SMB Nation 2007

Got a call reminding me to attend SMB Nation 2007 this fall in Redmond. Is it already that time again? Wow. I posted a couple of notes last year after the conference. Special Alumni pricing of $399 until June 30th. Check it out.

SMB Nation: Reminders for Next Year

Just a quick list of reminders for next year’s SMB nation (some of which were learned the hard way).

• Get there the day before SMB nation starts, and attend any and all pre-events that you can find
• Stay at whatever hotels are recommended (this year, they were the Courtyard Marriott’s in Redmond, and Bellevue) – you'll meet other attendees and probably learn something
  
• Go to the breakfasts
• Stay as long as you can in the evenings – even the vendor sponsored events
• Go down and hang out in the hotel lobbies after 11:00pm – there will be other attendees worth meeting
• Stay until Monday after the conference, and attend whatever extra events you can
• You can never have enough business cards - double whatever you planned to bring!
  

SMB Nation: In review...

So my first trip to SMB nation was an all-around great experience. First of all, it was a good opportunity to meet other members of the community and to learn about their businesses. But beyond that and beyond some other really useful take-aways that I found when going over my notes this morning was that this… we’re not alone! I suppose that should be obvious by now, what with all of the SMB blogs, community forums, and the like, but attending an event like this is very reinforcing. Reinforcing in terms of the direction of the business, technical direction, and the future of the SMB market. It’s a good reality check, and a reminder that we need to be working on the businesses, as well as in them.

SMB Nation: Mergers and Acquisitions in SMB

So I’m at the SMB Nation event here at the Microsoft conference center in Redmond, WA. This morning I attended Arlin Sorensen's (President of Heartland Technology Solutions) presentation on Mergers and Acquisitions in the SMB space. Alrin’s presentation was worth the price of admission… good presenter, with really good information.

One interesting takeaway… businesses in the SMB space are typically valued at less than 2X sales. Does that surprise you? It did me.