
The New York Tech Meetup: Start-ups: don't mention the money - mblakele
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/10/new_york_tech_meetup
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il
Is the startup echo chamber so bad that people literally get booed for asking
how a startup will make money? A startup is, at least in theory supposed to be
a business(vs a side project, which doesn't have to be one). Have we forgotten
that?

This article's either greatly exaggerating the prevailing attitude, or the
tech community is in big trouble.

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torrenegra
Not all presentations are made by startups. More importantly, not all
innovations have to be profitable, nor they have to be a business.

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il
I would argue that,unless you're a nonprofit or heavily government funded if
you want to keep innovating yes, you need to be a business.

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acgourley
Or you know, it could just be for pleasure...

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nostromo
I've been to NYTM many times and in my experience you can ask anything you
want, just don't sound link an MBA when you do it.

Understand that NY is the nexus of MBA speak. There are just so many corporate
offices and financial firms and lawyers there -- NYTM is the one place that
cuts through the regular NY bullshit and talks about technology for its own
sake, not just as a conduit to make money. So if you get up and ask about
synergies or exit strategies (or the worst offense, using slides instead of a
demo) prepare to be booed.

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brianmwang
I've only attended one NYTM so far, but the one time I witnessed somebody get
booed for asking the "how will you make money" question, it certainly wasn't
wrapped in MBA speak. The crowd response seriously saddened me - this sort of
attitude will only detract from the amazing things going on in NYC right now.

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andrewjshults
The "how will you make money" question got "banned" about a year ago (from my
understanding) because it was getting asked of every company (which is fair)
and given the amount of time presenters have, the on-stage answers were always
really vague (ads!) or the revenue model should have been obvious
(sales/commission). I don't think it's fair of The Economist to say that those
questions are looked down on, it's just that given how little time is given
for each company there are often a number of more interesting questions that
could be asked and were getting pushed out. Plus, it had kind of become like a
FIRST POST! type reaction that someone just had to ask.

I've always found that if you are really interested in the specifics of the
company (especially their business model) it's better to ask them afterwards
since you can actually have a real dialog with them. Also, the during the
presentation questions always seem better when it's actually about the demo
since they can often show it right there on stage.

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torrenegra
The article is not very accurate. I've attended the NY Tech Meetup dozens of
times and I've seen the questions "How will you reach a critical mass of
users?" and "Aren't you doomed to fail because X already does the same thing?"
asked a few times with no backslash whatsoever. The third one ("how are you
going to make money") is the only one that gets the "boooos". BTW, I happen to
like that. After all, the meetup is about technology and innovation and not
about making money.

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zaidf
_But Tech Meetup has its own peculiar etiquette, which is that there are
certain questions that you simply do not ask. One, apparently, is "How will
you reach a critical mass of users?"_

Really? That's a perfectly legit question. I'm biased though...that is the
first question I shoot out because I _expect_ the founder to have some
creative ideas about getting traction.

If you are building a site that requires critical mass and you have put in no
serious thought to how you'll get users you are pretty doomed.

Kevin Rose depended on shilling his site on his show. Zuck had the freakin
email address of everybody at school, I think. MySpace guys pushed myspace
across the parent company's sites and at LA clubs.

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ryanwanger
Are all tech meetups like that? At the Boulder New Tech Meetup, _every_
company is asked how they will make money. No one boos - it's acceptable, and
completely expected.

I think it's a common misconception that every web company is innovating, when
most are just using existing tech to solve a problem (or provide a solution
that is better than the existing ones).

If you're developing some new technology that will change the world for the
better, then I don't care if/how you'll make money. Otherwise, it matters.

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mkramlich
I have mixed feelings about the money question. On one hand, it's good to hear
if the founders have thought about it and have a realistic answer. On the
other, there are so many different ways of monetizing things, many of them are
obvious to anybody who's experienced in business, and the exact way in which a
particular new business does it is probably not too important. Whatever works,
works. And they may even have to try several different things to see which is
most effective. But the "how do I monetize this" aspect is generic and
reusable across many different types of businesses. It's generally not part of
a startup's secret sauce. The product, the service, the "what problem are you
solving that people will pay you to solve" element is.

Btw, I also attend Boulder New Tech Meetup regularly. Awesome series of
events. However, as I write this I realize I just missed the Colo Green Tech
Meetup tonight -- gah!

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camz
I think that any entrepreneur needs to evaluate their position before they
ever enter an industry. Walking blindly into business is rarely a mistake
people can afford to make.

You need to either asks yourself (1) can I generate insane conversion or users
or (2) how will I monetize the business. If you can generate the user base
that Facebook, Twitter or drop box has then monetization is irrelevant because
any effective and intelligent management team can devise a business model when
the customers have already walked into the store. I can't remember exactly but
I think Ron Conway said that you don't need a business model when you have
traffic like google's.

But if you can't generate the users, then you need a plan to take to the bank.
So, I think that if the ny tech meetup can't be realistic then it's like
masturbation. It's great until you realize that you're screwing yourself lol.

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jesselamb
I've been to NYTM, and the booing for the "money" question seems to be all in
good fun. More like an inside joke than a jeer. As andrewjshults said, it
seems less about ignoring the the viability of the presenter's business and
more about keeping the technology and novel aspects of the product front and
center.

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paul9290
I had opportunity to present at one. This was when it was in the IAC building.
I definitely recall them stressing even addressing audience about the money
question; saying you can not ask the following we are here to see
new/innovative things in tech. I'm sure many wanted to ask me how do you make
$.

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joshu
Strange - I demoed Delicious at the very first NYTM, back when it was in
Meetup's offices.

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jasonkolb
Better to fail early and often, right? As far as I'm concerned, I want to hear
my harshest critics often. I'd rather take my lumps as early as possible.

