European Commission
Press release
Brussels, 21 March 2013
EU says we should glorify our entrepreneurs:Skype; Spotify and Angry Birds creators advise EU – first stage of "Startup Europe" campaign
Most people think of Silicon Valley in the United States when they think about technology and entrepreneurs – the European Commission wants young Europeans to be inspired by home-grown entrepreneurs, so their bright ideas start and stay in Europe.
With help from the creators of Spotify, Angry Birds, Tuenti, Skype, SeedCamp, HackFwd, London's Tech City and TheNextWeb, the Commission is creating a platform for star entrepreneurs to tell their stories of inspirations and frustration, to wake-up young Europeans and leaders to the potential of entrepreneurial careers.
"Europeans need to be creative and fearless. That's how dozens of the world's most exciting web and tech companies were born in the EU, and I want the world to know it," said Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President, "I want young entrepreneurs to have role models, and for them to have a real digital single market to grow their ideas in."
The Startup Europe Leaders Club is the first part of Startup Europe, the European Commission's 6-part plan to accelerate and connect local entrepreneurship ecosystems in Europe to help tech start-ups to start and grow in Europe and to scale up to a global level.
Members of the Startup Europe Leaders Club are living proof that web entrepreneurship can be a hugely rewarding career. Neelie Kroes said "These people didn't just talk about doing something, they went and did it. That's why young people and leaders should listen to them."
For example, Spotify is now in 23 countries; Skype handles one third of international calls; Angry Birds is bigger than Twitter, with over 250 million monthly active users. And yet our numbers of ICT graduates are falling and our unemployment queues are growing. Entrepreneurs can help us fill these gaps.
The leaders (in alphabetical order, see annex for full biography) are:
Zaryn Denzel, (@Zaryn), born in California, founder of Tuenti, Spain's largest 'invite-only' social network
Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) and Martin Lorentzon (@MartinLorentzon) – founders of online music streaming service Spotify
Lars Hinrichs (@LarsHinrichs) – founder and CEO of HackFwd, a pre-seed investment company
Joanna Shields (@TechCityUK) CEO and Chair of Tech City Investment Organisation
Reshma Sohoni (@rsohoni) – partner of SeedCamp, a catalyst for Europe's next generation of entrepreneurs
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (@Boris) entrepreneur - founder of The Next Web
Niklas Zennström (@atomicoventures) – co-founder of Skype, Kazaa, Joltid and Joost and Atomico
The other elements of Startup Europe are:
The Startup Europe Partnership, to unlock expertise, mentoring, technology and services
EU Accelerators Forum to increase awareness of the existing accelerator programs
EU Crowdfunding Networks, to link up existing crowd-funding platforms, especially those specialised in Web start-ups
Making Venture Capitalists more aware of Web Business by sharing success stories and through networking activities
Fostering Web Talent by:
a) Expanding the role of online education platforms (such as “Massive Online Open Courses”) to combat the shortage of Web developers;
b) Using barter platforms as marketplace for sharing and trading skills Europe-wide among Web entrepreneurs; and
c) Exploring the viability, at European level, of twinning senior, experienced people with young entrepreneurs to share ideas and experiences.
Background
Web entrepreneurs worldwide have an enormous impact on the economy and society. The majority of new jobs are created by start-ups and 45% of Europeans would like to be their own boss if they could.
Collectively, start-up companies create three million jobs in the US in each year during their first year of business, a level of dynamism we would like to see matched in the EU.
Useful links
Digital Agenda site on StartupEurope
Social Media: @startupEU and #StartUpEurope
http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/Digital Agenda
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/index_en.htm
Neelie Kroes
Follow Neelie on Twitter
Contacts : Ryan Heath (+32 2 296 17 16), Twitter: @RyanHeathEU Linda Cain (+32 2 299 90 19) |
Annex
Biographies of Leaders Club members
Zaryn Dentzel is founder and CEO of Tuenti, Spain's largest 'invite-only' social network with over 12 million users. Dentzel originates from Santa Barbara, California and had his first go at social networking aged 21 when he co-created the political social network Essembly in the USA. He went to Spain at age 15 as an exchange student, to study diplomacy and Spanish Literature and has now become one of Spain's wealthiest and most famous young entrepreneurs thanks to the success and fast growth of Tuenti. His ambition is 'to change the way people consume information in Spain'. Tuenti was acquired by Telefonica on August 4, 2010 for €70 million.
Daniel Ek is a serial entrepreneur and technologist who started his first company in 1997 at the age of 14 and co-founded Spotify in 2006, together with Martin Lorentzon. He was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden where he still lives.
As the CEO of Spotify, Daniel's role is to guide the vision and strategy of the company as it grows. Leading the management team, Daniel is also responsible for nurturing a passionate working environment for everyone at Spotify.
Prior to Spotify, Daniel founded Advertigo, having previously held senior roles at Nordic auction company Tradera (acquired by Ebay). Daniel was also CTO at Stardoll, the fashion & entertainment community for tweens.
Kaj Hed is the majority owner and Chairman of the highly successful Rovio / Angry Birds. Kaj is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience of the international software business. He founded Trema (acquired by Wall Street Systems). A Finnish citizen, he was born in 1955. His first directorship was in 1995 with Trema Consulting Limited.
Martin Lorentzon first struck up his partnership with Daniel Ek when Tradedoubler, Europe's largest affiliate sales network (founded by Martin), acquired Daniel's company Advertigo in 2006. Previously, Martin held senior roles at Telia, Altavista, Cell Ventures and NetStrategy. Martin studied Economics at Stockholm School of Economics in Sweden and has extensive knowledge of building companies. As chairman of Spotify, Martin has been on the company’s board of directors since July 2006.
Joanna Shields is CEO of Tech City Investment Organisation. An American-British businesswoman, she was named UK's Business Ambassador for Digital Industries. Previously she was VP and Managing Director of Facebook Europe, Middle East and Africa. Previously, at AOL, she was Executive VP for People Networks, extending the global reach of AOL's social networks, by integrating Bebo, AIM, ICQ, and AOL's other community platforms, Goowy Media and Yedda,- reaching a combined 80 million users worldwide.
