Venture Northwest is one of the premier opportunities for Silicon Forest startups to pitch their ideas in front of a room of would-be investors. Arguably, there’s no better regional event around here for gaining access to that type of crowd. It’s like DEMO or the TechCrunch 50 for the Pacific Northwest. For as good as the event is, however, it’s always suffered from one particular problem: you had to actually be there.
But now, thanks to the magic of streaming media and the wonderful world of the Web, anyone, anywhere can attend Venture Northwest virtually. Introducing Venture Northwest Live.
That’s right. If you’re a potential investor, startup curious—or you simply want access to an archive of all of the presentations that take place on October 29—you can purchase access to a stream and archive of Venture Northwest 2009 for $250.
Be in the front row without leaving your desk. The high quality broadcast will feature multi-camera production, presenter slide integration, and SMS voting. Online viewers will be able to log into the event for 30 days afterwards to catch up on what they missed live or wish to view again.
Who will you get to see? Well, 12 of the most promising young companies in the Northwest, for one thing—including five compelling Portland tech ventures. Folks like Advanced Inquiry Systems, Calidora Skin Systems, Cularis, Inc., DesignMedix, Doxo, Elemental Technologies, Giftango, Lucid Commerce, MicroGREEN Polymers Inc., Prolifiq, Second Porch, and Wicked Quick.
And as always, while I wish every presenter luck—and congratulate them for having the guts to get up in front of this crowd—I’ve not-so-secretly crossed my fingers that one of the tech folks will walk away the crowd favorite. And that all of them will be able to raise some capital.
For more information, visit Venture Northwest. Or, if you’re sold and want to attend, make the choice as to whether you’re attending in person for $495 or following along by the warm glow of your laptop with Venture Northwest Live for $250.
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I really wonder if the OEN is about helping entrepreneurs or making money off them.
@aaronhockley
There are about a dozen ways to stream a conference like this at absolutely NO COST. I tried to post links to those, but, the comment has not been approved.
Really, zero cost. Digital camera? Mic? :05 to hook up and press “go.”
Even $50 is an insult. If DEMO can do it for free, why can’t it be done here; even GNOMEDEX streamed at no cost. The fact they started at $250 demonstrates that these people haven’t got a clue about the online world and economics.
And, they are supposed to invest in technology?
I’d have very little faith in anyone who thinks $250 is a reasonable price as knowing anything about the state of the internet, commerce or Users (particularly, Start Ups).
This is a very discouraging week around here, eh?
Yes it does cost to money to stream, but I would say even $50 is $50 too much for this type of event. OEN should want to get as much exposure to this event with no barriers to entry aside from attending the event in person.
As Mike Berkley points out, this is a squandered marketing opportunity to showcase the local technology and business communities to a larger audience.
I don’t necessarily object to the idea of charging for the stream (producing a stream does cost money for the bandwidth/equipment/talent), but charging 50% of the in-person ticket price seems a bit steep
I wonder how much objection there would be to a significantly lower fee… say $50?
@mikeberkley, considering the cost of production for EVERY NBA game, and the cost of delivery v. the cost of streaming a VC conference which is FREE!
Let’s see if they add that to their perspective? Wait, will they say they need a video camera, tripod and internet access? That justifies their cost?
http://www.ustream.tv/
http://www.stickam.com/
http://www.blogtv.com/
http://www.livestream.com/?referrer=mogulus
http://www.justin.tv/
I propose that everyone ATTENDING the conference hook up a camera to their laptop and broadcast the event through one of the above or any other number of services.
It’s for START UPS right? $250 means something to a Start Up, it’s supposed to be cocktail money for VCs.
Now, going one step further (into the absurd) if everyone attending broadcasts the event, shouldn’t they get FREE media passes to attend as well?
A little perspective of economics: a single day of live streaming of Venture Northwest costs 2x more than an entire season of live streaming of EVERY NBA game on nba.com.
Come on guys (oen), wake up!
@DanD In the interest of full disclosure, I will be attending on a media pass to cover the event. I did not receive any compensation for promoting the event.
Well – DEMO streams for free. Another case of the local VC community being out-of-touch with reality. OEN should be encouraging folks to watch the stream for free, not charging an absurd premium.
Sorry, but it’s absurd that Venture Northwest is charging $250 for the live video stream! MAKE IT FREE!
This is exactly what’s wrong with Portland investor and startup community.
This is a great marketing opportunity to the rest of the world that is being totally squandered!
Makes me mad.
$250?
RIP.
OFF.
Really, name one conference like this in California that wouldn’t be free for online video? Typical NW over-hyped RIP OFF.
Did Silicon Florist get free tickets for promoting this? Any disclosures required?
Just askin?