I am very excited to announce a new conference, called the TechCrunch20. This is a joint venture between us (TechCrunch) and Jason Calacanis, who broke the news about this earlier today. The format is simple: Twenty of the hottest new startups will announce and demo their products over a two day period. And they don’t pay a cent to do this. They will be selected to participate based on merit alone.
Many tech conferences today allow startups to pitch and demo their products to their attendees, although there is almost always a hefty fee involved that ranges from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. DEMO, where I am currently, is probably the quintessential example of this model. The entire conference is paid startup demos. There are way too many to digest—60—and it is a well known secret that if you are willing to pay the $15,000+ fee, your startup will really need to suck to be turned down.
While conferences like DEMO are extremely lucrative for the organizers, I’m not sure the startups or attendees attending get much out of it other than a great networking event. There are too many startups for press to give even passing coverage to many of them, and attendees are lost in a sea of pitches that all begin to blur together.
And there is a serious conflict of interest at the conference level. The economics of the event dictate that a certain number of startups must be accepted for a certain fee. Attendees don’t know if they’re really seeing the best startups, or just the best startups that are willing to pay the exorbitant participation fee. A few (or a lot of) duds always make their way in.
Many of the hottest startups over the past couple of years—Digg, YouTube, StumbleUpon and many others—didn’t have the money in the early days to spend on DEMO and other conferences, and so they didn’t participate. We want to give the future YouTube’s a platform to announce those products.
The TechCrunch20 Conference
Jason and I are going to do something a lot different than the pay-to-demo model. The TechCrunch20 conference will be a two day event, held this fall (more details soon), where twenty hot startups will demo their new products—and they don’t pay a dime to do this.
The startups will be invited based on the recommendation of a committee of expert analysts, entrepreneurs and journalists. Twenty companies will be invited, plus a couple of alternates. If a selected startup isn’t ready to launch ten days or so before the event, they’ll be bumped and one of the alternates will take its place.
Jason is the perfect partner for us to work with on this conference. He’s a successful entrepreneur and has held large startup-focused conferences in the past. It is our hope that his experience and our access to new startups will be a winning combination.
More details on the TechCrunch20 conference will be announced soon.
Comments
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@24 David Armstrong
Agreed! Having a good business model is very important, and should be a part of the selection criteria.
Having helped to build IBDNetwork and the Under the Radar http://www.ibdnetwork.com/inde.....;Itemid=43
format and after reading Amy’s comment above I feel obliged to chime in. IBDNetwork and DEMO are to my knowledge the only two events/conferences, where companies are showcased that has made it through the down-turn. They have shown that they have a value prop that is as sucessful, as it is useful.
In regards to “the pull” IBDNetwork has outside the valley - let’s give a hard example of what they are able to make happen -
http://observer.guardian.co.uk.....75,00.html
The individuals and companies in this article received great traction and did deals as a result of IBDNetwork’s “pull” outside of the Valley.
At the end of the day conferences are for making deals. IBDNetwork and DEMO have proven they can do it over many years and through all economic circumstances. Just something to think about.
If anyone is looking for a venue to launch a new product or gain feedback from their local tech community, you should consider coming out or hosting a (non commercial, community driven, free/open attendence) DemoCamp unconference.
The format of a DemoCamp is simple, short demos, no powerpoint, technology demonstrations only, and all volunteer driven. Organization is totally grassroots, and signups are conducted via a wiki.
FWIW: DemoCamp was a spin off of Torcamp which was a spin off of BarCamp which was a spin off of FooCamp.
While its not built as a product launch platform for media and VC, folks from the media and VC community have and do attend DemoCamps. In toronto, we have had basically one of these lightweight conference every month.
Some of BubbleShare first features were launched at the very first DemoCamp in Toronto, and there are now 19 events that have taken place or will be taking place in 5+ different cities.
Go support your local tech community and START A DEMOCAMP in your city!
For more details check out: http://barcamp.org/DemoCamp
[For those that are in or near toronto, check out the 1st birthday of DemoCamp this Feb5 at DemoCamp12/Toronto.]
Just today we decided to decline an offer to be ‘featured’ as a ’selected’ company to present at a very respectable web 2.0 conference.
Thanks but, No Thanks!
At a $4,000 (!) price tag we can comeup with other ways to spend the money (one example, 200 development hours).
Wise decision? Only time will tell.
Thanks for bringing this great topic up and hope we qualify for the Fall event.
We’ve been at Demo 2004 and everything has been said in previous comments (especially #47) about how hard and helpful it is to present a company/product in just 6 minutes in front of the audience that comes there. It’s not a waste of time.
Actually, when we went there, we were a privately funded french company (we still are and no, we’re not looking for capital right now !) and I can confirm that Chris was very helpful to help us finance the show. Also, from the talks I had with other companies, I realized that average funding was above 500 k USD so I don’t thing Demo price tag was really an issue.
And speaking of “conflict of interest”… Don’t you think that as a Demo competitor, you are really not in the best position to denounce Demo potential biases - should they exist ?
Your idea looks really fine. No need to “crunch” Demo which is really a cool and helpful event.
Sounds like a good idea, but playing off of DEMO to announce your new conference (more like an exhibition) wasn’t very cool. Bad etiquette, I’d say. Buy Chris a drink and make up.
There is a lot of talk in the blogosphere that TC is biased, that’s it’s American guanxi. Know MA, get in TC. Perhaps you should have an independent review committee so the whole thing can be kosher. Just an idea.
Mike, don’t let potential conflict-of-interest claims plague you, bring you down. Not worth the risk.
BTW, I’d love to do this with you in China. And since our company is the outsourcing hub for Tsinghua University (China’s MIT), we see — and have access to — a lot of the cooler start-ups in China. Hey, maybe we could get Tony Perkins in on this. Or, RK at Forbes. Or, the Future in Review gang. Hmmm …
Would be keen to go on the mailing list for news of this happening in London
cheers
Craig
Keep me posted….
Pay to demo.. Pay to demo.. Sort of like another event too, right?
The TechCrunch party in New York let you be a “Sponsor” if you paid $5K, and you got to demo your product there as part of that sponsorship.
Not that it’s bad to change one’s mind, but why is nobody pointing this out?
This is excellent.
How does a company get involved!
We have great products and I’d love to just come out and support the other GUY/GAL!
Keep me posted.
The good news is there’s always room for new ways of doing things but let’s call a spade a spade here. Don’t couch your venue in holier-than-thou rhetoric OR trash the competition which blazed the trail in the first place. Bad form. Let’s just hope you can be as clear and honest about your screening process as Chris Shipley and IDG. As Chris pointed out, more than 1000 companies vie (at no cost but a lot of preparation) to be SELECTED. Only 68 or so get selected. Do the math. But it’s not about the money, Mike. It’s all about integrity and creating conferences that are worthy of people’s time, energy, and intellect.
Any event that is organized to make a quick profit like the DEMO is a farce. In a copycat event (called proto) held in India, the organizers tried to make a quick buck rather than what TechCrunch20 promises to do. Such events and its organizers should be shunned like plague.
This is very exciting!
Excellent approach.
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