Grover Righter - General Manager & VP Marketing, iMobileInternet.com explains the Web 2.X business case.

Toronto's MaRs Centre hosted another in its series of Web technology conferences following in the success of MESH 06 & 07. "Experience Tech 2008" was less a celebration of the excesses of consumer tech culture, and more an in-depth exploration of how to monetize the opportunities the cultural shift Web X.0 generates. While there were few moments of deep insight at this conference, what became apparent is that the language described as Web 2.0 is now an integral part of the business idiom. According to speaker Grover Righter, companies now more than ever realize that they have to understand the new ways customers are empowered or they'll lose touch with the marketplace. Even worse, they'll be unable to respond to customer complaints on sites like the consumerist and will lose customers as a result.

Grover's message to entrepreneurs was uplifting: money can be made from good ideas and good execution. No market is too small. Get revenue up to $5 million and sell your company for multiples of 5 to 10 times revenue (really). In his world, $10 million dollar companies routinely sell for $50 million to the right buyer. Because business is embracing Web 2.0, any company that is well entrenched in the market now can expect to be pursued. Market makers are jumping into the market, so be prepared.

There were a number of useful panel discussions including one on Web 2.0 aptly led by MESH co-founder Stuart MacDonald (Moderator) and including David Crowe – Microsoft, Jeff Fedor - Founder Ardesic, Covarity, and Leila Boujnane - Idée Inc. Another useful discussion was on the growing influence of mobile moderated by Randall Howard – Verdexus, David Neale – TELUS, and Grover Righter - iMobileInternet.

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