[Startups! All #LeWeb Founder, Fundraising, Pitching, and Conference Hustle Advice Now In One Place]
It’s almost been a week now since LeWeb was wrapped up by Geraldine and Loic Le Meur, but the Twitter feed for hashtag #leweb is still very much alive and kicking.
2 300 participants from 46 countries carried 2 937 devices with them, of which 1 008 were iPhones, sent 665Gb data and the the two day conference resulted in total 200 000 live views on LeWeb Ustream Channel (incl. archives). No wonder we managed to kill 8 000 cups of Nespresso!
Numbers state the obvious: People do love to meet offline – and share their experiences online. And since the urge to share is now enabled in real-time by various communication technologies and platforms available, industries stand in front of the firehoses of information without knowing what to do with it – and most of all, how to monetize this engagement and information. 2 300 people around the world came to LeWeb to try to figure that out, together.
The Connected Conference Experience by MobileRoadie
I personally fell in love with Mobile Roadie, which together with awesome Ustream delivered the coolest iPhone application so far: the offical LeWeb app. How can you not be totally blown away by the fact that you can simultaneously watch the perfect stream on your phone of what you are experiencing live? Add the fact, that everything is also available archived the minute after the live stream is over. Moreover, all the attendees are easily available, all the conversations and buzz that’s going on, on top of the push notifications of changes in the schedule. In other words, the perfect tool to connect people around common interests and events! Watch the LeWeb live demo by Michael Schneider, CEO Mobile Roadie.
Testing MobileRoadie during The History of The Real Time Web by Sean Percival
What everybody seemed to agree on across the roundtable discussions, was that connectedness adds customer value, and that there’s no way but to go with the flow and experiment the best one can. LeWeb certainly didn’t lack great speeches, and I would like to summarise the core essence of what is going on around us on the real-time web using following quotes:
“Every device is becoming interactive”, Axel Schmiegelow, sevenload
“Connectivity is a commodity”, Jonathan Benassaya, Deezer
“Social graph optimization is the new SEO”, Seth Stenberg, Meebo
“We’re banking revenue ($6 billion) because we’re connecting with customers”, Richard Binhammer, Dell
“People like to interact with their own content!”, Justin Kan, justin.tv
I highly recommend you to take the time and watch the following three sessions in order to better understand the magnitude of the technology shift we are facing, and why we need to stay very close to, and engage in discussions with our customers.
Platform Roundtable
Close to a humble platform roundtable moderated by Michael Arrington with industry giants such as Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn, Ustream, SixApart, MySpace and Twitter. It was a manifestation of how fragile their impact on user loyalty is. There’s no way of surviving without understanding the importance of users’ social graphs, putting the user experience first, and treating ones developer community well.
Even Osama Bedier of PayPal, interviewed by Om Malik, GigaOM Networks, was clear on PayPal’s goal: Ensure payments on any device and platform possible. Why? Because all platforms and devices are going to be connected and users will expect to be able to interact and make payments regardless the device.
Future Of Video
Panel with Axel Schmiegelow, sevenload, and Justin Kan, justin.tv, moderated by Rodrigo Sepulveda, vpod.tv
For hard facts and hands on tips on how to monetize online video, work with social video platforms and advertising. This panel knows how users like to interact with online content, and how to monetize that. Justin.tv have one million created channels, hosts 40 000 broadcasts per day, and have users uploading 24.3 hours of live video per minute! Sevenload manages to push CPM levels as high as $39! Learn why two screen experience already counts for 15% of the revenue of the traditional TV, and why one has to target the content first, and ads second.
Brian Solis, also on the panel of “How brands and marketing have to adapt to this new worldwide real time “word of mouth”“, has been following the evolution of social video and written a great post on why live streaming services have taken the step to become an important part of mainstream media strategies.
To put the development of social online video in a Swedish perspective:
Bambuser, Swedish live video streaming service, has also experienced a growth in number of videos viewed since enabling broadcasting live directly on ones Facebook feed. Just within two months Facebook now counts for approx. 30% of all the videos viewed. There’s a steady 3 000 channels created per week and I’m eager to see what kind of effect the upcoming iPhone application, just submitted last week, will have on the numbers.
Another Swedish startup Videofy.me I’ve covered earlier, is an online video monetizing service also gaining speed with steady growth in numbers of monthly new users, revenues, and recurring advertisers. Monetizing the long tail user generated content is totally doable.
Music Reborn
Panel with Jonathan Benassaya, Deezer, and Emmanuel Jayr, GOOM Radio, moderated by Robert Scoble. To start off by quoting Robert:
Where’s Spotify?
I really would’ve liked to see Spotify join the panel. As eloquently as Marissa Mayer handled all the questions from Michael Arrington regarding Android phone and Rupert Murdoch, I don’t see why Spotify couldn’t have joined the conversation. So what, that Robert was going to mention US launch and Apple’s acquisition of Lala? I strongly believe that it’s for the importance and common good of the European startup community and music business to be part of the conversation.
Listen to a great discussion on why connectivity has become commodity, how software is becoming a platform for music, and why US is the number one country in sales for new music services.
More #LeWeb09 Coverage
Last but not least, the most entertaining and brilliant piece I’ve seen and read about LeWeb so far, naturally signed by Paul Carr.
For more coverage from the conference, read Annika Lidne’s, Disruptive Media, reports from Day 1, Day 2.
Not convinced yet? Here’s LeWeb through my iPhone lens, and Paris is great even outside LeWeb!
Find out more About Me and fellow Top 100 Women in Tech in Europe. Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or just drop me a line! Subscribe to my Feed, Startup Advice, and Swedish Startups Twitter list. And remember, “You never learn anything when you speak, only when you listen” – Roelof Botha / Douglas Leone, Sequoia Capital
Paula Marttila 
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