Monaco : the lessons of the « Net-Business-Start-up forum »

European start-ups and dotcorps focused on the crisis of the new economy. The great lessons to keep in mind in terms of investment and technology choices.

What can you learn from the last « Net Business-Start-up forum » which was held in July at Monaco ? Quite a lot of things : lessons from the current crisis which also shows that the Net economy starts to enter its period of maturity. The first lines of reflection : the ones which came from the round tables and sessions launched on the theme of the winning choices in terms of investments.Choose between market shares or benefitsIt was concluded that :- Investors shouldn’t expect the same return on investments that in the United States in terms of delays. They should focus on national markets where the e-activity is in good health.- The companies of the new economy have to choose between two alternatives : win market shares or favour benefits. Both are wise but a choice has to be made.- The importance given to management is essential. A bad team which is not well managed can make the best business fail.Favour efforts of standardizationSecond type of observations: the ones which came from the plenary session dedicated to technologic trends in 2001. The following trends were particularly noticed:- In order to optimize innovations in terms of wireless technology, the company, the process and consumer models need to be rethought and studied again.- In order to capture and give a sense to data such as IR, DM, BI, CRM, SCM, KM and CI, the suitable teams, technologies and processes have to be set.- The interface system will become essential in the connection sphere. Efforts of standardization will become key components. (XML, Semantic Web).Despite the crisis, this third forum gathered more than 150 European start-ups and dotcorps representing more than 10,000 employees and all together having raised more than 1 billion euros. The next meeting was set, still in Monaco, in January 2002. This forum, will be entirely dedicated to French dotcorps, compared to the summer one which was opened on the international.