Silicon Valley's "Under the Radar" conference wasn't under the radar of venture capitalists and big media representatives this year. The show had 375 paying attendees--many of whom are so-called
"dealmakers of the valley," in the words of IBDNetwork CEO Debbie Landa, whose business development firm put on the show. Firms like Songbird--maker of a browser and media player that aims to compete
with Apple's iTunes--and Kiptronic, which places ads on podcasts, were there looking to court investors. Like who? MTV Networks, Black Entertainment Television, Sony of America, the Discovery Channel,
and the American Film Institute were all in attendance, Landa said, shopping for the next big Web 2.0 company. That's the model these days for small companies. They're no longer looking to go public;
for one thing, the stock market has taken a slight downturn--the tech-heavy NASDAQ in particular--and for another, the specter of 2000/2001 still lingers. The new model is to aim for an acquisition.
In recent months, the Web's biggies have been scooping up so-called Web 2.0 companies. Most recently, Google bought Writely and Dodgeball, while Yahoo bought Flickr and Del.icio.us. One thing is
clear, says the
San Francisco Chronicle: It's going to be crowded. Many companies are working on very similar ventures, whether it's podcasting, online music, communities, video or mobile
applications."
Read the whole story at The San Francisco Chronicle »