Alsop's rebuttal
Thursday, May 03, 2007 by Dave Winer.
What do you do when two people remember an event differently? 
Yesterday, I got an email from Stewart Alsop, saying that I got the facts wrong in in my recount of his Agenda conference. Of course it is possible that I got it wrong because my memory is imperfect, and I do make mistakes.
But I have a very distinct memory, sitting in the audience of his conference, having paid a lot of money, and believing that the table had been unfairly tilted in favor of Stewart's interests.
He says it's not possible. So I ran his objection at the end of my story. And I wanted to give it even more prominence, here this morning. However, I want to make it clear that I am not retracting, my piece is very clearly labeled as my recollection, and I've disclaimed that my memory is imperfect, so I think everyone has all the caveats they need to decide for themselves.
Stewart Alsop via email: "I became a VC in June 1996. At Agenda 97 that fall, I shared the program 50/50 with Bob Metcalfe. I made my first investment at NEA right after that conference in December 1996. I did not participate in running Agenda 98, by which time I had three portfolio companies. But, even if I did AND if I had all three CEOs participate (which none of them actually did), it's hard to imagine that 3/26 of the program would be a 'fair number of the presenters.'"
