About the Nantucket Conference
Just a quick post to clear something up...
...I was chatting with an entrepreneur at Dan Bricklin's new Tech Tuesday gathering in Waltham, and the topic of the Nantucket Conference came up. This person was under the impression that the conference is some sort of secret society... that, basically, you need to be kidnapped in the middle of the night in order to get there.
The goal with Nantucket, when a bunch of us started it in 1999, was pretty simple: to create an event that would bring together company founders, investors, and tech execs at larger companies to talk about what was going on in New England and make some new connections. (Part of the motivation was: why should all the really good tech conferences be in California and Arizona?)
A lot of people do get invited to the conference by members of our advisory board (which I think leads to the "secret society" impression), but anyone can request an invitation.
There are *always* spots for founders and CEOs of start-ups, whether they're venture backed, boot-strapped, angel funded, or whatever. Another chunk of the audience is made up of VCs and angel investors. There is a sprinkling of CIOs and CTOs from larger companies, and a handful of journalists. But just about the only service providers (PR people, attorneys, recruiters, etc.) who participate are there as representatives of the underwriters of the conference.
Most of the agenda for 2008 (May 1st through 3rd) is now online. Speakers this year include founders and CEOs of iRobot, Harmonix, EqualLogic, International Data Group, EnerNOC, Captivate Network, Airvana, IDEO, Maven Networks, and Karmaloop.
That's about enough plugging...
(Disclosure: I'm on the conference's advisory board.)
...I was chatting with an entrepreneur at Dan Bricklin's new Tech Tuesday gathering in Waltham, and the topic of the Nantucket Conference came up. This person was under the impression that the conference is some sort of secret society... that, basically, you need to be kidnapped in the middle of the night in order to get there.
The goal with Nantucket, when a bunch of us started it in 1999, was pretty simple: to create an event that would bring together company founders, investors, and tech execs at larger companies to talk about what was going on in New England and make some new connections. (Part of the motivation was: why should all the really good tech conferences be in California and Arizona?)
A lot of people do get invited to the conference by members of our advisory board (which I think leads to the "secret society" impression), but anyone can request an invitation.
There are *always* spots for founders and CEOs of start-ups, whether they're venture backed, boot-strapped, angel funded, or whatever. Another chunk of the audience is made up of VCs and angel investors. There is a sprinkling of CIOs and CTOs from larger companies, and a handful of journalists. But just about the only service providers (PR people, attorneys, recruiters, etc.) who participate are there as representatives of the underwriters of the conference.
Most of the agenda for 2008 (May 1st through 3rd) is now online. Speakers this year include founders and CEOs of iRobot, Harmonix, EqualLogic, International Data Group, EnerNOC, Captivate Network, Airvana, IDEO, Maven Networks, and Karmaloop.
That's about enough plugging...
(Disclosure: I'm on the conference's advisory board.)
Labels: Nantucket Conference, networking events
posted by Scott Kirsner at
4:28 PM
1 Comments:
The "invitation only" aspect of the conference is what makes it so valuable for entrepreneurs, VCs, and other attendees.
Unlike other conferences, there aren't hundreds of headhunters, consultants, lawyers, and other people trying to sell you something.
The entrepreneurs, VCs, academics, press, and big company execs that attend are outstanding.
The Nantucket Conference is one of the best conferences of the year...and I attend every year.
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