pull down to refresh
1268 sats \ 11 replies \ @0330830bf9 14 Oct 2023 \ on: Bitcoin Conferences Are for Losers bitcoin
Losers write about loser conferences. Winners reminisce about traveling in 2020 in completely empty airports and meeting only high-signal people who did the same.
Winners go and talk to OG's and experts for feedback on their ideas, get inspiration, make connections, put skin in the game by making their face accountable to their peers.
Winners go to conferences and land jobs, win hackathons, raise a little seed money to build the next big thing.
Conference goe'rs are the men and women in the arena. Conference organizers are happy to separate shitcoiners from their money to give Bitcoiners a place to network and take in social mana.
Can you or someone quote a real world example of someone building something big by going to one of these conferences? Will be good to get specific examples than making emotional statements.
reply
Can you name someone in the space with something big that doesn't go to conferences?
reply
absolutely... Many... but one person stands out is @fiatjaf who does not go to conferences but has built and impacted bitcoin community in many ways.
reply
He's prolific, but very few people can build so much shit to sling at the wall to see what sticks.
To the extent his projects have any notoriety outside a dozen developers is because those developers and entrepreneurs go to conferences and talk about those things. Or do you think Jack dropped coin without any social signal?
Nostr is itself derivative of other relay-based prototypes discussed at 2018 hackdays and 2019 in Berlin (and thus subsquently on podcasts). It wouldn't exist without conferences. They are an indelible part of the ecosystem.
To say that a few hundred bucks on a ticket is a poor investment is to not understand asymmetry, and terrible investment advice. Money and particularly Bitcoin is an inherently social network. Basement dwelling is sub-optimal.
Anyone looking to jump-in Bitcoin full-time would do well to disregard such blackpilled incel views, and experience the energy at several conferences before deciding whether or not they are useful to them.
reply
Local meetups, Hackathons, podcasts are many good ways of meeting, learning and building and I don't have any problems with that. Also the Nostr conferences such as Nostrica and Nostrasia (Nov 1-3) are also good because they do not have sponsors or tickets.
I am only pointing to the big bitcoin conferences that are not creating any value.
reply
There's the backpedal I was expecting. Those are conferences too. Someone is always paying for the space food etc. You just dislike the sponsors less.
The BTC Mag conferences aren't my first choice either, I passed on both this year... but they are something interested people should experience at least once so that they appreciate the smaller conferences. Even someone on a budget could skip the conference ticket and just lobbycon / offsite parties in the area.
Just because you didn't extract value from them doesn't mean there was none to be had for someone more resourceful.
deleted by author