I’m excited to announce the next three experts for the TechCrunch20 Conference in San Francisco this September. Caterina Fake, MC Hammer and Rajeev Motwani join the previously announced experts. The full Panel of Experts is here, and we will continue to announce new experts every week or so..
The Panel of Experts will assist us in selecting the twenty startups to launch at the conference and will participate at the conference in discussing and judging startups after their presentations. Our goal is to bring together a diverse group of hyper-intelligent and interesting individuals to make the event as exciting as possible.
Also, we’re pleased to announce the addition of the Mayfield Fund as a charter sponsor for TechCrunch20.
Registration for the event is here. Submit your company to launch at TechCrunch20 here. Keep up to date on the conference at the TechCrunch 20 blog.
Caterina Fake
Caterina Fake is an American businesswoman and entrepreneur. She is best known as the co-founder of Flickr, a photo-sharing service that was acquired by Yahoo, and a previous Art Director at Salon.com. She has won many awards, including Business Week’s Best Leaders of 2005, Forbes 2005 eGang, Fast Company’s Fast 50, and Red Herring’s 20 Entrepreneurs under 35 and the Time 100, Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people. She sits on the board of Etsy and advises many startups. At Yahoo! Caterina runs strategy for Brickhouse, known for its Hack Yahoo! program, a stimulus to innovation and creativity.
MC Hammer
MC Hammer is an entrepreneur and American MC who brought rap music to a mass pop audience during the late 1980s and early 1990s, selling millions of copies of his chart topping albums. He is known for his important influence on hip hop culture and music. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Hammer released the patriotic album Active Duty on his own WorldHit label and donated portions of the proceeds to 9/11 charities. MC Hammer has a television show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Hammer is an advisor to stealth Internet start-up Dance Jam.
Rajeev Motwani
Rajeev Motwani is a professor of computer science at Stanford University, where he also serves as the director of graduate studies. His research interests include: databases and data mining, web search and information retrieval, robotics, and theoretical computer science. He is a co-author of the book, Randomized Algorithms, published by Cambridge University Press. Motwani has received the Arthur P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the National Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, the Bergmann Memorial Award from the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation and an IBM Faculty Award.
Hammer Time!!
as a mark of resepect, I hope everyone will be wearing baggy pants)
Dude, you got the Hammer. That is so awesome.
I bet this is the first time MC Hammer, Caterina Fake and Rajeev Motwani are all mentioned in the same blog post. hah.
http://www.yout...h?v=EMzoBkaFxh4
AWESOME
MC HAMMER?
I say again… MC HAMMER?
Wow, this is amazing. I can’t belive you got Mc Hammer to chair a tech conference. What with his busy schedule of not making music, and his complete irrelevance to the subject matter at hand, I’m shocked that you were able to book this technology giant.
My only question is, what, was Adam Ant booked?
When I think of the technology field, especially web application development in 2007, I always think of MC Hammer. Please Hammer, don’t hurt em!
The real headliner there is MC Hammer
Get those baggy pants out of the closet. Hammer time.
Actually, MC Hammer makes a lot of sense given how many music/media startups there are likely to be launching at the conference. If you look at his blog link, he also looks like he’s a really nice guy.
Should be a good panel:
“Go with the flow it is said
If you can’t move to this then your probably dead
So wave your hands in the air
Bust a few moves run your fingers through your hair
This is it for a winner
Dance to this and you’re gonna get thinner
Now move slide your rump
Just for a minute let’s all do the bump”
…some things you do in life will never leave you in peace ;-D
ok, ok, ok….you HAVE to get Hammer to perform at the event. That is so fucking cool.
My only comment is can’t touch this. I’m sure the conference will now be held on Hammer Time
Hammer was cool back in the day! But expert??? that’s frickin hilarious!!!! no offense Hammer but I’m sure even you are laughing at that one.
No, I agree with the above. He’s got experience in dealing with the music industry, owns his own label, etc. This is a good way to round out the other panelists.
FuckedCompany.com?
Read the title again, it says …Fake MC Hammer…
He is known for his important influence on hip hop culture and music.
SAY WHAT?!
Interesting panel – I’m looking forward to the announcements. There’s a lot of Interesting technology and talent at hand.
Can we put Gumby in the mix? Oh wait – he doesn’t always show up for things…. unless you wish hard enough.
http://www.netvibes.com/gumby
MC Hammer! Mike – that was a very cool move! Just peaked my interest.
I’m sure you also peaked the interest of other musicians with that addition.
Rex
Is he still alive?
MC Hammer on the T20 Panel?!?!?! Praise the Lord!!!
Is this a joke?
wasnt hammer just selling cars on a late night bad credit show?
i can just imagine the talks btw heather, mike and jason:
“yea we need to get the list together of panelists”
“oh we just gotta get hammer”
cant wait to see who is next!
Seriously, I believe Hammer has some good insight from many perspectives. He had to deal with the recording industry, financing (personal and business), dealing with thugs, etc.
Now I hope that we see some of the following:
- decent debates (a tag team debate of Cuban-Winer v Arrington-whoever)
- video uploaded here
Mc Hammer? – I hope your not paying him the same as the other panelist.
– He isn’t qualified; every rapper now a days owns his own label.
– I am sure he is a nice enough guy; but what the heck?
– Start calling it the TC 21, and find someone else and leave Hammer on.
Thank you for hosting the conference…and that’s for the great blog. It is the best technology blog on the web.
Great Job. The reality TV shows have shown that its a great boon to have a varied group of judges. Yes, this even applies to the wildcard, topic irrelevant judges. Lets be honest, sometimes people that don’t live and breath the little tech world we live in have some really useful views on the subject.
All of you Hammer naysayers have absolutely no idea what you are talking about… especially Pattie Freely and palley jack.
Do you have any concept of hip-hop history, or are you just completely blinded by your tech dweeb single-mindedness? Maybe I’m a dweeb too, but at least I have some freaking perspective.
MC Hammer is the supreme entrepreneur. He made enough money to start a record label (I think about a million bucks, or maybe even more) by driving up and down the coast of California selling tapes out of his trunk. Now that’s drive, man – no pun intended.
And he went broke because he had a heart of gold and helped everyone, literally – from family to friends to poor people on the street.
Read up before you let garbage fall out of your mouth.
http://www.fool.../foth020909.htm
1. MC Hammer: Good old Stanley Burrell (a.k.a. Hammer) squandered $30 million by buying a lavish mansion and maintaining a $500,000-a-month payroll. Some of those on Hammer’s dole managed his resources in ways that weren’t too legit. Says Burrell: “You can’t watch everybody, and when you can’t watch everybody, watch out.”
#26 – you have got to be kidding me. He surely can show these startups how to spend money! he went broke because he spent the money he didnt have. 2 helo’s? cmon.
who’s next – willis from diff’nt strokes?
@Bobby
I’m not saying what he did with his money was a good thing… but he can surely add a well-founded, unique perspective.
My point: he’s not just a “rap singer with baggie pants”, as all the other commenters above rather eloquently suggest.
can’t touch this
Michael A. sure knows how to create BUZZ!
Ryan – MC Hammer got the funding for his label from Oakland A’s baseball players, not from selling CDs. When he did hit the bigtime, he ran his business so poorly he went bankrupt within 5 years, even as his career revenue topped 50 mil, according to Forbes. One of the better VH1 “Behind the Music” episodes went into great detail about the rise and fall of this cartoon character. I’m sure you’ll remember that it was the Surreal Life that gave him his latest “bump,” not his abilities as an entrepreneur.
All I needed to see was the splash page at DanceJam.com. Awful. I bet Chuck D is pissed that he didn’t get the call. :rolleyes:
I’m a HUGE fan of TechCrunch and read it religiously every morning, but this is just a joke.
All you ‘clever’ people posting jokes can all you want, but Hammer will put butts in seats for this conference. Everybody loves this guy, he has a heart of gold, and he is certainly a pop-culture icon. Besides, they even said they wanted a diverse panel of interesting and intelligent judges, I think it’s a great addition personally.
Besides, he may know more than you think about technology, but either way who are you to judge whether he’s qualified or not? Frankly I think it’s good to have some people up there like him who may not be entrenched in the tech world to bring a different perspective.
I met Hammer when I used to live in Tracy, Ca. Nice guy and certainly has experience that most of us can only dream of. One of the best ways to learn is to fail horribly. While I’m not a fan of his music anymore, I’m a fan of the man. http://mchammer.blogspot.com/
He is known for his important influence on hip hop culture and music.
I once saw an ad for movie that starred Eugene Levy, “known for his role as the father in American Pie”. What? Eugene Levy is not “known” for that, he’s known for a long history in comedy, mainly SCTV. I’m sure he thought “After toiling in obscurity for years, I just gotta get into this American Pie movie!”. In the same way, I suspect Hammer is most likely more “known” for his history of rapping than for any influence he welds these days (and I even saw both “Too Legit: The MC Hammer Story” and “M.C. Hammer: Behind The Music”).
Where’s Vanilla Ice? If Vanilla Ice is not going, I’m not going!
Please Twitter, don’t hurt ‘em.
The only problem I have with Fake is.. Flickr was one of her programmers ideas and creations.. but where is he now? And how much of the windfall did he get?
Now this sounds different….
you know those guys… Indian guy, firefighter, sailor, construction worker, etc…
I have to agree that I’m not sure what qualifies MC Hammer to decide what is and isn’t a good tech idea. But, as people are saying, I really don’t know what background or experience he has on it.
I think it’s great that there is a woman on the panel.
hey peanut gallery, don’t be dicks. The prey is too easy.
Think. Massive success then failure leads to a different type of experience, combine that with the pop icon thing (yep Rod #30, Mike A. creates Buzz) and there is at least some relevance with his start up, (well, maybe). And then there’s the whole “super nice guy” thing going for him.
I’m not a fan of the mythology munching christian thing, but that’s my own world view.
We’ll all see when the man speaks anyway…
Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh,
uh oh, uh oh
Here comes the Hammer.
I am impressed with Rajiv M on the pannel. There were many successful startups that his Phd stundents started and he was great mentor for them. He has great theoretical knowledge as well as knows what works/not works in the real world.
Great addition to the panel, and I am really really surprised he agreed to join this lowly innovative web2.0 conference.Generally these guys look at real solid technology breakthrus, not some Joe’s social networking sites.
A quote from above…
“I have to agree that I’m not sure what qualifies MC Hammer to decide what is and isn’t a good tech idea.”
I don’t think the idea is to find great tech ideas, rather it is to find ideas that will likely be succesful. I think most of the techies lurking around here that alot of the successful things out there are’nt that tough from a technical perspective.
Excuse me? MC Hammer???? Was Vanilla Ice too busy?
Stop bitching about MC Hammer. Don’t like it, then don’t go. It’s that crappy little mind set that doesn’t let you grow and be creative. The same feeble minds that drove Natali away from TechCrunch. I think he may have plenty to say, with themes that are common and appealing to many.
Wow, I haven’t LOL’d this hard for a LONG time….
Ridiculous
I know it won’t matter until people start losing money, but I’m looking forward to the day when this industry and this part of the country have to confront this uniquely insensitive perspective on ethnic diversity.
I bet you’re all chomping at the bit to have Hammer at the next fancy shindig….with music……and a dancefloor…….and gawking nerds.
Arrington my man, brilliant PR. Looks like you’ve been studying PR tactics from Marc Benioff of Salesforce.
*Beniof picks the Dalai Lama
*Arrington picks the one and only MC Hammer
Just fantastic!
Can you get Mr. T?