On conferences

TechCrunch 50 is around the corner and in the run up to this year’s event there has been some controversy between Michael Arrington and the organiser of the rival DEMO conference. The difference between the two is that the DEMO participants pay a fee to show their product. On TCUK Mike Butcher asks whether ‘pay to pitch’ is a bad model and the answer is yes, nothing more than vanity publishing for the tech world. The startups would be better advised to pay their $18,500 to a good PR company.

This does not mean to say that TC50 is perfect. The selection method is better but I wonder about increasing it to 52 startups this year. That is an awful lot of companies and I wonder how much coverage each will actually get. When everything is a priority nothing is a priority. I think the even would be far better as TC5, that’s not to say more than five companies couldn’t take part in some form just that the organisers should focus the even on the companies they consider the strongest. Michael Arrington does not strike me as the indecisive type so I don’t think he would have any trouble cutting it down.

Now we are relatively close to launching a product so I may change my tune in a few months. That said I am much more attracted to Aaron Swartz’s advice on a low publicity launch. In truth we don’t have a great deal of choice because all our resources are going into the product. I think in a crowded field you get attention by doing something new and useful not by shouting loud.

Pic: Laughing Squid

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