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And then she nails it in the head

Fred Oliveira on March 27, 2006

Every so often someone says something so terribly right I can’t step away from talking about it. Caterina (of Flickr fame) on the creation of companies in the valley:

There’s too much going on. Every night there’s a Mashup get together, or a TechCrunch party, or it’s Tag Tuesday, or SuperHappyDevHouse or SXSW or this conference or that conference. And this stuff is fun. It’s a real community. But all of these things are great by themselves, but terrible in combination. I see some entrepreneurs in photos from *every single event*. Who’s talking to the users, writing the code, tweaking and retweaking the UI? It ain’t the Chief Party Officer.

I think this is going to be the first time I’m swearing in a blog post, but shit yes. You are so awefully right. Maybe I don’t agree completely with it being a bad time to start a company - because it’s always time for the next great idea -, but I’m buying you the drinks on my next visit to the valley (you know, for the next hip party).


Comments on this post

ned

i must admit, i always had these feelings too, but could not properly articulate it in words until caterina nailed it. while these entrepreneurs are having fun, giving keynotes and attending parties, who’s running their damn companies?

Fred

I’d say failure’s running them.

Robert

Did you just say the S word?

Saul Weiner

Maybe, maybe not. The signs may be there, but things are rarely 100% one way or another. Genreally, the real deal lies in the business itself. Web2.0 hasn’t hit the mainstream yet, so maybe there’s a bubble in the Valley. Or maybe not. Many companies (like Salesforce and Google) were spawn from times when a crash had just occured.

Miles Burke

Hahaha, from an Australian onlookers perspective, Caterina has hit the nail on the head.

I’m starting to recignise people in photos from TechCrunch parties, new app launches, Google parties, etc. If I ever get over there, I’m sure I’ll be stopping people in the street - “Hey, aren’t you…” :)

Richard MacManus

heh, I wonder if you meant to title your post “she nails it in the head” - slightly different (and more violent) meaning than ‘hitting the nail on the head’ :-)

hey you got rid of the red jagged circle and replaced it with a green squiggly line! OMG, that’s going to be *the* web 2.0 trend now - squiggly lines. :-)

Brian Breslin

I think that these parties are necessary (well some, not all), as networking tools. Its ok if a CEO is out shaking hands and making connections, those connections lead to new business.
Saul, google started in 1998, when there was TONS of cash still floating around.

Cesar Gonzalez

Ha! That must be why I’m making _so_ much progress holed up in my garage never seeing the light of day. Oh wait…

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