Sydney BarCamp 2 Reflections

I found BarCamp 2 a bit different to the first one. I went to a lot of technical talks which was awesome but this time around I thought I'd check out a few of the business/entrepreneurial ones. It was a great experience, most of the talks had me enthralled and in awe of these guys in start-ups. It really made me feel like I could do what they've done, that it's not as far out of reach as I previously thought.

The highlights for me were:

• The talk about start-ups and getting funding by one of the guys from 3eep, Dan McEvoy of Booking Angel and Mike from Atlassian.


• Non-monetised value of a start-up. This is your user base


• Social media start-ups can have value in that they can be used to analyse people's behaviour and attitudes. Think targetted advertising -> Second Life, WOW, Club Penguin, Facebook...
  


• Stay close to your customers. Listen to demand from them.
  


• Mike's discussion about scaling up Atlassian from a small start-up, the issues and problems that has raised and how they've dealt with it.


• Company/product reputation management in the online world. How do you respond? -> "Sorry you had a bad experience, can I call you?"
  


• Cultural -> "Be the change you seek"
  

The day finished up at a local pub with a bar tab. It felt like people were easier and more willing to chat at this BarCamp. Meeting people was easy and a lot of fun, I'm not sure if it's me or the event that has changed, but it was definintely a positive thing. I'm looking forward to the next one already, which will be in March.