5 ms·

Startup Bootcamp 2011 Announced

44 points by dzlobin 15y ago

grinich 15y ago
Hi everyone. I'm the main person behind this event so feel free to ping me with questions or comments. It's going to be awesome. (something must have killed the earlier announcement? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2888229 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2888229)
- mrchess 15y ago
  fonts aren't working in chrome 13.0.782.112. you only see partial names and some are missing names completely. screen: http://i.imgur.com/mbrfe.jpg http://i.imgur.com/mbrfe.jpg
  - grinich 15y ago
    I've had a few reports of this but have no idea how to fix it. It seems to be loading the font resource correctly, but not rendering the entire line of text. If anyone has ideas or a fix, please let me know. (I also don't have a Windows machine to test it.)
- sudonim 15y ago
  Looks like a great event. But I have a question. Why make a point that the site was made in San Francisco?
  - grinich 15y ago
    all the best pixels are grown in SF!
- antiterra 15y ago
  A bit disappointing that the one female speaker has a confused and tangled product (with a UI to match.) Culver is definitely quite clever, but were there really no other females available with a track record of success on par with the other speakers?
  - iqster 15y ago
    I've used Convore at a few hackathons and conferences, and was very impressed. As a user, I loved the product. I'm looking forward to her talk!
  - grinich 15y ago
    I'm also constantly frustrated to find that virtually all founders are male, and every year I get a lot of flack for not having more women speaking. But it's a much larger problem than just this event; there are almost no women in VC or doing angel investments, for example. For this event, my goal is to invite the absolute best speakers possible, whether they're men or women. Convore may have rough edges (just like any startup's product), but I'm super excited to hear Leah speak. To say "clever" is a huge understatement, and undermines her skill and tenacity. Most people haven't founded, built, and sold a company in that timeframe. And now she's on round 2.
    - sbisker 15y ago
      I get the sense you were really looking for star power, judging by the speaker list. I do think you should be careful how Startup Bootcamp deals with this fact as an organization, though. There's a difference between "virtually all founders are male" and "virtually all famous, well-recognized founders are male." From MIT alone, I can point you to recent YC company Venuetastic, and their two female MIT founders (Helen Belogolova and Christine Yen). I can't imagine they'd both be busy. Also, the CEO and Founder of the startup I work for, Smarterer, is female. We're right here in Boston and were recently funded by Google Ventures. There are more examples for sure, but you get the idea. I understand that there are tradeoffs to be made between getting the hottest and most famous speakers, and getting a variety of perspectives. Kresge has 1,200 seats, and you want - need, even - to fill all of them. That said, the echo chamber that is Silicon Valley does have a habit of amplifying the male voice over the female voice. To acknowledge that fact, and perhaps be proactive in trying to compensate for it (did you try Jessica Mah, for instance?), would do a better job of satisfying those who are giving you said flack.
    - antiterra 15y ago
      I don't think the compliment "quite clever" undermines anyone. I was trying to be clear that my comment wasn't about finding someone better than Culver, but someone with a more successful product. I don't think anyone would argue that Convore are anywhere near as successful as Airbnb, Foursquare or even Kayak. I'm sure there's a lot to be learned from the failure of Pownce, but the rest of the field certainly seems to be a draw because of their apparent success.
jackpirate 15y ago
An event in Boston at MIT says on the bottom... "lovingly made in San Francisco." Totally awesome. Anyways, wish I could be there! If only it actually were in California.
larrykubin 15y ago
Excited to see edw519 is doing a talk, and that his company is "edw519" :).
inittowinit 15y ago
Is there going to be a stream or videos of talks released after?
- grinich 15y ago
  yep, although it doesn't compare to the people you meet at the event. Live: http://www.justin.tv/startupbootcamp http://www.justin.tv/startupbootcamp YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/startupbootcamp http://www.youtube.com/startupbootcamp

44 points by dzlobin 15y ago

Hi everyone. I'm the main person behind this event so feel free to ping me with questions or comments. It's going to be awesome. (something must have killed the earlier announcement? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2888229 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2888229)

mrchess 15y ago
fonts aren't working in chrome 13.0.782.112. you only see partial names and some are missing names completely. screen: http://i.imgur.com/mbrfe.jpg http://i.imgur.com/mbrfe.jpg
- grinich 15y ago
  I've had a few reports of this but have no idea how to fix it. It seems to be loading the font resource correctly, but not rendering the entire line of text. If anyone has ideas or a fix, please let me know. (I also don't have a Windows machine to test it.)
sudonim 15y ago
Looks like a great event. But I have a question. Why make a point that the site was made in San Francisco?
- grinich 15y ago
  all the best pixels are grown in SF!
antiterra 15y ago
A bit disappointing that the one female speaker has a confused and tangled product (with a UI to match.) Culver is definitely quite clever, but were there really no other females available with a track record of success on par with the other speakers?
- iqster 15y ago
  I've used Convore at a few hackathons and conferences, and was very impressed. As a user, I loved the product. I'm looking forward to her talk!
- grinich 15y ago
  I'm also constantly frustrated to find that virtually all founders are male, and every year I get a lot of flack for not having more women speaking. But it's a much larger problem than just this event; there are almost no women in VC or doing angel investments, for example. For this event, my goal is to invite the absolute best speakers possible, whether they're men or women. Convore may have rough edges (just like any startup's product), but I'm super excited to hear Leah speak. To say "clever" is a huge understatement, and undermines her skill and tenacity. Most people haven't founded, built, and sold a company in that timeframe. And now she's on round 2.
  - sbisker 15y ago
    I get the sense you were really looking for star power, judging by the speaker list. I do think you should be careful how Startup Bootcamp deals with this fact as an organization, though. There's a difference between "virtually all founders are male" and "virtually all famous, well-recognized founders are male." From MIT alone, I can point you to recent YC company Venuetastic, and their two female MIT founders (Helen Belogolova and Christine Yen). I can't imagine they'd both be busy. Also, the CEO and Founder of the startup I work for, Smarterer, is female. We're right here in Boston and were recently funded by Google Ventures. There are more examples for sure, but you get the idea. I understand that there are tradeoffs to be made between getting the hottest and most famous speakers, and getting a variety of perspectives. Kresge has 1,200 seats, and you want - need, even - to fill all of them. That said, the echo chamber that is Silicon Valley does have a habit of amplifying the male voice over the female voice. To acknowledge that fact, and perhaps be proactive in trying to compensate for it (did you try Jessica Mah, for instance?), would do a better job of satisfying those who are giving you said flack.
  - antiterra 15y ago
    I don't think the compliment "quite clever" undermines anyone. I was trying to be clear that my comment wasn't about finding someone better than Culver, but someone with a more successful product. I don't think anyone would argue that Convore are anywhere near as successful as Airbnb, Foursquare or even Kayak. I'm sure there's a lot to be learned from the failure of Pownce, but the rest of the field certainly seems to be a draw because of their apparent success.

jackpirate 15y ago

An event in Boston at MIT says on the bottom... "lovingly made in San Francisco." Totally awesome. Anyways, wish I could be there! If only it actually were in California.

larrykubin 15y ago

Excited to see edw519 is doing a talk, and that his company is "edw519" :).

inittowinit 15y ago

Is there going to be a stream or videos of talks released after?

grinich 15y ago
yep, although it doesn't compare to the people you meet at the event. Live: http://www.justin.tv/startupbootcamp http://www.justin.tv/startupbootcamp YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/startupbootcamp http://www.youtube.com/startupbootcamp