This year’s Geek’n Rolla event, put on by the good folks at TechCrunch Europe, may not have seen as many arguments about women in tech as it did last year, but I found it to definitely be more inspiring.
If you’re not a VC or entrepreneur searching for funding for your tech startup that is going to change the Internet forever and ever amen, it can be a bit rough to sit around listening to startup pitch after startup pitch.
However, Geek’n Rolla managed to look beyond tech startup funding, whether or not it was on purpose, or last minute changes due to the (mother-fucking) ash cloud.
Highlights for me were the talks by Andrew J Scott from Rummble, Chris Fralic, a VC from First Round Capital, and Morten Lund of Skype, bankruptcy and awesome conference presentation fame.
All of their talks were easily relatable whether you’re an entrepreneur, manager or business owner, and they were all lively, interesting, and concise.
Beware the Bubble
Andrew J Scott walked us through 12 steps to remember when you're an entrepreneur or working at a start-up. There was practical advice on management skills ("if someone on your staff can do something 70% as well as you, delegate it to them,") in addition to advice on making sure you take time off so you don't get burnt out.
However, the most memorable advice that Scott gave was the reminder that if you’re doing your own thing, whether it be in London or San Francisco, and you’re on Twitter, it’s easy to forget that the people on Twitter “aren’t normal people”. It’s easy to think that the only people who read your website or use your service are the thousand or so people who follow you on Twitter, but it’s not.
Scott reminded us that there are still a helluvalot of people who don’t use Twitter, and that if your Mom doesn’t understand what the heck you’re doing, chances are that most people in the world won’t, either.
It’s easy to forget that the world doesn’t begin or end with the Twittersphere, but getting off and out of the cloud for a while can make your business and even life all that much better.
Email Introduction Etiquette
Chris Fralic’s presentation on the art of the introductory email was absolutely fascinating. We’ve all been introduced to someone via email, and it’s easy to forget that it can easily be screwed up.
Fralic covered best practices for getting a “Connector” to email and introduce you to your “Target”, and he highlighted some fantastic points. For example, Fralic explained how important it is to not put all the work and effort on to your Connector, because chances are that they’re a very busy person.
Fralic suggested writing up an email with all of the information your Connector will need about you (your CV, contact information, etc) so that they can simply forward the email on to your Target. This is useful, as Fralic explains, because not only are you preventing an “endless loop” of emails, but you’re also giving them everything need to know without them needing to ask.
Email introductions can be incredibly useful and important in peoples careers, and Fralic’s advice was the perfect blend of common sense, etiquette and basic psychology.
FOCUS
Morten Lund is one of the best speakers I’ve ever seen, and his presentation about being a “rebel with focus” was manic, hilarious, and inspiring. Not only did he have all the VCs in the room playing the flute (true story) but showed us a clip of Californication to help us understand the importance of sticking to your own niche. (I believe the terms “anal bleaching” and “chocolate starfish” were used the clip.)
Unconventional as his presentation may sound, it worked. He explained the importance of passion, not being afraid to fail (Lund himself made a crap load of money, lost it all, went bankrupt, and is now back at the top of his game) and focus.
While he admits that probably none of us actually know what’s going on or what the next “big thing” will be, everything he said made sense. He bounced around the stage, making jokes about smoking joints and saying “fuck” and “shit” every two seconds in his endearing Dutch accent, and for the time he was on stage, he managed to get an entire room of tired VCs, entrepreneurs and journalists smiling and inspired.
It truly was one of those "well, if he can do all that, and still be positive and passionate, maybe I can too" moments.
In my opinion, more tech conferences should have people like Lund simply sharing their stories with us. What I found so enjoyable about Geek’n Rolla was that it wasn’t just about start-ups pitching and judges (and the audience) ripping them to shreds.
For once, a tech conference and a TechCrunch event felt as it was actually truly about entrepreneurship, being the head of a company, passion, best practices, and a community.
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