Tech Meeting Group

Last night I went to the Tech Meeting Group in Palo Alto.

First, let me say, it was very nice of the Venture Capitalists/Law Firm DLA Piper to let the group meet there. But finding the place took me a little time. I finally figured out that it was across from Ikea (across Hwy 101) in that complex that has the Four Seasons Hotel. It's a beautiful complex, with an outdoor pool/shooting fountain in the middle.

But, since it took me so long to find the meeting, I missed most of the other speakers. I did, however, get there in time to hear Guy Kawasaki's pitch about Truemors.

It's an RSS feed, that let's people post newsy type rumors, for all to see. It's kind of fun, and a good idea in that it lets those people who aren't that tech savvy but know how to type be part of the blog/morphing news revolution.

But probably the funniest part(s) of the night were Guy's stories. He described the critics who panned his site as 50 year old men who still live with their mothers. Then, he told the story of the frog and the scorpion. The story goes somewhat like this (I'm paraphrasing);

"The frog met a scorpion who wanted to cross the river. The scorpion asked the frog to carry his across the river. The frog said, 'oh no, you'll sting me!'

The scorpion said, 'no, I won't sting you because I'll be on your back and then we'll both die."

So the frog agreed to carry the scorpion across the river, on his back. Halfway across the river, the scorpion stung the frog. As the frog was dying, he said to the scorpion, 'why did you sting me? Now you will die too, as you will sink in the water.' The scorpion said, 'of course I stung you, that's what I do....'"

Guy used that story to explain his own nature, as an Evangelist for technology. He was a Venture Capitalist, and now is an Entrepeneur.