Talkin’ ’bout SMX East, startups and crazy cool medallions…

Posted on | September 16, 2011 | No Comments

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Well, to be honest, there will be no talk of crazy cool medallions. I’ll leave that to the SNL guys and the Barry Gibb Talk Show.

Spent the week in New York City at SMX East and cruising around town meeting with startups. Had a blast. Sheraton Towers is a bit less-than-expected, but so goes hotels in the Big Apple.

SMX East was fantastic. Saw lots of old friends, met loads of new folks and managed to help a few people solve some problems. I spoke on two panels and gave a theatre presentation, in which I managed to transpose some numbers. Thankfully my short deck had them correct and I managed a quick back-track. Other than the people watching and those standing nearby, I don’t think anyone noticed.

The “Making webmaster data actionable” session seemed to go well, and I saw a bunch of positive Tweets afterwords. Yesterday’s “Ask The Engines” session was a hoot! Great panel with Rich from Blekko and Tiffany from Google…and Danny Sullivan moderating. Managed to sneak in one solid zinger with Danny so I’m hoping he let’s me come to the next show…LOL

As for the startups, well, I met with businesses at three incubators around NYC, and zipped to Boston late yesterday for two more events in Beantown. Loving the finished tunnels and the venue was super handy to the airport. I have literally never left an office meeting and 10 minutes later been at the airport – cool.

Want to know the meaning of dedicated?

That would be the gent who had questions for me today, and when we ran out of time, he simply asked if he could drive over to the airport with us to use that time for his questions. He was very polite and a great guy, so we were happy to have him along.

One key thing I was reminded of this week when meeting with the startups was that the focus of most people running businesses is not on online marketing. They gravitate to social media marketing, but SEO et al remains something they want to think about later. And that’s not really an option as investors will want to see well-rounded marketing plans that cover paid search, social, seo and more. By skipping these critical online marketing tactics, it can make the investor wonder and question their desire to invest. Stil, it’s a new space for these budding entreprenuers and I know with a bit of time and effort, they’ll get the bases covered.

Mostly though I encountered smart folks, solving unique problems in inventive ways. They are game to dig in and do the work, not afraid of late nights and believe in their vision. Just the attitude that breeds success. They are also all very smart folks, so if this idea doesn’t pan out, they’re ideally equipped to tackle the next one and make it a winner.

BTW – pizza on the East Coast IS better than on the West Coast. Save the hate mail. I’m right. If you’ve ever had one of each, you know.

Cannot wait for this plane to land so I can get home. Inflight wifi is pretty handy, but nothing beats your home network!