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About Me

David Troy is a serial technology entrepreneur. He started his first business at age 14 in 1986, and has been working in the information technology industry since then. In 1995 he founded ToadNet, a major regional Internet service provider near Baltimore, which he sold to Landmark Communications in 2004. He has been an active contributor to projects such as Asterisk and developed a large-scale distributed call-center technology and VOIP telephony systems for global technology companies. In 2007, David launched two side projects, Twittervision and Flickrvision, which were featured in the 2008 exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind at the Museum of Modern Art. Since then, David has been exploring projects in data visualization with his current company Roundhouse Technologies, which he founded in 2008 with partner Stephen Muirhead. David is also very active in the local technology scene in Baltimore and is a co-founder of Beehive Baltimore, the first coworking space in Baltimore. He is also cofounder of Baltimore Angels, an angel investing group specializing in early-stage information technology startups. In 2009, David also founded TEDxMidAtlantic, a conference dedicated to the power of ideas to change the world; in 2010 he helped organize the BmoreFiber initiative to attract Google’s fiberoptic network investment to Baltimore. He is 38 and lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and two children. He is a certificated private pilot.

Location:
United States, Baltimore, MD
Current organization:
Baltimore Angels
Past organizations:
Beehive Baltimore, TEDxMidAtlantic, TEDxOilSpill
Current role:
Curator
Gender:
Male
Areas of expertise:
Design, Art, entrepreneurship, Organizing People, Ruby
I am:
Activist, Artist, Change Agent, Connector, Entrepreneur, Environmentalist, Event planner, Investor, Technologist, World traveler
Languages:
English, French, German
My website links:
David Troy, Beehive Baltimore, TEDxMidAtlantic
TED conferences attended:
TEDActive 2013, TEDGlobal 2012, TEDActive 2011, TEDGlobal 2010, TEDGlobal 2009
Member Picture

TEDCRED 500+ TED AttendeeTEDx Organizer

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Design, entrepreneurship, self-actualization, effectuation

Talk to me about

Entrepreneurship, Baltimore, Place, Cities, Design

People don't know that I'm good at

Cooking, flying, womens fashion

Comments

  • TEDCred score: +5002.70 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: Very telling. What they lack is the imprimatur of a mainstream outlet, which I imagine they sought to obtain in TED.

    From a practical standpoint, if a speaker has been featured in any of these venues that's a very good sign that they should not be featured by TED or TEDx.

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: Agreed. Thanks for making my point crystal clear.

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: Yes, Steve, I wrote more words. Those words are my opinions. However, my opinions were not necessary to justify the single sufficient reason for the revocation of the license.

    Therefore, attacking my opinions doesn't change the fact that revoking the license was justified.

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: No. I said that the marketing materials were badly written, didn't make any sense, and were off-base for the TED brand — and sufficient cause alone for the revocation of the license.

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: I love it, Gary! I hope that happens. However, the TED brand is a registered trademark, and could not legally be used in this context.

    I suggest that whoever wants to embark on this come up with fresh and original branding, and create a brand that stands for ALL ideas, no matter their provenance, "reality-status," or focus.

    The notion that TED should not spawn competition (or should be scared of it) is patently ludicrous. Go forth and compete! Build an audience around whatever ideas YOU enjoy!

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: No, I don't claim knowledge, and please do not attempt to draw me into a discussion of parapsychology, because I won't participate in it.

    What I said was that a curatorial direction which was based on a specious and poorly written theme was likely to include presentations which would fall into those categories.

  • A reply on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: Steve — I claim no knowledge of that topic, and don't think it's the issue at hand. I think the marketing for the event was unclear, poorly written and reflected negatively on the TED brand. The fact that TED could not resolve efforts to clarify the branding with the organizers was sufficient cause to revoke the license.
  • +10

    A comment on Conversation: Discuss the note to the TED community on the withdrawal of the TEDxWestHollywood license.

    Apr 2 2013: TED has taken appropriate action in this case. The language used to market the event was not compatible with TED's branding, ethos, or values. For this reason alone it was appropriate to revoke the license.

    What people keep forgetting is that TED has no obligation to lend its brand to any event, or to publish any idea at all. TED has reserved the discretion to decide what content it wishes to associate with its brand. Those who disagree with its decisions should go start their own media companies and conferences that can highlight whatever ideas they like.

    As an organizer of a major TEDx event (TEDxMidAtlantic) I appreciate the steps that TED is taking to defend its brand from fringe ideas and pseudoscience. Our team puts substantial effort into our event, and frankly, I don't want our hard work to be associated with a brand that would have sanctioned an event like the proposed TEDxWestHollywood.

    You can say that I am closed-minded or not open to radical ideas — but you'd be wrong. I love a good romp through radical ideas as much as the next person. But I also know the difference between science and fantasy, and between rationality and imagination. The fact is that fringe, unproven, propositional ideas don't belong at TED.

    If that comes as a disappointment to some, so be it. Perhaps you thought TED was something it is not. Ideally, those sufficiently let down will launch their own media company that lends its brand to practitioners of fantastical pseudoscience. Indeed: irrational conjectures worth contemplating.

  • A reply on Conversation: The debate about Graham Hancock's talk

    Mar 20 2013: I was pointing out, for other readers of this thread, that Griffiths talk which was fundamentally on the same topic as Hankcock's didn't generate any controversy because it was framed in a scientific context. There is a place for subjective descriptions of first-hand experiences, it just may not be TED's YouTube channel.

    Lewis' points are well made; I was merely expanding on them so that folks understand that TED is not inherently opposed to discussion of this topic, but there is a difference between a scientific talk and one which is more subjective and speculative. That difference seems to be at the core of this debate.
  • +1

    A reply on Conversation: The debate about Graham Hancock's talk

    Mar 19 2013: I am, like you, Pandelis only a third-party observer.

    TED has made many choices in the past that have angered and disappointed various people about various talks. This is an inevitable part of making decisions about content. What I would suggest to you is that the TED team, on net, tries to do the right thing, and more often than not gets it right.

    If you find yourself consistently disagreeing with its decisions, as I've said: there are many media outlets out there, and many more to come. TED doesn't have to be everything to everyone, but it can't be anything to anyone if it doesn't remain true to its beliefs and attempt to make the best curatorial decisions possible.

    Perhaps it can do a better job of that in the future, but really, how could that not be otherwise?
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