addressing the problem

I went to the NextWeb 2.0 meet up last night at Webster Hall. Now, it’s starts off at a drink fest a bit but I was there to observe and see what it was about. Plus, I’m picky about who I drink with. So I hit the club soda pretty hard.

I have to say this was the best experience I’ve had at a meetup in NY. The rest were shit-shows comparatively. This had some organization to it, relevance and even (spoiler alert) presenters!

I will say this however: the fact that some people at this event were getting funded told me I’ll either be rich beyond estimation or there are angel investors and VCs that are lighting money on fire.

I won’t get into names because I’m not into bashing (at least overtly). But here’s a few things I heard that scared me for investors:

“we’re focused on building critical mass in 08 and we’ll monetize in ‘09″ – I need to find the geniuses who invested in these guys and they can hire me to get the money back.

“there is no business model we’re information only” – this one had major corporate sponsorship. I’m shorting the stock today.

“it’s all about relationships” – this doorknob gave a Tony Robbins-like speech about dating and somehow married the concept to the business world. I doubt he’s getting much going in the way of dating or business.

I did see one site/application/business that actually had value, a good story and…this will blow your mind…revenue. They have an approach to the trend of international money coming into the US to buy real estate. They even had testimonials and stories about use and value. I think these guys will do well. Oh, and here’s the kicker…it’s sweat equity. Which means, they got the business going without funding. Investors…wake up.

One other venture which I will mention by name that was chock full of value and showed vision was FindMeOn. John Vanesco (spelling?) clearly has an approach that speaks to commerce and solves a problem. Two things I don’t see about other ventures that are struggling right now (Twitter comes to mind, although I like Twitter).

I’ll definitely attend this event again. Hell, I may even present one day. But one thing I won’t do is tolerate lack of value or relevance to the market place. We’re in an economy where we need to generate value and cash to boost the strength of the US and some bag-headed allstar is talking about free referrals on his site (you sir, disgust me). And I’m still sticking to club soda next time.