Invites to Allen & Company’s prestigious annual, 29-year-old Sun Valley Conference are hard to come by. After all, the boutique investment bank’s week-long Idaho summer camp, known as a catalyst for billion-dollar deals, plays host to more moguls than entrepreneurs. This year, exceptions were made for a handful of under-30-somethings not named Mark Zuckerberg, such as AirBnb’s Brian Chesky, DropBox’s Drew Houston, and Quora’s Adam D’Angelo. Quora question: How the eff did I get so lucky?
But after the old folks went home, Ashton Kutcher, perhaps the most telegenic face of tech’s new crop of angel investors, decided to host an after-party/alternative conference of sorts in the 40-acre compound he owns with Demi in nearby Hailey, Idaho. This past weekend, Page Six reports, Mr. Kutcher invited a dozen “young tech stars” over, including folks from Foursquare and AirBnb. Alas, Sean Parker, who attended the Sun Valley festivities, couldn’t make it this time. An anonymous source told the Post:
“It was his retreat of young tech guys. There were no major deals announced in Sun Valley. There’s a generational shift, and Ashton is doing his thing. It was the young tech guys meeting after Sun Valley.”
Sun Valley was not without its own touch of Hollywood glam. There was for instance, that Salma Hayek sighting. But we’re guessing Ashton had better party favors and, hopefully, more deal flow.