Turnaround: Scoble Gets It Right This Time

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  coble lost his senses for a couple days in September, but a trip to DEMO07 seems to have straightened him out.

Responding to a post in WeBreakStuff, Scoble said then that he liked the fact that "money is a filter;" that only companies that could scrape together the $30,000 fee were allowed on stage.

I responded vociferously: Scoble Is Dead Wrong about DEMO. The filter isn't the $30K--it's Chris Shipley. As I said in my post back then:

To participate in DEMO you undergo a rigorous application process and a very critical evaluation. When my company demonstrated in 2005, there were over 700 applications--and around 70 were accepted. That's close to an Ivy League acceptance rate! Chris Shipley and the team have a great eye for technology, and you have to pass their sniff test (and outshine the competition) to get in. Their track record is fantastic (products like Palm, Java, and TiVo were all featured at DEMO in the past--prior to their great success).

Well, a trip to Phoenix seems to have changed Robert's mind. In his post yesterday, he seems to have grokked the fact that the money isn't the important hurdle:

Chris Shipley interviews each company, which means that everyone on stage has reached a certain bar and the $30,000 fee makes sure that entrepreneurs have some skin in the game.

I'll always look fondly on DEMO@15 (where we announced our product in 2005): not only did we get to demonstrate there, but it was the first time I met Robert--and the first time I started to see the value in blogging.

I wish I were there--it's an exciting event. And I'm glad to see that he's appreciating the true value in it!

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