Comments on: Just What Does it Take to Present at the NY Tech Meetup?

By: Frank D

Frank D — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

*applause*

Thank you for doing the right thing to make sure we help startups that deserve the attention.

By: Eric Krangel

Eric Krangel — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Allen, fascinating post. Very interested to read what you find out about the invite lists for future meetups.

At SAI we usually try to do a “curtain-raiser” to the NY Tech Meetup, so every invited company gets some link-love and a shout-out if nothing else. We did one for last night’s event. (CollabFinder’s website wasn’t live prior to the event.)

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/10/ny-tech-meetup-lineup-what-s-charles-forman-got-up-his-sleeve-

As for our coverage, yeah we usually highlight one or two companies, we just see as it as part of our journalistic mission to identify what we think is most likely to be interesting to our audience.

See you again next month, if not sooner.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

*Standing Ovation*

Great post!

By: E.J. Mablekos

E.J. Mablekos — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Allen,

That’s a bummer that you wont post my video. I understand where you are coming from, but as my presentation clearly showed, i could use the promotion :)

I was refreshing all day to see the vid, so i’m sad. Would you mind getting in touch and maybe getting me the video some other way? It’s the first time I have ever presented in a forum like that and would love to see it. You certainly perform a valuable service by filming them all.

As I stated at the beginning of my talk, I was honored to be able to present a fairly simple iPhone app amongst a bunch of robust web products. But maybe there aren’t so many people doing iPhone stuff and willing to share their experience with it.

FYI, I will hopefully be presenting Aqua Hoops at the NY iPhone Developer’s Meetup this evening at TekServe

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bravo. Rather bizarre how an event where you need to pay $10/head to have the honor of traveling half way to the west coast to crowd into a ridiculously arranged hall (worse even than cooper u.!) and sit through some occasionally interesting but often very weak presentations — how that is considered the main tech event in the city. Silly people.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Kudos to Allen for the call outs. I went to a bunch of Meetups 2006-2008 before moving out of NYC earlier this year. Good to see part of the curtain pulled back.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

NY has a weird inner tech network. The majority of these companies were funded by a small group of the same people. Angels like Betaworks or Roger Ehrenberg. Scott is also clearly in this inner network (but why they all like Charles Forman is beyond me.) Meetup is clearly one of those situations where you have to know someone to present.

By: Daniel Tunkelang

Daniel Tunkelang — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Interesting. I attended a few NY Tech Meetups before they became a zoo, and I did notice a certain coziness among the organizers and presenters, but I attributed that to the tight-knit network of NY software entrepreneurs. I’m still not sure that isn’t the main factor, though you make a credible case for conflict of interest. In any case, it’s at least an argument for transparency.

I find it easier to wait until I hear about startups from blogs or Twitter. And I find the networking opportunities to be a lot better in smaller, more coherent groups.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Well done Allen!

NY Tech Meetup is a joke. I attended one of them (and I traveled from the far to attend) and was seriously disappointed. It’s unprofessional and few people dominate the whole thing.

PS: Charles Forman is one of the most pretentious people I’ve ever met. Wouldn’t wanna be in the same room with the guy again.

By: Eric Rice

Eric Rice — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve always said that all this ‘disclosure’ hype is amusing, since duh, financial conflicts are so obvious and easy to note. Outside of that, we simply have no way of knowing ‘who our boys are’. Social disclosure doesn’t exist and most likely won’t. (Unless it’s dragged out like the candidates are doing now, heh)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Story has been linked to by Indian media as well

http://www.techgoss.com/Story/159S12-Startup-meet–nbsp–blatant-favoritism.aspx

By: Juli512

Juli512 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Scott mentioned on Tuesday that the Tech 2.0 Meetup will be evolving into an organization, and that there would be smaller offshoot meetings that would help that evolution. Perhaps this is the time to push for more transparency and better representation?

By: centernetworks

centernetworks — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve tried numerous times to reach out to Scott to provide my thoughts (and those I hear from others) on ways to improve the meetup. Scott has ignored me each and every time. I provide more coverage of the meetup than anyone else. My guess has been that he likes it just the way it is. He’s said for months they are open to change – nothing’s happened.

By: centernetworks

centernetworks — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks!

By: centernetworks

centernetworks — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks anonymous :)

I don't know Charles so I can't comment past saying that his presentation included a lot of slides about himself and he loves to curse. Cursing is called "cheap pops".