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London Calling for the Bocconi Startup

, by Tomaso Eridani
Adverdose is a platform created by two recent Bocconi graduates, Paolo La Paglia and Mario Dughi. And it's part of an acceleration program for foreign startups organized by the UK government

Interested in helping new and young businesses grow in their area, the British government created a program to support startups owned by recent international graduates. Of the 40 selected to be included in the sought-after program is the video-contest platform Adverdose created by two recent Bocconi graduates, Paolo La Paglia and Mario Dughi, both 25.

Paolo La Paglia and Mario Dughi

The idea for the startup was hatched in the classrooms at Via Sarfatti, where they both attended both a Master of Science and Bachelor program. During their MSc, Paolo and Mario began to think about how brands could take advantage of the potential of user-generated content and interact online with their customers. "Social media is limiting for brands, because after a like or a follow the interaction with the customer tends to decrease," explains Paolo. "We thought instead of a platform that would revolutionize online advertising, facilitating non-invasive interaction while also providing an area for customer creativity." That's how Adverdose came about, a platform created to provide brands the chance to ask their community to make very short advertising videos, offering a series of prizes for customers based on their interaction. After a trial run in 2013, the students applied to the Sirius program promoted by the UK Trade & Investment department to promote new foreign businesses through the support of recent international graduates – as long as they then moved to the UK. The selected startups also included teech.io, where Lorenzo Bruno, another recent Bocconi graduate, is a founder. "The selected startups get financial support, the support of an accelerator for 12 months, mentoring and networking opportunities," explains Paolo. "We've been in London since March at the co-working space Innovation Warehouse, and we've been busy getting ready for the launch." This summer, Adverdose conducted trial competitions for Fubles e Customuse and soon their first full-fledged competition will begin for the app Runnit.

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