Many of you know that I am a keen advocate of Sun Microsystems' Sun StartUp Essentials Programme. I am fortunate to work with Stewart Townsend (a brilliant easy-to-get-alone individual) from the beginning of the programme, and continue to do so with sharing ideas and initiatives. Stewart has geared the initiative to become a true friend to digital startups in the UK. He has filled the gap that other competitors (HP, Microsoft, etc) have not seen. Initiatives he supports or supported include Northern StartUp 2.0, Mashup Events, Webmission08 and Digital Mission.

No company is too small for Sun. Stewart engages with any company by understanding their pain and then providing or recommending solutions to ease the pain and set the company forward for growth. It is not always about selling hardware or services. The engagement model has started to work well for Sun. And Stewart's commitment to programme is well recognised externally as well as within the company when Sun recently presented him with an award for commitment.

Here is a snap shot of recent discussion on Sun's startup blog

OpenSolaris Vending Machine

Free Hosting for Facebook and Open Social Applications

Sun and Joyent have teamed up to bring free hosting for Facebook and Open Social Applications.

Thanks to Stewart, Sun Microsystems now has a permanent office at Daresbury Science and Innovation Centre. Stewart, keep up the good work. The community needs true champions such as you to make a change.

Jelle de Bruin, co-founder of AppAppeal informed me of this excellent video they have created on UK's hottest 30 web companies. Glad to see edocr among them plus number of webmission08 companies.

Another gem from AppAppeal on hottest web companies launched in July 08

Please read page 6 and 7 of:

The headline is "leaders of the region's £16 billion digital and creative industries are intensifying their efforts to establish the North West as one of the world's most innovative production centre's for digital entertainment and new media".

As part of the initiative to grow regional output by £1bn from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by 2015, the North West Development Agency (NWDA) is in the process of establishing a number of Media Enterprise Centres (MECs) where production companies, broadcasters, small digital companies and universities can collaborate. Phase 1 includes opening of the MediaCityUK in Salford Quays and Liverpool Innovation Park later this year.

The article further states that the sector currently generates 16% of Gross Value Added (GVA) and 10.6% of the workforce. Clearly, some outstanding figures, and NWDA and others are to be congratulated for their vision and execution. Article also states that the creative industries cover 18 market segments from advertising and design to television and publishing. At the heart of this is £300 million a year GVA from computer games industry.

However, the article does not extend to mention any internet based companies such as our own Northern Stars. Does this mean that the NWDA do not see the potential upside that Northern Stars could create? Just imagine the birth of Bebo, Skype, YouTube and Last.FM in the North West. Companies such as those cannot be ignored. Problem is that at present, none of the Northern Stars have attracted significant opportunities to warrant the attention of NWDA. The number of startups has not reach the critical mass. At present, there are a small number of companies. The most successful digital product based businesses to emerge out of the region are Freeserve, Plus.net and recently moneysupermarket.com, all of which were setup during the dot.com era.

Instead of complaining, I believe it is our duty to create the next wave of giants. In this process, Northern StartUp 2.0 continues to serve those companies that are taking the initiative. And in this process, it is vital to understand the needs of Northern Stars beyond the need for capital injections. What help would you be needing?

An issue that I have not successfully resolved is the dividing line between the North and South of United Kingdom, from the perception of Northern StartUp 2.0. The services provided by Northern Startup 2.0 is for the digital startups in the North of England. At present it excludes Midlands and South Wales due to the perception that companies in these regions may well be aligning themselves with the South instead of the North.

Danny Dorling of the Sheffield University argues that drawing a line is near impossible. You can read his article here.

Click on the image for a detailed map

So the questions are:

1. Should we treat startup companies which are located above the line but below North West, Yorkshire and Humberside as Northern Companies?
2. Secondly, do they want to be treated as Northerners?

Appreciate hearing your thoughts on this subject.

An e-mail from Phil Tapsell took me to the website of Richard Farleigh. Whilst I met Doug Richards at Liverpool thanks to Steve Smith of MerseysideICT (by the way, It is claimed that Doug was on the panel that selected edocr as one of the 20 hottest UK startups), I had no dealings with any of the other so called Dragons to date, who has to maintain a mean look for the joy of TV viewers.

I thought of sharing this video about Richard Farleigh (copyright remains with publisher)

Is this inspirational? What do you think? This reminds me of the days I played on CFDs (Contracts for Difference). Wonder what Richard thinks about web 2.0 and enteprise 2.0!

Reshma Sohoni was the keynote speaker at this event. Only few pictures were taken. Lot's of empty seats unlike the last event on 15th July. Enjoy!

I am happy to report that we had the best Northern StartUp 2.0 event ever on the 15th of July at KPMG Manchester. In case you missed it, here is a teaser:

At the core of Northern StartUp 2.0 is the Northern Digital Entrepreneurs, that is people like me (Founder of edocr), Anish Kapoor (Founder of Yuuguu) and other Northern Stars. The purpose is to serve their needs, mostly in the areas of:

1. Capital injection
2. Exposure
3. Reduce loneliness - You are never alone in your journey to hit that massive Vision

We address Item 1 above by bringing Venture Capitalists. Here is a list of VCs we have entertained:

1. Liverpool Ventures/Merseyside Special Investment Fund/Liverpool Seed Fund - North West (Liverpool)
2. Enterprise Ventures/Rising Stars - North West (Preston, Manchester) & Yorkshire and Humberside
3. YFM Private Equity - North West (Manchester) and UK
4. Advent Ventures - South East (London)
5. DFJ Esprit - South East (London)
6. Seedcamp - South East (London) and Europe
7. MTI Firms - North West (Manchester) and World

We now need to expand above by exposing Business Angels and Debit Financiers to Northern Stars.

Item 2 is addressed through providing a platform for short pitches, and on-line (private messaging) and face-to-face events.

We have also started to campaign to both Regional Development Agencies and the Central Government. So, do let us know what specific help you require.

On 15th, we had great line up of panelists from New York, London and Manchester. See event page for more details

I would also like to make a request. Please check the website before writing that e-mail. Check the FAQs on footer. Your time and my time are both precious.

I have been running Northern StartUp 2.0 events to promote digital entrepreneurship in the North of UK since October 2006 at the suggestion of TechCrunch's UK Editor at the time, Sam Sethi. I am happy to announce that for the first time, the event on 15th July at KPMG Manchester has been oversubscribed. We will also be welcoming our first US Venture Capitalist and will entertain another prominent London VC (had Paul Fisher and Reshma Sohoni before). This event has also attracted a total of 10 Venture Capitalists (yes, I know, quite unheard of!). At this rate, it is hard to avoid not bumping into a VC (5 to 1). So do come prepared if you are interested in raising capital for your company. I know I will be.

Unfortunately, Carl Allen cannot be with us, but Hugh Osborn will be here to address any issues on valuation techniques. The theme is valuing your digital startup. If you have not registered but plan to attend, please register now. As the event is oversubscribed, we will only allow those who have registered. To register, create an account at http://www.nwstartup20.co.uk, login and click the link at bottom of event page.

We will also entertain Simon Grice from Mashup Events for the third time. He is also running an excellent event in London on the 17th on enterprise 2.0 which I will be attending. We will also be running an event on enterprise 2.0 later this year and seek speakers as well as demo companies. We are also planning an event on Government 2.0 with Tom Watson, the Cabinet Office Minister who supported Webmission08 (did you know that www.edocr.com was the only Northern Company that was selected?). Just waiting for Tom to commit to a date.

Are you using your website to promote your company, products and services? If so, there is another service which could equally be helpful in marketing your company. Why not take a look at www.edocr.com? Upload your marketing collateral and start generating leads today. It costs nothing but the uploading time. More services will be introduced in the near future. Do get in touch, if you have a query.

If you are running a digital product based startup and based in the North of England, make sure your company is recognised as a Northern Star. You can also blog on the site to promote your digital startup. Private messaging is also possible.

Special thanks to support from Sun Microsystems StartUp Essential Programme. Plus KPMG, who supported us from Day 1. Not to forget eOffice where some of our events are held. Thank you.

Have a great weekend and look forward to meeting you soon.

Crain's Manchester Business is the only weekly business publication available in Manchester. Crain's approached Northern StartUp 2.0 prior to launch to understand the ecosystem for digital product based companies. As a result the Northern StartUp 2.0 was featured on the very first issue published on the 17th December 2007.

In case you did not know, our Northern Star, edocr hosts all issues of Crain's Manchester Business. In fact, you cannot access Crain's from anywhere else in pdf or flash document format. If you wish to tune to Crain's:

- Setup a RSS feed

So here is this weeks, issue:

Here is the actual Flash document:

Crain's continue to cover stories on digital companies, both product based and none product based (digital media). In this issue:

- ANS Group captures more publicity through use of Smart Cars - Great opportunity for Cisco to be seen with a Northern Plus Market listed company. Read the story on Page 2.
- Topskips.com - This is the first time I came across this company, clearly not a startup based on revenues. Definitely worth getting to know Mark Attwood. Anyone care to invite him to a Northern StartUp 2.0 event, as I do not know him YET?
- Page 23 lists our next event on the 15th

Enjoy Crain's. It's free at edocr.

Press Release - Manchester, UK - 10th July 2008

Ribbit rumours contribute to PhoneFromHere.com momentum

Rumours of the acquisition by BT of Ribbit have added to the weight of expectation around the web-based voice market. If the rumours are true, the award-winning PhoneFromHere.com will be one of the few independent players remaining in the market.

The UK-based company PhoneFromHere.com is a direct competitor to Silicon Valley-based Ribbit, which the rumours suggest has been acquired by BT for $55 million dollars. PhoneFromHere.com won the Big Chip International Award for Innovation recently, and was also part of a winning entry at the SXSW awards in the US.

"This raises expectations, and reaffirms our belief in the value of this market," commented Tim Panton, founder of PhoneFromHere.com. "Although it's sad that even British institutions like BT believe they need to look to the other side of the Atlantic for innovation, when they could find it much closer to home."

PhoneFromHere.com's solution is entirely standards based, unlike Ribbit's proprietary system. PhoneFromHere.com's unique interface does not rely on Adobe Flash like many competitors, providing enhanced flexibility in deployment and simple integration with key web standards like DHTML.

Contact:
Georgia Brown

www.PhoneFromHere.com

Giving the web a voice!

georgia@phonefromhere.com
+44 (0) 0161 288 4242