I went to
The Naked Truth panel discussion last night. Targeted at Seattle technology startup entrepreneurs, the event was hosted by
Madrona and
RedFin and featured 5 members of the press on a Q&A panel:
- Rebecca Buckman, The Wall Street Journal
- Freg Vogelstein, Wired Magazine
- Michael Arrington, TechCrunch
- John Cook, Seattle PI (blog post)
- Tricia Duryee, Seattle Times
There were about 250 people who attended, and the guest list filled up very quickly (it was all opt-in via Wiki edits on a
wetpaint site!). To show how a fairly large event can be done creatively, and on the cheap, this thing was actually held in the
parking lot of the
Havana Social Club. Madrona and RedFin popped for drinks and
Armadillo Barbeque. The weather was gorgeous too, so it didn't
feel like a cheap event - it was really very nice.
Gregg Gottesman from Madrona had a bunch of prepared questions - which were generally quite good, though I would have preferred that the audience would have had more time to ask questions directly. You do get the feeling that a lot of these entrepreneurs are really nervous about getting good press and PR. Are these folks really as powerful as we make them out to be?
Granted, it can be a very effective way to reach a lot of potential customers (partners, and investors) by getting good press coverage. But it seems that the tail is wagging the dog the way many people seem to put so much stake in what these folks will write about them.
I did get to talk to Michael Arrington and John Cook, both of whom have written about Blue Dot over the last year; it was great to meet them in person - and their coverage has been a big help to us in getting the word out.
I also really enjoyed chatting with some of my fellow entrepreneurs at the after party, and sharing stories about the things we're working on and how things are going:
It's great to see a vibrant startup community in Seattle - not everything is dominated by Microsoft/Google/Amazon/Real.
1 Comments:
Hey Mike!
It was great talking to you last night as well. It was a fun event, and I enjoyed catching up with folks plus putting a lot of names with faces. Anyway, would enjoy getting together again with you in the near future.
Take care,
Shawn
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