Five days in the United States. Twenty UK web entrepreneurs. The mission: to showcase talent, explore opportunity, learn, reflect and meet great people…

I’m keen to start this post, not with my own feedback, but with that of some of the 20 companies who took part in WebMission08.

Of 20 feedback forms filled out so far, from a mixture of entrepreneurs and sponsors (which could be anonynmous if desired), 20 people said that Web Mission 08 was a success for them and their company. 100% said that they would recommend the WebMission experience to a colleague.

We asked them to list some positive outcomes from the trip and here are some of the responses;

”3 Very good investor leads”

“Great new partnerships”

“Better understanding of the customer base”

“Met some great companies and great people”

“2 proactive contacts from US VC”

“New information”

“A lot of useful advice from fellow entrepreneurs, i.e. Michael Birch”

”Fantastic level of Introductions to major companies like YouTube, Sun”

“Great press!”

“Generate ideas around how we can use social networking internally”

“Networking with other UK startups”

“Potential investment”

“Will encourage us to think BIG!”

“Partner meetings helped us understand how we can work with VC”

“Input to business plan”

I would encourage you to connect with any of the 20 companies who went, to hear their personal feedback. None of the trip could have happened without our sponsors, BT, HSBC, Heller Ehrman, UKTI, Etelos, Oracle, Sun, Make Your Mark and Ten UK. My co-organisers were the excellent Polecat team of Bron, James, Nikki and Alex, who I’d work with again at the drop of a hat. In fact, we’re already scheming about where and when the next WebMission might lead.

We’ll be having a meeting of the 20 companies and sponsors in a few weeks time to talk in more detail about the benefits of the trip, as well as things which could be built upon or improved.

Amongst all of the discussions, on and off line, there were certain mutterings that the entire escapade had been something of a ‘jolly’. To this I really ought to admit; In amongst brunching with Jim Buckmaster of Craigslist, between seeing pitches to a dozen US VCs, amid meeting with senior executives from Amazon, Facebook, Linkedin, Sun and SalesForce, visiting Google, Bebo and Oracle, attending materclass presentations from Deloitte, Heller Ehrman and Spark PR, and interviewing with the BBC, the Daily Telegraph, Real Business, Management Today, Startups.co.uk, Demo, VentureBeat and Business Week, not to mention spending quality time with some of the smartest and most characterful entrepreneurs in the UK…amidst all of that, I confess, I personally had an incredible time and a huge amount of fun.

Turning to shores closer to home; I’m not qualified to comment as to whether we have all of the ingredients for web success here in the UK. My entirely personal hunch is that YES, we do. Anyone who thinks that this means that we have NOTHING to learn from the rest of the world should apply for WebMission09 as soon as possible.

I’ll end with some words from one of the great US entrepreneurs, Henry Ford;

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

I’m getting quite a lot of emails these days with a question at the bottom;

“Do you really need to print this email?”

I got one today from a VERY large newspaper company. Which made me wonder whether I should add a question to my reply;

“Do you really need to cause the whole of London to be littered with your free paper?”

All of this makes me wonder how long it will be before other questions start to appear;

“Have you washed you hands?”

“Did you eat your breakfast this morning?”

“Do you really need to take a cab to meet us or could you walk?”

Have you ever read one of these message and thought ‘you know what, I’m not going to print it’? Maybe you have! Or maybe you’re a sensible person who doesn’t need reminding.

Why don’t people start putting links at the bottom of their emails to things they find amazing or inspiring rather than tagging them with mildly irritating messages suggesting how their colleagues behave?

And on the off chance that this post has inspired you…I leave it entirely to your own judgement what to do with it.

The Economist has an interesting piece about the future of online social networks, titled Everywhere and Nowhere. As wedding guests and karaoke fans all over the world will spot, this is a lyric from Hi Ho Silver Lining. The author could have saved at least a couple of paragraphs by quoting the first verse, which pretty much sums up their view;

You’re everywhere and nowhere, baby,
that’s where you’re at
Going down the bumpy hillside in your hippie hat
Flying across the country and getting fat
Saying everything is groovy
when your tires are flat

The point being made is that just because lots of people are using something, doesn’t mean that it will become a major revenue generating business in its own right. If you’re into this kind of thing, it’s worth a read, if only for the comments which follow it, one of which is from a disgusted John Thomas;

Sir,
After hearing the news that Facebook’s founder is worth as much as he is, I immediately did not want to support such nonsense. I have decided not to use Facebook anymore, I have decided to boycott them.

Nic Brisbourne, who’s a fantastic guy here in London (and certainly one of the most connected and helpful VCs on the scene), writes a thoughtful response in which he reckons the Economist piece has it all wrong. Rather than seeing sites like Facebook and Bebo as communication tools which will have to look advertising pennies for their cash, he says they should be seen as ‘platforms’ instead. In the same way that shopping malls benefit from huge footfall, Nick explains, certain social networks will turn out to be far better environments to promote (and sell) things than lone company websites.

One of my first antics at my short lived stay at university, was to produce a stage musical. I created a card for members of the company to carry (around 100 of us) which said that we were a ’Jesus Christ Superstar Company Member 2000′. Then I went out and negotiated deals for card carriers, from pizza shops, to the union bar, to local clubs. Each time, I was looking for a really great offer, from ‘20% off’, to ‘a pound-a-pint’, to ‘half price entry’. The effect was that it boosted company morale and increased loyalty to the providers we had deals with.

Here then, are two ideas;

Social Networks – go out and negotiate amazing deals for your users for a change. Facebook users get 20% off. This is almost certainly me being a bit slow, however I cannot understand why a social network couldn’t become one of the most powerful affiliate marketing networks in the world, making the advertising model look distinctly old fashioned . Demand a great deal for your users, then take a healthy chunk of the basket price. Facebook Deals – I’d visit that section every week – wouldn’t you?

Entrepreneurs, go out and design applications which cluster and herd the existing customers of other brands, then make money from their migration between suppliers. We all, switch, together. There are currently over 500 groups on Facebook which relate in some way to Vodafone, for example. Mostly, they are small groups, set up by employees or ‘fans’. Where is the MASSIVE group of hundreds of thousands of existing customers? And wouldn’t this give a major energy supplier, bank or mobile network a bit of a fright if it emerged? Or would they see it as the biggest opportunity they had ever been presented with? Perhaps it will be a race to see who can create the biggest reunions, brands or their users.

Customers of the world unite. Every crowd has a silver lining.

When the air hostess calls you ‘baby’. When you are allowed to listen in to the pilots talking to each other before landing and they wish each other a pleasant day. When a large, freshly squeezed orange juice (to stay in) costs one pound forty. Then, reader, you know that you are in the United States.

I am here in the fourth most populous city in America, San Francisco, for the very first Web Mission. 20 UK web companies are with me to explore opportunities, present their businesses to investors and to meet like-minded entrepreneurs . As I stepped onto the plane, the very last email I checked came from a team member at a little local company they call ‘Google’. It ended;

“I can easily arrange a visit for you and your group…

…We have tea, coffee and ice cream”

This is not a line I recall hearing in London recently.

Beginning with drinks this evening at The Clift Hotel, we’re all off to brunch tomorrow. Might I add that rolling two meals into one is not something I’m planning on making a habit of here, sadly for my health regime. On Monday evening we’ll hear first hand how Michael Birch turned Bebo into the success story that it is today and on tuesday the companies will dust off their pitching shoes as they meet face-to-face with some of the leading VCs in Silicon Valley.

Sitting just off Union Square this afternoon, the sun is shining and the wind whistles up the steep streets as the occasional tram tinkles by. I can’t help admitting I’m looking forward to this adventure, reader. Frank Sinatra famously left his heart in this city. It’s early days, but I’m beginning to see why.

Congratulations!

You’re leading an organisation, and in your position as the person at the top, you come across some amazing people and pieces of information. You’re creative, and so it’s no surprise that on a regular basis you come up with some pretty big ideas. There’s a problem though; You know that your top team and your employees also have big ideas, and your strong suspicion is that your customers have lots too. So, do you spend your time putting yourself and your team under pressure to have ‘Eureka’ moments (or should I say, slowing down to have them?)… Or do you focus on getting out there and talent spotting the hits of tomorrow?

I pondered this question this morning as I listened to David Cameron speak at NESTA, on the subject of innovation. He talked about ‘thinking afresh about society’s problems’, and I thought about the pupils leaving our schools, greeting the world of work with a new perspective. One of my first jobs was working in a pub, and on the first day, I noticed forty things wrong with the place, from the ripped carpet to the broken window. On my second day, I must have noticed 39 things wrong, and – you’ve guessed it- after forty days, the place was pretty near perfect. But nothing had changed. We get used to things, which means that, in Britain as in any country, we put up with some things which are downright outrageous. Imagine harnessing children’s first impressions and using them to stimulate change in business, charity and over the whole country.

My first experience of giving money was by putting coins into one of those ‘helter skelter’ spinners, where the coin spirals round and round until it drops into the hole in the base. No, this is not a public sector analogy, it’s a point about making things fun. I gave a shiny coin, and in return I, who have always been easily pleased, was mildly amused for up to 30 seconds, in a way that I might not have been by dropping money into a money box in the shape of Sooty the small orange bear. Although even this is arguably more imaginative than a perspex box which you can even SEE into (well done MacDonalds). On an, almost, completely unrelated point, making donating fun works for rubbish too, as the people in Somerset, England found when they made bins which looked like Freisan Cows, and saw recycling levels rise by over 60%. I’ve mentioned before Plato’s observation that he could learn more about someone in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. I’m sure there’s a similarly wise quotation out there about turning boring things into games.

“Show me a chore turned into a game, and I’ll show you a result worth taking seriously”

Something like that.

Falling off my high cow, let me mention the upcoming London Marathon. It never ceases to amaze me how many friends turn to charity as a way of raising money. “I’ll run the London Marathon, and you can give me some money. All you need to do is get out your credit card. In return, you are supporting a great cause, and can feel good in the knowledge of the fact that you’re supporting me as a person. You’re also helping me in a way I may or may not choose to repay in some complimentary currency further down the line.” There is nothing wrong with this. My observation is that it is not the best approach. It’s the “all you need to do” bit which I have a problem with. Not because it’s too much, but because it’s not enough. I’m not talking about hassle, I’m talking about ‘emotional connection’ (for want of a better phrase) with what the other person is doing. My number one piece of advice to runners and swimmers alike is to turn to social enterprise as a way of raising money; Create a product or service which people will pay for and value, and give the profits to your good cause; You might end up with far more than a token ten pounds from the people you know. It’s RAISING money in the good-old fashioned bring and buy sense. Put away your money tins and start filling them with biscuits. In the shape of cows.

Here’s my idea for the day;

Combine the concepts of a drinks party with a charity clothes shop; Book a room above a pub (don’t pay for this, just say it’s for a charity event and that you’ll bring a good number of people). Alternatively, do it at home. Ask everyone to bring clothes which they don’t want anymore, but that may well appeal to others. Price every item as people come in (have a flat rate of a fiver for most stuff and a tenner for really good stuff). If you’re at home and buying the drinks, charge people a tenner or a fiver for all they can drink (beer and wine). Ask two friends to staff the coatrails while you mix with everyone and talk about the run and how the build up is going. Collect the proceeds and give them to your good cause.

Which (almost) brings us back to where we started. From political ideas to clothes, sometimes it’s not where they begin that matters, it’s where they end up.