Tetuan Valley Startup School Spring 2010 dates and inscription

So, after our first Tetuan Valley Startup School (TVSS) this past fall, we come back for more! We had an incredible experience that blew away our initial expectations. So this spring we are coming BACK! But not just back, but with more ammo than before! We are expanding the TVSS to Madrid and Barcelona! Yeah, you heard it right! So this spring we'll have 2 Startup Schools one in each city that will be working together during the program.

What is the Tetuan Valley Startup School? It's an experience that tries to bring to life many of the values of our manifesto. The Tetuan Valley Startup school is a 6 week program for young wanna-be-entrepreneurs who want to experience what is it like to build a startup.


What is exactly this program about?

The course is a 6 week period of training and working on the implementation of an idea. Teams will choose an idea the first day and their goal will be to release a prototype by the end of the program. During each week, we will meet with all teams at our offices in what we like to call, the pizza night. During the weekly meetings, our staff will give a small lecture about how to build startups. These lectures WON'T be technical in nature, but philosophical. Our goal is to communicate principles, not technical knowledge. After the lectures each team will present their achievements of the week, to us and the rest of the teams. They will also review their pitch, to prioritize developments, focus and improve communication skills.

Finally each pizza night we'll invite a mentor to give advice for 20min. Both, group and personal coaching will be available after that if desired. By the end of the 6 weeks we'll do a big presentation day where everyone will show their final prototype. We will then choose the best teams and projects as winners and their project will be forwarded to international investors for analysis.


Who is this program for?

This program is oriented nearly exclusively to young people who haven't experienced a startup. People who don't know what a startup is, who don't know that there is life beyond the consultant world or being a government employee. People that are ambitious but don't know how to project those feelings.


Who is behind this program?

We already wrote about it here, so check it out if you've missed it. For this edition we count with the invaluable help of our coordinators in Barcelona, Josep Amorós (CEO SOMA Barcelona) and Gregor Gimmy (CEO Sclipo).


Requirements

There are some basic requirements we expect everyone to fulfill.

1. Ideas for projects MUST be innovative. This means, we won't accept already existing ideas. We don't expect radically new ideas, but we do expect some degree of innovation. For example, Team A: We want to build a social network for my friends. FAIL! Team B: We want to build a system to exchange homework between fellow students. OK!
   
2. Ideas WILL be executed, so pick something that can be done in 6 weeks of work. This doesn't means that you should choose something that takes 1 weekend to finish and spend the other 5 weeks playing Wii. We want you to be stressed, but know yourself and pick something you can handle without spending 6 weeks with next to no sleep.
3. Teams will range from 1 to 3 persons max. (See Recommendations below)
4. Physical presence WILL be required (Barcelona or Madrid, Spain), so be sure you can attend the meetups during those 6 week before enrolling.
   

Recommendations

These are some tips we recommend you to follow. They aren't required but would help you a lot.

1. Enroll with a partner. We don't require you to have a team to enroll in the program, but it's highly advisable. If you want to participate try bringing a friend or a partner with you to help you with it. Best number is 2 persons per team.
2. Good English knowledge, written and spoken. All lectures will be in Spanish, nevertheless, our goal is to share them internationally, so some materials like slides, videos, etc. WILL be in English. We won't force anyone to speak or present in English, but it's highly advisable. So, beware, this will be a Spanish/English environment. If you don't feel comfortable with it, think it twice before enrolling.
3. This program will require you to work. Homework will be handed and weekly progress WILL be expected. Any team that doesn't shows progress will be immediately expelled from the program. So, if you really really don't feel like working, avoid yourself some pain and don't enroll.
4. This program will require you to participate. Constructive criticism is expected from everybody, as well as motivation for other to develop and improve their pitch and demos. If you are reserved we recommend you to leave your shyness out the door.
   
5. This program is aimed to first time entrepreneurs. People that haven't experienced the startup world or don't know it. So beware that if you enroll and already know what a startup is, what a VC is, what is a valuation, IPO, etc. you might get really bored. Enroll at your own risk, you've been warned.
6. Teams aren't expected to build their companies after the program. Some might, some won't. It's not the goal of the program to incubate new companies but to show a new path, a new way of thinking. Teams that want to keep going with their projects will be offered coaching and coworking space in Okuri Spaces. Teams that don't want to keep going with their projects can quit after the program ends. So there is no permanence contract with the program after it ends, it's open to the teams to choose.
7. I'm not a student anymore, may I participate? Yes, of course, we accept all age ranges, actually we love plural environments, so don't be shy.
8. If you don't have an idea, start thinking about it. Some teams don't have a clear idea or an idea at all. This part isn't critical, we have tons of ideas to give you, but it's only fair that you guys come out with a neat idea. Our recommendation is that you start thinking about it. Most of the times we say we don't have an idea because we haven't really thought about ideas yet, so get working on it!

Why SHOULD you enroll in the program?

After all the evil warnings and recommendation it's fair to write WHY should you give it a try.

Attending this program you'll get in touch with like minded people in the entrepreneurial world, not only locally, but globally. You'll learn how to do a good Zen presentation, how to pitch investors and how to pitch to other entrepreneurs that can give you advice. You will share experiences with other teams and establish relations with other entrepreneurs from other countries. You will learn the basics any successful startup needs to know, both from an entrepreneur perspective and from an investor perspective. You'll learn how to take an idea from the abstract world of ideas and execute it, how to plan for it and all the surprises that you'll find along the way.

If Kendo is the way of the sword... we will teach you the way of the startup. After that, it's up to you to succeed. You'll have what you need, the world will be waiting for you to come and take what you fight for!

And always remember:

"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking." - Buddhist Saying


Dates

The program is expected to start April 7th (Madrid), April 8th (Barcelona) of 2010 and will end by the end of May (19th & 20th), 6 weeks after. Meetups will be schedule every Wednesday afternoon (Madrid) and Thursday afternoon (Barcelona) during those weeks. Some sporadic extra meetups might be scheduled to assist to entrepreneurial events but won't be obligatory (although advisable).

NOTE: The previous dates are still provisional so take them with a grain of salt until we confirm them.

Fees

NON, nada, FREE as in beer. So there is no excuse for not attending the program.


Enrollment

If after reading all the above warnings and advice you still feel fit for it, fill in the inscription form here with your information and the information of any of your teammates (please don't send 3 inscriptions per team member, with one per team is enough). Be also sure you mark which city is the one you're attending. Inscriptions WILL be closed March 23rd but the number of slots are fixed so BE FAST or you'll end up with no slot.

If you don't want to attend but know someone that might fit our requirements and might be interested in attending, please send them our way or write us at startupschool@tetuanvalley.com


Any questions or inquires?

Feel free to ask us

• startupschool@tetuanvalley.com
• twitter.com/tetuanvalley

Lovely entrepreneur dinner in Barcelona

Josep Amorós (@joelovely) from SOMABarcelona , latest addition to the Tetuan Valley crew and local liaison of the soon to be announced Barcelona edition of Tetuan Valley Startup School, organized a great dinner with many entrepreneurs from Barcelona last Thursday that has finally convinced us to establish our beachhead in the city

(photo by @Elies)

We hope to update on the more formal meetings in a week or two, in the meanwhile let us know (barcelona@tetuanvalley.com) if you want to join us next time

Startup School interview at globecorp.biz

Some months ago, our friends from GlobeCorp came to Madrid and recorded a couple of interviews with us. This is the latest video from them:

We would like to thank Jean-Yves Huwart for the interview. We are looking forward to see you guys again!

Opening hailing frequencies to connect with the other Seed Accelerator Programs

Yesterday part of the crew and myself had a conversation with  Bootcamp Denmark in the hopes of organizing an exchange program with lots of Viking females that could help us lure the best hackers into the Spring 2010 edition of Startup School. It obviously didn't work out, but we had the chance to share a lot of experiences and realized how important it was in many ways to start learning from each other the best way to fine tune the Ycombinator model to other latitudes. We are honoured Techstars has been the third program to join us.

Combined with our contacts with Seedcamp to help organize the Barcelona stage at IESE, and talks with other accelerator programs around the world, it seems the right time to open up the channels; if you are part of the organization of an accelerator program and would like to join our discussion group please shoot me an email

If you want to check out the other programs we have added those from Shedd's list to the sidebar

Next stop Barcelona

A few months after writting our manifesto we made an interesting discovery while walking through Barcelona on our way to Keiretsu Forum, within the heart of probably the most entrepreneurial city in Spain there is a Tetuan neighbourhood too!

Next Thursday and Friday part of our crew will take the bullet train to Barna for a series of meetings that is likely to result in a few surprises for the Spring 2010 Startup School... drop us an email if you want to meet at some point

New year, new logo

After almost a year with the provisional logo built with PaintShop Pro 5 in under 10min, we have finally decided to upgrade to a professional version from Zebra on Wheels, a Marketing boutique based out of Amsterdam, Honolulu and Mumbai that definitely shares our vision for a flat world.

More news to follow soon!

Official #leweb post by @abarrera

Submitted by LeWeb on Mon, 12/14/2009 - 06:33
 

LeWeb has a very active official bloggers community from around the world and is proud to open its blog to guest posts from them, in addition of providing easy access to their posts about the conference. Here is a post by Alex Barrera from Spain.

Being an entrepreneur you soon learn that people like us are rare. It's hard to find them among the usual population, specially cause we account for a very small percentage of it. Nevertheless, this percentage of entrepreneurs slightly varies from country to country. US for example has a very high percentage of entrepreneurs if you compare it with my home country Spain, who has close to none.

Because it's hard to find us, we tend to move around a great deal, or at least we try. In the US though, this concept of moving around is something natural. Most Americans move at least 3 times among different cities and many professionals go back and forth between both coasts regularly. For most of them, this is something, not only natural, but essential. It's something we, in Europe, aren't used at all. Most Europeans only travel either during holidays or for a business trip. Even in those cases, most of us bring our country culture with us. That is, there are still very real frontiers in peoples minds across Europe, even though from multiple angles (law, economy, etc.), Europe is finally one. Still, old habits die hard.

In my experience, most cases of cultural blindness are prompt from a lack of travelling. Even though most EU countries are very close (much closer than San Francisco from New York City for example), people see travelling there like an ordeal, like something close to an adventure.

So, why are things like LeWeb so important? Basically, LeWeb brings together not only Europeans, but plenty of other people from other countries like the US, China, Argentina, etc. During 2 days you can encounter people from hundreds of different countries, people who share, in most cases, your same interests. But this is nothing new, international conferences have existed for ages. What's new for me is that now, thanks to plenty of social media tools, we are able to maintain those worldwide connections alive, even years after the conference took place. What I'm seeing is a convergence of entrepreneurs in Europe. I feel closer to my European peers now than what I felt 3 years ago.

Finally, the Internet is breaking the cultural barriers and history heritage that for so long has separated people in Europe. Finally, different cultures are working together to keep those links alive. Finally, we are starting to be one, and not many.

For all that, for that incredible experience, for enabling Europeans spread their love all over the world, thank you LeWeb, thank you Loic and Geraldine and thank you all, citizens of the world, who by coming together are enabling an incredible world flattening experience.

Alex Barrera is an entrepreneur based in Madrid, Spain, founder at Inkzee.com and cofounder of TetuanValley, an entrepreneur tech incubator based in Madrid for global entrepreneurs.

Link to original post in LeWeb blog

We'll be at LeWeb!

Hello all, just wanted to drop a fast note about LeWeb. As last year, we'll be attending LeWeb, this year, as an official blogger there. We plan on having a great time there and would be thrilled to meet any Tetuan Valley followers also attending LeWeb. So, if anyone is also attending the conference, please let us know so we can meet with you!!

See you all in Paris tomorrow!!

PS: DM @tetuanvalley or @abarrera if you're around.

Animoto Startup School Fall 2009

EDIT: Added links so you can check out startups from the Tetuan Valley Startup School Fall 2009 edition (thanks @Abel)

- TinkSecurity
- Therapeers
- Triptance
- PicoMicro
- Azenik
- Rehash.me
- e-assistenzalegale
- Sunpowar

Paying is obsolete

These series of guest posts are written by the teams attending the Tetuan Valley Startup School Fall edition. The Orange team, formed by Emilio González and Paco Fernandez, is presenting their project, azenik.

For start-ups, at least at the very beginning, burn rate control is a must. Common sense impulse us to save money, setting it aside for just the things that actually can’t be bought without it (people, assets, some kind of advertisement, etc).

About software and some services we tend to use free software programs instead. Free is a lovely word, but unfortunately it’s often followed by disappointing products.

It is really important to dig out and look for great free apps that will help us running our business (and they are a lot!). This is not only related to development tools (as it is one of the key points) but also in other areas.

The development environment is a paradise, we can choose from a myriad of languages, frameworks, and add-ons. Totally free LAMP environments (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) are very common (and not only in start-ups!). They provide an operating system, web server, database and programming language. Although quality-hosting don’t belongs to the free lunch table, most of these paying services are based on free Linux OS running Apache as Web Server, and ready to run PHP programs with MySQL databases. Several of these products are really transparent to the entrepreneur (they don’t care too much) but the programming language and framework to work with are an important decision, sometimes critical.

Today, no doubt that the reference programming language is PHP with free frameworks like CodeIgniter, Cakephp or even NetBeans . Other initiatives and languages are emerging also like the Django framework and the Python language, recently discussed in this blog pointing out how they enhance productivity.

As well as the community, the big boys are moving forward in this direction and Sun for example is one of the companies with a richer portfolio in the free open tools arena (even if in some cases, when needed, can be escalated to commercial products). The aforementioned MySQL and NetBeans are developed by them, as also are Java, the GlassFish application server, the VirtualBox virtualization product and the well known OpenOffice desktop suite. Most of the times previous knowledge and abilities forces the founders in one or other direction but sometimes a deeper investigation is worth the while.

Aside from helping developers, there are a lot of others invaluable free tools addressed to finance, tech support, communications, collaboration work or automatic backup and daily use.

Only to bring out some of them, mention Crossloop or Teamviewer for remote tech support, DimDim or Mikogo for web conferencing, QuickBooks Simple start for basic accounting, Doomi for tracking tasks, Skype to be in contact, Google suite of tools for lots of things or Dropbox or Mozy for automatic backup.

Then, remember, to develop, work and build up a start-up no excuses!, no MasterCard needed; and it is true, there are things that money can’t buy.