Hostingcon 2013 Austin

[Paul]

As you guys know, Cody and I went to Austin this week for HostingCon.

 

We had a really good time, and met with a ton of people. It's definitely interesting to see what everyone is up to, meet some people again, and others for the first time in person. Here are a few pics from our time there..

 

The convention center -

 

 

Main hall, before opening ceremony -

 

 

cPanel/SoftLayer party (part of it, there was another room and a balcony up top where most people were) -

 

 

Around town, the capitol building -

 

 

Cody posing by the competitions booth -

 

 

Competition Jenga, it kept falling apart, over and over and over  (A sign?) -

 

 

Some of you may be wondering, yes we did meet both Aaron and Matt and others from their team. We didn't think to ask for a photo at the time, but we had a really good, friendly chat. Even though we are competitors, it was really nice to meet them.

 

Ultimately, we strengthened some relationships, formed some new ones, and got a lot of great ideas that should be coming down the pipeline in the future. Wherever we went, we found people who were excited about Blesta and wished us the best. It's really great to know that so many people are behind us, and it's hard not to get at least a little charged up about the future.

 

So, was HostingCon Austin a success? Absolutely!

 

Looking forward to the future.

[ezpnet]

Looks like fun. I enjoyed my visit to hostingcon a few years back because I enjoyed Texas, but ultimately it was not a fruitful visit from a biz point of view. It makes much more sense for Blesta to go than for a small hosting company like us to go I would think. Haven't been back since, likely won't go back again... unless I just happen to be in the area on vacation or I want an excuse for a mini vacation. 

 

My reasoning? Had a very hard time to actually meet and discuss anything with any reps from any company that we work with. The few other people we did meet were other small hosts in the same boat as us, pretty much excluded (we had to sneak into the cpanel party, which is crazy as we pay cpanel some serious money each month). It seemed like the whole show was a big ol' party for all the reps of the big companies who all knew each other and wanted to hang out. It was very clique-y and although I am an outgoing guy I had a really hard time to actually meet anyone/have a real conversation or learn anything. Plus all the keynotes and speakers were basically just pitching their product/affiliate program and telling us smaller hosts we couldn't compete without them and should give up. Was a very odd vibe that way. 

 

I wonder if things have changed at all.

[Paul]

I can definitely see how small hosting companies might not benefit from hostingcon, it definitely has more appeal to hosting industry vendors. Though, there is probably benefit in establishing better relationships with those companies you work with.. control panels, registrars, merchant providers, etc. When you have suggestions, they are much more likely to act when you discuss in person with a higher up.

 

All of the sessions had someone handing out and collecting surveys for the session. One of the questions was whether or not the speaker had a sales pitch -- they have said that speakers with a sales pitch will not be invited back. So, I think that's something that was definitely a problem, and that they are working on. In all the sessions we went to, there was maybe one or two indirect sales pitches, so I think it's much improved.

 

I can say that you're probably right.. there does seem to be a bit of a clique, but I don't think it's overt. I wouldn't say everyone knows who we are, but we did fit in pretty well and didn't have much trouble talking with people. It's clear that a lot of people know each other very well, but I think it's because the industry is so small.

[Michael]

As you guys know, Cody and I went to Austin this week for HostingCon.

 

We had a really good time, and met with a ton of people. It's definitely interesting to see what everyone is up to, meet some people again, and others for the first time in person. Here are a few pics from our time there..

 

The convention center -

 

5.jpg

 

Main hall, before opening ceremony -

 

2.jpg

 

cPanel/SoftLayer party (part of it, there was another room and a balcony up top where most people were) -

 

4.jpg

 

Around town, the capitol building -

 

3.jpg

 

Cody posing by the competitions booth -

 

1.jpg

 

Competition Jenga, it kept falling apart, over and over and over  (A sign?) -

 

7.jpg

 

Some of you may be wondering, yes we did meet both Aaron and Matt and others from their team. We didn't think to ask for a photo at the time, but we had a really good, friendly chat. Even though we are competitors, it was really nice to meet them.

 

Ultimately, we strengthened some relationships, formed some new ones, and got a lot of great ideas that should be coming down the pipeline in the future. Wherever we went, we found people who were excited about Blesta and wished us the best. It's really great to know that so many people are behind us, and it's hard not to get at least a little charged up about the future.

 

So, was HostingCon Austin a success? Absolutely!

 

Looking forward to the future.

 

Haha Cody love your top [blesta logo] and right next to the WHM** stall ah well and LOL Paul yep I take it they didn't have enough security to keep it together...

 

No Blesta crew photo though  disappointed lol na glad you guys enjoyed it hopefully in a few years we'll be able to go and you'll have a Blesta stall.

[Paul]

I think there's a photo of me outside a sandwhich shop in Austin, lol.. I didn't post it though.

[Michael]

I think there's a photo of me outside a sandwhich shop in Austin, lol.. I didn't post it though.

dam upload it haha na up-to you but it would be nice to see the happy development team shame Tyson didn't join you.

[Bit Bayou]

I had thought about going, but I should be attending Defcon this year instead

[Paul]

I may post the photo later.

 

Never been to Defcon, would definitely like to go sometime.

[Cody]

I had thought about going, but I should be attending Defcon this year instead

 

Defcon talks are far more interesting than talks at HostingCon. No doubt about it, but Summers in Vegas are not pleasant.

[Michael]

What is defcon lol is it the hackers one?

[Bit Bayou]

What is defcon lol is it the hackers one?

 

Yeah, that one.

www.defcon.org

[Michael]

Yeah, that one.

www.defcon.org

Yeah they sound amazing but erm never been to one.

[Bit Bayou]

Yeah they sound amazing but erm never been to one.

 

I lucked out this year. My company is paying for me to go.

[John]

The Blesta next to WHMCS photo made my day!!

[FRH Dave]

Some of you may be wondering, yes we did meet both Aaron and Matt and others from their team. We didn't think to ask for a photo at the time, but we had a really good, friendly chat. Even though we are competitors, it was really nice to meet them.

 

Hah - love the shot of Cody at WHMCS!

 

The hosting industry is great.  Sure we all sell against each other and compete for many of the same customers, but there's a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes help going on.  Look at how often the heavy hitters from Softlayer / Rack911 / InnoHosting / etc hang out on WHT and offer help to newbies.  It's like a giant, free, master class on web hosting, and when it hits the fan, you've always got some very experienced, very intelligent people to help out.

 

However:

 

My reasoning? Had a very hard time to actually meet and discuss anything with any reps from any company that we work with. The few other people we did meet were other small hosts in the same boat as us, pretty much excluded (we had to sneak into the cpanel party, which is crazy as we pay cpanel some serious money each month). It seemed like the whole show was a big ol' party for all the reps of the big companies who all knew each other and wanted to hang out. It was very clique-y and although I am an outgoing guy I had a really hard time to actually meet anyone/have a real conversation or learn anything. Plus all the keynotes and speakers were basically just pitching their product/affiliate program and telling us smaller hosts we couldn't compete without them and should give up. Was a very odd vibe that way. 

 

There's definitely a series of cliques going on there.  If you're a tiny host (those of us with under a thousand subscribers), I can definitely see feeling "left out".  When you're chatting with guys talking about how they just bought 14 racks worth of E5-2620s, it can be a little hard to relate about how you hope the half rack of E3-1230s you ordered last month give you enough capacity for six months' worth of new customers.

 

There were a few vendors at HostingCon 2012 who literally walked away from us mid-conversation when they found out we were in the sub-1000 club.  Not going to name & shame those vendors, but they added themselves to my personal "never buy" list.  On the other hand, some of the vendors really went out of their way to be awesome to us and other tiny hosts.  PhoenixNAP organized a bar crawl with open bars, and EVERYONE was invited.  Bill from TheSSLStore, after talking about our projected annual revenue (we were only seven months old at the time), upgraded us to their cheapest pricing tier and spent a LONG time talking sales techniques with me.  The guys from Limestone Networks chased me down (figuratively!) to chat about FRH's marketing and strategy.  Now, maybe those were all just examples of good sales technique (especially since we're now working with a lot of those vendors), but being a tiny host means you don't get too many big-name vendors actively chasing you down and learning about your company while trying to earn your business.  All too often, it's "the rest of the industry uses us and you will too, and we really don't care either way".

 

Most of the keynotes we attended in 2012 were either really mediocre or just badly executed.  Definitely not worth the $$$, largely due to the quality of information and presentation.  I'm seriously considering getting a tradeshow-only pass for 2014.

[ezpnet]

My experience was similar - that many companies literally stopped talking halfway through a conversation too. Although, I last went in 09! I just looked. I assume much may have changed since then.

[cloudrck]

 Not going to name & shame those vendors, but they added themselves to my personal "never buy" list.  On the other hand, some of the vendors really went out of their way to be awesome to us and other tiny hosts.

I'm curious as to who these were.