This is a tale of two cities, of sorts.
In one, the quarters are cramped, but the creative energy is palpable. In the other, the rooms are spacious, but the energy is less frenetic, more subdued. One resembles a street fair or tent revival, people bustling around, talking over each other, searching for opportunity with a sense of urgency. In the other, civility reigns: people shuffle politely into well-ordered rows, listen quietly, weighing what’s being sold with a certain coolness and distance—more like a medical conference or a cathedral service. Both are friendly; both offer opportunities. But they couldn’t be more different.
Last Friday I attended the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s Early Stage Investment Forum, held in Seattle’s Washington State Convention & Trade Center. The Convention & Trade Center is cavernous, and as a result the presenter booths, the event attendees, etc. were dwarfed in proportion. There was, actually, way too much room, and at least for me, this physical environment lent a certain level of formality to the event. During lunch, the organization ran a well-crafted video of local entrepreneurs discussing the wonderful support and community that both Seattle and the Northwest Entrepreneur Network provide. The event materials came in a very nice binder, with tabbed sections, graphically consistent company descriptions, and an accompanying flash drive with company presentations on it. Very professional. Overall it was a good event: I was able to meet some really great people including Peter Quinn, the new Executive Director of the Network, and I am looking forward to attending future events. The Network clearly creates value for its participants, and the level of community support is high.
Two days prior to this Seattle event, however, I was in Silicon Valley at the PlugandPlay EXPO in Sunnyvale, presented by PlugandPlay Tech Center—a kind of combo incubation center and entrepreneur network. The event space— it was held at the PlugandPlay Tech Center itself—was packed with attendees. It was too hot. People were bumping into each other at every turn. Each startup had a small bar table that couldn’t hold much more than a laptop. Presenters had something like 5 minutes to pitch, with no slides, and even with a microphone they had to nearly shout over the individual conversations in the room. The event materials were basically a stapled set of glossy photocopies of each company’s 2-page summary. The production level was super-low: every page was different; layouts, fonts, graphics were all over the place…it was a mess.
But here’s the deal: it worked. It provided the necessary information with the minimum amount of overhead. It included a rough map so I could hunt down the startups with whom I wanted to engage. The overcrowded room created a higher level of energy. While there was undoubtedly a community component to this group as well, it was more obvious than in Seattle that the whole thing was built on a competitive foundation. Just as in Seattle, I met a bunch of great people, but when I left the PlugandPlay EXPO, I left with the feeling that something exciting was going on. I left the Seattle event thinking, “that was nice; what a supportive community.”
Other differences, while seemingly irrelevant, actually have meaning in thinking about the different cultures of Seattle and Silicon Valley. In Seattle, the median attendee age was probably 10-15 years older, including the entrepreneurs. In Seattle, there were a lot more ties, suits, and traditional “professional” attire. There were 70% more companies at the Silicon Valley event (49 versus 27). In Seattle, there was a broad range of companies from tech to financial services to personal wellness. In Sunnyvale, the companies were 100% tech.
Now, at some level I am comparing apples & oranges: the two events don’t align perfectly in scope or mission. But you know what? They align enough to get a general flavor of each organizational environment. And the choices each organization made—from location to event materials to presentation setups—sent a message. As some people say, “all data is data.” And I found these two data sets to be extremely interesting in contrast.
