Comments on: Why it is Ok to Pay to Pitch

By: DavidCohen

DavidCohen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:39:50 +0000

The overreaction here is the “put down your pitchforks” comment. If you read my post that you reference, I was not railing against this nor was I challenging anyway. I was simply making a friendly offer. I'm glad that offer had an impact. While I agree that “pay to pitch” is generally wrong (and that, yes in specific instances that add great marketing value as Shawn points out – it can be done “right”), please note that the pitchforks are being carried in posts you didn't reference, written by others.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:21:44 +0000

Oh… I see that I didn't click far enough the first time.

Spam say I!

By: gbsmith71

gbsmith71 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:05:39 +0000

Spam or not, she's certainly been busy: http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHMB_en-GBA...

By: heyrich

heyrich — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:40:54 +0000

I think this gets us back to intent and who's throwing the party.

If I were looking for funding for my startup, I'd be very very turned off by a group of investors who wanted me to pay to pitch. Sure there are expenses associated with putting on a pitchfest of some kind, but I'd really be looking for an investor who (A) had enough natural deal flow where they wouldn't be needing to put on a pay-to-pitch event and (B) was smart enough to see that the great startups would self-select out whenever there was a decent alternative.

If, on the other hand, I lived in a place where there was a good community of startup folks and yet investors were hard to find (knock on wood if you live in Boulder), I could absolutely see US banding together to create a pitch event where we could attract a bigger group of investors. Think Ignite + BDNT. It'd be like a TechStars Demo Day for the rest of us.

The point might be academic. Are there places where quality startup folks congregate and yet there isn't a good natural connection to investors?

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:20:07 +0000

I say no spam if only because I can't obviously click through to some other site from the commentor's profile.

By: GrantG

GrantG — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:19:03 +0000

Holy crap, I shouldn't have opened that link at work… If it's spam, it's really well done.

By: andrewhyde

andrewhyde — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:17:53 +0000

Agreed that there is a lot of downright horrible groups out there.

I don't buy that it can't be done right though. Perhaps my event organizer hat is on too tight.

By: andrewhyde

andrewhyde — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:16:38 +0000

Really a hard story to read. I don't think events like these make any sense, and hurt a lot of people.

I still, for some reason, think it can be done right.

By: andrewhyde

andrewhyde — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:13:09 +0000

I really can't tell if this is spam or not.

By: andrewhyde

andrewhyde — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:12:44 +0000

I think it can be done right, don't see many doing it really well but I think that it could be done.