

Startup Bootcamp 2011 Announced - dzlobin
http://startupbootcamp.mit.edu/?=2011

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grinich
Hi everyone. I'm the main person behind this event so feel free to ping me
with questions or comments. It's going to be awesome.

(something must have killed the earlier announcement?
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2888229>)

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antiterra
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?

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grinich
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 any
startup's product), but I'm super excited to hear Leah speak. To say "clever"
is a huge understatement, and undermines her skill and tenacity. Most people
haven't founded, built, and sold a company in that timeframe. And now she's on
round 2.

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sbisker
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.

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jackpirate
An event in Boston at MIT says on the bottom... "lovingly made in San
Francisco." Totally awesome.

Anyways, wish I could be there! If only it actually were in California.

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larrykubin
Excited to see edw519 is doing a talk, and that his company is "edw519" :).

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inittowinit
Is there going to be a stream or videos of talks released after?

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grinich
yep, although it doesn't compare to the people you meet at the event.

Live: <http://www.justin.tv/startupbootcamp>

YouTube: <http://www.youtube.com/startupbootcamp>

