Startable – Healy Jones’ & Prasad Thammineni’s Blog

I attended last week’s Web Innovators’ Group meeting, and I have to admit, I was a little disappointed vs. the previous Webinnos I’ve been to. I’m not going to pass judgement on any of the companies, because I think they were of the similar caliber to many that have presented before. Rather I was pretty let down by the quality of a couple of the actual presentations. I just didn’t think a couple of the companies put much effort into preparing to speak to such a large group.

I understand that the purpose of the forum is to allow up and coming web startups to get exposure to the wider New England web community, and believe that David Beisel of Venrock has done an amazing job creating a such a strong networking group. However, I wonder if the community would benefit from an established local internet company making a presentation every now and them. I, for one, would love to hear a talk by an executive from a company like RueLaLa or Logmein. Before anyone starts attacking me for going against the spirit of Webinno, let me explain a bit:

1. I think it is valuable for startups to see what success looks like, or at least one version of success. At Webinno, everyone is chatting about new ideas (which is really fun!!) But it is easier to understand the steps that an interesting idea needs to take to  become a legitimate business if you’ve seen an example or two.
2. This could be pretty inspirational for a lot of the younger entrepreneurs. There ARE big internet companies in Boston – and there can easily be more. The community should be getting pumped up about the established companies in the area that are really making a difference on the internet scene nationally, right here from their bases in New England.
3. A lot of these companies are hiring. There is nothing wrong with a smart developer spending time at a quickly growing, successful internet company before launching their own startup. This might also provide a reason for these bigger companies to want to present at Webinno.
4. Finally, seeing professional managers present might help the startup CEOs understand what a more … crisp presentation looks like. If you’ve got a room full of topically relevant people who are sitting at the edge of their seats waiting to hear about your startup, a rambling product demo isn’t good enough. You are presenting to the preeminent web startup crowd in New England and I think the group deserves better. Hearing a well delivered presentation by a successful executive might really help others understand how to articulate their startup’s positioning.

To summarize – Webinno is awesome, and I only want it to get better. It should be more than just networking, although, as Scott Kirsner points out, it does have some pretty good networking. I’d love to see an established company or two present occasionally; I think the group would enjoy it and the region’s entire startup community would learn a lot. See you at the next Webinno, if not sooner.