Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
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Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
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Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#2It's a sign that you're entering hugely, hugely seedy territory if you ever are asked to pay to receive offers of employment, scholarships, or investment. First, many out-and-out scams operate that way. Second, if the opportunity were legitimate, there is an adverse selection risk. Meritorious candidates for employment/scholarships/investment have no interest in paying to get a chance at them, so those candidates would avoid that opportunity like the plague. The decisionmaker, if they have two brain cells to rub together, knows this and charges anyway. Why would you ever take investment from someone who had a declared policy of only entertaining pitches from the bottom of the barrel? (Plus, egads, what does that say about you to follow-on investors or other parties you need to sell?)
Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#3> “It’s low-class, inappropriate and predatory for a rich person to ask an entrepreneur to PAY THEM for 15 minutes of their time,” he wrote.
LOL it's predatory? What exactly do they think the VCs' business is?
Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#4No.
Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#5It is not only an East coast thing.
I met with the folks organizing Band of Angels in the valley and after multiple meetings and phone-calls they told me that we had been selected to present at their event. It was free to pitch apparently but dinner was $80.
I was tempted to turn down dinner and offer to bring my subway sandwich.
I didn't end up going... for all the reasons patio11 points out.
Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#6When I started my very first web business and didn't know any better, I almost blew $1000 on a couple angel groups that I know with the wisdom of hindsight would have been a complete waste of money. For someone who didn't know any better, it seemed like a good deal.
The worse part isn't that it preys on startups, it's that it prays on startups and new entrepreneurs that aren't plugged into the HN/SV scene (I was looking at angel groups in TX).
I don't think that a nominal fee (~$10 - $20) is necessarily a bad thing (but really, why bother?), but anything on the order of $100 or more is too much for a startup to be spending on that type of thing- a definite red flag. What investor would want to invest in a startup that spends all of its money looking for financing rather than creating a great product/service?
Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#7In general I think pay-to-pitch is highly suspicious, but I'm sympathetic to Graham Lawlor and Ultralight startups. He charges a small fee to cover expenses and make sure people are moderately serious. There's no way he's getting rich off of it. Pizza is included. The feedback and exposure are well worth the minimal cost. If the fee still bothers you, then just don't pitch there.
Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#8I am not a founder looking for an investment (at least, yet), but $50 in USA does not sounds bad for a lean start up. It act more as a filter than as an income for event host IMHO. Founder probably will spend more on a hotel alone.
On the other hand, practice of not disclosing fees and charging in the range of $1.000 - $8.000 definitely look shady.
Just my .05
Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#9It's a sign that you're entering hugely, hugely seedy territory if you ever are asked to pay to receive offers of employment, scholarships, or investment. First, many out-and-out scams operate that way. Second, if the opportunity were legitimate, there is an adverse selection risk. Meritorious candidates for employment/scholarships/investment have no interest in paying to get a chance at them, so those candidates wou…
Agree with all these points, especially the adverse selection bias. Would you pay to apply for a job? Of course not.
Between incubators such as YC and others, hustling for intros, and Angel List, there's no reason ever to pay to pitch investors.
The ones charging $1,000-$8,000 are just robbing Peter to pay Paul. The more people they invite to pitch, the more money they make, a portion of which they will "invest" in the "winner."
These people are leeches leaches and need to be called out as such.
Re: Should You Pay to Pitch Your Startup?
#10[deleted]