In an earlier post today (LeWeb3 Videos are up - they look pretty good!) I was asking what meaning LeWeb3 had for me:

"…There's so much information here, but at the same time, people on stage are mainly there to share their experience or pitch an idea - so when you put it all together - what to you get?"

Well… according to a post from BusinessWeek.com's Sarah Lacy - Paris Is No Silicon Valley — Yet, LeWeb3 may have been more about creating a Silicon Valley investment environment in Paris than the state of the Web (which is almost impossible to define - since it's so dynamic and widespread):

"…Valley celebrities in attendance included Evan Williams, who founded Twitter and Blogger, which was snapped up by Google (GOOG); Kevin Rose, founder of Digg, Revision3, and Pownce; and the ever-opinionated Sequoia Capital entrepreneur-in-residence and Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis. Om Malik of GigaOm and Michael Arrington of TechCrunch made it over as well. It was as if an A-list Valley Web 2.0 party had simply been airlifted. "

I guess, my one regret for the LeWeb3 trip, was that I did not get to speak with any of them personally.  Nevertheless, I was happy I attended and I do measure value in my own self satisfaction, going to the Louvre twice, again, meeting French Bloggers one evening, hanging out and listening to Gypsy Music in Montmartre with Fred Baros plus all the surrounding moments - I guess I'd go again next year if/when I get another Press Pass.

Getting back to the Businessweek article - the reason behind LeWeb3 - building a European Silicon Valley - which makes sense to me now that I think about it and process the information I took in while there:

"…There's a reason for the turnout. Something very exciting is happening with the Web in Europe. Finally. For years, Europe's Internet scene has been lackluster in comparison with global innovation hot spots like Israel, China, and India — not to mention Silicon Valley. In part, that stems from a cultural stigma attached to failure. "

"…That's a hard cycle to break, but there are signs of cultural change. The enthusiasm was palpable at Le Web. The business case for starting a Web company on the other side of the Atlantic is far more compelling, thanks to such forces as the increasing Internet penetration, the strength of the euro, and the formation of an economic entity rivaling the U.S. And just as in the U.S., entrepreneurs need less money to test out a good idea and require fewer employees to take that big initial risk."

If anything, I want to be where the action is - perhaps, behind the scenes - but definitely - if everyone who wants to start a company ends up in Silicon Valley, and Europe is left out, perhaps that needs to change - and just being at LeWeb3, perhaps in a small way, I helped that - by spreading the word.