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The dust has cleared, a winner has been chosen and the Valley is packing itself up again as the Techcrunch40 winds to a close. What can we bring away from the event? Quite a bit if you ask me. I don’t feel like I have to describe all the companies that presented, instead I will look at the conference itself and see if there are any lessons to be gained.

Day Two

1. Interestingly enough, many of the startups (including the one chosen for the 40th spot, Kaltura) were already funded. Some of them heavily. The point is that the $50,000 prize that might have gone to bolster a fledgling idea, instead was given over to a company that probably did not need it.

2. That company was Mint, a personal finance tracking service that was both the most practical and most useful product to demo at the event. It certainly deserved accolades, but as for the money — I feel it would have been better spent on one of the unfunded companies in the DemoPit.

3. Speaking of the DemoPit, my sources at the event describe it as a “nightmare”. I am sure I will get more details, but if the coverage of the event is to be believed, the top 100 received the shortest end of a stick that was not particularly long to begin with.

4. The long and short is that there weren’t that many surprises. Most of the companies that were featured have received quite a bit of coverage already. Much of that coverage coming from Techcrunch itself. Just as there weren’t many surprises, there were only a handful of complaints.

The Pit

The biggest of my complaints is how the DemoPit participants were treated. From the way the event was marketed, what I had expected to see was innovative new products early in their cycles being launched with the help of a financial shot in the arm from Mike and Jason. All of the companies that fit this criteria were relegated to the least trafficked area of the conference.

There are all sorts of conspiracy theories and Vallywagging about how the top 40 were chosen, but honestly it does not matter. What does is that 100 companies, many of which set their hopes on this conference to help jump start their businesses, will leave San Francisco sorely disappointed.

There are two things that I believe could have been changed to make this event better for everyone involved. The first is that if you are going to offer a sub-prime seat at a conference to fledgling entrepreneurs, at the very least give them the ticket for free. I know that they were only charged half-price, but remember that much of the event’s draw is the thought of seeing interesting new technology. The price of admission alone is enough to drive many of the smaller entrepreneurs out of the running. Even for those who put together the cash, many of them bought in expected a little more than a flea market trade show for their $2,500.

The second change I would have liked to have seen is that the organizers could have dug a little deeper. With over 600 applications under review, I am certain there were a few more “diamonds in the rough” that could have been spotlighted. I wanted to see companies that were surprising, either by their offerings or by their scrappiness.

Web 2.0 Roundup

For the first attempt, this was a good event. Many, many companies will see their fortunes turned around from the exposure that they received in the last 48 hours. Even some of the big players managed to release some new offerings that should leave the blogosphere abuzz for weeks to come.

That being said, I still believe that in an effort to make the conference as “glitzy” as possible, some of the charm of the event was lost. Along with the Mints and Cake Financials of the world, I was hoping for a few more garage projects to take the stage. The real value of a conference like this is to give people who might otherwise never have access to the wisdom of the Valley a chance to have their work critiqued. Hopefully, when the dust settles and work on the next TechcrunchX begins, they will keep this fact in mind.

That way, maybe there will be a few more surprises on the horizon for next year.

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