Magnify.net Blog
Always On Rocks!
January 31, 2008 - Steve Rosenbaum
There's no doubt that Tony Perkins puts on a great conference. Each and every AO event that I've attended has a remarkable turn out of entrepreneurs breaking in new companies and rock stars from media, internet, and VC land who show up and actually hang out in the crowd. Lots of these events have execs who parachute in and then zip out the back door, but not at AlwaysOn.
The surprise for me was just how many FOM's there were in attendance. Friends of Magnify - FOM's - were literally around every corner. First - the Kane and gang from Sail.net was at AO showing off they're latest site - YouChoose . Great to see channel builders in the room. Then, ran into Magnify investors Brian Cohen and Gideon Gartner. Having guys who've literally put their money where their mouth is great, and knowing that they're going to be in the audience for the CEO presentation is a bonus. Brian Cohen and Gideon Gartner are both members of New York Angles - and both of them are long time leaders in the media and technology space.
Before long, it was time for our moment on stage, the CEO Summit. In a room jam packed with reporters, venture capitalists, and fellow entrepreneurs, you get just six minutes to tell your company's story.
I cant tell you how I did, it's too much of a blur. But the feedback was great, and for the next day and a half lot so folks came up and introduced themselves and introduced us to publishers who need magnified video.
The one thing that was clear from the two days - ad networks are big and getting bigger (and smaller too). The number of people who are building, running, or launching ad networks is stunning. There is so much innovation, exploration, technology, and testing going on in the ad space... there are going to be some extraordinary break thoughts in the year ahead.
But maybe the biggest surprise of the conference was the adhoc Skidmore Reunion and business networking session that Frits Abell of Progress Partners was able to pull together. Friz has been the driving force behind a fast emerging Skid Biz network that i've been proud to be associated with. But to be at an event like Always On and discover that you could find a bunch of alum in related fields was just flat out cool. Mark Jospheson from SeeVast was also in the group - but was off to a meeting before we got to take a picture. Pictured here is Frits Abell, Me, and Missy Godfrey from Spa Finders and Tri-Artisan Capital. We traded a few secrets (which I can't reveal) and generally had a great time catching up. I sometimes forget just how profoundly those four years effected me... but if you've never been to Saratoga Springs, a brief road trip from NYC will probably have a pretty powerful impact. I know city friends who've gone up north and never returned... happily they report.
The surprise for me was just how many FOM's there were in attendance. Friends of Magnify - FOM's - were literally around every corner. First - the Kane and gang from Sail.net was at AO showing off they're latest site - YouChoose . Great to see channel builders in the room. Then, ran into Magnify investors Brian Cohen and Gideon Gartner. Having guys who've literally put their money where their mouth is great, and knowing that they're going to be in the audience for the CEO presentation is a bonus. Brian Cohen and Gideon Gartner are both members of New York Angles - and both of them are long time leaders in the media and technology space.
Before long, it was time for our moment on stage, the CEO Summit. In a room jam packed with reporters, venture capitalists, and fellow entrepreneurs, you get just six minutes to tell your company's story.
I cant tell you how I did, it's too much of a blur. But the feedback was great, and for the next day and a half lot so folks came up and introduced themselves and introduced us to publishers who need magnified video.
The one thing that was clear from the two days - ad networks are big and getting bigger (and smaller too). The number of people who are building, running, or launching ad networks is stunning. There is so much innovation, exploration, technology, and testing going on in the ad space... there are going to be some extraordinary break thoughts in the year ahead.
But maybe the biggest surprise of the conference was the adhoc Skidmore Reunion and business networking session that Frits Abell of Progress Partners was able to pull together. Friz has been the driving force behind a fast emerging Skid Biz network that i've been proud to be associated with. But to be at an event like Always On and discover that you could find a bunch of alum in related fields was just flat out cool. Mark Jospheson from SeeVast was also in the group - but was off to a meeting before we got to take a picture. Pictured here is Frits Abell, Me, and Missy Godfrey from Spa Finders and Tri-Artisan Capital. We traded a few secrets (which I can't reveal) and generally had a great time catching up. I sometimes forget just how profoundly those four years effected me... but if you've never been to Saratoga Springs, a brief road trip from NYC will probably have a pretty powerful impact. I know city friends who've gone up north and never returned... happily they report.
