This is the way: Luxembourg gives Innovation easy access to Money

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One thing I never quite managed to wrap my head around is the way financing for start-ups works. Well, yeah – I understand how it works and why it works like that. But fact is: A start-up and it´s visionary leaders, taking personal risks to move it forward, should focus on their business entirely and push it towards success. Instead they struggle to get to the next finance round and pay for the essentials.

Markets which make it easy to access funds to grow a business, from my point of view, got it right. It should be easy for small businesses to finance innovation and growth and when a local government is supporting that in a relevant way, thats even better.

In that sense: great initiative in Luxembourg these days, with a deal between the European Funds for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and BNP Paribas in Luxembourg for lending cheap money to innovative SMBs in the marketplace. EFSI pretty much is a tool of the EU Commission to boost innovation and jobs. So say something that the EU is a bad thing. It is not. You can read how good it really is on the EU Commissions website.

Full details on the Luxembourg deal can be found here.

 

Resolution Foundry is hiring – join the best Berlin start-up!

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Check out the job openings here.

Find out more about Resolution Foundry here.

Juniper Research: Beacons drive mobile commerce

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According to a study published by Juniper Research, Beacon-powered coupon- and rewards programs proof to work. What may not come as a surprise to the mobile people among us has now a scientific foundation, based for instance on an 8% increase in the sales of Chicken sandwiches at McDonalds using in store beacons instead of the more traditional coupon activities they have – while I always asked myself how they measure those due to a lack of tracking. An article published by the Mobile Commerce Daily (which you can read here in full length) suggests redemption rates of 60% at a Chinese Retailer, which I would find pretty ground-breaking and leading to the question: how on earth did they do that? I would think they probably have beacons all over so the consumer has no choice but to redeem something, just to get rid of it? A question also raised in the article: how much pressure is good for beacon based advertising in stores? Two per visit per customer is suggested. I would turn notifications off by then. But perhaps thats just me.

Do you speak Startup? This is the way to understand the special lingo.

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techcrunchIts so true: in Startups as much as in any other industry or company there is a typical way to speak, best described as „startup-lingo“. Its all buzz words of course – but what do they mean? TechCrunch gives excellent guidance. I love the way they picked this up – read the full story here.

Study: Ukrainians adopt „Western Mentality“

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A study conducted by the Ukrainian / Danish software firm Livatek suggests that there has been a shift in mentality in Ukraine over the recent years. In a digital „cultural survey“ the participants were asked to respond to typical „questions of scruples“ regarding their professional and personal life. The study first has been conducted four years ago, which makes it even more interesting: Not only has Ukraine gone through dramatic times, and still is, but also there have been some dramatic shifts in the mentality applied to work and life in general. While the results for participants from Northern Europe and North America have been in the same range for both studies.
The biggest finding is an interesting one: While in 2011 the mentality in the Ukraine was significantly different from the one in Northern Europe and North America, this difference is now gone for the most part. The Ukrainian mentality has adjusted to a more „western“ mindset. Fundamentally in 2011, there was no trust in the legal system. The individual and its direct friends were valued higher than the society. And there was a strong belief that your family background matters more than what you are doing – which direcly translates into who is supporting and protecting you is key to success. Now that has changed.
UA Survey

Source: Livatek

The study concludes that the Ukraine is now a less individualistic society with much greater trust in law enforcement and the legal system. Its much less important for Ukrainians now who looks after you – much more important now is the belief that you can matter for yourself in life and achieve something by your own.
What a shift!
This shift has happened in just four years – in which the Ukrainian society stood up against a kleptocratic tyrant and another one from its neighborhood, still facing the conflict.
It makes me optimistic for the future of the country because these values we now share are the foundation for economic success. And economic success is key for stability of the society.
The full study conducted by Livatek is available here.