yup, the talks for the most part were of the inspirational sort by those who had won the startup lottery and had tidbits (but not 8 hours' worth) of useful advi

yup, the talks for the most part were of the inspirational sort by those who had won the startup lottery and had tidbits (but not 8 hours' worth) of useful advice to share. as others have noted, they was less about the content (since that could be had online) and more about absorbing the energy of the group, getting a sense of the character and approach of the speakers, and feeling kinship with everyone there. i'd also traveled for startup school and would say it was just worth it for me. if i'd been local, it certainly would have been worth it, just for meeting people like the guy who created tarsnap with whom i shared a power outlet until the ushers scolded us. =) (to be fair to the ushers, the cords were in the aisles, which could be a hazard) one of the lytro engineers taught me a bit more about light field photography, and an arduino hacker and i chatted about locomotive robotics. on the other end of the spectrum, there were discussions about ad tech business models. so to me, it seemed to be a good mix of people with all kinds of technical skills.