Conferences should help hackers get rich, not hack more
thebln.com
thebln.com
Can a moderator please change the title to the real title? 95% of the content is specific to this one conference, yet the title is about conferences in general.
It doesn't explore the idea that conferences should help hackers get rich at all. It has one sentence that more-or-less states that and then goes on and on about how great this particular conference is.
That is, in my view, a good thing, and something that should be flagged. If you think that is an advert, fair enough but I am honestly not aware of any international class events that focus on the process of creating sustainable businesses for this community. (There are obviously lots of tech events and lots of events about raising venture capital). I would love to be taught otherwise. I thought the idea of this list was to highlight things that the hacking community and entrepreneurs will find useful. Some will, some won't.
Much more fitting is the real title, "Amazing event (and not one of ours!). Business of Software, Boston, October 4th-6th".
Now, that's not a great title for submitting to HN, so I could see changing that to "Business of Software conference focuses on helping hackers get rich, not hack more" or something. But trying to pass it off as a general article when it's not is clear link-bait.
For the people here on Hacker News, it's a major alternative viewpoint on entrepreneurship. A very large number of articles that get posted here are tainted in some way by venture capital. There's not nearly as much advice from bootstrapped and owner-operated businesses.
I went into the 2010 BoS conference wondering if 37signals was an outlier in the owner-operated world. But after talking to a lot of the software businesses there I realized there are many successes. I asked one guy how big his business was, expecting him to respond with a number of employeers--his answer was $100M.
Also, the speakers last year were fantastic. Instead of having to choose between several tracks filled with un-rehearsed, amateur speakers, BoS gives you a single track of mostly keynote level speakers.
Business people can't learn technology so guess who holds the power?
(Although I don't believe people are put on earth to be rich. That would of course be crass).
What?! You really believe that? Maybe you should qualify the statement a little more or else, we could just as easily say:
Technology people can't learn business so guess who holds the power?
Personally, I feel the lines between business and technology are blurring more and more.
"The great software companies are going to be run by software developers".
Not actually my words though I believe in the point.
That's incredibly obtuse thinking. Becoming a successful entrepreneur is not as simple as 'learning business'.
While some of the best entrepreneurs are hackers at heart because they think outside the box, many hackers are not entrepreneur material, they'd rather be tinkering with stuff that interests them, and for many hackers, business doesn't.
Hacking imho either comes naturally or it doesn't. If you can't see the appeal of an apparently pointless activity eg. code golf, then you're probably not a hacker, and never will be.
This doesn't mean you won't be a good entrepreneur - if anything it could even help; since you don't waste time on silly (but fun for a hacker) things.
"The great software companies are going to be run by software developers".
Not actually my words though I believe in the point.
I am excited about Business of Software as it looks like an event put together by cool people from owner-managed businesses who want to stay in control of their businesses and grow them at the same time - or be able to understand and appreciate the alternative options open to them.
price a little too steep for my tastes at $2000