Jason Calacanis begs rival conference producer to switch sides

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Jordan Golson

04/03/08 01:40PM

Filed to: Nerdfight

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Our commenters are revolting. Specifically, over our continuing coverage of Jason Calacanis, who is famous on the Internet for owning two adorable bulldogs. But there's something charming about the sheer clumsiness of Calacanis's relentless hucksterism. Take the live broadcast he conducted to beg Chris Shipley, the producer of tech-startup conference Demo, to come work on Calacanis and Michael Arrington's rival TechCrunch50 conference. "Be part of the winning team! We are the street level team ... blue collar. Everybody needs to support the Jason Nation." J-Dawg, with that headset look, shouldn't you be playing CounterStrike? And on what planet are you and Arrington "blue-collar"? I can only imagine what Arrington said to you when you tried to put him on the speaker — no doubt something as subtle and polite as "Demo needs to die." The video:

The following replies are approved. To see additional replies that are pending approval, click Show Pending. Warning: These may contain graphic material.

Jimforbes Jordan Golson 04/03/08 04:14PM

I've watched four competitors take on Demo while I was a producer on the show. Not one of them survived. The reason they went fins up was: generally because they didn't pay attention to production values; They forgot that the companies— not the producers or on-stage talent are the stars;And. hey didn't deliver long-termvalue to the selected companies and paid audience.

What has made Demo vastly different than the competitors which tried and were unsuccessful in unseating it is the h igh production values of the show, and the attention to detail it support staff gives to each of its selected companies. other elements in Demo's success have been the growth and long-term support of its affiliated community— which includes entrepreneurs third-party marketing consultants and risk capital providers. Finally, Demo now has its own unique third-party service providers, which works hard to enhance the value of the show to attendees.

As someone who produced Demo shows, I wish competitors well. Their efforts largely reinforce the value and awareness of the brand.

Jim Forbes

retired now amidst avocado green goodness away from Silicon Valley, in Escondido, CA

Jimforbes Jordan Golson 04/03/08 08:52PM

@michaellamb:

Michael, the point of Demo is to make money. It's not a charitable entity. And "yes" there have been companies at Demo that didn't do well I may have even picked some of them. Demo is very good at picking out new trends and shining a spotlight on them. That's aways been a criteria in company selection. I wish competitors well, the more shows that try to copy the show, the greater the value is to Demo and IDG's brand. Most people aren't even aware of the link between Demo and IDG. TY"he show has always been a sub part of various magazines— first InfoWorld and Now Network World. At Demo we worked hard to establish our own separate identity and largely the show has beeen wildly successful at this. I hope this makes my point clearer. Life is too short to wish ill of competitors. besides, what goes round really does come round.

thanks for replying to my post.

best wishes,

Jim Forbes

TwoCanSam Jordan Golson 04/03/08 02:05PM

DEMO's fee kinda separates the men from the boys in startup land, no? Who wants to pay attention to a startup that has to worry about the nickel-and-dime issues of an $18,500 check? If you don't have sufficient backing to go to DEMO, then you're not in the same league as the companies that go to DEMO, and probably aren't ready for the kind of VC/media attention it delivers. Meanwhile, wasn't the first TC conference a total failure? Seems the only time anyone pays attention to it is when Arrington/Calcanis pick a fight with Shipley.

michaellamb Jordan Golson 04/03/08 02:32PM

puhleeze hoot - if Hewlett & Packard, Jobs & Woz, even Bill Gates had listened to your delcaration that "only well funded companies deserve funding/success" then the valley would implode. You can do a lot with $18,500 and some of the garage start-ups should rather than DEMOing.