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Goldman Sachs To Return Bailout Money?
Seems like there are finally some good news coming out from the US finance sector.

I was in Paris this week for the LeWeb conference. There has been a lot of talk on the web about the conference itself. As Loïc writes in his blog, not all of the logistics worked out as expected; the internet was down (or extremely slow) for the most part of the conference, the first day in the main hall was very cold as one of the industrial heaters broke and during lunch time there wasn’t enough food for everyone.

Serious issues indeed, nevertheless – the conference whose theme was love was in my opinion a success in many ways.

Let me explain in a few words why. Europe is a lot more fragmented as a market place, compared to the US. The reason is relatively simple. We have a lot more different and more distinct cultures that still hold on to their traditions. This brings in many difficulties in sharing ideas and meeting new people – something that is crucial in many senses for taking those ideas to the next level.

LeWeb tackled that in bringing many people together from different parts of the world to network, share ideas and discuss how we can make our world a better place to live in – through new services and innovative solutions. The reason why I really like Le Web is the personal relationships Loïc brings in to make the event a success. LeWeb is always full of bloggers, thinkers, entrepreneurs and investors from America who bring in a boat full of new ideas to challenge our way of thinking. Something to keep us on our toes and not get too comfortable.

There’s definitely a lot to do in terms of making entrepreneurship thrive in Europe. We’re not that far behind the US here, but behind nevertheless. With conferences like these we are taking those steps to narrow the distance. Looking at the ecosystem as a whole, we shouldn’t be too concerned with 2 days without being fully nourished nor having to network in a slightly cooler environment – or actually having the internet down to enhance physical contact and networking with one another.

Last, but definitely not least – I’d like to thank my partners at Gyllene Skor for understanding my quick visit to Paris in the face of an unsurmountable amount of client work. They are an excellent bunch of professionals to work with.

Update: Seems like Michael Arrington of TechCrunch was along the same lines as my post – from the other side of the table of course.

South Park Studios has done something remarkable today. They have made all of South Park’s episodes availble on their website – to anyone in the world, not just the US. There have been numerous examples where movie studios and tv channels have given audiences the possibility to watch shows online, but they are usually limited to the national level, due to legal issues.

It will definitely be interesting to see how South Park’s success will pick up in the near future and what sort of traffic they will be reaching when all the pirate downloads are suddenly made obsolete.

You seldom find good stuff. Tonight I’ve found it I reckon. It rocks :)

Update: As the sharpest have realised the time of the post – I wasn’t at my best after a long night out. :)

James’ post on re-inventing Hot Or Not is a good comment from a founder’s perspective how sometimes you have to give up a lot inorder to win. A definite read for all start-up enthusiasts.

Michael Arrington from Techcrunch also points out an interesting fact: Up to ten marriages per day can be tracked to couples who originally met at the site.

Update: James has added part II and part III to his initial post.