Excited to see edw519 is doing a talk, and that his company is "edw519" :).
Startup Bootcamp 2011 Announced
11–15 of 15 posts
Re: Startup Bootcamp 2011 Announced
#12Is there going to be a stream or videos of talks released after?
Re: Startup Bootcamp 2011 Announced
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
A bit disappointing that the one female speaker has a confused and tangled product (with a UI to match.) Culver is definitely quite clever, but were there really no other females available with a track record of success on par with the other speakers?
I'm also constantly frustrated to find that virtually all founders are male, and every year I get a lot of flack for not having more women speaking. But it's a much larger problem than just this event; there are almost no women in VC or doing angel investments, for example. For this event, my goal is to invite the absolute best speakers possible, whether they're men or women. Convore may have rough edges (just like a…
I get the sense you were really looking for star power, judging by the speaker list.
I do think you should be careful how Startup Bootcamp deals with this fact as an organization, though. There's a difference between "virtually all founders are male" and "virtually all famous, well-recognized founders are male."
From MIT alone, I can point you to recent YC company Venuetastic, and their two female MIT founders (Helen Belogolova and Christine Yen). I can't imagine they'd both be busy. Also, the CEO and Founder of the startup I work for, Smarterer, is female. We're right here in Boston and were recently funded by Google Ventures. There are more examples for sure, but you get the idea.
I understand that there are tradeoffs to be made between getting the hottest and most famous speakers, and getting a variety of perspectives. Kresge has 1,200 seats, and you want - need, even - to fill all of them. That said, the echo chamber that is Silicon Valley does have a habit of amplifying the male voice over the female voice. To acknowledge that fact, and perhaps be proactive in trying to compensate for it (did you try Jessica Mah, for instance?), would do a better job of satisfying those who are giving you said flack.
Re: Startup Bootcamp 2011 Announced
#14Is there going to be a stream or videos of talks released after?
yep, although it doesn't compare to the people you meet at the event.
Re: Startup Bootcamp 2011 Announced
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
A bit disappointing that the one female speaker has a confused and tangled product (with a UI to match.) Culver is definitely quite clever, but were there really no other females available with a track record of success on par with the other speakers?
I'm also constantly frustrated to find that virtually all founders are male, and every year I get a lot of flack for not having more women speaking. But it's a much larger problem than just this event; there are almost no women in VC or doing angel investments, for example. For this event, my goal is to invite the absolute best speakers possible, whether they're men or women. Convore may have rough edges (just like a…
I don't think the compliment "quite clever" undermines anyone. I was trying to be clear that my comment wasn't about finding someone better than Culver, but someone with a more successful product. I don't think anyone would argue that Convore are anywhere near as successful as Airbnb, Foursquare or even Kayak. I'm sure there's a lot to be learned from the failure of Pownce, but the rest of the field certainly seems to be a draw because of their apparent success.