Do you know what’s better than flying across the country and paying a crap ton of money to attend TechCrunch Disrupt? Sitting in my “may the forest be with you” pajamas watching Sam Altman as I nibble my oatmeal for breakfast. One of the things the prevalence of video has done for me as a professional is make attending most conferences irrelevant. I can sit at home watching the stage presentations. PR people from the conferences email me talking about the products they are showing off, and anyone I’m interested in I can setup a Skype call with. Beyond the cost associated with attending the events I also don’t have to deal with jetlag, bad food, and missing my bed time tea with my wife at night.
TechCrunch Disrupt has done a good job on uploading videos from their main stage quickly over the years. Generally within a day you can watch the interviews or demos, and the overall production quality is very high. The value of watching the Disrupt videos is that you can start to understand how founders and thought leaders are thinking vs. simply learning how to manage a configuration panel. This year they have been talking about AI, ICO’s and all the hot topics and where they think the trends are heading. With this information you can do your own research to determine the best place to try to position yourself for the future.
To be clear Disrupt is very, VERY “fluffy”. Please remember that this is the startup world. They are trying to convince you to believe in a world that does not yet exist. The difference between the startup world and group pathological liars is a bit of a splitting hairs type thing. I would say you should listen to the arguments presented. Listen for specific companies, products and people. Then afterwards go and do your own research. The other benefit of watching is you can learn about the people everyone in the startup world is talking about. Name dropping is par for the course, and it’s easier to keep up with conversations if you know who people are.
You can find the playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHRxVckaE8da4g9-N9Fi335NJCUx0jO6h
Nice Jammies! Where can someone get the “may the forest be with you” Pajama pants?
This should be a good link: http://www.littlebluehouse.com/lbh_en_us/men-s-flannel-pants-may-the-forest-be-with-you.html
They’re a little pricey, but very comfortable and well made…