Posts tagged as:

startups

Tech Conferences: Do you find them productive?

It seems that there are conferences every other day and week focusing on all topics in high tech, and low and behold – I feel that there aren’t enough. Yep, I don’t think there are enough conferences going on that actually help companies and individuals succeed or network for that matter.

The majority of conferences I have attended were overcrowded and lacked intimacy. They were high on content but short on practicality and results. What I mean by that is that you have speakers upon speakers or companies presenting and the audience just takes it in, it’s one big information dump. To make things more complicated, for one to network effectively they need to know other people attending, be an extravert and, frankly, count on luck to guide them to the people they should be talking with. And, if going through the crowds and reading random name tags isn’t challenging enough, you  rarely get to speak to someone for more that 5-10 minutes. It’s actually even rarer to have a specific and substantive conversation.

So given all these problems I have decided to produce a conference that is informative and productive for all participants. Productivity is essential to a successful event as participants want practical results for their time and money. This will be achieved by offering real dialogue, candor and networking opportunities that are are required for in-depth discussion and true relationship building. Participants, whether they are startups, executives or investors shouldn’t find themselves listening to rehashed panel discussions, working the wrong people in the room and generally putting invaluable time to insignificant use. My goal is to change this by creating a different structure in which there will be speakers and presentations coupled with roundtable discussions and one on one meetings, all foster a more sincere and refreshing dialogue.

This is why I have decided to produce PluggedIn, an exclusive deal making gathering for digital media executives. PluggedIn is bringing together handpicked founders, gatekeepers and investors to candidly interact in a laid back setting and unlock the full value of doing business together.

PluggedIn is a full day event scheduled to take place on January 12th at Sy Syms School of Business in midtown Manhattan. More information will be coming as I am still lining up startups to present and sponsors. If you would like to learn more about it you can go to PluggedinNYC.

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The Founders Roundtable!

As I have been attending a number of networking events in the NY area for a number of years and they all seem to be somewhat of the same. One big event with a lot of networking, with little follow through and results. Now I am somewhat familiar with networking events and I used to run networking events back in th stone age of Web 1.0 called the J2J Network. As great as these networking events are it seems that there is still a disconnect on how much one can gain from them. That is why I have decided to start a more intimate method of networking in the NY area. This is not a new method as roundtables exist in NY, CA, and many other places and I am not ashamed to say I am copying similar models.

The purpose of networking events is to meet people who can ideally help you or your company. To that point i know how difficult it is to start a company and network effectively. From the initial idea, to fleshing it out, to discussing it with friends, writing a business plan, developing product, capital raising, customer acquisition, public relations, and so much more. As you can see the list is extensive and I have found that networking and speaking with other entrepreneurs, VCs, angels, and industry leaders has been a tremendous benefit to me.

That is why I am creating the FoundersRoundtable which will meet once or twice a month, and brings together entrepreneurs to have breakfast and network with experienced peers, investors and others. The mission is to bring together startups from various sectors and have a sit down with VCs, angels, PR companies, marketing experts, and other leading high tech firms that can help a startup’s trajectory to success.

To that end the Founders Rountable fosters the following concepts:

Exchange: Open discussion with active participation from all attendees.

Intimacy: Select companies and individuals invites, approachable, accessible, and intense networking.

Content: Strong focus on fresh, current, and trending topics in high tech.

Experience: Helping companies succeed by using members experiences, networks, and knowledge.

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