poitrey, Dailymotion. 91

Chapter 8:..... Richard Moross, Moo.com.. 101

Chapter 9:..... Felix Haas, amiando 111

Chapter 10:... Peter Arvai, Prezi 121

Chapter 11:... Saul Klein, Video Island (LOVEFiLM) 135

Chapter 12:... Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, The Next Web. 151

Chapter 13:... Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp. 163

Chapter 14:... Ilya Segalovich, Yandex 175

Chapter 15:... Richard Jones, Last.fm.. 187

Chapter 16:... Alex Farcet, Startupbootcamp. 201

Chapter 17:... Martin Varsavsky, Fon. 209

Chapter 18:... Brent Hoberman, lastminute.com219

Chapter 19:... Loic Le Meur, Seesmic and LeWeb. 225

Chapter 20:.. Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud. 241