PyCon Blog

For the past 10 years I’ve been a volunteer organizer of [Startup Row](https://us.pycon.org/2026/attend/startup-row/) at PyCon US, and I wanted to let all the entrepreneurs and early-stage startup employees know that applications for free booth space at PyCon US close at the end of this weekend. (The webpage says this Friday, but I can assure you that the web form will stay up through the weekend.)

There’s a lot of information on the Startup Row page on the PyCon US website, and a post on the [PyCon blog](https://pycon.blogspot.com/2026/01/apply-for-pycon-startup-row-2026.html) if you’re interested. But I figured I’d summarize it all in the form of an FAQ.

*What is Startup Row at PyCon US?*

Since 2011 the Python Software Foundation and conference organizers have reserved booth space for early-stage startups at PyCon US. It is, in short, a row of booths for startups building cool things with Python. Companies can apply for booth space on Startup Row and recipients are selected through a competitive review process. The selection committee consists mostly of startup founders that have previously presented on Startup Row.

*How to I apply?*

The “[Submit your application here!](https://us.pycon.org/2026/applications/apply/startup-row/)” button at the bottom of the Startup Row page will take you to the application form.

There are a half-dozen questions that you’ve probably already answered if you’ve applied to any sort of incubator, accelerator, or startup competition.

You…

> I think perhaps the ruby community was also smaller

Back in 2008-2010 when Python 3 was released, Python really wasn't as huge as it is today. It probably was bigger than Ruby, but not by that much.

One datapoint (that doesn't give the full picture), Pycon 2008 had 1k attendees [0], Railsconf 1k8 [1].

IMO It's really in the early/mid 2010's with the rise of "big data" that the Python community really became huge compared to Ruby's.

> I have never been a serious python user, so can't really compare

As an ex-pythonista, now Rubyist, IMO one huge factor was that Python 2 and 3 were developed concurrently for several years, that played in the messaging. Python 3.0 was released on 2008, Python 2.7 in 2010, and Python 3 wasn't really deemed production ready until 3.2 or 3.3 if I remember correctly. So there was a 4-5 years limbo. Whereas in Ruby's case, it was very clear to the community that 1.9.x was the future.

Also Python 3 did make some absolutely necessary breaking changes (like unicode), but also some minor syntax changes that made it much harder to support both with a single codebase for questionable gains.

e.g. the `try/except`syntax was `except Class, var:` in 2.x, and `except Class as var:` in 3.x. That kind of changes made it hard for packages maintainers to support both versions. Ruby 1.9 didn't have this problem. It was much easier if not trivial to write code that worked on both Ruby 1.8 and 1.9.

> typical python "minor" releases may actually have fewer…

> Go to Microsoft Learning, you'll find lots of JavaScript tutorials (NodeJS or WinJS or Angular)

And also quite a bit of Python, including general language courses, Django, Python/Flask/SQL, Python w/MongoDB, etc.

> When Microsoft decided to hire people behind IronRuby and IronPython, I thought they decided to adopt those languages but that didn't last long before they cut them loose...

Microsoft is still a significant backer of Python, not just a PSF sponsor, but also directly employing Python core devs, and doing a lot of direct support for Python. [0]

IronPython and IronRuby weren't Microsoft adopting the Ruby and Python languaegs, they were efforts to alternatives to the core implementations of those languages tied to the .NET platform.

[0] See, e.g., http://pycon.blogspot.com/2015/03/for-microsoft-python-support-extends.html

> Speaking up to the individuals or to PyCon staff would have been very appropriate.

Speaking up to the individuals isn't always the easiest in a situation like that. It's easy to make that suggestion sitting behind a computer screen. So, she spoke up in the best way she knew how.

In the end, the result between the 3 parties (the 2 guys, PyCon, and her) ended amicably.

http://pycon.blogspot.com/2013/03/pycon-response-to-inappropriate.html

> Public shaming given the circumstances was not.

Well, neither was their actions. More so, in fact. That she reacted poorly is indicative of the seriousness of their actions. Sitting comfortably at home in our chairs it's easy to dismiss this as nothing. But it's not.

I probably should stand corrected because pycon did not remove the offenders from the conference [1] but settled it between all parties involved.

That actually makes maters worse tbh because if Adria hadn't posted their image on twitter for her 9000+ followers to see, it would have remained an issue settled between pycon, adria and these guys. Now the case is closed for Adria and pycon while the guys are far worse off with one of them being fired. Not good!

[1] http://pycon.blogspot.be/2013/03/pycon-response-to-inappropriate.html

> The PyCon workers took her complaint seriously and didn't seem to have any problem helping her out.

Indeed, leading to this: http://pycon.blogspot.be/2013/03/pycon-response-to-inappropriate.html

> Both parties were met with, in private. The comments that were made were in poor taste, and individuals involved agreed, apologized and no further actions were taken by the staff of PyCon 2013. No individuals were removed from the conference, no sanctions were levied.