Entrepreneur Stuff

DEMO redux

For those of us who have been involved in high-tech for a while, being invited to present at Chris Shipley's DEMO Conference has always represented a right of passage for a start-up. A very select few companies made the grade and tons of press coverage was almost guaranteed. It was worth the $10K.

Unfortunately, Chris sold the conference and now the new owners have expanded the event to three days and 60 companies -- hardly an exclusive or prestigious honor anymore. And the price went up.

So it's no wonder that Valley entrepreneurs have stepped in to fill the vacuum. Two DEMO-esque opportunities crossed my radar screen recently:

1) Jason Calacanis and Michael Arrington are actively planning "TechCrunch 20" for later in the Fall of this year. It will showcase 20 companies over two days and companies will be invited based on the merits of their demo, and not on their ability to pay. You can read more here.

2) My guys over at SVASE are planning their second annual "Launch: Silicon Valley" for June 5th. This event will showcase 30 companies in one day. Learn more or submit your application to be a presenter here.

So if you have a great idea and don't (yet) have the bucks, you have some options. Good luck!

In case of broken links, the full URLs are:
1) http://www.calacanis.com/2007/01/31/taking-the-payola-out-of-demo-ing-the-techcrunch-20-conference/
2) http://svase.org/index.php?option=com_extcalendar&Itemid=149&extmode=view&extid=780

posted by mxaddison @ 11:46 PM