Last week we sent some of the SocialSafe team to France for the LeWeb – the most talked-about international conference for startups and web entrepreneurs. This year was the 10th anniversary of the event, and we were already pleased to have been selected as one of the 16 semi-finalists in the LeWeb ’13 Startup Competition.. So imagine how happy we were when we took Silver overall! For the whole story, read on…
Each of the 16 semi-finalists (chosen from over 700 entrants spanning every continent barring Antarctica) had a stand in the Startup Lounge, where any of the 3,700+ attendees, VCs, journalists and bloggers could come and speak to them about their companies and products.
On the Tuesday, each startup had to deliver a pitch to a panel of judges who would then pick just three companies to go through to the final, where they would each give their pitch again, only this time to a much larger audience and wider panel of judges on the Plenary I stage in the main auditorium.
We went to Paris with the SocialSafe product that you already know, as well as the message that Big Data Is Wrong. There is a separate blog you can read on this topic that goes into more detail, so click here to find out why Big Data Is Wrong, Lots Of Little Data Is Right.
This message and our vision resonated well with everyone we spoke to, and clearly also with the judges! Thanks to a great preliminary pitch from SocialSafe Founder and Chairman, Julian Ranger, we made it to the last three and secured a place in the grand final!
[youtube http://youtu.be/2nyhysQx6os align=’center’]We were up against sleep monitoring headband startup IntelClinic, from Poland, and the US based Flinja – a P2P job marketplace that allows employers to search for hyperlocal talent. All three finalists gave strong pitches and presentations, and after a short period of deliberation IntelClinic were announced as overall winners, closely followed by SocialSafe in second place and Flinja in third.
We’re more than happy to have made it to second place, and we’d like to take a moment to congratulate IntelClinic on winning the LeWeb 2013 Startup Competition, and also say well done to the other semi-finalists who all gave great pitches earlier in the week. We met some really great people in the Startup Lounge and we hope everyone stays in touch.
The official footage of the final pitches isn’t available yet, but you can read more about the LeWeb ’13 Startup Competition finals on TechCrunch and TheNextWeb, as well as watching Julian’s semi-final pitch from earlier in the week above.
It was a great week for all of us in Paris, and fantastic to meet so many people who understood what it is that we do and where we plan to take SocialSafe in the future. A huge thank you to our whole team – both on the ground in Paris, and everyone back home involved with building the app and providing logistical support and assistance – for making the event run smoothly, and also a very big thank you to Loic and Geraldine for putting on such a great conference time and again.
Last but by no means least we need to thank you – the users – for your continued support for what we do. Without you there simply wouldn’t be a product, so we’d like to take this opportunity to show our appreciation for all the feedback and suggestions you continue to give us, and for using SocialSafe in the first place!
Coming second in the LeWeb ’13 Startup Competition has been a great way to cap off 2013 for us, and also points to big things for the future… Here’s to 2014, and all the things we have planned!
– the SocialSafe team