Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup? • Hacker News Board

Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?

#41

Post by pavelkaroukin » Fri, Dec 16, 2011, 8:35 PM UTC

lsc wrote: post #40

hippich wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well.. Let me show you it this way - If someone offered me a free 32" LCD good TV - I would definitely take it. Just because it is free and it feels like it have value. If someone offered me it for $25 - I would pass it, since I have no place to put it nor I have time to watch it. Similar could be observed in .99 games at any app stores. While 99 cents is really close to 0 cents for most US persons, still .99 games w…

oh man, your example really hits home: >If someone offered me it for $25 - I would pass it, since I have no place to put it nor I have time to watch it. Growing up, I hunted down free and really cheap computer hardware. I've always had a sizable stash of equipment that I'd play with, learn about, and eventually use to run services. As I've grown older, the initial purchase price has become less important, and the sto…

>> But yeah, you would be keeping out 12 year old me, which is fine. Personally, I would think that the majority of people at these events would be past that point. dono.

Judging solely on all rage I see about costs associated with giving a speech at such events, I can see how it might filter non serious people. I am not saying that $50 or $8000 is right/wrong. I am just saying - it is filter. Even small bump in requirements tends to filter out non serious people.

Here is simple way I look at it - if you can remove 5% of total noobs and get $1000 to spend more on marketing materials, why you shouldn't do it?

Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?

#42

Post by lsc » Mon, Dec 19, 2011, 6:22 PM UTC

pavelkaroukin wrote: post #41

lsc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh man, your example really hits home: >If someone offered me it for $25 - I would pass it, since I have no place to put it nor I have time to watch it. Growing up, I hunted down free and really cheap computer hardware. I've always had a sizable stash of equipment that I'd play with, learn about, and eventually use to run services. As I've grown older, the initial purchase price has become less important, and the sto…

>> But yeah, you would be keeping out 12 year old me, which is fine. Personally, I would think that the majority of people at these events would be past that point. dono. Judging solely on all rage I see about costs associated with giving a speech at such events, I can see how it might filter non serious people. I am not saying that $50 or $8000 is right/wrong. I am just saying - it is filter. Even small bump in requ…

>Here is simple way I look at it - if you can remove 5% of total noobs and get $1000 to spend more on marketing materials, why you shouldn't do it?

depends entirely on how many good prospects also get removed. A grand in marketing materials is not a big deal if you have enough money to invest.

If it removes more unsuitable than suitable candidates, then it's a good deal; I'm just not convinced that is what happens. I think you get some adverse selection- The sort of people you want to invest in are going to be focusing on their business rather than focusing on getting investment, so I suspect you'd get vastly better results making your event 'invite only'

Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?

#43

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 19, 2011, 6:23 PM UTC

pavelkaroukin wrote: post #41

lsc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh man, your example really hits home: >If someone offered me it for $25 - I would pass it, since I have no place to put it nor I have time to watch it. Growing up, I hunted down free and really cheap computer hardware. I've always had a sizable stash of equipment that I'd play with, learn about, and eventually use to run services. As I've grown older, the initial purchase price has become less important, and the sto…

>> But yeah, you would be keeping out 12 year old me, which is fine. Personally, I would think that the majority of people at these events would be past that point. dono. Judging solely on all rage I see about costs associated with giving a speech at such events, I can see how it might filter non serious people. I am not saying that $50 or $8000 is right/wrong. I am just saying - it is filter. Even small bump in requ…

[deleted]

Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?

#44

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 19, 2011, 6:23 PM UTC

pavelkaroukin wrote: post #41

lsc wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh man, your example really hits home: >If someone offered me it for $25 - I would pass it, since I have no place to put it nor I have time to watch it. Growing up, I hunted down free and really cheap computer hardware. I've always had a sizable stash of equipment that I'd play with, learn about, and eventually use to run services. As I've grown older, the initial purchase price has become less important, and the sto…

>> But yeah, you would be keeping out 12 year old me, which is fine. Personally, I would think that the majority of people at these events would be past that point. dono. Judging solely on all rage I see about costs associated with giving a speech at such events, I can see how it might filter non serious people. I am not saying that $50 or $8000 is right/wrong. I am just saying - it is filter. Even small bump in requ…

[deleted]