You’d think with all the excitement and extensive coverage (most of it enthusiastic and positive) that the TechCrunch40 conference (aka The Mike and Jason Show) was everything people thought it would be. You had 800 people – some of them standing during sessions – happy to pay $2,500 to hear about the hottest new start-ups while rubbing shoulders with the movers and shakers within Silicon Valley.
From the outside looking in, I wonder what TechCrunch40 says about the Web 2.0 landscape or, to be more exact, the Web 2.0 economy. Given the buzz about the conference and strong attendance, it suggests there’s still plenty of optimism, enthusiasm and bullishness. This stands in contrasts to the broader economic landscape in which the U.S. economy is starting to struggle, the housing market is abysmal, and the private equity market has seen some rough patches.
It could because Silicon Valley is an eternally optimistic ecosystem where technology and innovation are apparently able to ride about the fray. There’s still acquisitions being done (e.g. Yahoo-Zimbra, Yahoo-Blue Lithium), new venture capital firms being created, and start-ups are being funded (Zillow raises another $37-million). Why should there be anything to worry about?
While not trying to a party-pooper, things just seem a little too buoyant. It feels like everyone is partying like its 1999 – the only things missing are a rash of not-ready-for-prime-time IPOs and schwag-filled launch parties with open bars. A conference that sells 800 tickets at $2,500 a pop (and could have easily sold more) could be seen as a sign of a frothy environment – or Arrington and Calacanis’ golden marketing touch.
In the wake of the euphoria surrounding the TechCrunch40, it is somewhat ironic that four months ago Arrington talked about how Silicon Valley could use a downturn.
“I left Silicon Valley at the peak of the insanity last time around, and I was pleasantly surprised when I returned in 2005 to see so much goodwill and community surrounding innovation. Now, it’s just like the old days again, and Silicon Valley is no longer any fun. In fact, it’s turned downright nasty. It may be time for some of us to leave for a while and watch the craziness from the outside again. In a few years, things will be beautiful again. The big money will be slumbering away, and the marketing departments will be a distant memory. We can focus, once again, on the technology. And the burgers and beer.”
I wonder how Arrington feels about things today. Probably pretty happy given he and Calacanis probably made a mint from the conference.
More: A few days ago, Fred Wilson had a post, “Tough Times Ahead for the Web?” in which he suggested the “probability of tough times ahead has gone up in the past year. And it seems to be creeping into our collective consciousness (or at least mine).” How to Split An Atom provides an overview on the TechCrunch40 conference, suggesting it would have been nice to see “more garage projects” on stage as opposed to companies that had already been funded and well covered.
One Comment
I agree with Fred Wilson. Looking at most of the companies presenting there were A LOT of me-toos. And this is late 2007, I mean come on. I’m aware that these companies don’t necessarily represent the true innovators, as has been mentioned in many places, there’s shadiness to the selection process. However, these selections are the ones that some of the top VC firms in Silicon Valley have invested in and choose to promote. Of course maybe the whole point of TC40 was to show these companies off so they could flip them before the downturn… how’s that for a conspiracy theory?
In any event the companies that will usher in the NEXT boom are the ones being built now, under the radar, with true innovation. The ones you won’t hear about until they’ve already hit exponential growth and everybody’s saying “where did THAT come from?”