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Techdirt Greenhouse: What We'll Be Discussing

from the the-big-questions dept

Fri, Mar 10th 2006 3:37am — Mike Masnick

Well, it's now just a day before the Techdirt Greenhouse event, and we're really excited about the event -- even if just to take part in some of the discussions. However, we still have some people asking us "but who's presenting?" As we mentioned earlier, who is presenting is less important than all of the attendees participating, but just as important may be the topics being discussed. So, just to dribble out a few of the questions that will be workshopped, related to demos and presentations, here's a partial list:

What is the right business model for 2006?
How do you build a startup that you know competes against big players like Google and Yahoo?
How do you balance personalization with privacy concerns?
How do you position the value of software given away for free?
What are the best ways to decrease information overload?
How do you build a true ecosystem around a platform?
... and a few others...

And, since people are going to keep asking anyway, a few of the presenters will be Gabbly, SparkPoint, Commendo, Topix.net, SpeedInfo and author Andy Kessler, among others. We've purposefully gone out of our way to find presenters that you might not have heard of before (along with a few that you probably have heard of) with interesting problems, to make sure that everyone comes out of the event feeling like they've seen a few new things while also getting to discuss some really interesting challenges with a lot of very smart folks. The current attendee list is a fantastic mix of people, as well, many of whom we're looking forward to meeting in person for the first time. We'll also have a few surprises of our own to announce. Anyway, thanks to some creative seating re-arrangement at the venue, there are still a few seats left for registration, or if you want to request a press/blogger pass, please contact us. For those of you already registered, we'll see you Saturday!

6 Comments

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A-Man, 10 Mar 2006 @ 7:32am

No Subject Given
omg first post !
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dtj, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:31am

re: What is the right business model for 2006?
You can go two ways on this, either simple or clever. The simple answer is "one that makes a profit". If you want to get a little more clever, it becomes in incredibly stupid question. Asking what the "right" business model is like asking what the "right" automobile is. There are an incredible number of issues that you must first resolve before you can even consider thinking about this. However, I will go out on a limb and answer the question, given that I have no specifics of what business people want to be involved in. The "right" business model for 2006 is a legal model that approximates a Ponzi scheme, while having very low overhead, high margins, on infinitely customizable intangible goods, requiring no warehousing or shipping. It should require no additional employees and no outside funding to initiate. The intangible goods should have no legal liability, have a long "shelf life", and be marketable to diverse demographics. Marketing should be viral, very rapid, and not require substantial media expenditures.

There, hows that for a business model for the non-specific?
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Tyshaun, 10 Mar 2006 @ 10:07am

Just curious...
Why no webcast? I would've liked to attend but can't make it out to California.
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Ben McNelly, 11 Mar 2006 @ 11:50am

wishing I could go...
man, thats sounds like it would be a good place to be.
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Dorai Thodla, 11 Mar 2006 @ 10:34pm

It was a great place to be. It is probably one of the best events I have been to in a long time. Its charm was that it was very, very interactive. Mingling with so many smart people, brainstorming on many of the issues mentioned in this post, sharing the insights of small discussion groups with all the participants was some of the best examples of an interactive conference. Hope Techdirt can do many more of these and figure out a business model to make some money in the process. This will allow them to bring us more of these events. I am glad I made it to the event.
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Jackie Danicki, 14 Mar 2006 @ 8:52am

Agree totally with Dorai. I'm glad I happened to be in CA from London this past weekend, so was able to attend, and will be sorely tempted to fly over for future Greenhouses. Very well done, guys.
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