TechCrunch50 Highlights, Through Words and Pictures

words and pictures by Brian Solis

Allen Stern and Graeme Thickens weren’t the only two bloggers to attend both DEMOfall and TechCrunch50, I also made the journey between San Diego and San Francisco to cover both events. Like most media outlets, we had teams at both conferences, but I had to see for myself, what made each event unique and valuable.

TechCrunch50, dubbed the Sundance festival of the tech startup industry, is truly a special event. No matter how big it is, it’s still an intimate affair. You’re engaged because Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis want you to be part of the conference.

statups + an active audience + expert judges + nervous and polished startup presenters = engagement. There’s just something for everyone.

My only request is that DEMO and TechCrunch fall on different days in 2009 so that I can invest 100% of time, focus, and energy in contributing to the success of each event.

Nonetheless, TechCrunch50 was a blast and I enjoyed every minute that I was to participate. I think that everyone who was there will agree, the hallway conversations, the DEMO Pit, the interactive presentations, and the parties espetially, have earned the TechCrunch conference a place the annual line-up of must-attend events.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

Sarah Ross and Ashton Kutcher

MG Siegler of VentureBeat

Frank Gruber

Adeo Ressi of TheFunded.com

Loren Feldman of 1938media

Ben Metcalfe

Rafe Needleman of WebWare/CNET

Evan Williams

Tim O’Reilly

Jason Calacanis

Stowe Boyd

Om Malik

Orli Yakuel

Michael Arrington

Swype

Swype

Dropbox

AlfaBetic

Don Doge

Mark Cuban and Jason Calcanis

Mark “when I die, I want to come back as me” Cuban

Day Two Party (sponsored by Symantec):

Mark Cuban and Brian Solis

Jason Calacanis at your service

Animoto

Marissa Louie

Larry Chiang

Time for the after party…

Jenny Chan of Mahalo

Bryan Thatcher of Empressr

Sloane Berent of CauseCast, Alaska Miller of Valleywag, and Jason Baptiste

For more pictures from TechCrunch50, please visit my albums on flickr:

Day Two

Day Two Party

Connect with me on:
Twitter, Jaiku, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, FriendFeed, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, or Facebook