BRIC countries have received a lot of attention in the past decade due to both their economic growth and competitive pricing on exports, but also for their maturing online users and the vast return potential it has given to entrepreneurs in their late dotcom boom. Although many BRIC entrepreneurs have developed their own web ideas and innovative technologies, many recent big exits have come from reproducing US and European business models, a practice often referred to as “copycats”.

It does make you wonder whether copycats are as bad as the name sounds, and whether they do not have a sense of innovation in markets that haven’t yet experienced the benefits of certain long-popular-in-the-west web and mobile platforms.

The founders met when they shared a table at a restaurant, and then they made a business out of it: Shareatable. A new scheme to get people together.

(Business) traveling on your own can be a wonderful opportunity, but many travelers object to eating on their own. It's often dull, and people seem to be staring at you. Asking someone else whether you can join their table is too high a hurdle for most of us. Shareatable is an initiative that makes it easier for people to join each other, without hurdles. It's free, and you're bound to have a more interesting evening!

This is a guest post by Entrepreneur Liz Rice, Vice President of Thrutu. A London native, she is now based in Palo Alto.

It’s not hard to see why people like California – perfect weather, oceans and mountains easily accessible, and a multi-cultural melting pot that means every type of cuisine is available practically around the corner. But why is it so attractive to build a start-up here?

I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of living and working in Palo Alto, building and launching a brand new product – a mobile app called Thrutu, that makes it really easy to share photos, locations, contacts and more while you’re talking on the phone – here in the heart of Silicon Valley. As a veteran of a few successful (and not-so-successful!) start-ups in the UK, it’s interesting to compare the two cultures and business environments.