The Dublin Web Summit was a veritable who’s who of tech, past and present. And probably future, considering that some 2000+ startups were present. Only time will tell. It’s where the tech world meets and given that, of course they had something to say…
“Silicon Valley is white men talking to white men about white men’s problems.” – (Ozon Maelle Gavet, Wandoujia)
“I’ll look at your pitch, as long as it wasn’t a copy and paste. If you send me a copy and paste pitch, I’ll send you a copy and paste rejection.” – David Tisch, Box Group
“VCs have the attention span of a 7 year old on Ritalin.” Dave McClure, 500 Startups
“The first rule (of investing) for me is don’t have rules. You find one amazing investment and that’s all that matters. If you pick the right body of water, you might not need a boat.” – Mark Pincus, Zynga
“Steve Jobs had amazing ability to see things 20 years into the future. We were able to position Apple as an underdog. We still root for apple and see it as scrappy, despite the fact that they have the largest market cap on the planet.” – John Sculley, former CEO, Apple Computer
“I don’t want to hear your grand fucking vision. I want to hear past tense, not future tense.” – Dave McClure (of course)
“(What keeps me up at night) is the pace of change. Companies that were leaders six years ago aren’t around today. 40% of Fortune 500 won’t exist in the next few years.” – Padmasree Warrior, CTO, Cisco
“People are more savvy about how they consume their TV. You have to give the audience what they want, how they want it, when they want it, and they won’t steal it.” – Dana Brunetti, Tigger Street Productions (House of Cards)
“(With the exception of the tech community,) Europe is a slacker with low expectations, poor work ethic and politicians who strangle innovation. (The post-Snowden US intelligence community) is like the Keystone Cops.” – Peter Thiel
“(Steve Jobs) was not an engineer. As brilliant as he was, he had reality distortion field. His visions so visionary, he was far ahead of what Silicon Valley could do. He was asked to step down from the Mac division, so he left. He was never fired.” – John Sculley (on his ‘firing’ Steve Jobs)
“Don’t look at investors as if they’re a bank. It’s not a transaction – it’s an investment.” – David Tisch, Box Group
“Old dudes hold this country back. If I ask the question ‘does everyone (here) have wifi,’ I want to see no hands (raised) in 2015. If not, we will not be in this country very much longer.” – Paddy Cosgrove, Web Summit Founder (on the lack of available wifi)
“I don’t get any sympathy for any answer I give.” – Peter Thiel, on the hardships that come with being a billionaire