Remember that many of the web 2.0 apps have a strong core of users and adopters that are made up of we web dev people. Pitch your app to us, make us passionate, share the ins and outs with us and not only will we extend the word on our blogs, but we may bring our passion to work with you, we may use it to extend your Api etc etc.

I agree (as you would suspect) with Mike.

As I said in one of my posts, I’ve learned that often you need to be willing to spend money on marketing and advertising.

When I first started building web apps, I didn’t believe this to be true - but now I don’t think that’s the case.

By offering a “Startup Spotlight” opportunity at FOWA, we’re trying to give people a quality and valuable platform to get the word out about their web apps.

Trust me, we could’ve charged at least £10K for each of these spots, so we feel their great value at £5K. Sure, it’s not dirt cheap, but it’s damn good value.

£5000 is a lot to drop on promoting your app to an audience comprised mostly of potential competitors. I suppose the value is in the (artificial) seeding of the buzz / ideavirus / etc.

Competitors, or potential users, extendors (via Apis), employees and of course as you point out, people with blogs who will create buzz, buzz that may just catch on.

Remember that many of the web 2.0 apps have a strong core of users and adopters that are made up of we web dev people. Pitch your app to us, make us passionate, share the ins and outs with us and not only will we extend the word on our blogs, but we may bring our passion to work with you, we may use it to extend your Api etc etc.

On a serious note, what kind of coverage can we expect for this investment in marketing? How many people at the event, how many press representatives etc.

£5000 is a lot to drop on promoting your app to an audience comprised mostly of potential competitors. I suppose the value is in the (artificial) seeding of the buzz / ideavirus / etc.

It’s interesting that you are trying (and succeeding) to bridge old techniques and new (premium marketing vs viral / word of mouth), but in the case of the next big ‘web 2.0′ app I think the cream will always rise to the top naturally.

Looks like a quality event though - if we weren’t so busy I’d attend!

Is there Q&A for these presenters?

You bet. It should be really interesting.

As a developer and prospective member of the audience, I would love to hear this and hit some of these people up with technical and business questions…