I’m on the inside this time around on the latest generation’s efforts to turn the Internet into sometiming more than a time sink.
In the late ’90s, as most remember, all you had to do is go public with an idea to market a product online and it seemed you would be a paper billionare by morning.
Selling cat food on the Internet? Brilliant! Where can I invest? Only $11 per share? Sweet!
Wait… What? Shipping costs? Delayed satisfaction? Inventory? Easily available in grocery stores? Cat owners don’t use the Internet yet?!?
And before you knew it those $11 shares were worth $.22 if you were lucky.
Sadly for most the reality of an idea and a real business model often failed to connect profitably and the Internet boom died dramatically around the turn of the 21st Century.
Assuming you know your history, fast forward a decade to this year’s gathering in Austin Texas called South by Southwest; better known as SXSW.
The next generation of Internet dreamers, many of whom were left behind or crushed during the previous gold rush, are gathering in Austin this weekend to party in the name of business development.
“See you @ SWSX” is being blasted all over Twitter and Facebook. People fear whether AT&T will be able to handle the demand on their bandwidth as everyone in Austin posts their latest location via FourSquare, Twitter, Facebook, and Gowalla. The “must attend” event of the weekend appears to be the taping of a drunken comedy podcast at one of Austin’s more popular beer and BBQ shacks.
This is 21st Century business?
I’m not so out of it that I don’t see the value in building a personal brand, shaking some hands, and putting faces together with online avatars.
I get that SXSW represents the modern spin on the 1950′s trade convention in Vegas. Party together, shake a few hands, make a few deals…
The problem, as I see it, is that too many in the space still believe that having a strong public personna at SWSX, a popular personal brand, is actually the end game.
Where are the deals?
Your tweets may make me smile. Your drunken stories from SXSW may remind me of my college days, but, seriously, how can you help me make money?
If you can’t answer that question in about 30 seconds then you’re likely in my way and just another wanna-be full of good BBQ and cheap beer.
