The Seed Conference In Quotes
June 7th, 2008
I’m fresh out of the Seed Conference and it was, hands down, the best event I’ve been to in years. Imagine a full day of intelligent and down-to-earth entrepreneurs talking honestly about their businesses and communities, completely immersing the audience in creative opinions and ideas. I walked out Crown Hall feeling energized.
I don’t think that a play-by-play write up of each talk would even do it justice. Instead, here’s a selection of quotes from the various presenters that really speak to the overall vibe and flavor of the event.
Business
“Deliver more value than you charge for it” – Jason Fried on pricing software
“If Content is King, Marketing is Queen – and we all know who runs the house” – Gary Vaynerchuk
“We don’t have a 5 year plan, or even a 5 minute plan” – Jim Coudal on the ineffectiveness of long term planning
“Build relationships with clients that listen to you, and that you CHOOSE to work with” – Carlos Segura
“It’s about bleeding out of your eyes and working your face off” – Gary Vaynerchuk on how hard you need to work to be successful
“It’s better to fail in a group because you can all blame someone else together” – Jim Coudal when asked if it’s better to fail alone or with a team
Community
“I don’t consume. I put out. I PUT OUT.” – Gary Vaynerchuck on why he’s successful within his community
“If they come you will build it” – Jim Coudal on putting the community before the product
“You may be the client and paying the bills but you are irrelevant to this picture” – Carlos Segura on the need to connect with the intended audience as a designer, not the client
“Your app is having a conversation with your user” – Jason Fried
“I didn’t make the front page of Digg for 18 months” – Gary Vaynerchuk on being patient in the beginning of a venture
“I’d rather talk to the real people” – Jason Fried on why 37signals doesn’t track analytics in their applications
Hiring and the workplace culture
“Its about giving the right people the right opportunities” – Carlos Segura
“Make it fun. In a culture ruled by fear no amount of money can make it right.” – Jim Coudal
Why NOT to pay attention to the competition
“Every minute you spend on your competition is one minute you’re not spending on yourself” – Gary Vaynerchuk
“The more you look AT your competition the more you will look LIKE your competition” – Carlos Segura
“There really is room for everyone” – Jeffry Kalmikoff on the size and scope of online markets
“You can’t worry about things you can’t control and you can’t control your competition” – Jason Fried
Techniques
“Can it make money? Will we be proud of it? Will we learn something new along the way?” – Jim Coudal on evaluating business ideas
“You don’t know if its any good until you build it” – Jason Fried
“More people watch TV that read books in America” – Gary Vaynerchuk about using online video to your advantage
“It would be awesome if…” – Jake Nickell on how a great idea should start
“The person who buys enterprise software is not the person who uses it” – Jason Fried on why that model is broken
“Keep doing the stuff on the side and when something sticks run with it” – Jason Fried on doing side projects with full time work
“People will feel it even if they don’t know why” – Jason Friend on getting the extreme details right
Just Plain Funny
“I’ve answered a million emails while pooping” – Gary Vaynerchuk on the indispensable nature of laptop computers
“Fly in progressively closer circles until you fly up your own butt and disappear” – Jim Coudal on how to perfect your work
“I’m huge in Denmark – I’m like Hasselhoff” – Gary Vaynerchuk on his international community
Disclaimer: I wrote these out in field notes live during the talks (no recording involved), so if there are any inaccuracies just let me know and I’ll correct them.
