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Web 2.0 Expo: Where Are The Web 2.0 Companies?
The expo hall opened today at the Web 2.0 Expo at the Javits Center in NYC. I was very much looking forward to meeting and conducting video interviews of tons of Web 2.0 startups and big companies for ya’all. Sadly, after walking up and down every aisle, I came back to the office with 75 photos and 2 videos.
There’s no Google, no Yahoo, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace. Friendster is there, but it’s Friendster Asia. There are a good number of hosting companies. As much as I love TripAdvisor, nothing they do is Web 2.0. Microsoft, Salesforce and IBM have large booths, Amazon has a tiny booth for AWS. There are several companies which seem to be looking for developers. I saw Present.ly, Mzing, Twing in the main expo hall which could be some of the only companies that could even be remotely considered Web 2.0.
There is a "long tail pavillion" which means $3k for a tiny, no space to move table. A variety of startups are in that area – if you make it over to the event, those tables are on the far right of the expo hall. Let’s not even talk about the lack of NY-based companies in the main expo hall.
I’ve attended over 100 events at the Javits Center over the last decade and the companies in the expo could have been from 1998, 2001 or now. As I spoke with over 50 people, most echoed my comments. Most of us assume that the cost for a booth much have been too high for startups to afford. But this is the first tech expo I’ve seen in a long time that had no Yahoo or Google presence.
Here are some of the photos and check out the full set on Flickr – the videos will be posted later today.
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I couldn’t agree more! Quite a disappointment.
Wow that’s pretty ridiculous – lack of Web 2.0 companies at a Web 2.0 expo… guess Im glad I didn’t dish out the money to go. Hopefully it was beneficial in other ways?
the networking is always good – I try to make the most of that part of it
I agree. I just came from there and it is not about Web 2.0 applications. It is about Web 2.0 back end. Should be called Enterprise 2.0 or Infrastructure 2.0. Oh well. We’ll still get a video out of it.
like getting water from a rock? :)
Yea – it’s def. more enterprise and backend – lots of server infrastructure and big company high cost services.
Same experience at the Internet World UK this year – everything but web 2.0 companies (despite other statements on the website and in their brochures) – http://zerobudget.tunesbag.com/post/33410817/internet-world-a-story-of-courage-and-failure
Allen sorry to hear that, pretty discouraging.
Except for TripAdvisor and Friendster, which aren’t startups, I didn’t really see any web 2.0 companies! But then again, I guess most end-user facing services weren’t expecting their target audiences to attend this expo!
What are these people talking about? Been Verified (www.beenverified.com) had an awesome booth at Web 2.0
it is a bummer! Keep an eye out for conduit (www.conduit.com), great story, great product, and you can’t miss the team- look for them in the bright orange shirts. It’s an interesting b2b2c type concept and they are definitey doing it right and well… (someone the other day wrote about the death of free products, these guys are proving it’s still possible!)
Ok thanks for the comment PR woman for conduit.