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November 28, 2007
Buy, Hold, or Sell with Alexander Straub
Alexander Straub of UK-based early stage investment companyStraub Ventures is more comfortable talking about the "revolutionary" startup companies he is backing than his personal technology investments, but we did eventually find out about his recent and planned acquisitions of the consumer kind for our new series called Buy, Hold or Sell.
In a telephone interview with alarm:clock euro, Straub said that he recently switched from a Blackberry to a Nokia E61i (above), similar in looks to the Blackberry with email, qwerty keyboard, quad band, Windows support, and Wifi finesse.
Another recent buy was an iMac with a 25 inch screen. Better posture is just one of the benefits he mentioned.
But he's not big on the iPhone. "I tried the iPhone and it is a great gadget, but I find that Nokia voice quality, especially for Voice-over-WLAN using Truphone, is still the best in the world," he said.
The a:c euro notes that Truphone, the UK-based mobile telephony startup is one of his investments.
"I make 90 percent of my calls on VoWLAN so it's been important," he added.
A weakness of the iPhone is that it can only take one SIM card, typically the identity module that is sold along with a subscription to a mobile network operator's service. "You need to re-hack it to use a different SIM card, which gave me a lot of problems," explained Straub.
Today he uses Apple's touch-screen gadget to take pictures of the kids and send them via a Wifi Internet connection to his grandparents. "But I do not make any calls on it," said Straub.
Carbon Neutral Driving
(Image Source: Daimler Press Office)
Beyond communications and gadgets, carbon neutrality is coloring his consumer activities. A sentiment that if shared by others will no doubt gratify readers who are actively investing in cleantech and energy-efficiency.
The German-born, London-dwelling investor wants a hybrid electric vehicle, but a small one. "It has to be even smaller than the Prius," said Straub.
"Perhaps a smart EV," he said. A hybrid variant of the popular German microcar from smart gmbh is expected on the market in two years time, with a rechargeable electric version to follow. (image source: Daimler)
But two things are holding him back, the price tag which he figures will be about £35K, and the fact that he lives in Notting Hill where finding a place to recharge a hybrid's battery pack is not trivial.
"If you don't have off-street parking, it is a no go," said Straub.
He's also looking at upgrading insulation, windows, and the heating/cooling systems in his country home on the Schoeninsel, in northern Germany in the former East German region of Mecklenburg Vorpommern.
The surrounding lake water could provide enough temperature differential to power a heat pump, which could save him some energy costs over the long term, but more important for Straub is the carbon reduction potential.
Straub is an entrepreneur-turned-active early stage investor. Besides his Truphone activities, he's currently the CEO of Pixsta, a visual search startup.
Degrees in engineering have led to a rare career path in the European venture market, specifically Straub has been successful as a startup founder, worked as a partner at Lazard Technology Partners, and worked in the technology team of Goldman Sachs.
View Pixsta
View Pixsta in action at ChezImelda
Read - alarm:clock articles mentioning Truphone
Posted on November 28, 2007 08:06 AM | Posted to Being European | Permalink
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