Philipp Bouteiller is COO at sMeet.com and one of its co-founders. Like Second Life and Habbo Hotel, sMeet is a „social virtual world, where you can meet with your friends, meet new people, entertain yourself, watch videos and follow lifestreams.“ It’s a very simple and intuitive solution – „you just open your browser and there you go“, says Philipp, who loves Second Life himself, but finds it „very complex and more for geeks“. He adds „sMeet is Flash-based, not so comic-like and has a slightly older audience than our competitors.“ (Competitor Google Lively has been shut down at the end of 2008. There are several blogs covering the demise like Virtual World Watch, educational development center or Picking Up Sticks.) sMeet’s basic equipment is for free so its main driver for money is vanity: „The moment you want to dress up nicely or furnish your room a little bit more elaborate“ says Philipp, „you have to pay“. The company has built the virtual world for „Deutschland sucht den Superstar“ - the „American Idol“ Format - based on an „exciting“ cooperation with RTL Television. „In 2009, we want to become even more attractive and sign new TV stations“, adds Philipp. Right now, sMeet has around ½ million users and is growing very fast, reaching break-even at the end of the year. Philip points out that the „recession affects sMeet in a positive way. As a parent you have to entertain your kids. Either you spend $20 for cinema tickets or $5 for new clothing for your kids in the virtual world where they can entertain themselves for hours. Also, sMeet is about interaction and learning in a controlled environment.“ sMeet is one of the companies financed by Hasso Plattner Ventures, „an extremely supportive and loyal“ investor. Philipp finds that „particularly in crisis times, it’s good to have a strong and independent partner.“ But according to Philipp „recession also means that a lot of talent is coming on to the market, so it’s good for us. We are always looking for talent, especially in creative design. The best value right now would be to have a very strong art director.“ With regard to starting a company, Philipp advises: “Go out there and do it quick!“ As Viktoria puts it „go and run and have fun“ ;) In order to learn more about Hasso Plattner Ventures, please watch Viktoria’s interview with Eran Davidson, President and CEO of HPV, which has been shot at the SIME event in Stockholm in November, 2008. More videos related to Hasso Plattner Ventures will be shown in the days to come @ www.tiburon-tv.com