🚩🚩🚩 So registration is *finally* open for Seattle Tech Week and it's ugly, sad, and makes me generally embarrassed for us as a community. Foundations is host to 5 Tech Week events and I can tell you (with data) that the folks taking up >50% of the initial signups are just straight up service providers with ZERO value add to the startup community. They're just there to sell to founders (who BTW have no money, so they also aren't smart). My warning to you... if you are not a virtuous part of the Seattle Startup ecosystem and you set foot at an event in Foundations I will personally 86 you and include your info in a Tech Week Post-Mortem on Linkedin, which at this point I am not expecting to be kind. But hey, maybe if you think poisoning the energy of our startup community is a good use of your time, maybe you'll also think that all press is good press.
You and I are a broken record about this. I think we have a lot of potential, and there are a lot of low-hanging fruits here. I provided direct feedback about some of the issues with Seattle Tech Week. It's full of people with good intentions and motivated behind it and I support them but we could do so much better.
Great post! I'm a Founder AND a Service Provider (Proud winner of Marcelo Calbucci's Seattle 2.0 Best Service Provider to Startups in 2009!) and am a startup junkie...I am passionate about helping other founders succeed and have joyfully donated months of my time over many years to various incubators, accelerators, founders I'm introduced to with some specific need, etc. - with no expectations of resulting business. I'm here because I love spending my time with smart people working in a fast-pace world and doing cool stuff. I thrive when learning alongside other founders and adding value where I can - positively contributing to the energy of our startup community - not poisoning it...
Ah oh, what happened!
This is better than TV. also we gotta get more founders early access to RSVPs!
I have received a ton of value from service providers when I had no budget or funding. Many were there to play the long game, simply help out, and develop their craft by sharing what they know.
"If you set foot at an event in Foundations I will personally 86 you" - I believe this will happen.
true founders will find a way to pitch service providers and land their companies as early customers 😏👀 let em in!
It's everywhere. The difference in Seattle is you and the Foundations community.
In 15 years working in the seattle tech ecosystem I’ve never heard anyone say seattle tech week is worthwhile. In fact I’m just hearing about it now. So maybe just time to start over with a new one.
Community Organizer for life | Former Obama White House | Advocate | Supporter of people doing hard things All opinions are my own and quotes, posts, or comments are not approved for use by the press.
2wHi Aviel. We don’t actually know one another, but I do know that we share a passion for building this ecosystem to make it the best place it can be for founders. I feel compelled to chime in here for a couple of reasons… the most important being that I’ve volunteered my time alongside several others for the past couple of years to try to make tech week better. I know the process isn’t perfect, but in two years on the committee, we have made huge strides and Seattle has made huge strides. As you know from being a community builder yourself, it’s nearly impossible to make everyone happy. It seems you’re one of them. With that said, I am not aware of any feedback that came directly from you specifically about the process that we could have actioned. We’ve taken a lot of feedback and I’d be happy to set up a time for you to share your thoughts privately with the committee. If you feel as though you have to admit everyone and cannot be discerning in your attendees, that may just be a misunderstanding of the guidelines that the committee distributed. Please reach out at Lindsay.randall@jpmorgan.com and techweek@madrona.com and we can find a time to talk through your concerns in a more productive forum.