Roxanne Varza
Wondering what's going to happen at LeWeb? Here, we'll tell you.
Oh yes, it is finally the most wonderful time of the year. The 8th edition of Europe's most hyped tech event, LeWeb - which has grown from some 250 participants in 2004 to over 3,000 attendees this year - will be taking place this week in the number-one tourist destination in the world: Paris. Silicon Valley's tech titans will finally
The problem with Smartdate
For anyone who has been following the story concerning French dating startup Smartdate, there is clearly a lot of intentional ambiguity. For the moment, the investors in the company have either refrained from commenting or simply stated that there was a mutual disagreement that has left the company's future a bit up in the air (potentially with some of the investors leaving the board).
Smartdate, the French startup everyone is asking questions about
First off, for anyone who doesn't know Smartdate, it's often defined as the French Zoosk. It's a Facebook-based dating platform that helps you date people within your online network. The company officially launched in March 2010 raised some €5.5 million with 360 Capital and 2 well-known French entrepreneurs (in the country where it is supposedly impossible to raise money), launched its platform in 6 different languages and accumulated 650K members within a year.
Bref.The French TV show that is now a video CV.
For anyone who lives outside of France, there's a new show that has taken over the country.
Coockly, the worst French startup name?
Now, you all know that I'm not one to usually criticize French startups or entrepreneurs. And I'm not about to criticize what anyone is actually doing (well, at least not in this article). But every now and then I come across a French startup name and giggle to myself, thinking "uh, really?" But recently I came across one startup name and I just couldn't let it get away...
IDInvest Parters, the most active VC in France
I love when entrepreneur tell me that "it is impossible to raise VC funding in France." Honestly, it has become one of my favorite phrases. I have come across numerous entrepreneurs - on both sides of the Atlantic - that have told me that VCs are risk-averse weirdos and that their capital is extremely limited and/or drying up. And while
Does France like Shazam more than Twitter?
Twitter has been slowly gaining more and more momentum in France. As with other countries around the world, France definitely started to tune into the power of Twitter - especially with the political uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. And to show just how tuned-in France was to the power of the social web, Sarkozy even held the first-ever eG8 Forum in Paris May to address the role of the Internet in society with numerous digital experts from around the
The 11-11-11 RUDE Roundup: Th1s week 1n France…
As we mentioned last week, we'll be doing a quick round-up every Friday of some of the key happenings in French tech news. So wake up and check out what happened this week!
WYDIF: The French startup with the best online video
Let me preface this by saying first that I have seen a lot of French startups. But I definitely haven't seen them all. If there is one thing that many French companies are getting better at, it's social marketing. Last year, I published a little list of some of my favorite Youtube videos published by French startups. But I have to say that the one I'm presenting now takes the cake - by far.
The Trouble with Blog Comments
I began blogging on New Years eve 2009 (sad, but true). That was almost 2 years ago. And this isn't the first time I am dealing with an issue involving problematic blog comments...