Managed to get some time to attend Startup Camp number 2 on Monday.  The previous startup camp was held close by in Mountain View at the Tech Museum.  It lasted for two fun-filled and packed days.  Its most recent incarnation was limited to a single day at the former Argent Hotel in San Francisco.  Startup Camp 2 was right before the JavaOne conference.  Since one of its sponsors was Sun, it felt like it was part of the JavaOne conference.

I enjoy Startup Camp because it is a great way to network and get answers to basic startup questions.  For example, one speaker from MyPunchbowl spoke about the importance of PR and hiring a good PR agent.  His advice was that it was worth the money to pay for a good PR firm.  In his case, his startup had worked out a deal with his PR person so that the PR company did not charge a fee but got part of the company.  A good arrangement if you can get it, and the speaker said that you should get that same deal.  It forces the PR agency to put skin in the game, so to speak.  Also, money is almost always in short supply in a startup.

During the Speed Geeking round, I did not see as many companies that jumped out at me as good startup ideas this time as opposed to the last Startup Camp.  I kept hearing about Web2.0 and collaboration, but nothing really new.  I am not sure if that is a bad sign or not.

But I certainly cannot complain.  After all, all this great info and networking of Startup Camp is completely free. Not to mention the free excellent lattes.
Technorati tags: Startup Camp 2, Sun, PR advice, Speed Geeking, Web2.0

The nice thing about living in the San Francisco bay area is that you are surrounded by great talks and conferences that are just around the corner.  The problem is that you still need to do your other work. 
A really great conference for web developers and Internet-based companies is the Web 2.0 Expo, which will be in San Francisco the middle of next week.  Web 2.0 has become a bit of an overused term.  I think of it as a new phase in the Internet.  In Web 1.0, web sites tended to dictate to users what content they could have with a small amount of user feedback.  Web 2.0 might be called “The Revenge of the Users” in that the users are creating and contributing their own content to the web sites.  Basically, users can now generate their own niche specific content without having to worry about the potential marketing opportunities, as the web sites do.
I will try to attend the Web 2.0 Expo, but I am not sure if I will be able to make it.  If you attend the conference, please let me know what you thought about the conference.  

Technorati Tags: Web2.0, Web2.0 Expo, San Francisco, Moscone Center