My pitch for the Bully Award 2010

I would have loved to attend the Pathway to Exit conference in Barcelona next week, but due to the launch of Bipper in Norway I can't.

Bipper is one of the nominees for the Bully Award - a very prestigious prize for the most successful and promising TMT companies - and in Barcelona all 60 finalists (selected from hundreds of nominated companies) are invited to pitch for the jury.

What to do when you really want to be there to pitch, but you can't? Olav and I spent one very late night at the office and made this video.

Yes, we might win another prize

In February we reached the finals in SIMagine. Now we know that we are one of three winners, but will it be 1st, 2nd or 3rd place? 

This annual global competition arranged by the SIMalliance will crown the best SIMapplication so let’s hope Bipper wins! This is a BIG deal and they are actually flying Olav, Nils and me at no cost to Rome where the finalists will present to an audience and a jury with some of the most influential people in the Mobile Industry.  

As one of the top three finishers we will be awarded a cash prize, we just don’t know how much yet… Then they are flying us to Nice where we will get a tour of Sophia Antiopolis, - the Silicon Valley of France… No really, Sophia Antiopolis is Europe’s leading mobile telecom cluster and brings together all the required resources for successful project winners such as Bipper. Here we will be given, as part of the prize, free office facilities for 2 years, support and advisory service to name a few. 

I guess I need to learn to speak French soon!!

Me presenting in Barcelona when we knew we 

were one of 10 finalists. Now we know that we

 win 1st, 2nd or 3rd place!

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???

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!