When the "Fall startup launch schedule" went from 30 or so companies to 50 or so to over TWO HUNDRED, it seems pretty clear that, much like in sports expansions, quality suffers. Whether you like TC50 or DEMO or both, you are participating in that dilution simply by bringing attention to it and calling either event a Superbowl.
The hype around both events is too much. It's too much of a push/pull for the VCs, the bloggers, the media, etc. I believe the tech startup industry is being done a disservice, and also believe there will be worse ripples to come out of it down the road...
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
Jeremy: you have a great point.
Mike Woodhouse
· 1 year ago
I was only mildly interested when the first post went up - what you wrote was interesting (honest!) but a bunch of under-achieving startup web sites wasn't going to get me clicking. I mean, you did it so I didn't have to, right?
But now I'm curious - was your judgement really that wrong? Could you possibly have had an axe to grind? Now I have to see for myself. Time to click.
Mapflow. You're too kind. Plastic Login: I thinkyou're a little harsh. Semantifind: Looks like they read your comments: there's an email address collecting box there now. Good for them, they may be fast enough on their feet. Shame about their (apparently) me-too product. Usable: I'm about 7000 miles away from Demo. You're right. OpenCircle: Not a "solution space" I know much about. But the CEO's blog is lame. "Hello Wired Warriors"? Ick. Photrade: Worked for me. I get it, although I can't see what's new and interesting. Radiant Logic: I work for a large global corporate and I can't see what problem they're solving. Feels like a sales-led or CTO word-of-mouth thing. You may be a little harsh on them. Wild Pockets: Front page looks nice, may achieve market-follower status in time. Why would I want to give them money on that basis? Tooltogether: You're right. Trinity Convergence: Well, I think they... no, they make... they're a... Nope. Too hard. Te kind of business that's not exactly public-facing, I suspect - if you need them, you already know wha tthey do.
Bored now. I score you mostlyr ight, from my unenlightened position. An unenlightened and uninspiring bunch. But surely that's why they're in a startup talent show - the really attractive startups have the money they need without needing presentation coaches. This is "America's Got Talent" for tech startups.
Pete
· 1 year ago
Bet she's regretting that post now.
And, you have your real number on the Internet!? What are you thinking? You're opening yourself up to all sorts of trouble. I just hope that isn't really your main cell phone like you say it is....
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
Pete: it actually is my cell phone. It's been on my blog for five years now and it hasn't gotten me any trouble at all.
Pete
· 1 year ago
:O
I'm stunned! You've never been harassed via cell phone? Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid then.
By the way it's impressive that you have comments set to appear automatically.
Robert Scoble
· 1 year ago
Pete: I've had a few crank calls, but I don't accept calls from people who don't use callerID and that stopped that.
Geoff
· 1 year ago
Pete I followed Robert and put my phone number up on my website. The only calls I have had from it have made me really glad I did put it up!
gregorylent
· 1 year ago
"me thinketh thou doth protesteth too much" oh cult of the holy startups.
Chris Howard
· 1 year ago
Just keep doing what you're doing, Robert. You are my favorite commentator on the web. And, like a sailing ship, you keep making corrections to your course as necessary. (Like when you recently realized you were drifting away from what blogging is, and becoming more like a journalist.)
I write for Apple Matters, and, although I don't consider myself overly informed, I try to bring a different perspective. But at the end of the day it's simply my opinion. Folks tho lose sight of that and for some strange reason demand exceptionally high standards of bloggers, expect perfection, even if the only thing the can pick on is grammar or spelling.
But thru my writing on AM, I've learned it's not about me, not about what I write. It's about the conversation I start. My last words in an article are the beginning, not the end. It is the readers who fulfill and complete what I write. If I answer every question, every argument within an article, the article dies.
Blogging is a conversation. When people try to turn it into something like professional journalism, it dies. And, as you say, no other medium - TV, newspaper, magazine, radio etc - comes even close to allowing that completeness of conversation.
Paul Worsham
· 1 year ago
Robert - does all the Superbowl buzz this season expand the market for startup demos (I think so) or is it competition within a stagnant market? We've started have our events locally here because there aren't enough options for all of the startups to get buzz, get presentation practice, and to showcase their usually-still-in-beta sites to the community.
jacob morgan
· 1 year ago
robert,
please don't start propagating seo myths by stating that,
"Because until someone links to your site you won’t be found very high on Google, which is where 99% of your customers will come from (not from tech blogs like this one, Shipley’s, or TechCrunch). Having a site like Demo link to you can mean the difference between being on the first page of results vs. being far lower."
this is not how seo works, a simple link to your site won't mean much unless the quality and the relevancy of the link is evaluated. if demo or techcrunch are linking to 60 companies from the same page, then the google "juice" is not going to be much at all. I hate this garbage seo speak i keep hearing about, if you don't know seo then don't talk about it because most of the stuff i keep reading is pure nonsense.
j
Jeremy, PR4Pirates
· 1 year ago
@jacob that's true, but far too subtle a concern for a startup who are just getting off the ground with link-building.
could the links come from content organized into silos of related-topics with anchor text selected by the startups themselves? yes. if I were a startup, would i take either? yes. did DEMO do a disservice by failing to link? yes.
But I don't think DEMO's sin was as great as Robert implies (and it doesn't seem to have been from ill-intent). But I do know that I would have been annoyed after paying $19k to not get a direct permanent link on demo.com.
jacob morgan
· 1 year ago
i know it's not a huge concern for startups but my point is that this how these "seo" myths get started and spread around the web. If someone doesn't know SEO then they shouldn't mention it, simple as that.
by the way i think SEO for startup companies is huge!
i'd be annoyed for not getting a permanent link as well
Stefan Richter
· 1 year ago
Reading all the coverage that goes on here as well as elsewhere (TC for example) about Demo and TC50 makes me want to stay away from these events as far as possible. Someone said this story reminds them of High School. Actually it reminds me of Kindergarten. Could we get back to some actual tech news now?
Chris Howard
· 1 year ago
@jacob, as I said, blogging is a conversation and bloggers don't have to be perfect.
Looking at your quote of Robert's article, I think he alludes to link quality but is not as clear as you'd like.
Consequently, this article is richer for you clarifying that point about link quality.
So I don't think he was propagating a myth and nor should he stop talking about seo - provided readers clarify or infill points that may need it.
mobilejones
· 1 year ago
Since you asked for URLs where TC50 coverage will be found, I'll offer this link.
Some video and a multimedia collection of those organizing and attending TC50 are posted as they come in from Twitter, Qik and Flickr. If anyone wants to add their Twitter, Flickr or Qik feed just send me your URL and name to mojo _AT_ mobilejones dot_com but with the correct formatting of course. I'll be glad to add you.
TechCrunch 40 was a great event last year and I'm looking forward to TC50 with anticipation of an informative, fun and entertaining conference. Say hi if you're coming.
All Comments
The hype around both events is too much. It's too much of a push/pull for the VCs, the bloggers, the media, etc. I believe the tech startup industry is being done a disservice, and also believe there will be worse ripples to come out of it down the road...
But now I'm curious - was your judgement really that wrong? Could you possibly have had an axe to grind? Now I have to see for myself. Time to click.
Mapflow. You're too kind.
Plastic Login: I thinkyou're a little harsh.
Semantifind: Looks like they read your comments: there's an email address collecting box there now. Good for them, they may be fast enough on their feet. Shame about their (apparently) me-too product.
Usable: I'm about 7000 miles away from Demo. You're right.
OpenCircle: Not a "solution space" I know much about. But the CEO's blog is lame. "Hello Wired Warriors"? Ick.
Photrade: Worked for me. I get it, although I can't see what's new and interesting.
Radiant Logic: I work for a large global corporate and I can't see what problem they're solving. Feels like a sales-led or CTO word-of-mouth thing. You may be a little harsh on them.
Wild Pockets: Front page looks nice, may achieve market-follower status in time. Why would I want to give them money on that basis?
Tooltogether: You're right.
Trinity Convergence: Well, I think they... no, they make... they're a... Nope. Too hard. Te kind of business that's not exactly public-facing, I suspect - if you need them, you already know wha tthey do.
Bored now. I score you mostlyr ight, from my unenlightened position. An unenlightened and uninspiring bunch. But surely that's why they're in a startup talent show - the really attractive startups have the money they need without needing presentation coaches. This is "America's Got Talent" for tech startups.
And, you have your real number on the Internet!? What are you thinking? You're opening yourself up to all sorts of trouble. I just hope that isn't really your main cell phone like you say it is....
I'm stunned! You've never been harassed via cell phone? Maybe I'm just a bit paranoid then.
By the way it's impressive that you have comments set to appear automatically.
I write for Apple Matters, and, although I don't consider myself overly informed, I try to bring a different perspective. But at the end of the day it's simply my opinion. Folks tho lose sight of that and for some strange reason demand exceptionally high standards of bloggers, expect perfection, even if the only thing the can pick on is grammar or spelling.
But thru my writing on AM, I've learned it's not about me, not about what I write. It's about the conversation I start. My last words in an article are the beginning, not the end. It is the readers who fulfill and complete what I write. If I answer every question, every argument within an article, the article dies.
Blogging is a conversation. When people try to turn it into something like professional journalism, it dies. And, as you say, no other medium - TV, newspaper, magazine, radio etc - comes even close to allowing that completeness of conversation.
please don't start propagating seo myths by stating that,
"Because until someone links to your site you won’t be found very high on Google, which is where 99% of your customers will come from (not from tech blogs like this one, Shipley’s, or TechCrunch). Having a site like Demo link to you can mean the difference between being on the first page of results vs. being far lower."
this is not how seo works, a simple link to your site won't mean much unless the quality and the relevancy of the link is evaluated. if demo or techcrunch are linking to 60 companies from the same page, then the google "juice" is not going to be much at all. I hate this garbage seo speak i keep hearing about, if you don't know seo then don't talk about it because most of the stuff i keep reading is pure nonsense.
j
could the links come from content organized into silos of related-topics with anchor text selected by the startups themselves? yes. if I were a startup, would i take either? yes. did DEMO do a disservice by failing to link? yes.
But I don't think DEMO's sin was as great as Robert implies (and it doesn't seem to have been from ill-intent). But I do know that I would have been annoyed after paying $19k to not get a direct permanent link on demo.com.
by the way i think SEO for startup companies is huge!
i'd be annoyed for not getting a permanent link as well
Someone said this story reminds them of High School. Actually it reminds me of Kindergarten. Could we get back to some actual tech news now?
Looking at your quote of Robert's article, I think he alludes to link quality but is not as clear as you'd like.
Consequently, this article is richer for you clarifying that point about link quality.
So I don't think he was propagating a myth and nor should he stop talking about seo - provided readers clarify or infill points that may need it.
http://tc50.mobilejones.com
Some video and a multimedia collection of those organizing and attending TC50 are posted as they come in from Twitter, Qik and Flickr. If anyone wants to add their Twitter, Flickr or Qik feed just send me your URL and name to mojo _AT_ mobilejones dot_com but with the correct formatting of course. I'll be glad to add you.
TechCrunch 40 was a great event last year and I'm looking forward to TC50 with anticipation of an informative, fun and entertaining conference. Say hi if you're coming.