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And the results are …

April 11th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

French Tech Tour 2013 Participants

The jury members have done their selections and we are very excited to announce this year’s French Tech Tour participants:

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  • Brainwave – Brainwave Identity GRC is a business software solution aimed at building an “identity and access information warehouse” to deliver a 360° view of users and access rights throughout a business’s IT resources and applications.
  • Co-Decision – Co-Decision provides a new generation of Business Intelligence software suites.  The suite is based on a man-machine co-decider with embedded professional human reasoning rules and cyber trackers that can make sense of Big Data, and anticipate risks and opportunities.
  • Cognik – CogniK’s solution combines big data with cognitive sciences to provide reliable TV and video recommendations without having to collect enormous amounts of information about the viewer.
  • docTrackr – docTrackr helps businesses keep their documents under control, regardless of where they are stored or with whom they are shared. docTrackr enables a user to remotely destroy or update their documents, and provides real-time information on what people are doing with your documents. docTrackr.com is a SaaS based platform providing file security on demand for enterprises and cloud platforms such as Box.com.
  • FLASHiZ -FLASHiZ is a quick and easy-to-use universal smartphone payment service that allows users to make in-store and online payments, peer-to-peer transfers, and provide invoices. FLASHiZ’s clients include franchises, banks, stores, and equipment manufacturers.
  • Followapps – Followapps provides brands with a SaaS platform to launch, measure, optimize, and maintain their presence and grow their audience in the mobile world. This platform provides guidance to implement a successful mobile strategy, and recommends step-by-step actions to guarantee consistency across all the apps.
  • iQsim - The iQsim Mobile Robot and its associated innovative remote SIM technology provide mobile operators with a highly scalable and open solution for building their own 3G/4G platform testing.  Using this robot, operators can simulate traffic (IP, video streaming, Voice Over LTE, M2M) on their network and ultimately understand how the new network will behave.
  • Kalistick - Kalistick offers a unique “Test Coverage Intelligence” technology as a hybrid on-premise/cloud platform that provides development teams with key data to improve testing effectiveness.  Using Kalistick, development teams reduce their testing efforts by 30% while increasing their software quality by 50%.
  • Kpsule – Kpsule is a SaaS platform that allows rich media campaign delivery within just 24 hours, easily disseminated and targeted to the most powerful web audiences. Kpsule offers unmatched performance – 3 to 5% engagement rates with up to 50% agreement rates.
  • Leankr – RedBox, created by Leankr, is a unique search engine-like second screen platform that uses the Web to gather only the most relevant content, and then pushes and synchronizes it with the TV programs in real-time. Leankr’s clients include television networks, and Tier-1 operators and broadcasters.
  • Squid Solutions – Squid Solutions offers a SaaS Data Management Platform for brands to collect, store and manage all information related to interactions with consumers online reducing set-up time and big data management overhead, while increasing efficiency and knowledge. Using Squid’s DMP, digital marketing managers and their agencies can create cookie pools (segments) that are synched with Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) to buy media space and place personalized ads.
  • SunPartner - SunPartner developed a range of ultra-thin, transparent optic and photovoltaic components that increase the energy autonomy of screened devices and flat surfaces used in daily life by 20-100%.
  • Sush.io – Sush.io provides startups and mid-sized companies with a tailored business intelligence tool aimed at reducing paperwork and Excel spreadsheet usage.  Its platform automatically aggregates and organizes data from 300+ Online accounts such as Paypal, T-Mobile, Github, Recurly, Mailchimp, Google adwords on a clear and well-designed dashboard.
  • tinyclues – tinyclues is a cloud-based predictive marketing SaaS platform that delivers immediate and provable impact.  tinyclues outperforms competing solutions by a margin of 25% to 40% in live A/B testing run by its clients.
  • Wimi – Wimi is a cloud-based platform for small and mid-sized companies and entrepreneurs that simplifies file sharing and project management. Additionally, Wimi synchronizes professional data (files, calendars, tasks, contacts) across team members, according to their role. It is a professional, user-friendly and secure alternative to Dropbox.
  • Xilopix - Xilopix has developed a search engine and digital asset management solution featuring automatic indexing, annotation, and image content recognition. It provides a way to search, manage and find multimedia content intuitively by using your fingertips.

Congratulations to this year’s group!  We will be in touch with each applicant individually regarding the next steps.

Although we received applications from many well-qualified companies, only 16 could participate.  Even if a company has not been selected for the French Tech Tour this year, it can still be successful on the U.S. market.  As a result, we hope that we will see all French Tech Tour applicants in Silicon Valley in the near future.

 

The FTT 2013 team.

Tips for French Startups Series – 5/5

February 17th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

How to write a catchy email

You want to find a new partner, raise funds or just ask for some help or feedback, but all you have his/her email address? As a startup, you might have to write an email  that is sufficiently catchy to get your addressee ‘s attention amidst thousands of other emails.

Here are some useful tips on how to approach a busy person via email.

The most common advice drawn from reference articles can be summarized with the following points:

  • Choose carefully your subject line to make your goal clear
  •  Make sure your startup’s name appears in the subject line
  • Use your company email address
  • Remind of any prior meetings/ interesting conversations and set up the context
  • Show you know the addressee’s background & field of interest
  • Keep your email as  short as you can
  • Be clear and explicit : he has to know what you want from him
  • Include a professional signature

The most important advice is to be clear, and to make your email short and easy going. You will appear confident and clever, and could impress a VC, a potential partner or client.

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References :

How to email busy people

The perfect email

 

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Tips for French Startups Series – 4/5

February 15th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

Funding 101 – How to find investors?

 

As a company you definitely need to keep your goals in mind. If you want to participate in the FrenchTechTour, you will have to have a clear definition of your purpose when meeting big corporations like Samsung, Amazon, AT&T, Dell, Cisco, Intel, Oracle…

Is it to find partners, a market, clients..?

Either way, you will certainly need investors to set up your venture in the United States. Here is some basic, not-to-miss advice to help startups raise funds.

Make sure you are fundable:

  • Set up at least a basic web presence
  • Have prototypes, show any research and travel you did surrounding the project/product
  • Create a business plan
  • Network
  • Have at least one serious customer

Set reasonable expectations:

  • Find out what is each investor’s favorite areas of investment and make sure your project/ product fits in that area
  • Figure out how much you need for one year and add a 30% buffer
  • Don’t exaggerate the timing

 

Who is your ideal investor?

You need to know who to target.

Below you will find a list of types of investors and their investment goals. Do you want to find a market or to scale up?

Series Seed
  • Purpose: a seed helps to launch a product & finding the market
  • Amount: less than 2 million $
  • Who: Angels
Series A
  • Purpose: getting to true product/market fit
  • Amount: 2-15million $
  • Who?: Traditional venture funds
Series B
  • Purpose: scaling
  • Amount: 7-10million $
  • Who?: Same as Series A
Series C
  • Purpose: scaling up again
  • Amount: 10-100 million $
  • Who?: Same as Series A

 

Examples of traditional venture funds: Sequoia, A16Z, Benchmark, Accel, Greylock, Battery, CRV, Matrix…

Examples of angels: Y-combinator, entrepreneur’s friends & family …

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References:

Raising Angel Fundings 

Funding 101 

How funding rounds differ seed series

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Testimonials 2012 – Nanomade

February 14th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »
Faouzy SOILIHI, Executive Director at Nanomade has participated in the French Tech Tour last year.
We’d like to share with you his feedback from his experience with the French Tech Tour.
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Pourquoi avez-vous décidé de participer au French Tech Tour ?

Afin de pouvoir présenter notre technologie à des acteurs majeurs du marché que l’on vise (marché des écrans tactiles)

Qu’est-ce que le French Tech Tour vous a apporté ?

Une mise en contact avec ces acteurs que l’on aurait eu beaucoup de mal à rencontrer sur un temps aussi court; une très belle opportunité de networking (notamment avec les autres participants du French Tech Tour); une belle visibilité (SFNewTech, etc.)

Où en est Nanomade depuis sa participation ?

Nous continuons nos développements avec un accent plutôt vers l’Asie actuellement mais les USA restent pour nous un marché clef.

Qui devrait participer au French Tech Tour selon vous ?

Toute start-up innovante à la recherche d’une plateforme simple et efficace pour se lancer sur le marché américain

Quel conseil donneriez-vous aux entreprises françaises qui souhaitent faire du business aux USA ?

Faites-vous accompagner, notamment par des services comme Ubifrance. Pour avoir utiliser vos services aux USA, en Corée, au Japon et à Taïwan, c’est une garantie de sérieux et de résultat (prises de rendez-vous à un bon niveau décisionnel). Cela permet aux entrepreneurs de se concentrer sur leur présentation et leur produit/service.

Faouzy Soilihi,

Executive Director of Nanomade

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One more temoignage here, of the French Tech Tour 2011.

Optimize your chances to dive into Silicon Valley !

February 13th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

This week, we organized a webinar about the French Tech Tour, its program and advantages for French PME/Startups.

We thank Rachel Delacour CEO of BIME and Denis Brulé CEO of Moodstocks, alumni of French Tech Tour 2012 for splendidly answering the audience’s questions.
Thank you as well to the webinar participants who asked great questions.
If you did not attend the webinar, then you can watch the entire video in 2 parts below.
Unfortunately some questions remained unanswered due to a lack of time.
To make up for that, you will find below detailed answers to the questions left out of the webinar.

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Videos:

 

 

 

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Questions supplémentaires:

A quel stade de développement faut-il que la société candidate se trouve pour être éligible au French Tech Tour ?

Le stade de développement de l’entreprise n’est pas un critère dont nous tenons compte pour déterminer l’éligibilité d’un candidat. Néanmoins, nous observons que les sociétés sélectionnées pour participer au French Tech Tour font généralement partie d’au moins l’une des deux catégories suivantes :

- Des entreprises de 10 à 25 employés avec quelques solides références clients en France et qui rentrent dans une phase de développement à l’international.

- Des entreprises de moins de 10 employés qui possèdent un produit ou une technologie particulièrement innovante et qui ont un fort potentiel de croissance aux Etats-Unis.

Quel est le niveau dans le management des personnes rencontrées lors des meetings B2B?

En moyenne, la répartition est la suivante: 20% de C-level / 30% de VP / 30% de directeur / 20% technique

A combien estimez-vous le temps de préparation avant le déplacement?            

Durant les deux mois qui précèdent votre déplacement, Ubifrance travaillera avec vous sur les deux points ci-dessous. Pour ce travail préparatoire, il vous faudra compter en moyenne 4 heures de votre temps étalées sur 2 mois.

1) Organisation de rendez-vous d’affaires sur mesure

Sur la base de vos besoins de prospection et de notre connaissance du marché local, l’équipe d’Ubifrance à San Francisco vous conseillera sur votre stratégie de go-to-market (positionnement produit puis définition des cibles à prospecter).

L’équipe d’Ubifrance se chargera ensuite de contacter les cibles définies pour organiser des rendez-vous d’affaires, qui s’ajouteront à ceux obtenus avec les entreprises du jury qui vous auront sélectionné.

2) Coaching pour présenter votre produit à l’américaine

Un professionnel américain du PR (Public Relations) vous coachera à distance pour vous aider à communiquer la valeur de votre offre de manière succincte et percutante. Ce travail portera aussi bien sur le fond que sur la forme de votre présentation.

Pourrons-nous rencontrer des investisseurs pendant le French Tech Tour?

Un investisseur sera présent dans le panel lors du French Tech Tour pendant la session de pitching et vous aurez par ailleurs l’occasion de rencontrer d’autres investisseurs lors des 3 grands différents évènements de networking. Cependant, le but premier du French Tech Tour est plutôt de générer des leads commerciaux à travers les meetings B2B.

Est-ce qu’Ubifrance accompagne toujours les entreprises participantes lors des rendez-vous B2B ?

Si vous le souhaitez, un collaborateur d’Ubifrance peut en effet vous accompagner lors de certains rendez-vous mais nous ne pouvons pas garantir un accompagnement sur l’ensemble des rendez-vous.                                           

A qui adressons nous notre dossier? Doit-on toujours penser à des synergies avec ces entreprises en particulier? Ou peut-on les contacter car leur expertise nous intéresse tout simplement?                               

Votre executif summary sera envoyé à chaque entreprise membre du jury.

Si vous identifiez une synergie particulière entre vous et une (ou plusieurs) entreprise(s) membre(s) du jury, vous pouvez la décrire dans une meeting request qui dans ces cas sera également jointe au dossier. Et oui, vous pouvez aussi demander à rencontrer des entreprises dont l’expertise vous intéresse.

Part of the FrenchTechTour Program : SVForum’s Launch!

February 13th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

SVForum’s Launch is an awesome, highly anticipated annual event that allows companies to pitch on stage and to network at Microsoft’s campus in Sillicon Valley.

Great audience. Great atmosphere. Great opportunity.

FrenchTechTour participants can apply to the event. Last year, 4 participants out of the 7 FTT participants who applied to SVForum’s Launch were selected to pitch. This is great considering that each year more than 300 companies apply to Launch and, in the end, only 30 are selected.

We interviewed for you the SVForum CEO, Chris Gill. He is very enthusiastic about French Companies and their technology, and is looking forward to seeing French Companies on-stage during his event.

Chris Gill SVLaunch full Interview HERE 

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Below is a summary of the interview:

Would you please introduce yourself?

I am Chris Gill CEO of SVForum, an organization dedicated to entrepreneurs and developers to build new technologies, new products, and new industries.

 What is Launch SV?

A program encouraged by VCs, which provides an affordable platform for companies to be able to launch their products in front of an audience composed of bloggers, press, VC, angels, corporate executives aimed at enabling the participants to increase awareness of what they are doing. At first it was dedicated to Californian companies, but it quickly became an event for global companies.

 Who is in the audience?
  •  bloggers
  • press from all over the world
  • VC
  • angels
  • corporate executives

500 people in the audience with a lot of publicity for the companies that pitch.

 Who are the sponsors? 
  • Law firms
  • VC firms
  • Angel groups
  • Big companies, like Microsoft

And all of them provide some support.

What kind of help do the sponsors provide the winners?
  • Coaching sessions from VC groups
  • Hours of free legal services from laws firms
  • Microsoft often gives access to their tools
  • $10,000-$20,000 worth of time and resources provided each year
 Who picks the winners?

Winners are picked by the panel of investors and the audience. (50-50)

 Last year, how many companies got funded by the panel of VCs and angels?

Last year out of 6 winners, 3 of them have received funding.

Overall, it is well over 25 companies.

Why are you interested in French companies?

  • We have been very impressed by the quality of submissions and the presentations of the companies coming from France.
  • Since the first submissions we received several years ago the quality has grown substantially.
  • Considering English is their second language, the submissions that we get are some of the best, clearest submissions we have had.
  • The technologies are almost always interesting and very exciting.

What I would add to this, is to put a little bit more attention into the company’s business model.

What should they expect on stage?  

‘Aha! Lots of excitement, lots of adrenaline!’

  •  Presentation posted to YouTube
  • Audience of 500 hundred, all of whom are really interested in hearing the presentations
  • 6 minutes to pitch and the time just flies, ‘it is so pumped up, so exciting’

Challenges:  to be able to make sure your message is very clear and concise

Recommendations: use only a few slides with interesting graphics and less writing; no demos; the slides should draw interest to the company’s stand where you can demo.

Participants spend a tremendous amount of time preparing to make sure they provide the right, first impression.

 Demos or mostly slides?

It is difficult in 6 minutes to do a demo

Remember you have 6 minutes – it is something you have to judge; you have to balance.

Peak people’s interest, and make them want more. And show them that the demo will give them that “more” aspect.

That’s why we have the network where people can have their laptop and show their demos.’

Any advice for French Companies pitching in front of an American audience?
  • Presentations need to be very crisp, very concise, very graphically oriented
  • Information needs to come across very quickly
  • Just providing info itself is not very engaging
  • It is much better if the information can be wrapped in a story. Much more engaging if there is a story.
  • And practice, practice, practice…
 Any last thoughts?

Very much looking forward to seeing some French companies, and that’s not only me saying that – that is the investors that review the submissions and look forward to receiving them.

Tips for French Startups Series – 3/5

February 11th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

 Common Startup Mistakes

Since the FTT application period is open, we thought it was an appropriate time to provide some resources on common mistakes startups make.

This is a post by Mark Suster on his blog about common early startup mistakes.  He makes a lot of valid points, learned through his experience as an entrepreneur and now a partner in a VC. The points on market research and customer input are extremely important.

And here is an article from Tech Crunch providing an overview of mistakes European startups make when trying to enter the Silicon Valley market:

Both posts are worth reading as applicants prepare their executive summaries, and start thinking forward to the French Tech Tour 2013 meetings and networking events.

 

 

Webinar – Join us on Tuesday, the 12th of February !

February 7th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

The US high tech market offers a jumping off point towards the rest of the world, but succeeding in the US can often seem like you are preparing for war and does not leave any room for improvisation: finely tuned market and competition studies, clear positioning of one’s product/ service, cultural understanding, countless meetings, etc…
The French Tech Tour concentrates in 1 week all of the best practices perfected by Ubifrance’s San Francisco team.

As some French companies have started applying to the French Tech Tour 2013, we are pleased to invite you to a Webinar on the following theme – organization & proceedings of this unique contest.

We will discuss:

  • Presentation of the French Tech Tour and its benefits
  • Testimonials from Rachel Delacour of Bime and Denis Brulé of Moodstocks, participants in last year’s French Tech Tour
  • Advice for preparing your application folder and optimizing the odds of being picked up by the jury
  • Answers to your questions via an online chat
Let’s then have a rendez-vous on Tuesday the 12th of February, at 6pm (French time), on the gotowebinar website. You can register through the link below.
For those who can’t make it, our webinar will be available on Youtube.

The French Tech Tour team

 

 

Testimonials 2012 – Kawet

February 6th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

For those who have already downloaded the application folder, we hope its fulfillment is processing well. For the others, may be you’ll be motivated by the temoignage below.
For all, if you have any question then don’t hesitate to contact us.
:)

Benjamin HARDY, Co-founder & CEO of Kawet, has been chosen to participate in the French Tech Tour.

A year after, we asked him his feedback in order to know what had the French Tech Tour adventure brought to his company.

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Here is his testimonial:

Pourquoi avez-vous décidé de participer au French Tech Tour ?

Pour une première expérience dans la Valley. Se prendre quelques claques pour ainsi mieux préparer l’avenir.
Qu’est-ce que le French Tech Tour vous a apporté ?

Beaucoup de maturité, des remises en question majeures, et quelques next steps toujours d’actualité.
Où en est Kawet depuis sa participation ?

Toujours une équipe de 7 personnes, prêt à sortir de 6 mois en mode sous marin pour sortir la toute nouvelle version de la plateforme. Le passage au FTT a très clairement façonné indirectement cette nouvelle version majeure.
Qui devrait participer au French Tech Tour selon vous ?

Des boîtes qui ont un réel produit prêt à montrer, avec déjà un minimum de traction. Et qui ont leur ecosystème ou users aux US.
Quel conseil donneriez-vous aux entreprises françaises qui souhaitent faire du business aux USA ?

Avant chaque rendez-vous, se poser la question ‘quel est l’intérêt business de mon interlocuteur de me rencontrer’, et faire en sorte de façonner le rdv autour de cet objectif !

Benjamin HARDY
Co-founder & CEO | Kawet

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Kawet will launch soon a major version very soon. We should hear of it in the coming weeks.


 

 

Crunchies awards – We were there !

February 5th, 2013 by Mathilde David No comments »

Last Thursday night, the 6th annual Crunchies awards took place in San Francisco, an opportunity for the tech community to celebrate in one night all of the tech achievements of 2012. The event was organized by GigaOm, VentureBeat, and Techcrunch Readers voted for their favorite startups and tech celebrities, which resulted in about 20 awards.

Entrepreneurs, investors, engineers and tech fans gathered to find out who won the best startup, the best CEO or VC or what has been the best mobile app of 2012. The crowd was amazing! It included, among others, Marissa Mayer (Yahoo!), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Kevin Systrom (Instagram), Aaron Levie (box), Peter Thiel (VC). And of course, Ubifrance attended as well, spreading the word about the French Tech Tour!

Here is a list of the winners. No French company received an award, but we hope that one of the 2013 French Tech Tour participants might be selected next year!

 Best Technology Achievement Mars Curiosity

Best Collaborative Consumption Service Airbnb

Best E-Commerce Application Fab

Best Mobile Application Google Maps

Fastest Rising Startup Snapchat

Best Content Discovery Application Pinterest

Best Design Paper by FiftyThree

Best Bootstrapped Startup Techmeme

Sexiest Enterprise Startup Box

Best International Startup SoundCloud

Best Education Startup Codecademy

Best Hardware Startup Makerbot

Best Time Sink Buzzfeed

Biggest Social Impact Reddit

Angel of the Year Chris Dixon

VC of the Year Peter Thiel

Founder of the Year Kevin Systrom

CEO of the Year Mark Zuckerberg

Best New Startup of 2012 Coursera

Best Overall Startup of 2012 GitHub 

 

You can find the list of all nominees by category here:

Congratulations Crunchies winners

and full coverage of the event by TechCrunch :

Coverage

 

We were lucky to meet Marissa Mayer. That is the privilege of being in Silicon Valley. :)