Are you a start up company and would you like to go to The Next Web 2008, but the 750 euros access is too much for you? The Dutch online twitter community hands you a chance to go. On Twitter the initiative for an online start-up pitch evolved.

The Next Web is a conference which is about the future of the web. That is why start-ups are very important. For example di 24 start-ups get the chance to speak on the big stage for five minutes. Also there is a ‘Company Area" where start-ups can present themselves in booths.

Off course not every start up in Netherlands can do this, but for start ups, it is certainly interesting to walk around on the Congress to facilitate contacts and ideas. Start ups however often have one big problem: money. And a visit to The Next Web site costs money. Certainly not excessive money, but money. And a start up thinks twice about every dime before spending it.

In a dialogue at Twitter Dutch Twitterazi Erwin Blom and Arne Hulstein came to the conclusion that there ‘something had to be done’. Blom, a big fan of the TV show "Dragons Den’ came up with a collection tight together with a contest.

If you like to support a start up and like to create the opportunity for startups to get an admission ticket you can donate money. If you are a startup and want to compete you need a video film of 3 minutes in which you pitch your startup. Video’s will be followed by a vote on who wins.

Meanwhile, the organization of The Next Web supports the initiative and already claimed they would double every euro collected and amongst others Dutch Cowboys and NetTraject donated. A great opportunity therefore for start ups.

So, want to help the start ups? Are you a start up and want to go? Take a look and comment on the weblog of Erwin Blom.

I always like to make comparisons to get things clear for the people I’m talking to. Apparently Li Evans likes to do that as well.

With her post about a Bon Jovi concert she visited she makes a nice comparison with what things you should focus on in Internet Marketing.

She saw how Bon Jovi treated its fans and compared it to the way we should treat our ‘fans’ on the web. She comes up with seven issues:

• Get Your Message Heard and Understood
• Can Everyone See the Show?
• Distractions From the Real Message
• Get the Crowd Involved
• Using the Familiar to Introduce the New
• Change is Good!
• With Age Comes Experience

All issues we can agree on I think. Read what she says about these issues in her post on Searchmarketinggurus.

I’m curious about what you think. Which items would you add?

I write a lot for Dutch Cowboys. So I did recently at the

SES

in London. In London I was interviewed by some people from Checkit. I thought it would be part of a series of interviews. But suddenly I’m exclusivly online on Dutch Cowboys. That was a surprise : ). But its fun!

Look at the interview on Dutch Cowboys >>>