Posts from Web 2.0 Expo

My Interview With Carlota Perez

There are many people who should get credit for Union Square Ventures' investment strategy.  The community here at AVC is certainly on that list. But possibly at the top of the list is Carlota Perez. Her book, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, was responsible for much of the foundational thinking Brad and I did at the start of Union Square Ventures back in 2003, which in turn led to our initial investment thesis.

I am super excited about an interview I am doing with Carlota next week in NYC at the Web 2.0 Expo. Carlota is from Venezuela and lives in the UK and doesn't visit the US very often so this is a pretty special event. The interview will take place next Tuesday, Oct 11th, from 5:05pm to 5:20pm in the plenary session of the event. Web 2.0 Expo is at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in NYC.

I plan to talk to Carlota about bubbles, golden ages, where we are right now, and plenty more. I've written a fair bit about Carlota and her theories on this blog so if you have any suggestions for questions, please leave them in the comments.

If you'd like to attend in person, you can get a 25% discount on a admissions pass by using the discount code "webny11fos" when you register. You can register here.

The entire event will be livestreamed, including the interview, at http://www.web2expo.com/webexny2011 in case you want to see it but cannot make it there live.

I'm really looking forward to this.

#VC & Technology

Startup Showcase

I want to let everyone know about an opportunity to showcase your startup at Web 2.0 Expo in NYC in late September. On Sept 29th in the late afternoon/early evening, the Web 2.0 conference will have 30 startups demo their products/services to the attendees and a number of investors.

The way this will work is each startup will be given a demo table. And the Web 2.0 attendees and investors will move from table to table. Each demo will last about five minutes long. So if you are participating, you'll give about ten demos in less than an hour.

At the end of the hour, Tim O'Reilly and I will each pick our favorite startup. And the audience will pick one. And then those three startups will each be invited up to the stage for a conversation with Tim and me.

It sounds like a fun format and I am looking forward to it. Tim has one of my favorite minds in the web/tech space so I am particularly excited to be doing this with him. If you want to participate, you need to apply by August 2nd. The details are here.

This is aimed at young startups that are in need of attention, not startups that are well known and heavily funded already.

#VC & Technology