Evaluating Tech Conferences: Are They Worth It?
Conferences. As entrepreneurs and VCs, you've got a chance to go to dozens of them each year. Often, the ROI on attending these events are questionable at best.
The Startable blog has some guidelines to help you determine whether a conference is worth it. The author shares three reasons why he, as a VC, attends certain conferences:
- Meet new startups - conferences can be a very good place to meet new startups and find new potential investments.
- Fill in an investment thesis - industry specific conferences can be great places for a venture capitalist to refine an investment thesis and learn more about the competitive landscape in an industry, get a feel for customer needs, the next generation of technology, best practices, etc.
- Support an existing portfolio company - a good venture capitalist makes introductions that help portfolio companies succeed. Conferences can be great places for a VC to facilitate in person meeting between portfolio company executives and critical players in that company’s ecosystem.