nyc08

Some great keynotes here at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York, both yesterday and today. Gary Vaynerchuk was a firm favourite, at least from confering with the peeps from the digital mission companies (full list here by the way). We'll get to see Gary again at Wine 2.0 tonight.

Yesterday started with investor meetings over breakfast. Both for those companies fundraising, and those that were not, there were fruitful discussions about the market. VCs can be hard to track down, so having a place for rapid one-on-one meetings (in the very nice surroundings of the Winston and Strawn offices) was priceless.

It is an interesting week to be in New York that's for sure. You can imagine the TV and press coverage here. But new challenges bring opportunities with them. As businesses re-examine their budgets and spending habits, companies with newer, more effective ways of doing things have scope to make gains.

Now the judging is over, we're hugely pleased to announce which UK companies will be going on the Digital Mission to New York and the Web 2.0 Expo next month from 14th-19th September...

B View - http://www.bview.co.uk

Like any good web project, it always takes a fraction longer than you think it's going to.

The judging process is now over and the team are beavering away contacting the successful companies. With a bit of luck, a following wind and some fast and furious email activity the official list of successful Digital Mission companies will be released tomorrow.

OK, so it's probably time I caged my inner drama queen, but that shouldn't detract from a very important day in the build-up to the Digital Mission to NYC. Judgement day, of sorts.

There's only a short while left to get applications in for the Digital Mission to NYC (deadline today, Wed 23rd July) and there's been heaps of questions about the mission itself. The team have been working flat out over the last few days to respond to email and phone queries.

The main queries have been gathered together and summarised here, which hopefully will be useful for companies thinking about applying for the New York mission, but also those wanting to better understand the hows, whys and wherefores of the application process and the mission itself.

Wise counsel from external experts is certainly a factor in creating a successful business. Their mission is to help whittle down the applications (don't forget the deadline is Wed 23rd July to get yours in), and help shape the Digital Mission so that the successful companies get the absolute maximum benefit from the trip.

Digital Mission is extremely fortunate to benefit from the considerable wisdom of our expert advisory board...

"It's alive!", as any good horror movie actor would scream. The application form for the Digital Mission to Web2.0 Expo in NYC is now officially open.

APPLY NOW
Closing Date: midnight, Wed, 23rd July

Great news for the Digital Mission to NYC, we're delighted to welcome Techcrunch UK our official blog partner. In addition to what we're anticipating will be a deluge of purple prose about the companies qualifying for the expedition, the inimitable Mike Butcher is lending his considerable skills to the advisory board.

It’s official and finally I can talk about it! Chinwag has teamed up with the UKTI to take UK digital SMEs on trade missions to New York and Austin, Texas coinciding with two of the world’s most celebrated web events – the Web 2.0 Expo and SXSW Interactive.

The NYC mission coinciding with the Web 2.0 Expo runs 14-19 September 2008.