I really don't want to be defending the target company, but it's only unethical if its unproductive. My point is that the article doesn't actually claim any dat

I really don't want to be defending the target company, but it's only unethical if its unproductive. My point is that the article doesn't actually claim any data or anecdotes where someone actually went there and determined if it was productive or not. I mean, I would never go for that conference, and it sounds like a bad deal to me. The article comes off like witch-hunting, though. Paying to be in the "top 50" is pretty odd, but maybe they mean "the top 50 startups, based on them having enough cash to waste some on being called 'top 50'". Call me cynical, but that fits right in with my impression of east coast VC, which this company seems to be based in.