the Designer Pages blog

Last night Designer Pages colleague Maximo and I headed up to midtown for Startup Alpha’s Tech Venture Showcase, a stellar event featuring some emerging and established names in the NY tech scene. Among the keynote panelists who spoke were Donna Bogatin, founder and CEO of Startup Alpha, Gus Venditto, Greg Stuart, former CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Jerry Spiegel, a media and advertising attorney representing the host venue, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. Among those tech startups showcasing their ideas were Linkstorm, a firm that improves online display ad performance, Yellowspaces, a local consumer search engine and interactive iPhone app and Thinkscan, technology program that enhances ad/marketing planning based on precise knowledge about a consumer’s true motivations.

Of particular note in my opinion were the insights offered by Stuart who spoke articulately about the faltering climate of advertising industry and what tech startups must be mindful of as they continue developing their ad-revenue models. Did you know that the advertising industry is worth some $300 billion? I certainly did not. A few tips he offered for new businesses: set aside your arrogance - get experts in the field and listen to them; paint a grand vision for your consumers that allows them to buy into something larger than themselves and your company’s product or in other words, how is what your doing going to create a new paradigm?; and lastly, take media outlets with perceived low value (i.e. social media) and turn your investment in them into one of high value.

Other notable discussion topics addressed by all included what we should anticipate as the regulatory environment on the web changes and issues related to privacy and transparency of advertiser/consumer information. If you missed this one, Startup Alpha’s next event takes place on August 12 at Select Offices Suites. See you there!