Mr. Gary Lee

To be honest with you, I was still a little confused as to why I was here at Affiliate Summit West. One of the biggest reasons I signed up to come was because of how much fun I had a Blog World Expo and also because I received a free pass from ASW. I did a mini-tour of the booths last night with Morgan and D, but wasn’t really excited to see anything there. I wasn’t really looking forward to any booth touring today and yes, I realized I was in danger of getting into party-pooper mode . . . . until this morning when I arrived at the Keynote speech given by Jason Calacanis, the founder of Weblogs Inc and Mahalo.com.

Admittedly, I arrived a little late and even more admittedly, I didn’t know who the hell was speaking as I entered the room. I just heard so smart mouthed, New York accent cussing and trying to get some cheap laughs. I finally figured out who Jason was and began to listen to his main messages

1. To ask affiliates to stop polluting the net with garbage.
2. Quality Content is King and will prevail for the long term.
3. Be prepared to take 5-10 years to build a high-quality site.
4. Reach for the stars. Go ahead and build for the long term.
5. I’m a dork who struck it rich and wants to put down everyone else that didn’t do it my way.

You’re probably guessing right that he didn’t really emphasize the last point in his powerpoint presentation. That message was translated all by yours truly. As I was listening to his keynote speech, I was having no problem with his elitist stance that the internet needs to be cleansed with the junk that affiliates are making to trick the unknowing. It was only until he got to pointing out bloggers like Shoemoney and Zac Johnson, who take pictures with their 6 figure checks. He includes both Shoe and Zac’s famous check pictures in his powerpoint presentation. Jason uses words like “pathetic, desparate, and uncouth” to publicly embarrass these bloggers. Jason tries to save some of their reputation by calling them “brilliant,” but through the rest of his presentation, he would use the “100K people” reference to represent the group of internet marketers that you shouldn’t strive to be like.

So, don’t get me wrong and think that I’m on Shoe’s and Zac’s side because I’ve personally met them and think they’re really great people. The point at which I felt I should write something about today’s events came later in the presentations when Jason begins to point out how he was a struggling magazine writer when he first started and that his first job was working on HP laser printers. He talked about how no one in the “Valley” wanted him around because of what he wrote. Well, he finally started getting credit for his work and was quickly establishing himself as a major voice in the internet community. This is the part of the presentation where he pathetically waves his resume and tells us how he gets invited to “all the parties” because everyone wants him there.

I know it’s not like showing off how much you make, but in a way, it really was. I can understand that he’s proud of the quality content he’s been able to prove. I can understand if he wants to rub it in people’s faces that his vision for quality would persevere all trends. I can understand if he wants the internet to be full of purists who strive for high quality content forever and ever.

The only thing I can’t understand is the quality of Jason’s character in putting down other’s to make his ego feel that much better.

More to come about the rest of my first day as I got to meet one of the people that inspired me to become the entrepreneur that I am today and notes from some of the presentations being given at Affiliate Summit West. 

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