I realise now that it was remiss of me, mentioning that European startups might want to put out feelers in Silicon Valley, not to also re-emphasise the other point I made in that long post about connecting with the fast-developing East of Europe. My Silicon Valley reference elicited a kind offer offer from Ben Metcalfe to help UK and Irish startups. But what we also need now are some equally handy offers to connect from Eastern European startups who want to connect with the UK, Ireland and other parts of Europe. Why them specifically? Because these are parts of Europe which are still developing a startup eco-system to rival the older networks contained around London, Paris, Berlin etc. So for starters (and I am probably over-stepping my remit here!) I have put up a TechCrunch Facebook group for startups in Europe who want to connect to TechCrunch in Europe (something I will be doing more of in the new year, as I am based in London and a short flight away from the rest of Europe). It’s just a small start, but I’m sure others will create other groups, and there is already an interesting one over at the European & Valley Community.