“Prezi is one of the most exciting companies I have worked with during my 13 years as a serial Entrepreneur, and I see great opportunities for Prezi in the US and Silicon Valley, and I think that Microsoft and Google should watch Prezi closely, because Prezi is disrupting the way we present information.”
– Nicolai Wadstrom, CEO and founder of BootstrapLabs (The complete press release here).
Prezi, the recently launched online zooming presentation tool, has entered into an agreement with BootsrapLabs to help them establish a US presence. Nicolai Wadstrom could hardly hide his excitement when I met with him last week. I couldn’t agree with him more, as I’ve written about Prezi earlier.
What is BootstrapLabs?
BootstrapLabs, as the name states, is a company to bootstrap and serve as an out-post for non-us companies wanting to establish in the US and Silicon Valley, i.e. your company’s home away from home, including offices and expertise.
BootstrapLabs offers two types of services, Accelerator and Business Lab. Accelerator helps to bootstrap non-us startups into the US and Silicon Valley providing advice on strategy, branding and corporate structure, as the Business Lab is an incubator for new ideas to turn the best of them into companies. BootstrapLabs uses a risk-sharing model, equity and cash combination, to make sure that both the interests and goals of the companies they work with remain focused. They also partner with other strategic investors and partners, as in case of Prezi.
BootstrapLabs was founded september 2008 by Nicolai Wadstrom, a Swedish angel investor and serial entrepreneur since 1995. He got the idea while trying to establish business contacts in Silicon Valley during the last recession. Now, almost ten years, a numerous companies and business contacts later, his vision to have a company that helps other startups to build the brigde between Europe and US has become true. At the moment they have an office in Redwood City and planning to open one in San Francisco, Nicolai’s new home town soon to be.
Prezi is now joining the BootstrapLabs Accelerator “family” of GlocalReach Ltd, a communication platform using VoIP technology, and CommunityHeaven, company operating within communities and content websites, e.g. Programmers Heaven. Nicolai told they’re also working with three other Swedish startups within mobile and cloudcomputing.
Who is BootstrapLabs looking for?
According to Nicolai BootstrapLabs has its eyes especially on
- Internet and technology startups
- Startups close to launch and in a commercialization phase
- Startups ready to establish themselves in Silicon Valley
Would you have any new models for improving how people communicate, how to move the social web into the physical space or applications for the semantic web, you will most surely catch their attention.
The life of a startup can be pretty lonely, and to reach new markets a showstopper. Having a local presence and finding the right people to work with are two important cornerstones of successful entrepreneurship, while establishing abroad. I think it’s only a healthy sign that several type of options are rising for startups to find their way to new markets, as not everyone is to appear in the radar of the large A-list investors.
