The TechCrunch20 Conference

Awesome should be a great thing to attend and cover.

Great news Mike.

Web 3.0 funding starts in the Fall or 2007.

Great idea!

Any chance of doing a UK version once you’ve relaunched TCUK (which I’m hoping will happen soon!)? I think it would really help the ecosystem, and help get press coverage for good UK startups.

Great idea, Mike. The payola model is very flawed.

Sounds great! While you mention not having a high cost for participation for startups, what about attendees? It seems that a number of conferences that I’ve attended, cost was both a good and bad thing.

If it costs too much, it potentially keeps some truly interesting people from coming. If it costs too little, it turns into something to do for people who have nothing better to do.

Nevertheless, should be interesting. Congrats on the new conference.

Randy Stewart
randy@boxbe.com

Michael,

Are you inviting bloggers and podcasters to participate as well? I am always looking to feature new companies and individuals on the Interviews Podcast.

We (Snoozester) would be very interested in participating if at all possible. This sounds like a great idea!

Michael, just like you say that there’s a conflict of interest because these are PAID demos, TechCrunch20 will experience the same. The startups that are likely to be picked will probably be those of the well-connected entrepreneurs who know you or Jason personally (oh, wait, you call it a “committee”). So don’t make it sound like you are catering to the little guy in the garage

Finally, Mike. Great call - we’ll be talking about this one soon

Sounds like a great conference this fall. Interestingly, it is the same model Eric Olson and I use for our TECH cocktail events, as companies do not pay a dime to demo.

Congrats to Mike and Jason - should be exciting and a well put together presentation. I hope I can be a part of it!

Our recently funded startup would definitely also be interested in participating (or at least applying to participate). Have the 20 already been picked or do we still have a chance to “try out”?

Nice One. I always thought the DEMO model was flawed. What will be your definition of startup? Launched this year?

Michael
A major benefit that DEMO provides is it opens doors to companies outside the inbred world of Silicon Valley. My company presented at DEMO and it was worth every dime. We are located in the heartland, and we don’t have any ‘familiar’ names on our Board. The press we received opened doors that have helped to make us a profitable company- the old fashioned way- with revenues. The press I am referring to was mainline- newspapers, radio and TV stations, print and online magazines. We were ignored by your contemporaries as we didnt fit into the latest Web 2.0 craze. That’s ok- you have a right to cover what you wish. But now you propose to create a conference where you control the game from start to finish: who sits on your board, who gets invited, who gets to attend, what bloggers and writers get to review. Too many bloggers write glowing reviews about products that advertise on their blogs, companies founded by their friends or where they sit on the board.
If you are going to succeed, you will have to prove to the rest of us that TechCrunch 20 will in fact be open, honest and fair. You can start by having your readership elect your board which should be diverse and not all related to TechCrunch in some way. This would help make sure that you aren’t the next conference criticized for a conflict of interest.

Great idea! I completely agreed with you (Michael) on the DEMO conference. Will you be charging the attendees?

John

Great idea, Michael!

We certainly fell into this category, too. $0 leaves very little room for payola.

Can’t wait to see what stars you guys dig up…

Don

Smart move. Really smart move.

Congratulations on the launch of your event. The industry needs more venues to promote entrepreneurs and new technology.

While it is true that DEMO charges companies a fee to participate, DEMO does not take any company just because it can pay a fee. We don’t need to. More than 300 companies look to be a part of DEMO — we accept no more than 70. In fact, Guidewire Group meets with more than 1,000 companies a year - at no cost to those companies. It’s true that not all great companies can afford to be at DEMO, so Guidewire Group works with them to help them meet potential investors. NetworkWorld, the producer of DEMO, works with companies on payment terms.

And the media? Their “passing coverage” generated 250,000,000 media impressions, and that number doesn’t include unaudited blog coverage.

As a guest of a number of DEMO events over the past years, you must be finding some value here — you keep coming back. I hope you’re new event continues that tradition of delivering a valuable venue that supports entrepreneurs.

So how will the conference be funded?

Michael,

I too am at DEMO. Can we connect?

David

@MH: User-generated funding

lol

Great news Michael
Congratulations

I like the idea. However, if you limit the conference presenters to 15 companies why don’t you just call it the Sequoia Capital conference?

I think conferences focused on regional deal flow or a specific technology are more effective for networking and finding investors.

Mike…Please include “having a good business model” as part of the criteria.

@permanent hater;

Networking yourself out really isn’t that difficult. Everyone starts at zero on the “friends list” and works their way up. Getting to know cool people is part of being an entrepreneur. Blogs are a big help - If you’re a regular commenter and an interesting person in general, you’re bound to connect to someone. Although, I’d bet the name you choose to put on your comments might hurt ya a little bit

Even so, I’m sure you don’t have to personally know Mike or Jason to get on board. If you’re a cool startup and people are aware of you, word will get out.

This is a good idea… Everyone gets shamed for taking an investment that they “dont need”, but then they also don’t get any coverage from lack of visibility in conferences such as DEMO.

Again, choose wisely… and it’s a great idea.

Hey Michael -

This sounds very exciting! What is the criteria for “launch”? Does it have to be a product that has an open sign-up component? We are working on something that will be available in the next few months, but may not have an open sign-up for a long time…

Thanks,

K.

That is great !!! I just check DEMO….but this sure will be great. Best of luck Mike

While I have attended many conferences, what the benefit for start-ups is dependent on who is at the event. VCs, press, bloggers, potential customers and so forth. I think your conference sounds awesome but Demo is amazing as well. I have been on the pitching end of companies and know first hand how selective they are and competitive it is. I believe the cost incorporates high end production for the demos as well as the high end printing and promotion and signage as well as badges for the start-up’s teams. I think an event with you and Jason behind it will be a wonderful opportunity for companies, but Demo is too.

@Robert Dewey: You raise valid points, but it doesn’t make TechCrunch20 any less biased than DEMO may be. If anything, I prefer to see a startup that can fork $18K (because they really believe in their product) than a Friends-of-Mike gathering.

Indeed this was not the best nickname I could have chosen for myself, but heck, this is what I do for fun while working out of a cafe all day. I do have a real identity out there…

(and I guess this is where Michael pulls out the access_logs…)

haha

I wish we had a UK version of TechCrunch 20- It would have been just in time for our recently funded startup Kwiqq.

Any plans for a UK TC20, Michael?

Great News!
pity i can’t be there, but…at least i can continue read your blog

Amazing idea!
Being TechCrunch followers, We expect live coverage
Youtube is not bad either.

Michael,

We would be pleased to provide an introNetwork for the event - as you said, the conference will be a great networking opportunity. We would love to help you in this first conference.

As you well know we have great experience in these types of conferences and provide great value to the participants and great analytics for the organizers.

Give us a call,

Mark@intronetworks.com

wow! when did this love-fest begin between Arrington and Calacanis? didn’t calacanis say “who the hell is mike arrington” and “i heard you could buy a review on techcrunch” just six months ago?

http://www.crunchnotes.com/?p=221

good idea. The reason I don’t demo Tamago at DEMO is cause I think its stupid to pay to demo. Especially at the start-up level. Its like the Angel groups wanting you to pay to pitch.

Love the idea Michael, great move !!
I cross my fingers for our mobile start up to get picked, that is an awesome opportunity that you are giving to us, entrepreneurs, to show case what we believe can be the next killer app.
looking forward to get more info about the application process
good luck!

This is awesome concept. You are addressing atleast one of the two issues for young companies to showcase their ideas.
First is the Issue of having to payup to present at the conference.
The other is a Startups ability to be already in bed with “… a committee of expert analysts, entrepreneurs and journalists.” as you put it.

The problem with “a committee of expert analysts, entrepreneurs and journalists” is that they evaluate technologies and companies not from a “users” or “need” perspective but really as a project at hand. So they are often tired/bored to review small great ideas and get into the trap of reviewing something thats already popular and around the corner for the next DEMO conference with their new fresh round of funding.

So how do you get to focus on the less popular, merely out of the door companies with not much buzz going.

Rahul

That has to be the nicest thing done in SV for entrepreneurs.

* hands you and Jason a karma point

Sounds great you guys. Only the best new startups and no BS. Can’t wait to hear more!

You are the man, Arrington.

Some of you are pretty funny. This is just TechCrunch offline. If your startup wasn’t worth the time to be featured on TechCrunch.com, what makes you think you’re worth the time to be featured on a 20 company panel?

Jason already kind of hinted that it’s going to be a small affair, 250 or so people, which means it’s about 1/4th of people that went to TechCrunch 7. The people attending will be bearing the cost of this demo-con.

This isn’t some magic elixir where shitty websites gets the time of the day. Honestly, if you’re not even able to get blogplay and buzz online, how can you transfer that to be offline? If anything this is just going to be more exclusive kind of hubris party.

Cool… where do we sign up?

I wanna see real startups with actual business models. Some of these startups at DEMO 07 are laughable. Had I known about the 15K fee… I’m not sure I would have come.

Great idea Mike. Though I don’t expect Jason would allow PayPerPost to participate in a million years : )

To tell ya the truth, I don’t think Mike would either

A closet Web 2.0 entrepreneur, aiming to come out of the closet soon, has been chewing on what he believes to be a ‘eureka moment’ idea and business plan of piping hot potential. 15 months of cud so far, with website design and implementaion in embryonic stage. Questions:

1) Better to launch a.s.a.p., or be part of the TechCrunch20 this Fall? A.s.a.p. could mean having first mover advantage.

2) If being a ‘hot new startup’ at TC20 means you’re cracking champagne on the bow of your Web 2.0 ship at the event … then by definition you don’t need a polished (website) product yet. Correct?

3) How best can an entrepreneur, by himself, with thin wallet, put together a presentation that will WoW the judges? Getting a golden ticket to the chocolate factory could make waiting several extra months, a wait well worth waiting for. Right???

I have to chime in on this one. Its an interesting idea, but still flawed for a variety of reasons. The upfront fee, such as that for DEMO is NOT the gating factor for most startups actually. What I can tell you about DEMO model is this: It does work. Sure the figures seem quite daunting at first blush, but just hold on a sec folks. I launched my company there in 2003, paid the fee, got my six minutes, was crowned DemoGod that year, and went on to convert the 6 minutes it into 5 years of unprecedented publicity, valuable connections, peer industry visibility, venture financing, and most importantly, web traffic. All told, probably worth a few million in marketing dollars that we never had to spend.

I went from being a huge skeptic to being probably the only company invited back 3 years in a row with a new killer app each time. Each time I groaned about the pricing model up front, and each time it was the easiest money spent.

In summary you MUST be very well prepared for DEMO in order to leverage your 6 minutes and your DEMO booth of your product over 2 days (yes its more than just six minutes on stage) and convert it to this kind of value. I witnessed several companies show up totally unprepared and fall on their asses on the stage and around the show. Its not for everyone, but for start up pros, its a marketing machine for your newco. The concept is genius, and wildly effective. 6 minutes, in or out. Live or die. It would be a VC’s dream if EVERY startup that they were forced to take a meeting with could cut to the chase in 6 minutes. Trust me, it shapes your thinking for every move you make inside your company from that day on. Call it the “DEMO effect” — just one of those intangibles I mentioned… ping me for more.

Is there room for YASUC (yet another start-up conference)? Sure there is! But I wouldn’t underestimate Chris Shipley nor DEMO for that matter. They pioneered this, and there are several intangibles that they both bring to the conference experience that make it worth attending. Always room for disruptive models, most certainly. It moves the whole industry forward, and this pairing with TechCrunch is a powerful combo for sure! This should be fun to watch. Can I be first company signed on for T20??

MOG wants in! : )

Awesome! I’m looking forward to the details about how to sign up, attend, etc.

Mike, you must have been reading the old Techcrunch UK posts, as this is exactly the same concept that was announced by Sam Sethi & Mike Butcher, albeit it was to be held in the UK. Obviously they weren’t able to see this through with TCUK because you closed them down for proposing to run events that “competed” with other conferences. Guess you’ve had a change of view about the clash with conferences you cover.

Congrats Mike/Jason

Great direction for TechCrunch. And from the comments my guess is the demand from companies, attendees and global replicas will be huge.

Keith Teare
ceo/co-founder/edgeio

Great, great idea. You guys are a credit to an industry built by little guys with big ideas.

Absolutely great idea Mike. It will be a blast to see what kind of companies you pick an decide to showcase.

If you are looking to do this as a regular event I would love to see another page like CrunchGear that addresses the startup companies that attend the TechCrunch20 with some information on the company, some company quotes and information with a link to the video of them presenting, that way people who don’t wish to sit through the entire conference waiting for the startup’s that appeal to there industry interests can get right to what they want to see.
Categorical listings of these would also be great for people to watch previous conferences without needing to wade through the conferences individually.
This would also serve to increase your pageviews as you would not be simply linking to other sites for people to view the videos and the value add would help increase exposure for your event.

@ mashaziva
“If you are going to succeed, you will have to prove to the rest of us that TechCrunch 20 will in fact be open, honest and fair. You can start by having your readership elect your board which should be diverse and not all related to TechCrunch in some way. This would help make sure that you aren’t the next conference criticized for a conflict of interest.”

I don’t believe there would be a conflict of interest there as TechCrunch is not incented in any way by the companies whose products are posted onto TechCrunch, provided he does not give time to advertisers (unless it can be justified by a ‘killer app’) I don’t see a problem.

Love the idea, how can we get our start up considered? Anxiously awaiting the details. We spend on marketing, but I can’t justify a mysterious ROI for a 10K+ sponsorship on something without very granular case studies to justify the spend.

I think it’d be cool if you took open submissions and we - along with everybody you’ve mentioned - get to vote. We’re all web savvy cats it’d be interesting to see what we all collectively think is worth listening to and why. Anyway, small, purposeful events trump big messy trade shows anyday - there was a good article about this not long ago in (i think) fast company. i think it’s a cool move on tc’s part.

Michael, just like you say that there’s a conflict of interest because these are PAID demos, TechCrunch20 will experience the same. The startups that are likely to be picked will probably be those of the well-connected entrepreneurs who know you or Jason personally (oh, wait, you call it a “committee”). So don’t make it sound like you are catering to the little guy in the garage

I am also very much interested in media attendance opportunities - any news on that Mike?

You should have a broader spectrum of enterprises than just Web 2.0 - there is a ton of exciting innovation happening in the broader technology landscape.

This is great. I actually recommended this a couple weeks ago on the forums, but you probably conceived this idea far before.

I couldnt agree more with the free demo sentiment. I actually think you should get more ambitious with this and hold regional conferences that focus on startups from different regions in the country…therefore getting rid of the silicon valley bias.

Just tell me where to send my application!

@carl lee: dude, you copy/pasted what I said above. What the hell?

Awesome, I posted a response on JC blog but I wanted to stop by and say thanks for keeping an eye out for the start up’s that can’t afford to shell out 18k.

Also I’ll suggest again a format that allows more people, and possibly includes founders of non-featured start-ups, it really helps founders to be able to network and watch other people pitch.

Anyhow Grats! Great Idea!

PS: I like Patricia’s and the previous posters idea: Have some kind of voting for the Panel (or part of it). I’d imagine it would be a pretty big feather in someones cap to be voted onto the panel for TC20.

Sounds awesome, keep us posted.

Mitch

LOL @ permanent hater;

He’s either a spammer, or, as you like to call it, a “hater”.

Um, so basically you’re helping Jason figure out how to pick a company to fund with his new VC cash. It would have been much simpler (and ethical) to just take a consulting fee and do this behind closed doors.

want to make it to TC20 and lack ideas? here is one: social prescription.
small communities based on real life experiences. People share difficult experiences they had to go through. Others who are going through the same stage can ask for advices etc… You can have a community for struggling web2.0 entrepreneurs, community for cancer patients etc….
This social network is all about mini-social networks.
Don’t thank me. I got a truck load.

I think this is one of the better conference ideas out there.

Sounds like a nice idea but what prevents being a conflict of interest here also. I mean if a company that advertises on Techcrunch wants to demo something at Techcrunch20, wouldnt it be easier for them to get in.

Mike,

You actually had a TechCrunch20 already…. the 3rd TechCrunch Party (called BBQ back than) felt just like that:-)   Seriously it was not too crowded, and the 20 or so presentations really made it a great event - just the right mix, which was missing from subsequent parties that grew too big.

this sounds like a great idea…has there ever been a succesful company that appeared at DEMO?

I’m on the advisory board of http://www.ibdnetwork.com that puts on the Dealmaker and Under The Radar events. They have shown great integrity and excellent execution in providing a format to expose key execs to promising emerging comapnies… wanted to give a nod to them. I remember even seeing you there as a moderator and enjoyed you very much. Anyhow, I look forward to learning more and wish you great success!

Michael, This is a great visibility opportunity for the 2 guys in a garage who spent the $18k on, well, delivering a product… and if they had another $18k wouldn’t need to be at the conference in the first place..

June and I are willing to pitch in sweat and cash in helping to make this happen if you put a call for extra hands or funding.

In the Valley we’re so spoiled it’s awesome:
IBDNetwork
SVASE
SDForum
Churchill Club
EBIG
Right Hand Partners
VC Task Force
Funding Post
BASN
AAMA/ Silicon Valley French/ Silicon Valley Vikings/ DigitalMoose/ TiE/ SIPA etc.

Congrats Mike. It’s the right thing to do, and I’m glad you’re doing it.

To those who want to find the negative in everything - consider this: This helps the companies who will attend. Focus on that for just a second and you’ll get it.

Hey Jason/Mike a friend just returned from Cuba…let me know if you would like a few ‘cubans’ on the house….

I smoke once in awhile but she brought back 100 cigars…I won’t be finishing them any time soon.

J

The Palm Pilot worked out pretty well. So did Half.com. And eTrade was a bit of a success, no? Ironport just sold for $880 million. Demo has launched a lot of successful products and companies.

Chris is respected for her insight, fairness, and evaluation process. Reporters show up here because what shows here matters. We showed 2 years ago and did ok–we weren’t as well prepared on the floor, though our demo was a bit tighter than this year. We’ve grown tremendously since then, and the partnerships and relationships have paid off.

This year we’re prepared, and the concentration of press, venture, and partners is intense and incredibly valuable. It’s what you make of it; if you’re good, it’s very valuable.

There are tons of smaller conferences and a few of decent stature that offer a percentage but not even close to the full value.

TechCrunch is a great blog, and I hope the conference goes well. And I hope you reconsider the value of DEMO after talking to some of us here. Either way, good luck with the venture.

Certainly a good idea - look no farther than IDB Network, which has been doing a great job with this approach for several years with the Under The Radar series (I am on their advisory board, and am very pleased with their progress). Under The Radar vets their companies carefully, and throws a wider net than Web 2.0. A similar approach with a deeper Web 2.0 (and presumably Mobile 2.0) focus would be welcomed.

I also find DEMO a terrific conference which gives ventures a tremendous market launch platform. You don’t need to bash it to set up a reason for your Crunchfest - there is a renewed hunger to see hot new companies, and room for several different models.

This sounds just like Web 2 Expo and Web 2 Conferences Launch Pad program. Good Luck

Great work Mike,

Naturally, we’d love to attend. Keep all the entrepreneurs posted on the developments and let us know how we can get involved.

I agree that the payola model is flawed. I’ve turned down three conferences where our company ( Voices.com ) was “accepted” to present to a panel of judges and then we were prompted to submit a $5000.00 entrance fee. We decided those funds are better invested in our business and serving our customers directly.

Great work Mike,

Naturally, we’d love to attend. Keep all the entrepreneurs posted on the developments and let us know how we can get involved.

I agree that the payola model is flawed. I’ve turned down three conferences where our company ( Voices.com ) was “accepted” to present to a panel of judges and then we were prompted to submit a $5000.00 entrance fee. We decided those funds are better invested in our business and serving our customers directly.

nice idea…wait, Jason Calacanis is still alive?

We — BuzzPal - The World Is Your Party — would be interested in this too. Timing might be perfect. We are seeking our angel round now. At the same time we are negotiating with a Bay Area recruiter to help us bring on the founding team. And we’re also networking with prospective partners. The long and the short is that the pieces are coming together and a summer 2007 beta launch is the goal, with a full launch by the fall. Any interested parties should contact me, especially prospective angel investors and founding team members with some combo of the following talents: creative, UI, user experience, design, usability, tech (everything
technology-related for web 2.0 startup), marketing, business development, member acquisition, brand, PR, promo, events, finance, operations, accounting, corporate governance. That’s about 3-5 people total. Cheers!

-Chris Comella, Founder
BuzzPal - The World Is Your Party
http://www.buzzpal.com

When is Techcrunch coming back here to New York City? Techcruch New York was very interesting.

It would be nice to have a bi-coastal Techcrunch2.0 conference.

Can we help?

Mike, great to hear about TC20.

We conducted a similar event in India called PROTO. Please check http://www.proto.in .

The idea is simple. Select the 30 best startups, get the best of VCs and get them together. We charged a very nominal $100 from each just to meet the lunch and logistical expenses.

We had 325 paid participants ( a 100 more than we had planned for). The media was quite interested too.

In short, it was a very good start. Many call it highly successful. Mainly because not many events that encourage entrepreprenuership happen in India.

We have already started planning for the 2nd edition of PROTO to be held later this year.

We would love to attend … we are just 2 guys working from home on this movie recommendation engine. It works fine but has not really taking off how like we wanted. Due slow website performance (we only have on server) and looks I guess.

We are working right now on a relaunch which gives our users new features, like to interact with other, Forums and more..

We managed to get 6400 users and we get emails almost daily of users how much they like it.

Our recommendations are right on and it kind of amuses us to think about that Neflix is willing to spend a million to enhance their recommendations by a small percentage.

Our profit on criticker is very small and there for we could never pay 15.000 bucks .. ever.

Kudos, glad to see more folks get it. We’ve been saying the Pay for Stage model was old hat for about 10 months now at STIRR. The fact that this sounds strikingly similar to our Two Oh 20 event is a bit uncanny, but perhaps all good minds think alike (or we have a fly on the wall).

@24 I’m not sure that there are 20 web 2.0 companies with a business model in existence, so might want to skip that reqiurement

Does it just have to be new companies? How about a really old company with a really great new product? Or perhaps you need two shows — one on startups, the other with established companies but with innovation as their showcase.

Mike, just a matter of interest: wasn’t the reason you got irritated with TCUK because they criticised Le Web and announced a competing event at the same time?

If so, so what’s with ragging DEMO and launching your own competitor in the same post here?

As it goes, the event sounds very interesting indeed… I’m not simply stirring for the sake of it, but honestly interested how this sits with you.

Mike,

This sounds great and I am interested in participation.

ebiz Industries is ready to lauch a new site from the East Coast in a non-consumer space. Would this fit your expectations for consideration in your show?

Thanks,
Dan
Founder

@Bobbie Johnson - I could’nt help but notice that as well.

Since DEMO is going on, the timing could’nt have been an accident. So why would one willing become what they hate?

Great comments on this topic - I have a suggestion to democratize the invite process without taking away control from the TC team.

How about 15 of the 20 start-ups are selected by the committee, and 5 spots are selected by the TC readers. You guys pick the list of 10 or so choices and readers vote on which deserving startups gets to present.

This way the opinionated and diverse TC readership get their say and the interest and participation brings a new level of buzz to the conference.

BTY - our startup (promoterforce) would be very interested in presenting and the Fall time period aligns with our launch plan.

congrats mike… sounds like a great idea.

best of luck & looking forward to it,

- dave

@ Bojo: Interesting isn’t it? Hypocrisy in action!

What a great idea. Just came back from a conference which was the opposite. I paid an arm and a leg to present. Met no one.

sounds like a great idea…any plans comping to LONDON.

Please include Hunami in this list.

Mike,

Aren’t you being a BIT of a hypocrite with this whole announcing conferences at someone elses conference fiasco with TCUK?

Considering that Under the Radar (http://www.undertheradar.com/) have an event coming up March 23 that you’re moderating at, are you going to make you NEXT announcement about Techcrunch20 from their stage?

Under the Radar has been offering a very successful non-payola model for years. Almost exactly the same format as you’re proposing. A little hat tip to them for the inspiration would be noble. They offer a fantastic program as I’m sure you’ll agree.

These events are fantastic for the real innovators.

Posting ANON for fear of the Arrington deathray.

Great news, and don’t forget we need something like that in Europe too

Lots of IBDNetwork lovers in here. And I think they’re a fine organization with a solid reputation and Alison Murdoch really cares about the companies.

But face it, outside Silicon Valley, they do not have the clout that Tech Crunch can pull down worldwide. No offense to IBDNetwork but not many outside the bay area have head much about them and being there doesn’t get the same traction that being covered on TC does (even in their blog).

I think it’s somewhat comparing apples to oranges. IBDN’s under the radar series is closed, not hyped up a lot, doesn’t get massive coverage. However, it’s a GREAT place to be seen by real investors and local connections, and they make some serious deals. And certainly doesn’t cost as much as DEMO.

There are enough companies out there to help and these events serve different purposes.

@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 “