Technosailor.com

Data, data, data. This is the answer for government in this new world of Government 2.0. Making government available to the citizens by building platforms for change. These are the ideas bandied around when the Silicon Valley Warlords came to Washington, D.C. this week to put on the invitation only Gov 2.0 Summit and teach Beltway insiders how their successes in the Valley could be instituted in the center of government.

The center of government. The center of politics. The center of policy. Of course, if the warlords have their way, the center of technology.

For many of us, Schachter lived the great American Web 2.0 dream:
Step 1. Build an app (del.icio.us) in your spare time, and operate it from your apartment;
Step 2. Sell it to Yahoo! (rumored to be in the neighborhood of $20M . . . nice neighborhood);
Step 3. Retire (he now devotes his time to playing XBox).

There are tons of informative sessions at Web 2.0 Expo. I especially like the Day 1 workshops. Maybe it’s the no-break, three-hour block . . . the fewer tracks . . . or the reduced traffic, since a good many folks opt out of Day 1 to save money. Shame.

The SF O’Reilly Web 2.0 Expo was a defining moment for me, and for my startup. True, I was just a noob there. I thought I knew what I was doing with my social networking app.

Conferences, MeetUps, BarCamps, (even Par-Tays) play a critical role in your startup’s development. Don’t underestimate their value in networking, knowledge-building, and recruiting. Get out there, don’t wait. And budget for one big one.

Why not” Here’s the scenario: Two and half hours away, dozens of very smart people were availing themselves to anyone with $21 interested in learning about podcasting, search engine marketing (SEM) and optimization (SEO) from 10am to 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. Did I mention that it was only $21?