What are the Benefits of the Startup Conference in 2022
No entrepreneur can know the market 100%. If you don’t keep up with what’s going on in the industry, you can drop out of the race at the first turn. To stay up-to-date and maintain your circle of acquaintances, it pays to attend industry startup conferences. There are hundreds of events geared toward the startup community and the IT business. Let’s take a closer look at the features of startup conferences.
Communicating at startup conferences
If your business is tech-savvy and requires long explanations, it’s easier to answer questions from potential clients and partners in person. It is not for nothing that 97% of B2B-marketing experts think that classical events help to solve business problems. Large startup conferences are attended by the top management of companies, so you get access to the decision-makers.
Experts argue that the future lies in hybrid events – with the ability to participate both online and offline. However, the desire to attend live startup conferences varies from region to region: after 2021, the offline format startup conferences 2022 is most expected by participants from Europe and the United States.
Reason #1: Attending large conferences from a marketing
First of all, a startup declares its existence to the international business community. A project that has been presented at large events for several years is taken seriously by clients, partners, and competitors.
One international event is often cheaper than several local startup conferences. To find partners in different markets, it is not necessary to travel through several countries – they will all be present at key global events. For example, in the technology sector, these are events like Web Summit and London Tech Week.
Reason #2: Making contact with attendees is easier at the event itself
It’s harder to do it by mail or phone when you don’t know if a potential partner will see your message or not. At startup conferences, people are more open and forthcoming. On top of that, you can have a team-building activity: Some startup conferences are worth going to as a team to strengthen relationships with colleagues.
Reason #3: International events are a great way to exchange experiences.
You can get new knowledge from the speeches of your industry experts and get acquainted with the speakers to get recommendations and find mentors.
Stages of startup development
Every startup goes through several stages before it enters the market. However, in some cases, the author of an idea can deliberately skip a few stages if the situation allows it. The main thing is to determine before the launch what will happen to the startup after it attracts investment. This may be a move to a traditional business, a sale, or a launch on the stock market. Such information is especially important for potential investors to understand the risks and return on investment.
There are several basic stages that a startup goes through:
- Problem/Solution Fit – confirmation of the problem and that the proposed product will solve it;
- Minimum Viable Product (MVP) – development of a working prototype with the minimum functionality to solve the problem; release of the alpha version and testing its flaws;
- Product/Market Fit – confirmation that the product has a market (closed beta of the product);
- Scale – scaling the business model (open beta and release of the consumer version of the product);
- Maturity – the transition from a startup to a business.
Investing in a startup
Investors usually either sell their stakes in a successful startup or retain them for a stable passive income. The parties stipulate the division of profits in advance. In this case, the investor’s share sometimes makes up the majority of the income, while the founder’s share does not exceed 10%. For example, 42% of the founders retain a stake of 76% in the company, and 29% retain a stake of 51% to 75%. This is because most of them raise their capital or take out loans.
To find a good project to invest in, an investor needs to do some serious work. It includes not only searching for and obtaining information on startups but also building one’s image in the eyes of the authors of the ideas.
Learn how to pitch
Networking for a startup conference’s founder or business leader should become a habit. If you regularly attend industry events and build up your networking base, you will have no problems finding specialists for your team, consultants, mentors, and even investors.
You don’t meet investors on the street; you need someone who introduces a funder or forwards a letter. The more people you know in the community, the better the chances are that some of them know the right investor. And at some startup conferences, you can even meet an angel or fundraiser directly.
Building Marketing
For a company or startup, a conference is a great way to PR. Especially if the program includes an exhibition where you can buy a booth and hold a presentation of a product or service. This not only increases recognition of the company or specialist but also increases his expertise in a professional environment, especially if he will not only be at the booth but also will speak somewhere.
Large IT startup conferences are always attended by representatives of the media – the event is covered in print media and on television. For any company, this is a chance to be featured in the conference results and increase the weight of its brand and become more attractive to potential partners and employees. Some organizers of the event also give bonuses to all participants: recording of presentations, discounts for attending the next startup conferences and festivals, demo access to online projects.
Online startup conferences
The most important thing about attending startup conferences is that you can meet all the necessary people (of course, if you are properly prepared). Online format as a mechanic also provides this, but it is completely ineffective in terms of building relationships.
Face-to-face contact is in many ways crucial for now and will be even more valuable in a “post-pandemic” world. Therefore, over time, all important events will return offline with the necessary visitor safety protocols in place. For startup conferences, events, where you can exhibit your product and get feedback from potential users, partners, and even investors, can be very useful. They are important in terms of target contacts, developing a network of partners, and general exposure.
Unfortunately, this is the niche where there are the most “empty” events that just collect money from exhibitors. Therefore it is worth choosing events for participation very carefully and thoroughly, it is best just to focus on the top ones with a good reputation, which has been attended for many years by the target audience of a particular startup.
