Ask PG: Why is Ben Horowitz's startup school 2012 video not available? | Hacker News Reader

Ask PG: Why is Ben Horowitz's startup school 2012 video not available?

64 pointsmarcamillion20 comments

It's the only link that says 'recording unavailable'.

Is it that it will never be available, or not available yet?

Ben choose not to be recorded at Startup School. That is why the video is not available.

Of course, but the real question is why did he choose not to be recorded?

I don't think any of us asked him.

Here's a youtube video from 2010 of almost exactly the same presentation he gave at startup school http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-LBSqm3xh4

If you need to be assured that it's the same talk, here's a live blog from sus2012 http://backspac.es/r/Xx8736cUap

Probably because of the "No Bitch Ass Ness" shirt he wore during his talk. https://twitter.com/MCHammer/status/259783902699339776

Why would this be a problem?

Follow the money.

Partners at VC funds are employed (funded) by limited partners (LPs). LPs are typically institutional cash and tend to be conservative. A26Z's LPs and potential LPs would not be pleased if they saw a video of Ben giving a talk wearing his "No Bitch Ass Ness" t-shirt.

Not so much. Have you read many of Ben's Blog articles or spent much time with Ben in person? If you had, a "No Bitch Ass Ness" t-shirt would be considered entirely appropriate dress for Ben. My guess is that he just instinctively is conservative about cameras, and being recorded. Probably the result of all the discovery he's gone through over the years as an executive and CEO at various companies.

I was there, and he used much of the same slides and material from this talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-LBSqm3xh4

I'm guessing he was just open and honest to all of the founders and sometimes being open when you run a huge VC firm is a risky challenge. So not recording it means he can offer insights without a clip of it going on TechCrunch.

I was there and nothing was said that was very controversial

Maybe not controversial but just talking about portfolio companies or commenting on them directly can be risky when you have a big fund and LP's to deal with.

When speaking at an event with 1000+ people, anything you say should be considered public. No more risk from this than blogging.

Agreed but there's a difference between being on video and someone writing about your talk. Some people just don't like the pressure of a talk being recorded and prefer people to write about the general talk if they want to write about it.

Slide deck had something along the lines of, "Property of A16Z. Do not share or redistribute."

There almost certainly is a recording of the talk. Someone in one of the first few rows was recording all of them on a tablet.

BTW, what's your opinion on niche markets? When github started, was hosting source code repositories considered a big market?

or he probably just declined to be recorded.

Theory: This is the only way his regurgitated attempt at a speech would get any attention.

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