Silicon Valley - myth or reality?Gro Dyrnes, Director Innovation Norway San Francisco and Silicon Valley

• Key components of the ecosystem:o Number and density of leading tech companieso Talent poolo Angel and venture capitalo Startup culture and communityo Support systems and serviceso Universities - education and scienceo Natural tech cluster

• The ecosystem and its components are catalysts for establishing new tech companies and enable the rapidly scaling of these

UNIQUE:

Silicon Valley is the leading and most complete ecosystem for startups and tech companies globally

REASONS TO GO AND REASONS TO STAY:

Establishing in Silicon Valley? – our viewTypical reasons for coming to SV Our perspective

Silicon Valley is a key market (customers/partners)

• Likely true for companies addressing the tech value chain• Local tech companies are open to work with the best• Good preparation and execution is key – validate product/market

fit, value proposition, plan and resources

Access to talent • Possibly a good strategy for some specialized skills, e.g. CEO, tech management, biz dev or product management

• Less likely a good strategy for broad recruitment, R&D and engineers

• Very competitive, expensive and challenging to recruit

Raise capital / get funding • The SV funding market is liquid, but ultra-competitive• Seed and start-up funding is local and reference driven• Not a generic solution for most Nordic startups• VC funding is more likely for growth stage companies w/metrics• Specialized tech cases may fit with specialized angels early

California is nice! Yes it is – but not a valid reason to establish a business

• Disruptions (innovation and business is closely linked)

• Collaboration

• It’s all about people

• Pay it forward!

• Power couples

• Fail, but fail fast! (…and learn from it) – piloting – speed!

• Ambitions and Growth

• Make the world a better place

The Silicon Valley culture fuel innovation and growth

INNOVATION NORWAY in SAN FRANCISCO & SILICON VALLEY:

We lower the thresholds from Norwegian start-up to Silicon Valley success

Norwegian start-up Silicon Valley successValidate SV fit Establish in SV Operate in SVGo/no go

IN support services

Serv

ices

Tool

s

TINC Nordic Innovation House

Market fit?Product validation

Pitch trainingNetworksMentoringWorkshops

On the job training

Virtual OfficePermanent Office

CommunityNetwork

Market advisory services

CommunityNetwork

Market advisory services

Gro E. DyrnesInnovation Norway San Francisco & Silicon Valley

| 575 Market St. | San Francisco CA 94104 USA

I Cell: 650.799.0551 I Skype: grodyrnes I T:@grodyrnes

I T: @InnovasjonNorge|

I www.innovationnorway.no I

NORDIC INNOVATION HOUSE

| 470 Ramona St. | Palo Alto CA 94301 USA

I Office: 650.325.5500

I T: @innorhouse|facebook.com/innovationhouse I

Iwww.nordicinnovationhouse.com I

Thanks!