Bipper Mom - mother of three kids and one business: February 2010

2/20/10

HOTEL REVIEW: RAMBLAS EXECUTIVE APPARTMENT

During the Mobile World Congress prizes for accommodation in Barcelona run sky high, and for a start up that are taking six people to the congress, that is really an issue.

We decided to search for apartments, and found this four bedrooms + thee bathrooms + two living rooms + two kitchen apartment almost right on La Ramblas. For six nights nights we paid around € 2400 in total, including electricity, cleaning and (most importantly) internet. The apartment seemed stylishly decorated and was believed to serve our purpose perfectly. A central place to live, a place to gather the team and celebrate, and of course a place to work.

This apartment served its purpose! It would have been perfect except for a few minor issues:

(1)There is a slight rotten smell in the apartment
(2)The building is located central, but in a street that does not feel safe. No violent robbery, but we experienced several times young people trying to pick-pocket us in smart ways
(3)The building (on the outside) looks REALLY torn down. I simply couldn’t believe this was the place of the apartment when the taxi stopped... Too bad I don’t have a photo of the outside as you would have been shocked!
(4)The owner (who owns a lot of apartments in Barcelona) requires to be paid in cash, and it is really hard to get a bank to give you over €2000 in cash in Norway, and an ATM does not pay out that amount. Strange actually as they charge the deposit on VISA...

But that set aside, this was a great place to stay, and we would stay here again!

2/18/10

Live demo of Bipper

The MWC in Barcelona, allowed us to demonstrate Bipper individually and in groups in the booth and also in larger gatherings such as the SIMagine presentation where Bipper is one of the finalists! These live demonstrations where helpful for us as a company as it gave us an opportunity to receive feedback from people, many within the industry (and also parents so they can relate) and also observe how they responded to what we have created.

Its a great feeling to receive so much positive comments and people were genuinely enthusiastic about what we have created and couldn't wait to be able to get Bipper for their kids :) Many was also surprised and impressed by how seamless and easy it is for parents to create contact lists, set restrictions and how the handsets are instantly updated when changes are made. This was easily demonstrated by showing myBipper page on a big screen and having a handset available.

Milla’s orange Samsung Corby phone

is working brilliantly with Bipper

Quite a good crowd gathered around to see the demonstration

2/17/10

Making the news

We’re now starting to get coverage in the media, and that is a huge deal. I’m sure many more articles will follow during the year!

By winning the coveted Mobile Innovation award for Best Start-up at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, little Bipper is starting to get international attention. Suddenly Bipper starts being profiled in the news around the world, and there are quite a few Tweets mentioning Bipper. Not a world phenomenon (yet!), but I’m very proud and happy:)

Not only did we make the headlines in Nettavisen, a leading Norwegian leading Norwegian publication, we also got coverage in the US in an article called "Wonders and miracles at the Mobile World Congress" (Huffington Post), Netherlands, Brazil and several other countries:

We made French television twice, web tv twice, and apparently I'm among 5 women to watch in mobile 2010:

Interestingly enough we also were nominated as one of the finalists for the SImagine award while in Barcelona, another great achievement that made the news.

http://www.simagine.info/the-10-simagine-nominees-unveiled-at-mwc-2010-134.htm#more-134

More very exciting news to follow very soon!

We made the cover of Nettavisen

We rock in Barcelona!

Our booth gets a lot of attention, and since several of us also are busy running to and from important meetings, the ones with booth duty never have a dull moment. The combination of having an intriguing booth and a different message than the rest makes us stand out (we are outstanding J). No other booths have children showing so I’m so glad we brought all our “kids” the whole way from Norway.

It’s hectic, but great energy and exciting for all of us, especially since we have several of the meetings with high powered executives from some of the worlds leading mobile operators and handset manufacturers at our booth.

I’m so impressed by how everyone is able to handle everything from basic questions, demonstrations, even live TV-interviews on the fly! Besides “life at the booth” business is done everywhere in Barcelona. One of the benefits of having the conference here is that you get to explore and see the city, at least the great restaurant scene. Every day is packed with business lunches and dinners and late-night networking events.

Last night Nils and I were invited to meet a few investors at 1am in the morning! We got home at around 5 AM, and the next meeting started at 9 AM. Not much sleep in Barcelona - I can tell you that!

Running around from meetings to meetings - both night and day -

demands a professional looking founder even after only 2-3 hours

of sleep. I kept my make up kit in the meeting room behind our stand.

Nils is interviewed by French television.

Notice the our diploma from winning the

Mobile Premier Award on the wall

Me in a very positive discussion with a representative

from a large business partner of ours. We have just signed a deal!

People everywhere!

The Bipper stand stood out and attracted a lot of people

Nils, Ann Elida and Arvid.

Three very important members of Team Bipper!

Olav doing a live demonstration of Bipper

to a group of representatives from various companies

2/16/10

We're in the finals for SIMagine!

SIMagine awards entrepreneurs and application developers for the best SIM-based mobile application or the best SIM-based start up project, and through SIMalliance (the global reference organization for the SIM Industry) SIMagine will give the winners the recognition of the whole industry. Today it was announced that we made the finals! I can’t believe it - yesterday we won Mobile Premier Award, and today we’re one step closer to winning another award.

These two awards now put us on the map, and suddenly companies, investors and people make an effort to find and contact us - not the other way around as it used to be. It also elevates existing relationship and partnerships and energized and motivated the whole team.

2010 is our year!

All the finalists were asked to hold a short presentation of their

product at the press conference. Milla is always by my side!

Posing for the cameras. Not looking too happy with posing right now, or....?

SIMagine is a highly prestigious global competition for sim based

applications. It is arranged by leading international companies.

And together with three other companies, we are not in the finals.

Who win’s in Rome in April???

2/15/10

My pitch for victory

We won!

One of the reasons the week kicked of in such high tempo and we are receiving so much attention is because we won the prestigious Mobile innovation Award for Best Start-Up Monday night!!!! This is quite an achievement especially considering 250 companies globally were nominated for this award.

This is almost an all day event that started at 2pm in the afternoon with presentations from the finalists in front of a jury of some of the most respected people in the mobile industry and an audience of several hundred people. I was there with Nils and Olav and Milla- our “kid”. When it was finally my turn to take the stage with Milla, I have to admit I was little nervous, but Olav and Nils reassured my that I had nothing to worry about, just be yourself! After all the presentations, we attended the cocktail/networking event in anticipation of the announcement of the winner, and at 8pm it was announced that Bipper had won J. After a quick celebration and calls to friends’ family and investors we rushed of to the gala dinner where I was seated at the VIP table with all the hotshots in the Mobile industry!! The buzz about Bipper has started, not only in Barcelona, but also around the world…..

My pitch for victory. Was very nervous....

We won! Can't believe it!

Together with two of the jury members. Couldn’t be happier!

2/14/10

Our Bipper place in Barcelona

Back to the MWC, this time as an exhibitor! It’s amazing how an empty space in a matter of hours comes to life in the form of an exciting and intriguing booth due to the hard work of Team Bipper.

Yes, as a start-up we (with some help from the great guys at Innovation Norway) put up everything from wallpaper to plants and posters of children running through the grass. I also think it's good for the team spirit to create something like this together. It’s like at team building exercise.

We were very happy with the result and as it turns out so was everyone else we talked to. Our booth was friendly and fresh and definitely stood out in a jungle of bland and predictable ones.

After endless hours of work, we celebrated with a Team Bipper dinner and invited some of our partners to a party at the apartment we rented for the week!

I want to point out how happy I’m to be part of Innovation Norway’s “Pavilion” during MWC. First of all Innovation Norway subsidize half of the cost associated with being part of the conference (which is a substantial amount for a small start-up, and what makes it possible to participate), and it also brings with it credibility. So thanks to Innovation Norway, Desiree and rest of the team who provided us with both support and guidance during some hectic days in Barcelona. Oh, I almost forgot, they also hosted a great CAVA party at the pavilion!

We started with an empty space....

Covered the walls with orange wall paper...

And photo wall paper...

Creating a space very different from most other booths in our hall.

Grass, flowers, kids and fun. That IS Bipper!

2/3/10

Making our Bipper film

Figuring out what to say is so easy when you sit in front of the computer, and so much more difficult when you’re standing in front of a camera. Ann Elida made a great script, but the thing about scripts is that they are difficult to memorize. So I started out trying to speak the script, and ended up mostly just speaking.

It was so frustrating though. Thought it would take only an hour to do the 4-5 minute clip, but I think we filmed for four hours. Saying the same things over an over again. Or at least trying to...

I hope you enjoy the clip!