Schnitzelconf: An Overview
I would normally throw something like this up on my personal blog, but the Schnitzelconf ethos is very much how Arun and I think about Gameplan.
I'm going to say it now, rather than save it for the end: Schnitzelconf was the best conference I have ever been to, bar none. The speakers were all terrific, the narrow focus of the conference and panels was a triumph and it all ended with eating chilli in the shadow of dinosaur skeletons (thanks to the amazing venue of the natural history museum).
So firstly congratulations to Amy, Thomas, Harald and Alex. Epic shit. I've got a couple of further articles to come on the individual talks and the panels so this is simply the 'around the conference' post rather than details of the individual sessions.
Firstly it was great that this was in Vienna with a European focus, apart from the embarrassment of my appalling German contrasted with the excellent English of every European I met. Most of the other conferences I'm aware of in the UK and Europe are about more narrow technical subjects (web design, Rails etc) so a more general 'small business with a web focus' conference with a strong build-a-fucking-product-and-charge-for-it message was more enlightening for me.
I'm not aware of any other conferences with such a strong opinionated message, I guess the only spiritual sibling might be lessconf in the US. So many web conferences are driven by a VC/be-the-next-Twitter vibe that to be reminded that outside money is a) not the only way and b) is most likely not even a good idea for most people, was intensely refreshing. This is particularly true when you consider the funding (and subsequent behavior) of startups that haven't even got half a product, let alone any income.
A couple of meta-observations of all the featured businesses:
High quality design and attention to detail were the hallmarks of the successful businesses of the speakers, reconfirming my belief that a beautiful/usable product is a must.
There was also a high focus on the exceptional treatment of customers and high levels of support, another hallmark of all of the speakers businesses.
Also rather obviously, CHARGE MONEY FOR YOUR PRODUCT.
One of the most interesting observations was in conversation with Alex Hillman who noted that for a web conference we hadn't heard the word 'startup' much, rather the word 'business' seemed a better fit.
The high quality (and accessibility) of the speakers, given the low ratio of speakers to attendees, was a tremendous boon. It's always great to be able to meet people you respect and realize that despite their success, they have come from a standing start as well.
So I return to the UK, and then sunny Singapore, reinvigorated and more convinced that the track we're on with Gameplan (and our other projects) is the right one. In fact I think a version of this conference for Singapore itself might be a good thing given the burgeoning web scene, to perhaps suggest another way than the Gahmen grant or Gahmen-backed finance routes.
