using clusters to facilitate innovation & entrepreneurship within communities

innovation clusters built for entrepreneurs by

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where entrepreneurs and investors help each other succeed'

The Mission: To become a globally recognized, valuable resource for comment, best practice, finance, talent and ideas.* To build a professional community of entrepreneurs, investors, companies, institutions and talent that is both virtual and physical. Our marketplace will benefit this community, enabling greater connectivity through deal flow, talent management, knowledge exchange & technology transfer. The community will develop via location, segment and value based clusters, designed & operated by f3fundit, promoted and developed by their owners, ambassadors & subscribers. *f3fundit is already ranked in the top 10,000 websites in Spain (Alexa) and viewed in over 100 countries.


Why do it?!

a few simple and convincing reasons: •  Improve the success rate for new ventures •  Provide a capable support network for the intrepid entrepreneur •  Crowd-sourced intelligence applied to scalable ventures •  Mobilize talent & empower ideas •  Current platforms show demand but lack access or service* •  There's too much quantity and not enough quality information, disbursed. •  No centralized resource for entrepreneurship •  Social networks, groups, listings, job boards are poor & inefficient resources •  Local, biased initiatives do not achieve sufficient scale or penetration •  The innovation & entrepreneurship community is global

•  Proof of concept in the U.S. with Y-Combinator, and copies. •  f3fundit has achieved 4x growth in traffic in 3 months *E Unlimited has 20,000+ users, EO Network is exclusive, Seed competitions are costly for start-ups


Competitive landscape

Finance and connectivity is what identifies an entrepreneurship community. f3fundit seeks to bring in all players in the entrepreneurial spectrum in order to maximize value to all users / participants.


Cluster concept

•  f3fundit acts as the glue connecting all relevant parties in the global entrepreneurship landscape via centralized location based and industry clusters

•  Each cluster is managed by and branded according to sponsor for maximum impact and value

*long term development pipeline


Cluster interconnectivity

•  Clusters are interconnected via their members and interests –  The user is limited to 5 clusters, resulting in relevant network building and

hindering dilution.


Marketplace •  The marketplace is a cluster specific area designed to foster idea growth, talent search and innovation.

•  Idea exchange – taking an idea and developing it, not with a colleague or two, but with a global crowd-sourced brain – maximum exposure – maximum effect – maximum innovation.

•  Talent – from idea to team, oftentimes great ideas are sidelined because the entrepreneur lacks the access to that talent which can make the idea into a success – navigating the pool of top individuals with similar interests makes finding that partner – advisor – director – all the easier.

•  Intelligent solutions – a refined idea, and a team to lead it to success yet there’s something missing, a problem or a roadblock, intelligent solutions provide the community with that same crowd-sourced brain to ratify those problems and find solutions to them.

•  Venture Success Navigator – in the long term, we will develop a multi-metric project valuation technology that will identity weaknesses in early stage business models & provide feedback and recommendations.


Cluster ownership More than just a sponsor Cluster ownership entails active participation and management of the owned cluster. Participation is … •  Fostering engagement and active marketing to one’s community in

order to facilitate innovation and entrepreneurial activity •  Collaborating with other owners in setting cluster strategy and

developing cohesion •  Identifying possible ambassador(s) •  Providing sources of information & interest •  Governing content management and responsible usage


The incentive & credit system How do you engage a community? By providing a reward structure. Users need to have something to vie for, this being visibility, those who actively engage will be offered points that rank them on an ongoing & trending basis.

In order for the community to populate clusters with relevant and valid information there is a pay to play system where certain actions will require credits, and other actions will generate credits for the user. These credits can be either earned trough participation or purchased.

Typical activities requiring credits are introductions / solicitations, job posts, venture success navigator use and similar.


How are we going to scale?

•  Build the community around clusters •  Target sponsors with access to a large network(s). •  Strategic partnerships with corporates, service providers,

investors, institutions, and other interest groups •  Engage 'ambassadors' to promote activities •  Hand over the 'Next Top Startup' events •  Keep content fresh and current •  Build on current contact database •  Design and build a marketable product (profit centre)*

Ultimately, the aim is to have a measurable global impact in terms of

success, innovation and increased connectivity.

*Venture Success Navigator


platform targets (1yr)

Top 1,000 websites in Spain

20,000+ page views per month

Top 50,000 worldwide

2,000+ registered subscribers

3 to 4 Next Top Startup events


What are the benefits?

•  one stop platform for both the accelerator & marketplace •  ownership & control over platform •  direct brand association with the initiative •  engagement tool to a progressive global community •  real time intelligence for talent, staff, and alumni •  valuable opportunity to partner / collaborate with growth

companies, investors, corporates & other institutions •  fantastic resource for knowledge and innovation


What is it going to take? TIMING: •  1 month for business plan sign off •  1 month to approve IT architecture & functionality •  3 months to procure, develop & test platform •  Soft launch to club members + existing users •  Full launch to wider alumni community •  International promotion via f3fundit & Next Top Startup

COST: •  Capital and operating costs for next 12 months - €150 to 200k

REVENUE: •  Keystone sponsors •  Subscribers (2 tiers: reduced price to entrepreneurs & talent) •  Further sponsorship & advertising •  Virtual goods

LONG TERM OUTLOON: •  Spinoff into independent product 2011? •  Sign up new cluster owners following post Beta launch


In what seems like no time f3funsit has evolved from a blog to a functioning Beta community with over 120 members. The portal is now in the top 10,000 websites in Spain, top 250,000 worldwide. We have secured the collaboration of biz Barcelona, Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, CEO-CF, Maroon Analytics, Day of the Entrepreneur, Creapolis and various active members of the entrepreneur and investor community. Breaking the mold, Next Top Startup Barcelona put its finalists through their paces and presented 10 exciting new ventures from eight countries to an international audience. A first for Spain, and Cataluña.


using clusters to facilitate innovation & entrepreneurship within communities

Education