So we’re getting ready to start sending out beta invitations after the summer holidays, and you can help us get ready faster by filling in this 6 question mini survey.

We’re really interested to hear from all you hyper-connected folks to better understand your needs for contact & message aggregation, storage and management. We’re also looking for feedback on which features and services we should prioritize for the next phase of our development.

Take the Silentale Beta Survey!

Of course, if you haven’t already requested an invitation, you can do it here by selecting “Signup for beta!”. And thanks to SurveyMonkey for their great service!

Credit: www.wordle.net

Although we’ve been fairly quiet for the last few months, behind the scenes we have been extremely busy preparing Silentale for everyone. And, to tell you the truth, it’s taken us little longer than expected.

More specifically, we have been working on two fronts. First off, making sure the back-end was ready to securely receive the massive amount of data (the thousands of messages, contact details and attachments from each of our users) that we will be processing. We’ve also been working on the web interface to be a simple yet powerful display of the wealth of information that is available. For this and much more, the feedback from our alpha testers has been hugely helpful.  Many thanks to everyone for both their engagement AND their patience!

We’re now gearing up to switch from alpha to beta (finally – phew)! The change is expected to happen by the end of the summer, and every pending invitation request should have been fulfilled by then. So, if you have not registered yet and want to secure a spot, direct your browser here and put your email on the list.  And if you just want a preview, check out  Silentale’s corporate site in all its new glory, with plenty of screenshots and product details!

Other stuff that’s been happening…

In June, Silentale was named as one of the 5 most promising French Startups.

Also in June, I attended the TechCrunch Europa Awards as a member of the Jury.

In May – Intruders.tv published an interview filmed during Plugg’09 in Brussels.

This post has originally been published here.

Andy McLoughlin & Alastair Mitchell, Huddle

So the TechCrunch Europa Awards are a wrap and I’m reliving the rush from all the excitement at yesterday’s event. Although a big proportion of the crowd was from the UK and more specifically from London, Mike Butcher’s effort to create deep, lasting connections all across Europe is paying off (thanks Mike!). Through great entrepreneurs, digital leaders, connecting discussions and creating fruitful partnerships… the European community is growing tighter and stronger.

Although I didn’t have a chance to meet everyone, the event allowed me to spend a great deal of time with fellow entrepreneurs, investors and actors of the community from all over the UK, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Romania and, of course, the US.

These events are important, creating the bridges that are needed to bypass the limits of location, and simply demonstrating the possibilities of a pan-European network of successful startups.

And the winners are: Spotify winning 4 times including The Europas Grand Prix, Huddle, SongKick, Soup.io, Mendeley, AlertMe, Poken, SoundCloud, Nimbuzz, SpinVox, TAG – The Accelerator Group, Yossi Verdi, and let’s not forget Tweetdeck that was highly commended twice.

Unfortunately so many more have not been named, some of which are my personal favorites – not only because they’ve became friends, but because their services can and may very well become mainstream, if they are not already. To name a few Amiando, Dopplr, Myfab, 3scale, Mobypicture, Stupeflix, Tweetmeme, Amee and Truphone.

Building a Robust Network

The first step was to build strong regional communities. Today, they exist all across the old continent, we see it in France at the very well attended weekly OpenCoffeeClub or at LeWeb, in Germany with Next or Web20expo Europe, in the Netherlands with TheNextWeb, in the UK with Geek’n Rolla and in Bruxels with Plugg.

The second step was to create a common platform, in English, to expose and give perspective on what is happening all over. TheNextWeb blog started it, the rebranded Techcrunch Europe is doing it too. Effectively creating the relationships and network. And the event like last night is the proof that it works, it’s happening!

Europe is so different from the States, in terms of language, culture and behavior that we need to find alternative ways of tackling the creation of a single, lasting, pan-European startupcommunity. To be successful these relationships need to be anchored into more robust interactions. One of the most interesting discussions I had last night was around the concept of creating a physical network of hubs built across Europe with the participation of existing entrepreneurs (successful or in the making) and major players. Providing physical space for the community in different locations could definitely shape the way we’re looking at collaboration between growing companies, investors, experts and partners. It can’t be a local play since our markets and relationships are cross-border. This could effectively create a healthy and persistent environment that, to date, has been exclusive to the Valley.

Would love to hear everybody’s thoughts on this, and how it could work!