TechCrunch Disrupt — Is it worth it?
We exhibited at TechCrunch Disrupt London 2014 this week and after a couple of days we have been looking back to answer the simple question of “was it worth it?”
Attending is not cheap, especially for a small startup on a tight budget. Tickets for Startup Alley Exhibitor Package for two cost us £720 pounds. Adding an additional £750 for flights the cost quickly rises. We were lucky to not have to pay for accommodation.
Comparing to other events, the Dublin Web Summit Alpha Package costs a little under £1200 for three days, with flights a little over £50. We will be attending both and will be writing about it as soon as we can.
What we’ve paid
In our case we took a quick look at what we could get for the amount we’ve paid. Depending on where your developers are located you could almost pay them a month’s salary. You could quite heavily promote your app through advertising on Facebook or Twitter. You could purchase a new computer. All things that are essential for small startups.
The event itself was very well organised. Getting in to set up was quick and easy, very efficient and polite staff, food and drink almost always available and the venue itself was good.
We exhibited on the first day and were fortunate to have a corner table in Startup Alley giving us plenty of breathing space to move around. Others were not so fortunate, being cramped into tight areas with barely any space to move.
Everyone were of course after the same thing — out to sell. All startups and some sponsors as well were very busy promoting themselves, trying to get media attention, feedback and to speak to potential investors and possibly make partnerships with others.
In our case we got very favourable feedback from almost everyone we spoke to and very encouragingly also from those from large news organisations such as Time, Sky, Quartz and Nikkei Publications. We also received interest from some investors (although the general message from VC’s to everyone was come to us later), but more importantly we have begun what is looking to be a very promising win-win partnership with another startup that will not only save us development time but also improve our product immensely. It is, however, difficult to receive any true critical feedback. There is little time and many are keen to see all startups and want to be polite to get users to their own service rather than challenge others exhibiting. It is vital to be very active yourself. Do due diligence on other startups there, be prepared, reach out to others and don’t expect for them to come to you.
Presentations? Not worth it
We cannot speak of the first day keynote presentations as we were unable to see any of them but were able to see them on the second day. These were of relatively poor quality with questions being simple and rather dull. Many in the audience were coding and looked like they had just tried to find a place to sit. For small startups these presentations were irrelevant and did not add any value to attending.
Startup Battlefield finalists were far more interesting with some great pitches and ideas that will undoubtedly have an impact in the future. We were, however, quite disappointed in the simplistic questions asked by the judges and were expecting far more rigorous and challenging interrogation. The winners, Crate, had a great product and idea and will be more than happy with the media attention but a company that has already raised $1.5 million from Sunstone and DFJ Esprit and are looking for another $3–5 million will not be noticing an extra £30,000 in award money. One starts to question the value of Startup Battlefield when the companies pitching are not startups looking to secure their futures but already established companies with strong funding from major funds. This complaint has often been repeated in the past years most noticeable by Michael Arrington who founded TechCrunch.
Entrepreneurs like me who paid to participate asked themselves and each other this question:“Why did I spend money to be here?” Peter Lalonde
http://openera.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/why-i-regret-going-to-techcrunch-disrupt/
Was it worth it?
For us in the end the event has provided very positive beginnings. It remains to be seen how these will develop in the future. Will it be a waste of money for some? Undoubtedly.
