The greatest thing about viewing Demo from afar is the perspective you gain on the status and of the technology industry. And, from where I sit looking eastwards towards Phoenix and Demo 2006 what I see is very positive.
First there appears to be a much greater sense of control of product development and market awareness than I've ever seen before. Enterprise software entrepreneurs seem to be much more aware of the importance of operational benchmarks and there's much less attention being paid to engineers and marketing type whose sole claim to fame was once working at a start-up that burned through scores of millions in multi-level venture financing only to deliver marginal products that today are little more than foot notes.
Second, the number of self-financed startups at Demo 2006 is very high. Nothing keeps an entrepreneur so tightly focused as when he or she is betting with their own money. As an old reporter, the classic image of the entrepreneur heads down in their garage or den, working on a product, grabbing left-overs from the fridge is a sorry that's too good to pass up. I suspect a lot of the self-funded start-ups at Demo 2006 will benefit from this picture.
Chris's opening monologue was one of the best I've ever seen. I believe she set the tone for the show and pointed out that while things have changed in the last several years, the industry has emerged stronger, if not more independent. The good news about a more independent technology sector is that it will produce larger numbers of more diverse products; a concept that's as important to IT-related technology as it to consumer markets.
Meanwhile back to my list of things i really liked and thought were very noteworthy:
The VOIP segment is the breeding ground for the next generation of entrepreneurs who I think could really drive collaborative computing. I suspect there will be acquisitions galore among VOIP technology companies until everyone has nearly the same feature set or has exhausted, EBay, Yahoo, AOL,Microsoft or other companies largess. That going to be great for Demo 2006 companies like My People and EQO are standouts.I'm an example of a SkypeOut user whose off network calls are to a group of yahoos who have not gotten the Skype religion yet.
Krugle also caught my attention. I sincerely believe that Google is not the last word in search engines. There are opportunities out there and some of the most profitable are likely going to be in vertical markets. I really do believe we'll see search engines for various engineering and other disciplines/ categories and that these products will be able to get funding nor only from traditional risk capital sources, but perhaps also from trade or other in-kind related associations. Krugle seeks out open source and other code code for programmers and quickly provides a framework for search information. Success can come to the specialists as easily as it does to the well-heeled veteran.
That's my take on Demo 2006 from afar. Judging by the press pickup, I'd say the event was a huge success. Good luck to all of you and I hope Miss Shipley has a good couple of days off in Hawaii.
While I won't go to Arizona, i will be at Demo Fall in San Diego. Guess what, the venue has a marina and coincidentally, I have a boat. So, Dude, look for me out there on the horizon wearing my tie-dyed shirt, cut-offs, flying my yellowtail flag as I putt putt into the marina in my 18-foot Panga. See you there, and if you want a cruise of the harbor, i have a spare life jacket, an extra rod, a two-pole fishing license and an abundance of bait. if you don't catch fish, it's just plain fun to feed the seagulls and pelicans.
Chow for now,
Jim Forbes (on his way out to get his four-stroke outboard serviced and the boat back home here at Rancho Bizarro in rural north San Diego County.)
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