Like a canary in the coal mine breathing its final breath, some are insisting that the gigantic, buzz-engorged TechCrunch August Capital Party that I hosted this past Friday is a sure harbinger of Bubble 2.0. On the one hand, it was a big event. Hundreds of entrepreneurs, press, VCs, PR folks, bankers, etc. hung out on our patio for many hours. There were tech demos. There was wine. There were party crashers in cheerleader uniforms. And, while it is true that the party was ultimately shut down by the police, I'm pleased to say that it was not because anyone set a car on fire -- apparently the exuberant tech chatter was wafting over into the drowsy Menlo Park suburb at 11:30 at night, which apparently simply had to stop.
But despite the excitement and anticipation surrounding the party, it didn't feel like 1999 to me at all. The talk was not about who's the latest millionaire. The talk was not even about who's got the biggest traffic or who is growing fastest. The talk was all about company building and product, product, product. While certainly not all of the companies represented at the party will succeed, there is something striking about the product focus of this current set of entrepreneurs. People are working hard to build products that matter. And that is certainly the first step to building self-sustaining, meaningful companies.
It was a pleasure to host the TechCrunch Party at August Capital. I can't think of a better use of our patio. I look forward to doing it again some day soon.
FYI: There's a pile of good discussion of the party from Mike Arrington, Thomas Hawk, Jeremiah Owyang, Robert Scoble, Rodrigo Sepulveda Schulz, Mike Puchol, John Furrier, Scott Beale, Guy Kawasaki, Dan Farber, Dave McClure, Gabe Rivera, Jennifer Allen, and many more.
David,
thanks for having us- it was a great time. Hopefully the excavation of paper towels was successful in the men's bathroom... We never had a chance to meet at the event but I would be interested in speaking with you sometime about JumpBox. I was there with Francine Hardaway and she seemed to think you might be interested in the opportunity we're pursuing with the appliance we've developed.
thanks again for the hospitality
Sean
Posted by: scrollinondubs | 08/22/2006 at 07:32 AM