DISQUS

Scobleizer: Let’s cry for the poor fragmented, underreported startups

  • patricia · 1 year ago
    I think any start up that has to attend or pay for an event to get people's attention should be refused funding :)

    Great post.
  • Brian Hendrickson · 1 year ago
    It does seem like the competition between the conferences has created a lot more awareness this year, that's a good point.

    I agree with Ted Dzuba that some of these companies are just putting pretty Ajax widgets together (eye candy), it will be fun to see what kind of truly disruptive technologies come out to play.

    -- Brian
  • ashish · 1 year ago
    Maybe its also time for both these events to lookback and announce what happened to the earlier startups who attended these.

    Its a good check on their story + event's credibility as well.
  • Brian Hoffman · 1 year ago
    I think both conferences are bullshit. There used to be a day when just being mentioned on TechCrunch was enough to have you launched into everyone's consciousness. Now you have to apply to this and apply to that and keep your business under wraps until they feel you should be revealed. Or even better yet you have to join some incubator and sell your shares to them before you even release your product. I say grow a pair and become a true entrepreneur and just building something somebody wants to use. I didn't see 37Signals releasing TaDa at Techcrunch 150.
  • J.D. Meier · 1 year ago
    Actually yes - the ones with alliteration stick better (Best buy, Dial Directions, SitScape, SpinSpotter) ... as do the ones with a fun name (Intellius, Message Sling ... etc.)

    As subtle as it may be, I wonder how important a sticky name is? (in today's info overloaded world)
  • Martin Palatnik · 1 year ago
    Nearly 60% are social oriented startups...
  • markdykeman · 1 year ago
    Many of these start-ups have names that are similar to established companies. And, speaking of which:

    Best Buy? As in the electronics retailer? Wha?
  • Robert Scoble · 1 year ago
    I just visited every Web site. Boy do they all suck: http://scobleizer.com/2008/09/06/startups-your-...
  • Scott Rafer · 1 year ago
    @brianhoffman I've launched at DEMO before years ago and Mashery did very well buying a table at TC50 last year, but the truly bottoms up approach is better if you can do it. That's the approach we took at MyBlogLog and Lookery. It's ok so far.
  • francinehardaway · 1 year ago
    It looks ike money rules at Demo, no offense to Chris Shipley, who doesn't really own it, but runs it. Otherwise, why would Best Buy and Real Networks be chosen? Trust me, these aren't the startups I know and love.
  • Tom Hearn · 1 year ago
    Hey there Robert,

    I hate how all of these companies get all of this press and most startups have to actually WORK for their startups to get going. I'm running 2 full time jobs right now to support the hosting for my new startup. I must say it is frustrating for me to see some of these sites which look like the creators really don't know what they're saying at all, and the sites don't help at explaining the process of what they're really trying to do.

    Keep the posts going man, I've been following you for a long time, both here and on twitter!
  • George Eberstadt · 1 year ago
    It may be a good thing for start-ups that there are more launch slots available, but it'd be better for us if the conferences were staggered so the press and VCs that don't have the capacity to cover both at once aren't forced to choose. There's still plenty of value to start-ups to launch at either one, just a bit less than if we weren't caught in the battle between the conferences.
  • Prokofy Neva · 1 year ago
    Good Lord, what would we do without your relentlessness, Scoble? I can't believe you *made* all those links, let alone visited them, let alone decided they all sucked. And you know what? I believe you lol.
  • Kartik Agaram · 1 year ago
    Without agreeing with CNET, that's a pretty superficial analysis.

    http://scrapbook.akkartik.name/post/49067995/fo...
  • ep · 1 year ago
    How can you say they suck if many of them don't even have a website ope to the public yet?
    Jesus.
    The startup listed as "Best Buy" is obviously a mistake as it links to Giftag.
    This "post" is ridiculous.
  • Engago Team · 1 year ago
    Although we responded to your inquiry blog post previously: Companies: has TechCrunch 50 or Demo spurned you?
    You forgot ours:
    Engago Technolgies, London, UK with LEADSExplorer
  • Robert Scoble · 1 year ago
    ep: I didn't release this list. The Demo Conference did. They shouldn't have released this list until everyone had their sites up. TC50 isn't releasing their list until Monday morning, so everyone can have their sites up first. But, even then, that's no excuse. You should realize that people might hear about your company before the list comes out. You should be prepared with at least a decent landing page that explains when you'll have more info, and a little bit about your company (which you can do without breaking the Demo rules).
  • Todd Cochrane · 1 year ago
    I visited all of their websites as well and I kept a notepad handy. I figured out what 5 of them were actually about and the product they were introducing but Robert your right they all pretty much sucked.
  • Jeremy Toeman · 1 year ago
    I'm not taking sides between TC50 and DEMO, but before everyone gets all uppity at Shipley about revenue (probably too late), don't forget that TC50 has generated over FIVE MILLION DOLLARS of revenue so far, and that's not including sponsorships. You can cry foul about either business model, but make no mistake - they are both businesses.
  • bobstarrorg · 1 year ago
    Wow, couldn't agree more. Even for the sites that did fall under the "suckness" tag the services were lame; they sounded like bad TV pitch men: "Let me show YOU how to better handle your online media". Yawn.
  • Ryan Graves · 1 year ago
    I think that these companies are pre-launch and their company sites are of limited importance.
    Lets take a little walk back to the first versions of Scobleizer.com, thinking about that how are you going to judge these site?
    Come on Scoble, give'm a chance.
  • Taran Rampersad · 1 year ago
    Some sites aren't that great and some products are lackluster, but I'd hate to think that you'd misuse your own popularity to sink what could be good initiatives with constructive criticism instead of what you've done. Even when you appended 'I just visited every one of these companies. Boy do they almost all suck (at least their Web sites and if their sites suck, I can’t believe their products are going to do much better).', you really don't say too awful much... I mean... which ones did you think didn't suck, and why? And why lump them all together without differentiating?

    You can do better than this - and you should.
  • wones · 1 year ago
    Looking for Friends and Family via Social Networking Sites at DEMO!

    PeopleSearches.com
    http://www.PeopleSearches.com
  • ashish · 1 year ago
    Given all the dogfight between the two events, the ones who wiil certainly lose are the startups (look at the bitching going about the demo startups - am sure TC ones will also go thru' the same).
    I mean what the heck do these guys (demo/tc) think of startups? Isn't this 'hold on the new site till we give a green signal' a sort of parade?

    Startups - time to go back and execute on your plan.
  • Jeremy Anderson · 1 year ago
    This is a pretty dismal list of startups. True, there are a number still behind closed doors, but I'm feeling less than inspired by even the names being chosen. I haven't seen anything interesting in any of these, and certainly nothing new.
  • Charles Himmer · 1 year ago
    I just visited several of the sites and am confused by your definition of "suck." Yeah a COUPLE of them were an eye sore but MOST of the sites I checked out where clean, professional looking and I understood what they company did relatively quickly. Most had pretty easy to understand video explanation or online demos. What exactly where you hoping the website would do?
  • Robert Scoble · 1 year ago
    Charles: compare this list of startups to the Gold Standard and you'll see a complete different quality level. http://scobleizer.com/2008/09/07/the-gold-stand...

    If you want to enter the marketplace that already exists and you want to have the potential of getting some attention you've gotta be better than what already exists, not worse.
  • panikatak · 4 months ago
    Good but what would we do without your relentlessness, Scoble? I can't believe you made all those links, let alone visited them, let alone decided they all sucked.