A long time ago, I got into a debate with Robert Scoble about the merits of diving into blog conversations versus hanging out and thinking about a response or post, etc. I've generally gone with think about it first, blog about it second. There have been a few exceptions where I've probably done more ready, fire, aim than I should of, but I try.
I've read about the DEMO versus TechCrunch war and the resulting nonsense coming out of some people's mouths. The DEMO troops aren't pure in all of this either.
So, after sitting on this for a bit and being asked by a few start-ups which conference make sense, etc, I decided to put my thoughts down for your consideration.
First, bravo to Dave Winer for a great post on this topic. Go read it. Especially read the comments from Stuart Alsop at the bottom. One such important gem from Stuart was this:
"We (Alsop Louie Partners) had portfolio companies at both events (Cake Financial at TechCrunch and both Ribbit's Amphibian and Redux at Demo 08), so I got to see how both operated. The difference was that TechCrunch was 'inexpensive,' which meant that the infrastructure didn't work well (demonstrators had to be prepared to demo without the internet and the schedule was managed loosely). Demo was on schedule and the infrastructure worked because they had redundant systems."
Dave's point that "You only get to lose your virginity once, so choose your venue wisely" are wise words indeed.
So, here is my opinion:
Back in the old days, you had to come to the mountain that was PC Labs and give Frank Derfler your due. It was gruelling process with editors choice and other such awards actually meaning something. It meant something to consumers, drove features, and was fairly straight up. I may be wrong but Infoworld had an equally impressive method back then. They still have some award stuff floating around.
Times, of course, have changed. There is so much noise and places for people to get information, find out about products, etc, that DEMO and TechCrunch50 are questionable activities in my view. As networking events, not bad for sure.
As launch platforms? Not in my opinion.
For example. Let's say your name is Dan Latendre and you are the CEO of IGLOO Software. You make corporate social networking software. Keep in mind that I don't have an investment in this company and haven't, to date, met Dan. If Dan asked me for a launch place, I would tell him to think about something like Tech Ed as part of the Partner Expo. Let's assume he doing something cool with Microsoft's Sharepoint product or some other MSFT product. (I don't know, never met the man). So, it seems to me that targeting the IT-Pro group who show up at the MSFT event, offering a special deal or whatever, makes a bunch more sense than either DEMO or TC50. And, yeah, I know there are a billion bloggers writing about DEMO/TC. The point is that the focused bloggers writing up, in my example, Tech Ed, might be more targeted and appropriate for Dan. I have no idea, this is just an example, to make my point.
I know Jason Calacanis, when he isn't posing with various kids, might slam me for being old school. That's fine. I believe the objective is to get to your potential paying customers so I would say to Dan, where do your customers hang out? Go there. The Web, of course, is the ultimate hangout and I'll bet you getting your friends on Facebook to change their status to checking out so -n- so's new whatever, can have a pretty good impact as well. Which is, of course, the point. There are hundreds of options, ideas, places, etc.
Not getting selected by Chris Shipley or the Calacanis/Arrington junta doesn't mean jack. I view both of those events as just another part of the rubber chicken circuit that have their place. Neither should die and neither should be pissing on the other. Having been up close and personal as to the work ethic/effort Chris Shipley puts into DEMO, I'll repeat that foot in mouth comments about conference death attributed to Mike Arrington are, at best, a very lame way to make a business point.
I can tell you that most of the founders that I know who presented loved DEMO. I've heard complaints from people, as Stuart mentioned, regarding TechCrunch's event but, again, overall, people were satisfied.
My advice to you is to not get caught up in the ego/emotion of these conferences. Be a careful and calculating business person. Make the choice based on business objectives and nothing else. Winer's virginity comment is worth remembering.
[Bonus observation: The Arrington comment is particularly funny to me. It gets lumped into all the other bombastic comments spewed over the years. Microsoft, years back, called banks dinosaurs, oops, they are still here. Marc Benioff's mouth dumped the dinosaur comment on Microsoft, oops, they aren't going away. There are probably lots more out there if I spent the time to dig. So, take comfort Chris, you are in good company.]
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