Calacanis

Demo confab holds its own against upstart rivals

PALM DESERT, Calif.--In 2008, when TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington told CNET that the venerable Demo conference "needs to die," he ushered in an era of extreme competitiveness in the tech start-up-oriented conference world.

Arrington issued his sinister words as part of a conversation about why he had scheduled his own conference--the TechCrunch 50--directly against Demo that year, and his general argument was that shows that charged well into five-figures to let start-ups present their wares to investors and press needed to be dispensed with.

Flash forward three years later, and the TechCrunch 50, or TC 50 as … Read more

TechCrunch50 start-up show canceled

TechCrunch50 has run its course after three years--a mere two years after one of its founders said a rival conference needed to "die."

Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis, co-founders of the annual tech start-up conference, announced the show's cancellation and the end of their partnership in separate blog posts Tuesday.

"We have parted ways with our long time TechCrunch50 business partner, Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis," Arrington wrote in a blog post. "Sometimes, having more than one bull in the china shop can get a little messy."

Arrington said he was "pleased to … Read more

Listen up, MySpace: Here's how to get back on top

Needless to say, MySpace is in a bit of a tight spot. The News Corp.-owned social network has been eclipsed in traffic by Facebook worldwide and may be close to losing its top spot in the U.S. And now, a management shakeup initiated by new News Corp. digital boss Jonathan Miller has seen the departure of CEO Chris DeWolfe and shuffling of president Tom Anderson's role.

Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, who sold Weblogs Inc. to AOL when Miller was in charge over there, came up with a list of ten priorities for the incoming CEO. He's mostly … Read more

Do tech hopefuls still need Demo and its ilk?

When Demo 09 kicks off Monday in Palms Springs, Calif., the high-technology showcase conference that prides itself on putting cutting-edge companies in front of A-list venture capitalists and journalists will do so in perhaps the worst economic environment in modern tech history.

Exhibitors at Demo pay well into five figures for the privilege of giving a six-minute presentation to a room full of influencers--many of whom have paid up to $3,000 to be there. So one could wonder whether the show can maintain its relevancy while companies are shedding record numbers of jobs, when credit is as tight as … Read more

Mahalo feels economic pressure, lays off 10 percent of staff

Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo, a human-powered search engine, announced today that he was forced to layoff 10 percent of his staff (about five or six people) amid a "challenging economic environment" that will require the company to cut costs.

"Although we've got a significant amount of cash on hand, and the business is ahead of schedule in terms of traffic, we're fairly certain that the advertising climate for the next two years will be severely depressed," Calacanis wrote in a blog post. "To ignore this obvious fact would be irresponsible.

"We'… Read more

Web show Tekzilla to get new co-host, $5 says it's Veronica Belmont

UPDATE at 1:39 PM PT on Wednesday: It's official. Veronica Belmont will be the new co-host of Tekzilla.

When former CNET TV anchor Veronica Belmont announced last week that she was leaving her gig as host and producer of the Mahalo Daily video podcast for "new projects," her loyal fan base immediately started wondering where she'd head next. Many figured her destination might be the San Francisco-based Revision3, the video production company created by Digg founder Kevin Rose.

More specifically, some wondered if she might be hired as a host for the Tekzilla show, which … Read more

My take on Calacanis' view of the TC50/Demo kerfuffle

I'm reading Henry Blodget's story on Jason Calacanis' rant about how the Demo conference organizers are to blame for the scheduling conflict that pits TechCrunch 50 against DemoFall. And I have to say, I'm a little dubious of Calacanis' statements.

According to Calacanis--who gave Blodget an "exclusive" interview on the matter despite telling me Wednesday that he was deferring to TC50 co-organizer Michael Arrington on the matter--the conflict is all Demo's fault.

(Arrington, by the way, set the tone for the environment by telling me, bluntly: "Demo needs to die.")

Demo Executive … Read more

Arrington: 'Demo needs to die'

The scheduling of the TechCrunch 50 conference, which was announced Wednesday, has pit it directly against DemoFall, a long-standing event geared toward entrepreneurs and their products.

And while TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and CEO Heather Harde insisted in interviews late Wednesday that their selection of September 8-10, 2008, as the dates for TechCrunch 50 was about the availability of an affordable San Francisco venue, Arrington also made his feelings about Demo clear.

"Demo needs to die," Arrington said in the interview. "It's just an old-school model...It clearly involves pay to play, and what we're … Read more

TechCrunch 50 scheduled to overlap with Demo

For years, the Demo conferences--one in the spring and another in the fall--have dominated the mindshare of the technology press and venture capitalists eager to see the hottest start-ups and new products at their public unveilings.

But now, Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis have scheduled their TechCrunch 50 event--which will showcase 50 hand-selected start-ups--to overlap with DemoFall.

And besides the cachet that comes with being selected for the TechCrunch event--Arrington said in a blog post this afternoon that the 40 companies that participated last year have raised $143 million in venture capital to date--one major selling point for companies that … Read more

Social-shopping site ThisNext rakes in venture cash

When it comes to social networking, some investors seem to think that shopaholics are the next big thing.

ThisNext, a social-shopping site where users create lists of products they recommend and schmooze with others, has pulled in $5 million in second-round funding, according to Private Equity Hub.

Earlier this week, another social shopping site, StyleFeeder, announced that it had netted $2 million in first-round funding.

StyleFeeder is recommendation-driven, a sort of Last.fm for shopping. By contrast, the reviews- and list-focused ThisNext has a model more like that of business-reviews site Yelp.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based ThisNext, which was founded … Read more