5 ms·

The question is how do you create enough financial incentive for organizer to put on a quality conference without charging startups? I don't mind paying a small

by bruceb 12y ago

The question is how do you create enough financial incentive for organizer to put on a quality conference without charging startups? I don't mind paying a small fee, after all a lot of effort goes in to putting on a conference but clearly there are those charging "too much" (of course that is subjective). Calacanis's Launch cost $450 a table for 3 days with discount code. For those who attend this year or last how did you feel about it?

jacquesm 12y ago
$1 is too much. The startups are looking for funding, not spending it on maybe-I-will-hook-up-events with no guarantee of even individual attention. These are just scams, avoid them completely. One product/project launch vote on HN will get you more in terms of actual attention from the right people than one of these events. Let's turn this around: Who active on HN found investment through an event like this? (Maybe this should be a poll?)
- pavlov 12y ago
  I don't know about the US situation, but in Europe, the investors who go to these events tend to be non-savvy local angels. Actually, a better way to describe them might be "hobby investors": moderately wealthy people who are thinking about putting this year's vacation money into a startup instead. In exchange for something meaningless like 20k€, they'll want to meddle in the company's strategy and expect regular reports. It's fun -- like playing "The Startup Sims" with real people! If the hobby investor is well-connected, that can actually be useful. But in the typical case they're probably not the kind of investor that any startup would want, given the choice.
  - barake 12y ago
    It is a very similar situation where I am in the Midwest/Southern US. Most "investors" are doctors/lawyers/etc that think investing in a startup is an alternative to the stock market.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    That's very accurate from my personal experience. I'd add that they also tend to have totally irrational expectation with respect to the return-on-investment.
    - jasonmcalacanis 12y ago
      Note: the worst angel investor you could ever have is someone who is doing it a "hobby."
- loopbit 12y ago
  We've got pretty good exposure and even some small investment through WebSummit, both directly and indirectly (people that saw us there and then met us somewhere else). Now, both have come from the pitch events. From my point of view and as a founder, that's the only real reason to attend. The stands have been almost useless and most of the 'meet-the-investors' events even more so (I do remember one of those where no investors showed up, none, just 50 or so hopeful startups).
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    > I do remember one of those where no investors showed up, none, just 50 or so hopeful startups. That sounds like a 'let's see some refunds' situation to me.
downandout 12y ago
>Calacanis's Launch cost $450 a table for 3 days with discount code The fact that you are asking this means this post was a very good example of sponsored content. He makes a legitimate point, then spends the second half of the article advertising his own stuff. Classic negative review tactics - bash your competition and then pitch yourself. As for these conferences in general, I don't understand why it is so hard for these organizers to get investors to come to their events. With the frothy market, investors aren't exactly hiding from opportunities to find new startups worth investing in. The organizers just aren't trying.
- jasonmcalacanis 12y ago
  Well, I don't actually have to bash the competition... as I'm not competing with anyone -- I lose money or breakeven and sell out every time! It's easy to sell out when you have 60,000 emails and you give every founder a free ticket. :-) Also, I didn't start this whole discussion, I was reacting to folks who were bashing these other events. Those founders felt duped, not me.
chrisbennet 12y ago
Sounds like if you are poor startup it's free. (175 out of 225 were free). Seems fair and not a bait and switch. Calacanis states in the article: "At the LAUNCH Festival this year we gave 11,000 of the 12,000 attendees FREE TICKETS. We also gave away 175 of the 225 demo pit tables for free. We sell some at cost as well ($1-3k). Our model is to charge the companies who have money, and give them some time on stage to be a judge or do a little content about their product."
- jasonmcalacanis 12y ago
  Correct. We will let folks buy trade show tables and exhibitor booths through the front door. I have no problem with a funded company that is selling to our audience to buy a table. I mean, if you're selling a SaaS product that has an average LTV of $5,000 it's probably good idea to spend 2-5x that on a sponsorship for our events (or someone else's) because, well, you'll make it back! The issue we are talking about here is people "applying" to be in a competition to "get exposure to angels," and then being "accepted" for a fee. That's just lame. I'm a lucky bastard in that I have the chip stack to take on the risk of a $1m+ budget event, get the support of the top sponsors in the industry and be able to give everyone free tickets and tables. Remember, Mike and I fought to kill the DEMO conference ($20k to present!) and then he sold to AOL and they decided to maximize profit. I decided to minimize profit -- in fact, my goal is to net out to ZERO each year and give back MORE AND MORE. Why? I believe the angel investor who gives away the most value gets into the best deals. The SCALE conference is going to be free for 2,500 of 3,000 seats. http://calacanis.com/2015/04/29/welcome-to-scale/ http://calacanis.com/2015/04/29/welcome-to-scale/
jasonmcalacanis 12y ago
Note: We give 175 of 225 tables away for free based on merit (we look for unfunded, or angel funded companies that are doing cool shit). We let anyone buy tables through the front door -- no application or anything. We have a ton of bigcompanies and profitable SaaS companies who want to reach the 12,000 folks who come to LAUNCH Festival and the 3,000 coming to LAUNCH Scale in the fall.

by bruceb 12y ago

jacquesm 12y ago

$1 is too much. The startups are looking for funding, not spending it on maybe-I-will-hook-up-events with no guarantee of even individual attention. These are just scams, avoid them completely. One product/project launch vote on HN will get you more in terms of actual attention from the right people than one of these events. Let's turn this around: Who active on HN found investment through an event like this? (Maybe this should be a poll?)

pavlov 12y ago
I don't know about the US situation, but in Europe, the investors who go to these events tend to be non-savvy local angels. Actually, a better way to describe them might be "hobby investors": moderately wealthy people who are thinking about putting this year's vacation money into a startup instead. In exchange for something meaningless like 20k€, they'll want to meddle in the company's strategy and expect regular reports. It's fun -- like playing "The Startup Sims" with real people! If the hobby investor is well-connected, that can actually be useful. But in the typical case they're probably not the kind of investor that any startup would want, given the choice.
- barake 12y ago
  It is a very similar situation where I am in the Midwest/Southern US. Most "investors" are doctors/lawyers/etc that think investing in a startup is an alternative to the stock market.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  That's very accurate from my personal experience. I'd add that they also tend to have totally irrational expectation with respect to the return-on-investment.
  - jasonmcalacanis 12y ago
    Note: the worst angel investor you could ever have is someone who is doing it a "hobby."
loopbit 12y ago
We've got pretty good exposure and even some small investment through WebSummit, both directly and indirectly (people that saw us there and then met us somewhere else). Now, both have come from the pitch events. From my point of view and as a founder, that's the only real reason to attend. The stands have been almost useless and most of the 'meet-the-investors' events even more so (I do remember one of those where no investors showed up, none, just 50 or so hopeful startups).
- jacquesm 12y ago
  > I do remember one of those where no investors showed up, none, just 50 or so hopeful startups. That sounds like a 'let's see some refunds' situation to me.

downandout 12y ago

>Calacanis's Launch cost $450 a table for 3 days with discount code The fact that you are asking this means this post was a very good example of sponsored content. He makes a legitimate point, then spends the second half of the article advertising his own stuff. Classic negative review tactics - bash your competition and then pitch yourself. As for these conferences in general, I don't understand why it is so hard for these organizers to get investors to come to their events. With the frothy market, investors aren't exactly hiding from opportunities to find new startups worth investing in. The organizers just aren't trying.

jasonmcalacanis 12y ago
Well, I don't actually have to bash the competition... as I'm not competing with anyone -- I lose money or breakeven and sell out every time! It's easy to sell out when you have 60,000 emails and you give every founder a free ticket. :-) Also, I didn't start this whole discussion, I was reacting to folks who were bashing these other events. Those founders felt duped, not me.

chrisbennet 12y ago

Sounds like if you are poor startup it's free. (175 out of 225 were free). Seems fair and not a bait and switch. Calacanis states in the article: "At the LAUNCH Festival this year we gave 11,000 of the 12,000 attendees FREE TICKETS. We also gave away 175 of the 225 demo pit tables for free. We sell some at cost as well ($1-3k). Our model is to charge the companies who have money, and give them some time on stage to be a judge or do a little content about their product."

jasonmcalacanis 12y ago
Correct. We will let folks buy trade show tables and exhibitor booths through the front door. I have no problem with a funded company that is selling to our audience to buy a table. I mean, if you're selling a SaaS product that has an average LTV of $5,000 it's probably good idea to spend 2-5x that on a sponsorship for our events (or someone else's) because, well, you'll make it back! The issue we are talking about here is people "applying" to be in a competition to "get exposure to angels," and then being "accepted" for a fee. That's just lame. I'm a lucky bastard in that I have the chip stack to take on the risk of a $1m+ budget event, get the support of the top sponsors in the industry and be able to give everyone free tickets and tables. Remember, Mike and I fought to kill the DEMO conference ($20k to present!) and then he sold to AOL and they decided to maximize profit. I decided to minimize profit -- in fact, my goal is to net out to ZERO each year and give back MORE AND MORE. Why? I believe the angel investor who gives away the most value gets into the best deals. The SCALE conference is going to be free for 2,500 of 3,000 seats. http://calacanis.com/2015/04/29/welcome-to-scale/ http://calacanis.com/2015/04/29/welcome-to-scale/

jasonmcalacanis 12y ago

Note: We give 175 of 225 tables away for free based on merit (we look for unfunded, or angel funded companies that are doing cool shit). We let anyone buy tables through the front door -- no application or anything. We have a ton of bigcompanies and profitable SaaS companies who want to reach the 12,000 folks who come to LAUNCH Festival and the 3,000 coming to LAUNCH Scale in the fall.