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Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

calacanis.com

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Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#11

Post by psherman »

saryant wrote: post #6
atroyn wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Collision Conf 'shortlists' every startup they come across.

I find it interesting that I can't find the NY Times quote they've splashed all over their advertising about being a "conclave of tech's high priests." I can find other people quoting the quote, but I can't find any NY Times article that actually includes it (or even mentions this conference at all).

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/magazine/the-dutch-elm-dis...

The article isn't particularly about the conference, but what it does mention I wouldn't consider too complimentary.

Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#12

Post by saryant »

psherman wrote: post #11
saryant wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it interesting that I can't find the NY Times quote they've splashed all over their advertising about being a "conclave of tech's high priests." I can find other people quoting the quote, but I can't find any NY Times article that actually includes it (or even mentions this conference at all).

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/magazine/the-dutch-elm-dis... The article isn't particularly about the conference, but what it does mention I wouldn't consider too complimentary.

Wow, that article isn't about the conference at all, it just serves as an anecdote. The quote the conference uses in their media serves, if anything, as nothing more than a flippant missive meant to contrast the writer's own view of himself against the people he writes about, not as praise for the event.

Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#13

Post by wavesum »

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #2

Web Summit and Paddy Cosgrave, I'm looking at you here. This is their mode of operation exactly. They fooled me out of 1000 euro and packed me in like sardines with a bunch of other poor fools. It's a bad memory of a huge, overcrowded, scammy event where the only winner was the organizers. And their formula seems to be working which is the most depressing part.

Same experience here. The first they scout you through your website, and act as if they had done some research, and drop the bait of free booth, then they "vet" you over Skype and later let you know you're a winner.

"By charging big companies big money we can offer promising startups like you this opportunity for free"

All you need to do is buy couple of tickets for 1500+ euros and the free booth is yours.

Ouch. But we've come this far, maybe it's worth a shot...

When you get to the place you realize it's 500 startups like you, crammed shoulder to shoulder. Very few investors around...

Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#14

Post by bruceb »

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?

Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#15

Post by jacquesm »

bruceb wrote: post #14

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 di…

$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?)

Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#16

Post by pavlov »

jacquesm wrote: post #15
bruceb wrote: post #14

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 di…

$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…

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.

Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#17

Post by gkoberger »

monsterix wrote: post #5
atroyn wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Collision Conf 'shortlists' every startup they come across.

Hmm. They do seem to have some big/good names on their speaker list though!: https://collisionconf.com/speakers I guess their kind of thing is suitable for enterprise startups. Where, you know, BS is a way of life and cash is in plenty.

I mean, it's not like John Collison could turn it down. It's practically named after him.

Really, though... bad experience on the startup side != bad conference in general.

Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#18

Post by nakedrobot2 »

wavesum wrote: post #13
nakedrobot2 wrote: post #2

Web Summit and Paddy Cosgrave, I'm looking at you here. This is their mode of operation exactly. They fooled me out of 1000 euro and packed me in like sardines with a bunch of other poor fools. It's a bad memory of a huge, overcrowded, scammy event where the only winner was the organizers. And their formula seems to be working which is the most depressing part.

Same experience here. The first they scout you through your website, and act as if they had done some research, and drop the bait of free booth, then they "vet" you over Skype and later let you know you're a winner. "By charging big companies big money we can offer promising startups like you this opportunity for free" All you need to do is buy couple of tickets for 1500+ euros and the free booth is yours. Ouch. But…

Yup!

"Shoulder to shoulder" is not an exagerration either. I think it was 50-80 startups per wall - no more than 1 meter each. Like a supermarket. Totally depressing and wrong. I actually did not meet one single investor there. But of course there are one or two lucky outliers to give a testimonial. Ugh! Stay far, far away.

Re: Avoid the “Apply to Present” and “Angel Pitch Contest” Event Scams

#19

Post by [deleted] »

jstandard wrote: post #7
monsterix wrote: post #3

Wow! I remember going through this ordeal (of taking a decision) a couple of weeks back with Collision Conference. They'd shortlisted us for the conference at Las Vegas and wanted us to pay a sum to attend it. Here's what I'd tweeted then, at the time: https://twitter.com/marvindanig/status/579039796238139392 After reading this post I feel happy that we decided not to attend the event. Apparently, it saved us some em…

Identical experience here with Collision. They set up a 15 'pitch call' with me, asked a couple token questions and then blazed through a script about what their conference offers. I was magically approved for a 'free booth' package provided I paid the $1,995 for tickets. It is clear they don't have the entrepreneur's interests at heart.

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