What a startup can get out of the Mesh conference

I’m sitting here this afternoon reflecting on the Mesh conference, which was finishing up this time last week. I had an unbelievably good time and got a lot out of the 2 days (and nights). In particular, our startup benefited a lot from Mesh.

If you are running a startup yourself, here is a short guide to what you can get out of Mesh next year:

1. Knowledge
This is an obvious one. Pick your sessions carefully and you’ll walk away with some valuable startup tips. In particular, look out for any workshops relating to the basics of setting up a business – funding, legal issues etc.

2. Contacts
Another obvious one. Mesh might be the biggest opportunity of the year for Canadian tech startups to find your next adviser, lawyer, partner, employee, landlord, client etc. Make sure you share cards/details and remember to be nice and email your new friends in the days following the event to say hi.

3. Energy and excitement
I find Mesh like a shot of adrenalin. I have so many inspiring conversations that I leave the conference FULL of passion for my business and for my life. This kind of excitement can fuel you for months.

4. Feedback
Mesh is full of smart and experienced tech minds. This is a great environment to quietly, and respectfully, pull someone aside and ask if they would like to see your prototype product. A quick demo is almost sure to get some constructive feedback that will help you improve whatever you are working on.

5. Media and promotion
Hundreds of blog posts are written before, during and following Mesh. Many people are genuinely interested in writing about new startups. If you seek these people out you might be lucky enough to grace the pages of some very well read blogs. There is also 15 Minutes of Fame – a great initiative to showcase Canadian startups.

6. Friends
Definitely the most important thing I got out of Mesh. I met some wonderful, smart, generous people this year, as I did last year. When you are getting a project off the ground having good friends is invaluable. Be friendly, approach people and make sure you buy a few rounds at the bar!

See you next year!

Photo: Rob Hyndman (Mathew Ingram talks with Michael Arrington at Mesh).

Advice form Richard Edelman

Stuart MacDonald‘s final question to Richard Edelman during this morning’s Mesh keynote was: What three pieces of advice would you like everyone here to walk away with?

His answer:

1. Make your stories visual. PR people are great with words and not so great with visuals.
2. Don’t be defeated by setbacks. You have to fall a couple of times to ski fast (skiing was his analogy of choice).
3. Don’t let clients say ‘here is your little box’. There is this tremendous grey area. Be bold and assert yourself.

Live blogging at the Mesh conference

I’m at Mesh again today.

It is interesting to be at a conference where almost every word is being live blogged by (what seems like) half the audience. The fact is, I could be sitting on a patio somewhere subscribed to the right RSS feeds and get an almost perfect picture of this entire conference.

What I would miss out on though are all of the conversations happening in the corridors, which has been the highlight for me so far. I’ve had a great conversations with Steve Herrmann (editor of BBC Interactive), Ethan Kaplan (head of technology at Warner Music) and Michael Masnick (president and CEO at Techdirt). I’ll post some info about what was discussed shortly.

“If a little ketchup or a pickle falls on it I’m not going to loose my mind”

I’m at the Mesh conference today. The theme, at least for today, is media and society. There is lots of chat about old media vs new media. Will newspapers die as more people get their news from Google news etc?

Good quote from the session I’m in right now…

Loren Feldman: “Newspapers will never die. I want to read a paper when I’m in a diner. If a little ketchup or a pickle falls on it I’m not going to loose my mind.”

Until someone invents a screen that is foldable, dropable and, most importantly, pickle proof, I agree with Loren.