Disintermediation is in the air today: Dave Winer on the Venture Capital business:
“Take out the middleman. We don’t need the partners, limited or general, they gum up the works. We need money to start new ventures. Luckily we know the people with the money, they’re the users. And we need people to validate the ideas. Same people, the users.”
Jeff Jarvis on the conference business:
“The conference business is ripe for revolution. If newspapers, TV, magazines, books, reference works, telecommunications, entertainment, retail, real estate, recruiting, and countless other industries are exploding thanks to the internet and the direct connections it enables, then so should conferences. Why shouldn’t we organize our own better conferences on our own terms?”
How to monitor the response to these essays: (Based on an earlier post) If VCs and conference organizers attack the ideas instead of explaining the benefits of their current models, then you know they think the ideas are great.