I get sad sometimes that we don’t discuss much of what is moving in Latvia.

Greg Mathers, Juris Ulmanis, James Bowen (in Ottawa) and I at RTU Riga Business School have been in the process of creating a business accelerator. The name is FastTrack. We are currently consolidating our operating fund sources and accepting investors.

Along the way to our little offering to Latvian entrepreneurship, we have learned a fair amount about the LV start-up world - some positive, some not so. One of the most positive is the opening of TechHub Riga in February. This was largely driven by Andris Berziņš, Toby Moore, Rihards Gailums and a few others. TechHub is a coworking space and is currently home to some really cool IT start-ups. They also host IT pitch nights and other meetups.

Anybody else have some positive piemers?

Hi Tom:

OK, I’ll Bite. Tell Us More About Your “Improved” Mousetrap Business Opportunities.

I, for one, know a fair amount about business start-up incubators and the start-up process, having actively participated in some of the same in Silicon Valley, CA Research Triangle Park, NC, and now here in the greater Philly, PA area. If you’re seeking some dialogue on this subject, PM me. If you’re seeking no-questions-asked angel investors, I think I’ll sit this dance out, as we all should….at least until we learn more.

Garais

Garais,
My question was - do you know any other examples of things happening in Latvia? I mentioned two, one that I am proud to be involved in. I was not soliciting funds or investors.

Given your involvement in business incubators (that is not our primary interest) you might consider contacting Amy Storrow at the American Embassy in Riga. They are looking for Americas to link (voluntarily) with either LV firms in incubators or LV incubators. I will pm her email to you.

Still interested in other examples of things happening here.

Thomas,

I’m assuming the Andris Bērziņš you named is the president.  What is your impression of him?  He seems to pin his legitimacy on helping foster a business (as distinct from biznes)-friendly environment in Latvia.

I wish I could reply with examples of start-ups I know of personally, but here I’m very much on the outside looking in.

Thanks for the chuckle. No. Not the president and not the former PM. Andrīs is a Latvian/Brit who graduated from Stanford b-school and has great experience in Silicon Valley and now reps for a Danish VC firm.

Aha!  So a new and improved model. I don’t suppose there’s an accomplished, honest young Aivars Lembergs running around somewhere?

Peteris Kalnins - 19 July 2012 06:39 AM

Aha!  So a new and improved model. I don’t suppose there’s an accomplished, honest young Aivars Lembergs running around somewhere?

Lemberg has kids, and they are running around somehwere….......
with huge allowances.

p.s. Lemberg, Skele ans Shlesser could direct a “biznes” institute
in Latvia.
All others go to the back of the bus. Well, there are few others…........

Thomas Schmit - 16 July 2012 10:48 PM

I get sad sometimes that we don’t discuss much of what is moving in Latvia.

Greg Mathers, Juris Ulmanis, James Bowen (in Ottawa) and I at RTU Riga Business School have been in the process of creating a business accelerator. The name is FastTrack. We are currently consolidating our operating fund sources and accepting investors.

(...)

Anybody else have some positive piemers?

Query:  Is this the same Juris Ulmanis who was President of the Kempmayer Media Ltd. that worked on the project to introduce digital T.V. To Latvija some years back?

Partially right. Kempmayer, but board member. I am proud to say that Juris is both my colleague and my friend.

On trial (wrongly, from my perspective) for 7 years, but has managed to produce plays, manage real estate, get a PhD, teach and raise a great daughter. Not bad.

I hadn’t heard about the trial lasting for 7 years.  Is it still ongoing?  Information about this has been difficult to find over the interwebs.  A rumor going around had it that Andris Šķēle and Andrejs Ēķis, two of the more prominent parties behind Kempmeyer, managed to have the case go away.

At any rate, as this is the same Juris, he certainly has much experience in the tech industry to mentor a Tech Hub.  He was one of the head honchos for Motorola in the Baltics in the Nineties and early Naughts.  He is an old friend, and I will vouch for his good character.

/R

Thomas,
tell Juris U. to come around to more sensible and progressive plans than following up on models of the Old Economy. Surely that bs about “growth” is over. This is not to say that IT does not have some more leverage and is out of space to develop in. But it is impossible to see either one of you being mentors of Latvia for the long run.

jandžs - beyond some absurdity about pot, what do you suggest? We are not hermits who just kinda sit around throwing out the stray bomb. We three have businesses and work with a number of others to create jobs and business. Sorry, but you can’t just tell us we can’t. We can.

Thomas, I was not adressing you as ‘we’, except that you presume to talk on behalf of some ‘we’, moreover have presumed to use the names of. So, did you or did you not pass my query on to J.U? What do you think of the future of IT in Latvia? Since you never mention specifics, but write of vague positivist generalities, I suspect that you have no idea what you are talking about.

“He is an old friend, and I will vouch for his good character.”

Lāča pakalpojums:  a character reference from Roberts.

Tom,

Maybe something your IT people could aim for ...
Remember Xtree in the ‘80’s? A beautiful little programme; that one could print out a whole directory of files, sizes, change attributes etc.
It’s author attempted to make a Windows version of it ... but gave up due to serious ill health.

If someone could come up with something like that again ... I’d be the first to buy it.

anita - 05 August 2012 03:25 PM

“He is an old friend, and I will vouch for his good character.”

Lāča pakalpojums:  a character reference from Roberts.

Heh heh.

The Nag from the Chicago clique (featuring Russian Okupanti, Marxist-Lenninist junkies, and losers masquerading as cops) makes jokes about guilt by association.

Hilarity!  Pot… Kettle… Black.

/R