startups

Memo to Start-ups: You Don’t Need a Meat Market

With all the TechCrunch50 chatter earlier this week, it's easy to see how entrepreneurs feel that if they're not putting on a great showing at an event like TC50, they're missing a golden opportunity. That notion was craftily compounded by the announcement of the sale of the first TechCrunch40 winner's (Mint.com) to Intuit for $170M. Well played PR, folks.

All the buzz was then followed by Sarah Lacy's parade-drenching "Memo to Start-ups: You're Supposed to Be Changing the World, Remember?", which gripes about this year's TC50 crop playing it safe.

I didn't attend TC50, but I have attended these start-up launch binges before. It's never clear who benefits the most from these events, but my gut tells me it's most often the event organizers, and not the start-ups themselves. Sometimes the commentary is good, but there are other ways to get that kind of honest feedback. In some cases, the launch binge meat markets don't even offer commentary or criticism -- they just give you a five minute slot.

To me, these kinds of events aren't necessary for entrepreneurial success. By the end of the event, no one remembers who's launching what, and instead of gaining momentum naturally, all an entrepreneur's efforts are bet on the hope that everything will go off without a hitch with the presentation, the people watching won't be bored or distracted, etc. Despite what start-up bloggers and event organizers want you to think, you just don't need the meat market for a successful launch.

Look at the esteemed judges of TechCrunch 50:

• Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn
• Marc Andreessen of Netscape
• Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media
• Kevin Rose of Digg
• Tony Hsieh of Zappos

Also, consider the other world-changing companies that Lacy mentions, such as Google, Facebook and Twitter.

Now ask yourself: How many of these world-changing companies launched their start-up selves at a meat market?

I'm not questioning the value of "normal" TechCrunch publicity, nor am I even saying that I'll never launch a start-up at one of these events someday (as hard as it is to imagine, never say never). I'm merely suggesting that many of the real game-changers of the next wave may have decided their companies are worth more than 15 minutes of pseudo-fame at a launch binge.

We'll know them when we see them.

Teaching by Example

This week's news that Om Malik is leaving Business 2.0 to head up his own start-up is interesting and exciting. I don't know Om, but I've been a reader of his blog and his work in Business 2.0 for several years. He's definitely a smart guy, and I wish him the best in his new venture.

It's particularly interesting that Om's last big article for Business 2.0 was How to Build a Bulletproof Start-Up, which has been dubbed by David Heinemeier Hansson as the blueprint for now NOT to do a start-up.

Om mentioned yesterday that he felt he'd be blogging more (!) now that he's on his own. I hope he's able to do that, and he'll keep his readers posted on how closely he follows the steps he outlined in his last Business 2.0 article. It would be extremely valuable for current and would-be entrepreneurs to hear about how well that guide holds up in practice in the real world.

Onward and upward, Om! Please keep us posted.