European Commission to appoint internet entrepreneurs as formal advisors

The European Commission has asked a small group of young internet entrepreneurs in Europe to become its formal advisors on the challenges faced by small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the digital sector.

A number of these internet entrepreneurs have already been advising the EC on such issues in a non-formal capacity, meeting with EC head of digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, on a regular basis in Brussels.

Nico Perez, an entrepreneur who co-founded internet radio start-up Mixcloud, has held such a role since January this year, and he explained to V3 the role is now being made more formal.

"The process is being made more formal to increase the transparency," he said.

"Last week we were asked to submit our names and asked why we remain interested in the role.

"Not all the advisors are in technology. For example, there's a lady researching [the sector] in France, a guy working on infrastructure in Greece, and a guy in Holland who is working on physical hardware."

V3 contacted the EC for further details on the advisors being selected for the role but has yet to receive a response.

Perez said the EC role is not too demanding on his time. He still works full-time for MixCloud, and also runs the Silicon Roundabout Social Club.

Coinciding with Internet Week, Perez will be speaking to young entrepreneurs this Friday on how they can start-up a business without external funding.

The event he is speaking at is being organised by the General Assembly, a New York based organisation that puts on classes for those wanting to start-up their own companies.

"It'll mostly be people at idea stage, or pre-idea stage who are looking to learn more about growing a start-up, cash-flow issues, and bootstrapping," he added.

Perez will be using his own experience in his speech.

"We are now at the point where we don't need [external funding], but for a while we tried really tried to get investment. What we are good at is building products," said Perez.

"We're now in a position where we're trying to hire people and trying to grow the team. I want to make it clear to other entrepreneurs that there is a third way. You can do it by yourself if you have the dedication and you work hard."