Under The Radar: The Business of Web Apps
Being a PR and Marketing firm, we typically don’t “fly under the radar.” Our goal is to make a lot of noise (at the right time, and in the right way) and get the word out about our clients’ great products and services. However, today we did fly under the radar. By which I mean, we attended Dealmaker Media’s Under The Radar conference in Mountain View, CA. :)
The conference was great - the folks at DM have got it down to a science. Speakers, moderators, and judges showed up on time (unless their cars broke down) and all the presenting companies had interesting ideas to pitch. We had several different reasons for attending:
- Two of our clients (DeviceVM and kwiry) presented at UTR
- Jeremy moderated two of the panels (and treated the speakers kindly for the most part)
- networking, networking, networking
We are big advocates of industry networking, and conferences like this one are great for that purpose. Founders and employees from dozens of different startup and large companies were in attendance, all with something new to pitch. Some are great, some are terrible, but it’s good to know what’s new and who’s doing it. There’s a great opportunity for business development at these events, and also a great chance to play matchmaker and connect two people that really ought to talk to one another. We like to help out where we can.
In addition to the presenters and attendees, there were also a good swath of media folk in attendance. Rafe Needleman from Webware was there, though he had some car trouble on the way down (bummer Rafe, that really sucks.) Kara Swisher from the WSJ (and other pubs) was there, judging for Jeremy’s panel. And Brad Stone from the NY Times was there as well, helping to judge some of the other presenters.
Last night Dealmaker Media threw a little party in Palo Alto at a restaurant called Zibibbo. We snapped a couple of pics while we were there.
Here’s a picture of Sol from DeviceVM, Cliff from DocSyncer, and some of our friends from Dealmaker Media:
Here’s a self portrait of Sol and myself:
And this is a picture of Ron from kwiry, hanging out with the lovely ladies of Dealmaker Media:
Under The Radar was a great conference because it had just the right combination of factors. There was a variety of interesting startups, a good supply of industry leaders and important members of the media in attendance. The presentations were generally engaging, and fomented lively discussions with both the judges and the audience.
Events like this are both fun and educationall, and can represent a great opportunity for business networking and business development - especially if you pick the right conference.
