Over at calacanis.com, Jason Calacanis just asked for reactions to his proposal for a new conference aimed at startups. This seems like a great idea.
And, speaking for both Steve and myself, I say “we are in” (and why not… should Steve actually speak for himself? Can’t I play Penn to his Teller?).
I like the general list of goals and approaches that are listed. The price being free to cheap is, certainly, necessary given the nature of a startup. And while I’m happy to put in as much of my time, I do wonder about the location. A remote location to promote the goal of intimacy seems logical. And I’ve seen this kind of retreat work well in the past. But I would like to know a bit more about the logistics and travel costs ($$ and time both). I also like the idea mentioned by Patrick J of holding the event over a long weekend.
I’d like to see the event focus on a mixture of aspects and issues faced by a (Web 2.0) startup and not just any one area:
- Technology: The non-obvious scaling problems beyond the personal experience of the technical founders. I’m not talking about php coding or writing html or tweaking blogging software. I’m thinking about issues of how and when to scale the server setup. Options for hosting providers. The stuff that others have already learned the hard way.
- Marketing: How to get the word out. What kind of things could we tweak about Bscopes to make it more likely to go viral? Certainly attending this kind of startup camp would, itself, be a big contribution.
- Business: We’d be very interested to discuss different revenue models with other folks. For example, freemium vs just ad supported. Use of Google AdSense as compared to other advertising approaches.
Anyway… I’m sure I’ll have more ideas the more I think about this. But for now I’ve got to get back to paying the bills…
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