I rarely write about startups in my neck of the woods - Croatia and the surrounding region - simply because they’re mostly locally oriented and aren’t interesting to many readers of this blog. This one is no exception, but since I was in on it from the beginning and since I believe it’s a good project, it’s worth mentioning.
Under the wing of one of Croatia’s biggest general purpose news portals - net.hr - a new social networking called Trosjed was launched today. Trosjed (the word means “sofa” in Croatian) is a simple but well designed social network, with all the standard socnet features: friends, comments, groups, events, activities, personal blog, and a forum. Its unique visual design is worth mentioning: an artist has designed cute clay sculptures which are used for visuals all over the site, and - together with a solid overall design - it definitely gives a cute and unpretentious feel to the whole site. That, and the fact that net.hr is a highly popular local site with millions of monthly visits, might turn this one into a rare Croatian web 2.0 success story.
It’s also worth noting that the web startup situation in Croatia is heating up; the first startup conference was held in Zagreb this year, and several ambitious web startups will be appearing soon, some of them with global aspirations.
Check out some screenshots below, and while you’re at it, please comment if you’d like / wouldn’t like to read more about startups from the Eastern European region; a topic I know well but I’ve mostly been avoiding writing about it.
I’m definitely interested in hearing more about Eastern European startups. We hear far too much about every tiny movement on the west coast of the US when innovation is happening everywhere. Count me in as a reader!
Andy (UK)
@Andy: thanks for the input. I will surely report on those startups with global intentions; and I might throw in a local one here and there just to mix it up.
I’m also really interested in hearing more from that part of Europe. The US is already covered by so many bloggers but with Eastern Europe you will definitely have a unique edge.
@Ola: duly noted (:
It looks better than our MySpace! Pfft, I really don’t like MySpace anymore, it is so annoying and crap. Facebook is a lot better. Hehe.
Hi Stan,
At the alarm:clock, we’re always looking for news about startups, investment activity, and founders in Eastern Europe. I have Frantic in my Netvibes reader now, so I can start linking through when you post.
Thanks in advance and greetings from the alarm:clock euro
Valerie
@Valerie: thanks, I know about alarm:clock, I’m a follower. Keep up the good work (;
im from croatia and as much of you ppl
think this is somewhat interesting
its is also lame.
croatians only know to copy other people stuff
and put credits for “innovation” to themself.
first they copied youtube with “jubito”
now they copy myspace with this lame “trosjed”
its just disgusting…
I would ike to hear more from Croatia and other parts of Eastern Europe a well. If anyone interested what is happening over here in the Czech Republic, I am glad to invite you to my blog www.czechidea.com, where I am trying to cover web news from my country.
i’m from Croatia….i’m registered on Trosjed…aand I can say it sux. Myspace is way better..
btw. Croatia is not in the Eastern Europe. It is in South-eastern