My Quest For The World Record In Conference Attendance

I spent the day yesterday at the Vertical Leap conference. Vertical Leap brought together a bunch of interesting people in and around the vertical search space and was chaired by two friends of mine, Jeff Clavier and Dave McClure. There was a huge amount of energy in the room and it was packed. It was the first conference I can recall in which entrepreneurs were asking questions for the sole purpose of publicly touting their new companies in hopes of attracting venture money. And there were certainly enough VCs in the room to oblige. It was a bit like chumming the waters to attract the sharks (not that I'm comparing my VC brethren -- or myself for that matter -- to sharks).

At a recent partners meeting, I pointed out that I would not be in the office the following Monday because I was speaking at a conference. In response, one of my partners said, "I wonder what the world record is for most conferences attended in a year?" I may be wrong but I think he was being sarcastic. That said, I'm gunning for the record. Not because I want to be listed between the guy with the longest fingernails and the guy who can put the most cigarettes in his mouth (although that would be exciting), but rather because I have some of my best conversations at conferences and end up getting to know really interesting people. In fact, I first got to know both Jeff and Dave (who ran the Vertical Leap conference) well through the conference circuit. Jeff had me speak at a conference he organized back in 2003 before he left the world of venture capital to advise early stage technology companies. And Dave and I have often exchanged thoughts about the Web 2.0 world at Auren Hoffman's Silicon Forum.

The truth is, I am a big fan of spending time at conferences. I may not break any records (it will be near impossible to beat Marc Canter), but I will continue to spend a bunch of time getting to know interesting people and learning new stuff. To give you a sense of it, here are the events I attended over the last month:

Under The Radar: A really fun event that takes the form of a game show. Startups from related sectors describe their companies in quick elevator pitches and then are grilled by a panel of judges. Ultimately the panel and the audience vote on the most interesting companies. The conversation stays lively and the companies that participate are young enough to be interesting to someone like me who likes to invest in early stage high tech companies. I was on the Social Software and Tools panel and look forward to participating in future Under the Radar events.

Supernova: The Supernova conference was started by a wildly smart law school classmate of mine named Kevin Werbach. After law school, when I went to a big corporate law firm, Kevin went to work for the FCC where he developed the FCC's initial thinking about how to address the implications of the world wide web. Kevin's now a professor at Wharton and has been running Supernova for a few years. The folks Supernova attracts tend to be interested in things like decentralized computing and communications and the hallway conversations are always as interesting as the ones inside. At this year's Supernova I had the pleasure of being part of a discussion of the Long Tail with Chris Anderson. Chris and I have gotten to be friends over many conversations at conferences like TED and D. I'm hoping to go on the Long Tail rubber chicken circuit with him when his book comes out. In the mean time, it was great fun talking about the implications of unlimited shelf space and unlimited selection.

VC Road Trip: The VC Road Trip is a gathering of venture capitalists from around the country who get together in different cities over the course of the year to schmooze and discuss potential investment opportunities within our portfolios. The Road Trip is an chance to spend time getting to know venture capitalists from other cities and exchange ideas about what is interesting in their neck of the woods. At a VC Road Trip earlier in the year I got to spend time with a great guy named Jeff Bussgang. Jeff is a serial entrepreneur (Upromise, Open market) turned VC at IDG Ventures in Boston. Jeff and I got to talking about blogging (I can't help myself) and when he returned from the Road Trip, he started the first Boston VC blog called Seeing Both Sides. It's good stuff. Check it out.

Where 2.0: Where 2.0 is a new O'Reilly conference on geospatial technology. The stuff being discussed includes the implications of Google's map and satellite image integration, geotagging, location-based services etc. I am a big fan of the O'Reilly conferences (Etech, Oscon, Web 2.0) and Where 2.0 is an opportunity to talk with the folks who are thinking most about the implications of linking up the online world with the physical world. Very interesting stuff with the added bonus of spending time with Nat Torkington who is co-chairing the event and is just a fun guy to hang out with.

Admittedly, that's a lot of conference going in a month and it is not necessarily representative of my year, but if I had the stamina to go to that many interesting conferences every month, I certainly would. I learn more in the halls of the conferences I attend than I could possibly learn from hours and hours of scouring the web. And I have the opportunity to meet an ever-increasing group of smart, fun, interesting people with whom I am hopeful I will some day work in some capacity or other. So despite the rhetorical nature of my partner's question, count me in on the quest for the world record in conference going. I firmly believe that it will only help me be a better, more informed technology investor. And, most importantly, it will allow me to spend more time getting to know great entrepreneurs. See you at TEDglobal or Web 2.0 or DEMO Fall or BlogOn Summit 2005 or . . . .

Comments

[Shannon Clark]

David,

I'm an entrepreneur and conference organizer. I'd like to invite you to add MeshForum (http://www.meshforum.org) to your list of conferences to attend. Our next conference will be May 2006.

MeshForum is a conference on Networks - last year we had physicists studying biological networks, economists, professors of communication, entrepreneurs, social scientists, experts from FEMA and the Department of Defence, and many others sharing their perspectives on the study of networks and learning from each other.

Next year we'll again bring together academics, business and government leaders with a wide ranging focus likely to include Social Networks, economics, telecommunications, biological networks and much more.

I hope you can join us in Chicago. (at this year's MeshForum attendees included Buzz Bruggeman, Esther Dyson, Noshir Contractor, and many others).

My entrepreneurial activities, not too surprisingly, also include an element of Network science. Besides my consulting and existing software business, JigZaw (http://www.jigzaw.com) I am currently working on technology to depict and analyze the economic activity of a firm (or multiple firms as in an M&A scenario) in terms of networks. I'd be happy to discuss it further with you if you are interested.

thanks,

Shannon

[Auren Hoffman]

Dave -- you're also one of the hardest working VCs in the valley. i do not believe that any VC hustles more than David Hornik. it is a testament to your hard work and your love of technology that you attend so many conferences.

[Tino Buntic]

Under The Radar sounds really fun and interesting. I'd love to see that. That is a great concept for the next business reality show (hosted by David, maybe)

[Donovan Phillips]

Serious Question: Are there any VCs out there for "adult" oriented projects? I'd love to know.

[joshua estrin]

David-

I must say i agree with you and although it is sometimes very times consuming you make a very important point

but I will continue to spend a bunch of time getting to know interesting people and learning new stuff

The above is proof that you understand the importance of building a network to keep you business SMART and HEALTHY.

New ideas and new people are the only truly feasible way to be at the top of your game!

Bravo!

Joshua Estrin

www.conceptsinsuccess.com

www.shutupandlistentoyourself.com

[Whippet]

Is this blog defunct now? Is it shut down?

No posts since June 30???? Wow.

If in five weeks you haven't got anything--ANYTHING--useful to say on technology, entrepreneurship or VC, well: maybe you need another line of work (or another kind of blog).

I am unsubscribing you clowns. Cya.