pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/atte1ab1.jpg" width="558" height="284" /The Kogan Agora Pro has popped up in Australia as the latest a href="http://gizmodo.com/tag/android"Android/a handset and is available for international pre-order. The phone has a 2.5-inch resistive touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, 3G and GPS for $399. /p pKogan claims they spent a lot of time listening to direct feedback from consumers on what features they wanted most, and what price point they were looking to buy at, then Kogan filtered it down to the Agora. The phone sells without a contract or carrier obligation and also features a 624 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, wi-fi, 2 MP camera and 400 minutes of talk time. A lesser equipped Kogan Agora is also available, lacking the camera, wi-fi and GPS for $299. The phones will start shipping on January 29. [a href="http://www.kogan.com.au/"Kogan/a]/p blockquotepKOGAN UNVEILS ‘AGORA’br / FIRST AUSSIE PHONE POWERED BY ANDROIDâ„¢/p pMELBOURNE, Thursday 4th December 2008 – Kogan Technologies today unveiled the Kogan Agora, the first Australian mobile phone powered by the Androidâ„¢ operating system./p pKogan Technologies will sell the Agora for AU$299 and the Agora Pro for AU$399. Both models are available for sale today on www.kogan.com.au. The phones are sold outright – with no contract – and will work on any network./p pThe Kogan Agora (AU$299) features a full QWERTY keyboard, central navigation key, 2.5” touchscreen, microSD slot, and 3G connectivity./p pThe Kogan Agora Pro (AU$399) adds a 2 MP camera, Wi-Fi, and GPS to the Agora’s impressive specifications./p pBoth models will ship to customers – in Australia and internationally – on January 29th 2009./p pKogan Technologies founder, Ruslan Kogan, said the Agora is proof that his company is achieving its goal of offering the latest technology at the best value prices./p p“The Kogan team have been working very hard to bring out the exciting new phones powered by Google’s Android operating system at the right mix of price and specifications,” Kogan said./p p“We’ve been listening to customers through our blog, and crammed in all the features we possibly could. The end result is the best value, fully-featured phone in the Australian market./p p“We worked closely with manufacturers and vendors to develop drivers, software, and tweaks to make the Agora an intuitive and exciting experience for everyone./p p“The design and features of the Kogan Agora makes the phone appeal to both consumers and business users./p p“The Android operating system means the handset can capture and play music, photos and video, surf the web, play games, navigate, and organise your life with extremely powerful applications."/p pKogan has been a long time supporter of open source and Androidâ„¢ provides a real alternative to Apple’s proprietary operating system for the iPhone./p p“Google is a key player in developing efficient and innovative online solutions for customers around the world. The open source nature of Android means the operating system will continually improve over time,” Kogan said./p pSome of the applications pre-loaded on the Kogan Agora are:/p p· Gmailâ„¢br / · Google Searchâ„¢br / · Google Calenderâ„¢br / · Google Mapsâ„¢br / · Google Talkâ„¢br / · YouTubeâ„¢/p pHIGHLIGHTS:br / · 2.5-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screenbr / · Integrated QWERTY keyboardbr / · High-speed 3G network connectionbr / · One-Touch Google Search â„¢br / · Easy Web Browsingbr / · Easy-to-use email with attachment support for images, videos, music and documentsbr / · Customisable Home Screen with instant Email, text message and IM notificationsbr / · Instant access to mobile Internet services (Gmail â„¢, YouTube â„¢, Google Talk â„¢, Google Calendar â„¢, Google Maps â„¢)br / · Music Playerbr / · microSDâ„¢ expansion slot for all your storage needsbr / · Wi-Fi network access (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br / · GPS navigation capability (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br / · 2.0 megapixel camera (included with Kogan Agora Pro)/p pSPECIFICATIONS:/p pOperating Systembr / Androidâ„¢br / Google Mobile Functionsbr / Google Searchâ„¢, Gmailâ„¢, YouTubeâ„¢, Google Mapsâ„¢, Google Talkâ„¢, Google Calendarâ„¢.br / Displaybr / 2.5-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 262K QVGA (320 X 240 pixel) resolutionbr / Device Controlbr / Central Navigation Keybr / Keyboardbr / QWERTY keyboardbr / Keyboard backlightingbr / GPSbr / GPS navigation capability (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br / Connectivitybr / Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Ratebr / Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11b/g (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br / Camerabr / 2.0 megapixel colour camera (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br / Audiobr / Built-in microphone and speakerbr / Headphone jackbr / Ring tone formats:br / · MIDI, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, PCMbr / Videobr / Video formats supported:br / · MPEG2 H263, H264, MPEG4, AVIbr / Mail attachment support/p pViewable document types:br / · JPEG, GIF, WBMP, MIDI, AMR, MP3, WAVbr / Dimensions (HxWxD)br / 108 mm x 64 mm x 14.8 mmbr / Weightbr / 130gbr / Batterybr / Rechargeable Lithium-ion batterybr / Capacity: 1300 mAhbr / Talk Timebr / Up to approximately 400 minutesbr / Standby Timebr / Up to approximately 300 hoursbr / Processor MHzbr / 624 MHzbr / Memorybr / ROM:br / 256 MBbr / RAM:br / 128 MB/p pmicroSDâ„¢ card expansion slotbr / Network/p pUMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)br / GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)/p pOther than as described in this release, Kogan and its products, are not affiliated with Google Inc or its products. Googleâ„¢, Androidâ„¢, Google Searchâ„¢, Gmailâ„¢, YouTubeâ„¢, Google Mapsâ„¢, Google Talkâ„¢, Google Calendarâ„¢ are trademarks of Google Inc. Use of these trademarks is subject to Google Permissions./p pAbout Kogan Technologiesbr / Kogan Technologies is a wholly-owned Australian company established in 2006 by entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan. Kogan sells a wide range of consumer electronics in Australia, New Zealand, and around the world. The Kogan promise is based on a unique business model that passes the savings of dealing direct with the manufacturers onto Australian consumers. Bypassing middlemen, Kogan is able to offer the latest technology at the most affordable prices. Kogan’s unique blend of quality technology and value for money offers price-conscious Australian technology consumers a real choice./p/blockquote br style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=2ccda3c64c70060d567ec392a555443cp=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=2ccda3c64c70060d567ec392a555443cp=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=2ccda3c64c70060d567ec392a555443c" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=wdX8W6px"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=120" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=abtVBGgr"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=IxLzi89c"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=IxLzi89c" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=IxV1Qrko"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=IxV1Qrko" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/o_sCggcbvuI" height="1" width="1"/

pimg src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2008/12/atte1ab1.jpg" width="558" height="284" style="display:block;" /The Kogan Agora Pro has popped up in Australia as the latest a href="http://gizmodo.com/tag/android"Android/a handset and is available for international pre-order. The phone has a 2.5-inch resistive touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard, 3G and GPS for $399./p pKogan claims they spent a lot of time listening to direct feedback from consumers on what features they wanted most, and what price point they were looking to buy at, then Kogan filtered it down to the Agora. The phone sells without a contract or carrier obligation and also features a 624 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, wi-fi, 2 MP camera and 400 minutes of talk time. A lesser equipped Kogan Agora is also available, lacking the camera, wi-fi and GPS for 299 Australian dollars. As mentioned earlier, pre-orders are available not only to Australian markets, but the rest of the world as well. And the Agora will start shipping on January 29. [a href="http://www.kogan.com.au/"Kogan/a]/p blockquote pKOGAN UNVEILS ‘AGORA’br FIRST AUSSIE PHONE POWERED BY ANDROIDâ„¢/p pMELBOURNE, Thursday 4th December 2008 – Kogan Technologies today unveiled the Kogan Agora, the first Australian mobile phone powered by the Androidâ„¢ operating system./p pKogan Technologies will sell the Agora for AU$299 and the Agora Pro for AU$399. Both models are available for sale today on www.kogan.com.au. The phones are sold outright – with no contract – and will work on any network./p pThe Kogan Agora (AU$299) features a full QWERTY keyboard, central navigation key, 2.5” touchscreen, microSD slot, and 3G connectivity./p pThe Kogan Agora Pro (AU$399) adds a 2 MP camera, Wi-Fi, and GPS to the Agora’s impressive specifications./p pBoth models will ship to customers – in Australia and internationally – on January 29th 2009./p pKogan Technologies founder, Ruslan Kogan, said the Agora is proof that his company is achieving its goal of offering the latest technology at the best value prices./p p“The Kogan team have been working very hard to bring out the exciting new phones powered by Google’s Android operating system at the right mix of price and specifications,” Kogan said./p p“We’ve been listening to customers through our blog, and crammed in all the features we possibly could. The end result is the best value, fully-featured phone in the Australian market./p p“We worked closely with manufacturers and vendors to develop drivers, software, and tweaks to make the Agora an intuitive and exciting experience for everyone./p p“The design and features of the Kogan Agora makes the phone appeal to both consumers and business users./p p“The Android operating system means the handset can capture and play music, photos and video, surf the web, play games, navigate, and organise your life with extremely powerful applications."/p pKogan has been a long time supporter of open source and Androidâ„¢ provides a real alternative to Apple’s proprietary operating system for the iPhone./p p“Google is a key player in developing efficient and innovative online solutions for customers around the world. The open source nature of Android means the operating system will continually improve over time,” Kogan said./p pSome of the applications pre-loaded on the Kogan Agora are:/p p· Gmailâ„¢br · Google Searchâ„¢br · Google Calenderâ„¢br · Google Mapsâ„¢br · Google Talkâ„¢br · YouTubeâ„¢/p pHIGHLIGHTS:br · 2.5-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screenbr · Integrated QWERTY keyboardbr · High-speed 3G network connectionbr · One-Touch Google Search â„¢br · Easy Web Browsingbr · Easy-to-use email with attachment support for images, videos, music and documentsbr · Customisable Home Screen with instant Email, text message and IM notificationsbr · Instant access to mobile Internet services (Gmail â„¢, YouTube â„¢, Google Talk â„¢, Google Calendar â„¢, Google Maps â„¢)br · Music Playerbr · microSDâ„¢ expansion slot for all your storage needsbr · Wi-Fi network access (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br · GPS navigation capability (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br · 2.0 megapixel camera (included with Kogan Agora Pro)/p pSPECIFICATIONS:/p pOperating Systembr Androidâ„¢br Google Mobile Functionsbr Google Searchâ„¢, Gmailâ„¢, YouTubeâ„¢, Google Mapsâ„¢, Google Talkâ„¢, Google Calendarâ„¢.br Displaybr 2.5-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 262K QVGA (320 X 240 pixel) resolutionbr Device Controlbr Central Navigation Keybr Keyboardbr QWERTY keyboardbr Keyboard backlightingbr GPSbr GPS navigation capability (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br Connectivitybr Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Ratebr Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11b/g (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br Camerabr 2.0 megapixel colour camera (included with Kogan Agora Pro)br Audiobr Built-in microphone and speakerbr Headphone jackbr Ring tone formats:br · MIDI, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, PCMbr Videobr Video formats supported:br · MPEG2 H263, H264, MPEG4, AVIbr Mail attachment support/p pViewable document types:br · JPEG, GIF, WBMP, MIDI, AMR, MP3, WAVbr Dimensions (HxWxD)br 108 mm x 64 mm x 14.8 mmbr Weightbr 130gbr Batterybr Rechargeable Lithium-ion batterybr Capacity: 1300 mAhbr Talk Timebr Up to approximately 400 minutesbr Standby Timebr Up to approximately 300 hoursbr Processor MHzbr 624 MHzbr Memorybr ROM:br 256 MBbr RAM:br 128 MB/p pmicroSDâ„¢ card expansion slotbr Network/p pUMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)br GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)/p pOther than as described in this release, Kogan and its products, are not affiliated with Google Inc or its products. Googleâ„¢, Androidâ„¢, Google Searchâ„¢, Gmailâ„¢, YouTubeâ„¢, Google Mapsâ„¢, Google Talkâ„¢, Google Calendarâ„¢ are trademarks of Google Inc. Use of these trademarks is subject to Google Permissions./p pAbout Kogan Technologiesbr Kogan Technologies is a wholly-owned Australian company established in 2006 by entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan. Kogan sells a wide range of consumer electronics in Australia, New Zealand, and around the world. The Kogan promise is based on a unique business model that passes the savings of dealing direct with the manufacturers onto Australian consumers. Bypassing middlemen, Kogan is able to offer the latest technology at the most affordable prices. Kogan’s unique blend of quality technology and value for money offers price-conscious Australian technology consumers a real choice./p /blockquote br style="clear: both;"/ a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=2ccda3c64c70060d567ec392a555443cp=1"img alt="" style="border: 0;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=2ccda3c64c70060d567ec392a555443cp=1"//a img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=2ccda3c64c70060d567ec392a555443c" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=pRNLyr1x"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=120" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=xwk4OOf5"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=Xfm1zGKl"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=Xfm1zGKl" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.gawker.com/~f/gizmodo/full?a=iKx4BW7V"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/gizmodo/full?i=iKx4BW7V" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/Q3qx37do2NE" height="1" width="1"/

pWebsite analytics firm a href="http://www.iperceptions.com/" title="iPerceptions"iPerceptions/a has secured $3.65 million in a round of funding. Montreal-based VC firm Telesystem Ltd and private investor Skuli Mogensen provided the financing, which iPerceptions will use to continue to expand internationally and roll out a new version of its 4Q Website survey product. The NY-based company also has offices in Toronto, Montreal and London, and counts clients like InterContinental Hotels, GM and LG Electronics (SEO: 066570) in its roster. a href="http://iperceptions.com/en/news/iperceptions-secures-365-million-in-funding" title="Release"Release/a. /p piSocial Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and MA deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. stronga href="http://www.paidcontent.org/reports/"Visit the ContentNext Reports page/a/strongi/p pa href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/pcorg?a=dBhWuD"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/pcorg?i=dBhWuD" border="0"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=aqq0O"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=aqq0O" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=FGRYO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=FGRYO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=AKJRo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=AKJRo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=XMFFO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=XMFFO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?a=OGXmO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/pcorg?i=OGXmO" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/pcorg/~4/473211388" height="1" width="1"/

LG Powercom opts for Ubiquoss FTTx solutions (http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=26347 email=html) TeleGeography - Washington,DC,USA LG Powercommrsquo;s parent company, LG Dacom, has reportedly set a target of 300000 IPTV subscribers for the end of this year. Multi-Choice records a 26 percent increase in subscriber base (http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=1881) IT News Africa - Centurion,Gauteng,South Africa MultiChoice says these services will make it hard for any local IPTV entrant to make a mark. ldquo;These services are being offered online internationally by ... Spirent and Cianet Join HomePNA (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Spirent-Cianet-Join-HomePNA/story.aspx?guid=%7BD2B8A358-B1AC-444A-B2DE-91648E803087%7D) MarketWatch - USA HomePNA, which was installed in more North American homes last quarter than any other home networking technology for IPTV over coax and phone wires, ... Verimatrix Strengthens Asian Regional Presence By Opening Office ... TMCnet - USA TMCnet recently reported that Verimatrix has said that more than 40 Avail Media affiliates have signed up for their live broadcast MPEG-4 IPTV (News ... Analyst Briefing on the IPTV Services Market in Asia-Pacific TVover.net - St. Louis,MO,USA Asia-Pacific accounted for about a third of the global IPTV subscriber base last year with over four million IPTV subscribers (as of end-2007). ... Intracom Joins Wightman Telecom for IPTV Solutions TMCnet - USA By Rajani Baburajan, TMCnet Contributing Editor Intracom Telecom, a part of Sitronics, has offered its fs|cdn MPEG-4 Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) ... Joost IPTV Comes To iPhone, iPod Touch InformationWeek - Manhasset,NY,USA Joost#39;s global Web video service offers more than 46000 videos -- including 18000 music videos -- as well as 400 TV series and 1200 movies and short films. ... Viaccess to Provide Security Software to Ericsson IPTV Satellite Today (subscription) - Rockville,MD,USA [Satellite Today 12-02-08] Viaccess, a France Telecom company, signed an agreement to provide security software and services in support of IMS-based IPTV ... Fox, BT Vision sign IPTV pact Variety - Los Angeles,CA,USA By ALI JAAFAR LONDON mdash; 20th Century Fox has inked a deal with the UKrsquo;s BT Vision giving the IPTV operation rights to a range of new and classic Fox films. ... IPTV World Forum Latin America returns to Brazil IPTV News - UK Now in its third successful year, the IPTV World Forum Latin America is Latin Americarsquo;s premier meeting place for the IPTV community, featuring key speakers ... IPTV Shows New Movies IPTV Shows New Movies Earlier than DVDthan DVD Telecoms Korea (subscription) - South Korea SK Broadband says, By allowing customers to watch recent releases at home, IPTV will become a new way of watching movies. To this end, the South Korean ...

pimg class="float_right" src="/~~/f?id=49359696796c7a9c00cbb5bcmaxX=200maxY=131" border="0" alt="JayAdelsonDigg.jpg" title="JayAdelsonDigg.jpg" width="200" height="131" /After years of throwing itself after potential buyers (Google, Fox, Al Gore) a href="http://valleywag.com/378994/kevin-rose-has-basically-plowed-through-everybody"like some kind of partyboy startup founder/a, social news site Digg has a new plan: Keep costs low and turn a profit./p pWe're skeptical and figure the company has decided to play-hard-to-get and tidy up for a future buyer because it can't find one right now. But a href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2008/tc2008121_004686.htm?campaign_id=yhoo"emBusinessWeek/em's Spencer Ante says no/a. He reports:/p p style="padding-left: 30px;"In an interview with citeBusinessWeek/cite, Digg Chief Executive Officer Jay Adelson says the popular news aggregation Web site is no longer for sale. The focus of the company is to build an independent business that reaches profitability as quickly as possible./p pAdelson told Ante he expects Digg will triple its revenues before next year and turn a profit within two years -- "hopefully happen within a year." Here's how Adelson plans to do it:/p ul liAnte says Digg will have to "strongdial back some of its expansion plans/strong." Says Adelson: "Now I am pressured to keep costs reasonable and focus more on the top-line revenue, which we really haven't done ever." After its last round of funding Digg said it would double headcount before December 2009. Maybe not now.br //li listrongInsert /strongstrongads into its RSS feeds./strong/li liAnte says Digg is "on the verge" of improving its search and strongsell ads against search results./strong /li liDigg is "within a month of closing a deal with a mobile ad provider to strongsell more ads on cell phones,"/strongsays Ante.strongbr //strong/li listrongBuy Digg clones to expand internationally./strong "There are Digg clones around the world in every country," says Adelson. "I could go into those markets and clean up those sites. If I needed more capital to do a deal, I could probably do it." /li liAdd new features to strongmake users click more/strong./li /ul pstrongSee Also:/stronga href="http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/9/digg-still-not-sold-raises-28-7-million"br /Digg Still Not Sold, Raises $28.7 Million/a/p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/bciynyQAykbeMZe1xJ7Eou45PEM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/bciynyQAykbeMZe1xJ7Eou45PEM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=tHq6nIy7"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?i=tHq6nIy7" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=SsOheEPF"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=X2HaZuc1"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=80" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=u2NdaopV"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?i=u2NdaopV" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=RbDTB8Nk"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=131" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=lk5TjfTi"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=336" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=XWvbA5VK"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=y5xpai14"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=50" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~4/nbgwM_Ho2bE" height="1" width="1"/

Ravit Lichtenberg is the founder and chief strategist at Ustrategy.com—a boutique consultancy with a mission to help startups succeed. She authors a blog at ravitlichtenberg.com.

With the economic downturn grinding the startup wheels to a near-halt here and abroad, companies are competing for a smaller pie. Capital, acquisition odds, advertising dollars, and consumer wallets are all becoming much smaller.

If you are a European startup in the consumer Web services or product space, you have even more obstacles to overcome than your US counterparts. For one, funding in Europe is still very limited and narrowly focused compared to the US. Second, your consumer base is much smaller—especially if your product is localized for language and service. Third, the more innovative you get, the more likely it is you’ll bump against a much greater skepticism and a much smaller pool of early adopters.

So you decide to come here—Silicon Valley, the Mecca of anything startup– to raise funds and tap into the massive and enthusiastic US customer base. But right now, even though you may have enjoyed great interest as investors expand their reach internationally, you’re up against fierce competition from just about everyone.

And this is where European startups face the biggest challenge: presenting your company in a way that makes sense—the US way.

Fundamental differences

In the past 2 months I’ve listened to over 40 pitches from French, Belgian, British, and Eastern European companies. About 1 in 15 presented their company in a way that would stick. This is because Europeans tend to build their case in a highly academic way–stating the conditions under which their offering makes sense and building their argument from there.

American audiences, on the other hand, are used to seeing “the bottom line first” and they do things very fast by European standards. “They’re like cowboys,” a Belgian CEO told me. “First they shoot then they look.” This is a fundamental difference in how people present and perceive information. And it can mean the difference that gets you to that second meeting, someone writing about your startup, and even getting funding.

Key points to remember

Let’s go over a few key points that can help you present your company in a way that makes more sense here:

1. First impression is (almost) everything.

Americans know this very well. That’s why they work on their “elevator pitch.” You have 30-60 seconds to create an impression. Want to spruce it up even more? Have a 1-2 minute demo ready on your iPhone that plays while you speak. Think: Why are you different? What makes you stand out? How do you stick in someone’s mind? Why should an investor want to see you again? These are questions that should always be on your mind and guide what you say— all in 60 seconds or less.

2. Speak in benefits. Customer benefits, that is.

Europeans tend to be highly accomplished on the technology side. In the US, you also need to think about, and communicate, what your prospective customers will be able to do thanks to your technology. How will it address a true customer need? Why will a customer use it? Better yet—why will they pay for it? Every time you speak about a feature or capability of your technology, immediately follow with “and that means that customers will be able to...” (fill in the blank).

3. Start with the end first.

It may sound counter intuitive but business communication in the US is often non-linear and starts with the conclusion first. The people with whom you meet will want to know what your product does and how much money you expect to make from it. If that sticks, then you can go back and talk about how you got to the idea, how you developed it, all those other things it can be, etc.

4. Know your numbers.

In Silicon Valley numbers speak louder than anything else. They’re also important as a reality-check for you as technologies and competitors evolve. Don’t let anyone fool you–no one really knows what’s going to happen so it’s okay to make assessments—just make sure they’re intelligent ones. Be ready to talk about your 3-year profit-and-loss (P&L) model and about your Total Addressable Market (TAM) in clear terms.

5. Focus.

The American idiom is “put a stake in the ground.” It’s when of all the many things your technology can be, you choose one (or two) things for now and go with them. This is a tough one, I know, because you want to show all the great things your idea can become. But where you see options, VCs see lack of direction. So let’s keep things in order: Decide on a focus for now, and put the framing, benefits, and numbers around that choice. You will later have plenty of time to develop your roadmap.

6. Investors are not your friends.

They are meeting with you because you might represent a good investing opportunity. As such, come prepared with all your materials and if possible, with a beautifully executed demo and present your case. If you need advice, ask your friends, other CEOs, or advisors if you have them. In fact, ask anyone–just not investors you’d like to work with. Once the term sheet has been completed and the deal signed, they’ll provide you with plenty of advice whether you want it or not. It’s their job.

7. Networking is key.

Many European CEOs think networking and mingling is “cocktail hour saved for those who don’t do real work.” But in the US—and especially in the Silicon Valley—this is an important catalyst to getting business done. You need to get out of your three-cubicle office which you’re sharing with four other companies and go to events. You need to tell other CEOs, bloggers, and investors about your product. You’ll get invaluable advice that will undoubtedly help you move forward, new connection points, and a perspective on the startup world within which you operate. This is just as important as making phone calls and taking meetings.

8. Keep it short.

Repeatedly I hear that CEOs talk about their companies for too long. Yes- you want to make sure people understand the breadth of your offering, but more talk doesn’t necessarily get you results. Lucas Grassi Gurfein, former International Product Manager for Yahoo!Inc. suggests bullet points often work best: Use them as talking points and keep your presentation short. More important than demonstrating the history of your idea is creating a stellar impression and a genuine curiosity in your listeners’ minds; you want them to come back and say “can we talk more?” Less, you see, is truly more.

9. Don’t be argumentative.

In most European countries, debating a topic is just part of daily conversations. To most Americans—unless they were on their college debate team—the practice of debate can be unnerving. You already know that Europeans can be perceived as uncomfortably direct here—add debating and you come across as argumentative and maybe even hostile, which is hardly what you meant.

Try to balance between presenting your rationale and listening to feedback. If you have a thought about the point being brought up, you can always start by acknowledging the feedback’s validity and then add how you’re thinking of addressing it.

10. Tap into the existing infrastructure.

There are a number of organizations and initiatives designed directly to help advance European companies in the US:

· Each country typically has a Chamber of Commerce in the Bay Area which puts together business-related events and can help you get connected much faster than you could do on your own.

· There are non-profit organizations like SVOD and VC backed events like the Dow Jones’ Venture Wire EuroTech Showcase that help promote European startups through connections to venture capital firms and journalists.

· A number of organizations sponsor conferences, competitions, and “boot-camps” for startups. GuideWire’s Innovate!Europe is one example—it focuses on identifying new and promising talent in Europe and helping them grow globally. Make sure you’re aware of these and attend at least a few each year.

As the CEO of a European startup you will need to overcome a number of obstacles. At the same time, the European tendency to take more calculated risks, base products on proprietary technology, and have demonstrated success abroad, can translate into leverage especially in these difficult times.

As venture capital firms increasingly diversify their portfolio with a greater reach abroad, you may in fact enjoy more opportunity than ever before. If your product is truly offering customers a way to do something new, something they want—if you help them make existing interactions less painful—you’re just as likely (if not more) to get a piece of that funding pie and more of those cavorted consumer eyes. The key is to communicate what you do and what’s unique about your startup’s offering in a way that matches how people perceive and respond to information in the US.

Have tips of your own? Share them below in the comments.

Imagery courtesy of iStockphoto, TommL, Sodafish, Caracterdesign

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