http://venturebeat.disqus.com/News about Tech, Business and InnovationenThu, 03 Apr 2008 11:59:09 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684278<p>Hard to beat <em>free</em> and <em>bloggable.</em></p>Mike AbundoThu, 03 Apr 2008 11:59:09 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684277<p>As Ivan Pope notes above, Arrington has been a bit more open about his intentions elsewhere on the web. On Twitter, for instance, he explained: "We went after [DEMO] last year. Now, it's just them trying to be associated with us."</p>Anthony HaThu, 03 Apr 2008 11:17:39 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684276<p>We were one of the companies faced with the "which conference" decision last year. From a company perspective the problem wasn't two conferences, it was that the Techcrunch40 selection process was weeks longer than the Demo selection process. It made for an interesting juggling act.</p><p>This year, given current pricing, the selection is clear. Techcrunch50 has to be the choice unless as Ivan suggests above Demo radically alters it's game. The conferences sharing dates means press and investors can only be in one place. That is going to reduce press coverage for the startups significantly. Techcrunch50 will draw all the Bay Area VC's, leaving Demo the "out of towners".</p><p>While it may be fun to watch this "battle of the startup conference" from the outside, the upshot is that this sucks for the startups at both conferences.</p>Aaron MannThu, 03 Apr 2008 09:10:51 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684275<p>"Demo needs to die," Arrington said in the interview. "It's just an old-school model...It clearly involves pay to play, and what we're offering is better."</p><p>It's not really that Demo needs to die, but what it does need to do is explain why it needs to charge $18,000 when Demo50 can do much the same for free. <br>Demo's problem now is that it isn't a monopoly and should lose the monopoly pricing. A bold move would be for Demo to announce that the fees were waived. Then we would see a real head to head which would benefit everyone in the longer term.</p>Ivan PopeThu, 03 Apr 2008 06:03:13 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684274<p>anything that causes grief to VCs is good enough for me. these greedy yuppies and their sense of entitlement - the heck with that. i'm 4 square behind chis on this one</p>antivcThu, 03 Apr 2008 01:40:14 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684273<p>Seems like a waste of time, either your startup starts or it doesn't, a conference won't increase your traffic. You might get a few hits to your page, big deal.</p>FerodynamicsThu, 03 Apr 2008 00:13:03 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684269<p>What do the venture capitalist sponsors of the Techcrunch conference think of this? Can they afford to anger Chris Shipley? Good for grabbing headlines, but it puts customers and developers in an awkward position. They must know that.</p>Kimba HillsWed, 02 Apr 2008 21:09:20 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684268<p>Thanks, Jason, we've fixed.</p>Eric EldonWed, 02 Apr 2008 19:19:02 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684267<p>100% merit based? Not 100% in tight with Arrington based?</p>Merit BasedWed, 02 Apr 2008 19:07:21 -0000http://venturebeat.com/2008/04/02/trouble-in-conference-land-techcrunch-goes-head-to-head-with-demo/#comment-14684266<p>fyi: factual error above: there is no charge to present at TechCrunch50 (or techcrunch40 last year).</p><p>It is 100% merit based.</p>jasoncalacanisWed, 02 Apr 2008 19:03:58 -0000