A Lucky Friday the 13th
April 17, 2007 | Event Report
Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky day for those of us able to attend the launch party for Om Malik’s new initiative, FoundREAD.
More than 100 of the technology industry’s best and brightest assembled at this invitation-only event. The only qualifications: being on GigaOM’s radar and being a founder.
The attendees ranged from established founders such as Michael Arrington, Bram Cohen, David Sifry and Kevin Rose, to up-and-comers such as Tom Arnold of TerraPass, Michael Tippett of NowPublic, and Gina Bianchini of Ning.
Lasting images from the evening? Ted Shelton sporting his new Technorati t-shirt, and a beautiful arrangement of Moo cards customized for every attendee.
Equal parts blog and community, FoundREAD is described as “a shared resource, where anyone can contribute, either through their posts, or experiences or comments. You can choose to contribute freely or anonymously. Just like a GPS system helps us drive through a maze of freeways, the founders and entrepreneurs help their peers navigate the twisted, confusing roads of company building.”
Interestingly, if there was a theme of the evening, I’d have to say it was humility. In Om’s remarks on Friday, and in earlier conversations I’ve had with him, he willingly admits to having a more substantial empathy for entrepreneurs now that he is running a business, and not just reporting on them.
Even the entry form to the event required providing a lesson learned which were projected (but not attributed) to the entire crowd. My favorite had to be the story of the unknown exec caught singing the U2 catalog at the top of his/her lungs, all the while unaware that their business partners parents where in the next room.
This is the second event in recent months that I’ve had the pleasure to attend (Guidewire Group’s Fall Leadership Forum was the other) where company leaders and founders discussed the inner dealings of company-building. From a PR perspective, it’s amazing to see company executives let their guards down, and ask other industry leaders for advice. Guidewire’s event was closed to the press, and only the GigaOM gang was present on Friday.
To emphasize that there wasn’t too much humility involved, the gig was held at the swanky new barber shop (really!), Mr. Guests were treated to manicures, massages, shaves and shoe shines. (FYI, my shoes still look great!) Champagne, cocktails and nosh were served with aplomb and a sparkle by the friendliest collection of fembots that I’ve seen in a very long time.
- Tim
James Hong of Hot or Not Gets a Trim
The Crowd
The Happy Host
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