Dinner Discussion on Consumer Tech in Boston
Last Thursday night, I moderated a dinner discussion at Sandrine's in Harvard Square called "Consumer Tech in Boston...Stalking the Wily Consumer."
The goal was to bring together a group of entrepreneurs, execs, and designers who create consumer products (whether physical or digital), share some "best practices," and talk about what it takes to swim against the prevailing current here in Massachusetts (which, if you haven't noticed, is enterprise tech.) This was one of the occasional Nantucket Conference-related dinners held on the mainland; the private subterranean dining room at Sandrine's was packed with about 40 people.
Our speakers were:
Among the topics we covered were market research...retailer/distributor partnerships...feedback loops...fundraising...the connection between hardware and software...and the merits of simplicity.
Chiming in from the audience, you'll hear Woody Benson of Prism VentureWorks, David Friend of Carbonite, and John Landry of Lead Dog Ventures (among others.)
The audio file is here in MP3 form. It's just under 50 minutes long...and there's lots of audible silverware clinking and wine drinking (so I'd recommend listening to it while you're chowing down.)
Antonio also posted some thoughts on the discussion on his blog.
The goal was to bring together a group of entrepreneurs, execs, and designers who create consumer products (whether physical or digital), share some "best practices," and talk about what it takes to swim against the prevailing current here in Massachusetts (which, if you haven't noticed, is enterprise tech.) This was one of the occasional Nantucket Conference-related dinners held on the mainland; the private subterranean dining room at Sandrine's was packed with about 40 people.
Our speakers were:
> Steve Krampf, Co-founder and CEO, Chestnut Hill Sound (creator of "George")
> Antonio Rodriguez, Founder, Tabblo; General Manager, HP Publishing Services
> Harry West, VP of Strategy and Innovation, Continuum; the firm has been involved in designing Reebok's pump sneaker, P&G's Swiffer, nTag's intelligent nametag, and OLPC's $100 Laptop
> Carl Yankowski, CEO, Ambient Devices; former CEO of Palm Computing and President of Sony Electronics.
Among the topics we covered were market research...retailer/distributor partnerships...feedback loops...fundraising...the connection between hardware and software...and the merits of simplicity.
Chiming in from the audience, you'll hear Woody Benson of Prism VentureWorks, David Friend of Carbonite, and John Landry of Lead Dog Ventures (among others.)
The audio file is here in MP3 form. It's just under 50 minutes long...and there's lots of audible silverware clinking and wine drinking (so I'd recommend listening to it while you're chowing down.)
Antonio also posted some thoughts on the discussion on his blog.
Labels: Ambient Devices, Antonio Rodriguez, Carl Yankowski, Chestnut Hill Sound, consumer electronics, consumer tech, Continuum, Harry West, HP, Steve Krampf, Tabblo
posted by Scott Kirsner at
7:14 PM
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