Normally, I am not interested in conflicts or drama. I am a big boy & can tolerate bullies calling me names - but I am not the kind of person that backs out when a bully pushes me down (at least not anymore). Sadly, that's exactly what Jason Calacanis did last night & today.
Now, since I run the risk of losing my media partner & a key judge for my conference SuperConf just by writing this - let me preface this entire post with my endorsement of The Next Web. I think they are a great publication with awesome writers, great editors & amazing events. I am more than happy to have them on board. I hope they'll understand where I'm coming from & respect my integrity here.
So, the story goes something like this:
I have a conference that's coming very soon, SuperConf. The
deadline to apply is tonight (1/31/2012) & I wanted to find a way to drive some last minute applications, so I had an info graphic created. I combed through every presenting company from TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2011, LeWeb 2011, TheNextWeb & LAUNCH. I looked at the price to participate (if you need to pay), funding, press, competitiveness & prizes.
The result is provided at the beginning of this post. It's based on information from last year (2011).
I excluded The Next Web out of courtesy (aka their request) & sent it over with a request to publish. It was up within a few minutes [
here] & I submitted to Hacker News. It got enough traction there to get to the first page for an hour or so & generate some high quality applicants.
A few minutes later, I checked the post & saw a comment from the organizer of the LAUNCH - Jason Calacanis - saying: "... our event is free. you have 1.5k here. that's not true."
At first I questioned myself: "Did I miss something? Was it not $1500 to present in the Demo Pit at LAUNCH in 2011?" The answer?
No, I didn't miss anything. OK, so then it's definitely because they have a free competition! Let me show him where I cited that, he must have missed it! So I said: "Hey Jason, see citation 1 & 2 at the bottom."
Long story short, Jason went on to say his tables cost $500 (they do, this year, but they didn't in 2011), call me "low and slimy", "slimy and dishonest" & make the claim that he was the creator of TechCrunch Disrupt. Among other things.
Feel free to read his comments here.
Now just to clarify, last year, at Launch if you were a DemoPit (aka Launch Pad) company, you may have had the opportunity to win an award, if you were picked to present on stage, as several did (video here).
I didn't want him to feel misrepresented so I emailed him a few questions, which he mostly sidestepped. For a taste of what it was like, he started his first email by describing me as "pathetic and desperate" and provided wandering answers on how many companies he had launched (sometimes "40+", sometimes just "40"). That was the last I heard from him. Until I woke up today...
I went back to the post to see if he had responded to my last comment, but he hadn't. One thing I did notice though was that in place of my info graphic, there was this:
"Can’t make it to Superconf? Other great opportunities are available from Launch, DEMO, TechCrunch Disrupt and of course TNW Conference."
So naturally, I had to ask the author of the post what happened. He responded with something along the lines of (paraphrasing) "Jason and [redacted] got involved & they put some pressure on TheNextWeb. You crossed the line."
This strikes me as cronyism. Jason didn't like the way the facts were presented & he totally abused his power to censor a competitor. His actions show me he is both anti-competitive & a bully. I know I'm not perfect, I've certainly been caught with my pants down before, but there is no need to be a rude, hateful person, who abuses their power - Jason.
With all of that said, running a conference is tough, very competitive environment. It's very hard & I respect the work of every conference organizer that I know. But there is no reason to lose civility. Additionally, I accept that my infographic may be biased - I would be worried if it wasn't. After all, I am the organizer of a competing conference. I'm happy to hear out any changes anyone may have.
P.S. You should try to make it to SuperConf. It's going to be ridiculously fun!
