Why Events Are Important for Early-Stage Startups

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  Kim Harrison
  

For busy founders, it’s easy to see events as a big waste. Attending all-day events can pull founders away from the important task of building their companies. Furthermore, they are expensive! Costs include sponsorship packages, travel, hotel, food, and other incidentals.

However, there is also a lot of hidden value in events, especially for early startup founders. This article will share strategies for how founders can incorporate events into their go-to-market programs to better support their goals, without being an unnecessary drain on resources.

What We Mean by “Events”

Events can take many shapes. They can range from local gatherings of a handful of people to large shows that attract thousands of attendees.

Generally speaking, events fall into one (or more) of these main groups:

• Conferences and Trade Shows: These events bring together people from a specific industry or field.
• Seminars and Workshops: These events offer educational content and networking opportunities.
• Local Meetups: These tend to be smaller, community-based events around a specific topic held in a shared space.
• Private Meetings: Invite-only engagements for smaller groups, typically set in a social atmosphere like dinner or coffee.

Some events may include more than one element at a time. For example, AWS re:Invent is a huge conference that hosted over 65,000 attendees in 2023. The four-day event included workshops, product launches, and product announcements. Conversely, meetups are smaller events hosted in many cities, that typically host dozens at best. They last a matter of hours, feature topics relevant to the local community, may offer pizza or other refreshments, and convene every month or so.

When it comes to comparing the in-person vs the virtual experience, they are not the same and should not be treated as such. When attending virtually, you can access the talks and presentations. In some cases, you may have the ability to chat or submit questions. But you cannot interact with others the same way.

Attending in person opens you up to connecting with others on a deeper level. The chance encounters with other experts. The ability to ask questions of a speaker in a session or instructor in a workshop. The 1:1 attention when visiting vendor booths. The ability to network with influencers or potential partners. Not to mention the ability to accelerate conversations with people who are already in the market for a solution. Attending and meeting face-to-face will always offer more than in a remote chat room.

Why Should Early-Stage Teams Attend In-Person Events?

Selling a new product comes with unique challenges. Buyers need a more in-depth description of your product to familiarize themselves with it and feel inspired to trial it. This is especially true if your product exists within a new category and is not competitive with an existing product. You must provide the necessary context for them to understand how your product provides value and how it fits into their world.

Connecting in-person at a focused event, versus on a cold call or email, allows you to speak directly with people actively seeking this kind of information. They did opt to attend the event, after all. Speaking opportunities only add to this. You can showcase the value proposition of your product to a larger group in a session, and then field questions or arrange for 1:1 conversations later.

Events do require an investment, at minimum your time and cost of travel. If you decide to participate at a higher level than just attending–sponsorship, giving a talk, or hosting your own onsite happy hour or dinner party–that can incur other costs as well. Attending and participating in events isn’t trivial, but you can get incredible value from them. Events are a great way to:

• Build brand awareness
• Meet new potential customers (lead generation)
• Accelerate deals currently in pipeline
• Connect with existing customers
• Better understand the industry and competitive landscape
• Network with other experts and influencers
• Recruit new team members
• Confirm or disqualify messaging or customer persona strategy

You’ll get the best results at events that are highly relevant to your industry. Ideally, you’ll mingle with builders, thinkers, and community members like yourself. And depending on the event you decide to attend, your goals may be different. Giving a talk at a major industry conference could be a great way to establish yourself as a thought leader and mingle with influencers. On the other hand, a community meetup might be better for candid product feedback and sourcing design partners.

Goal Setting

When deciding how to show up to an event, it’s helpful to be clear about your goals. Consider what your organization is focusing on, and how attending events will help them achieve that. This will also help narrow focus on which events to attend and how they might show up.

For example, if your goal is to capture new leads, then consider events that many of your prospective customers plan to attend. If your goal is accelerating existing sales deals, in similar fashion consider the events these groups plan to attend, and create space to meet with these individuals while there. Perhaps you can host an onsite dinner or happy hour. Find a way to let them know you’ll be there and want to connect with them 1:1.

Alternatively, if you’re at a much earlier stage and still seeking product-market fit, you might set your sights on events attended by your customer profile. For developer-facing products, it's important to remember that often the buyer (CTO, Principal Architect, or similar manager) might be a different persona than the user (developers). Look for events that attract the specific type of developers you are building for. These events give you opportunities to validate your hypothesis–are you addressing the developers’ pain points?

Should My Startup Get a Booth?

So you’re ready to venture out and participate in an event. What’s the best way to get involved? Should you just attend and look to chat with people on the show floor? What about sponsoring, hosting a booth, or giving a talk?

Booths and sponsorships can be extremely pricey. It’s a good idea to consider investing in them only after you’ve confirmed the event will align with and support your higher-level goals. Is it relevant to your target audience? Will the sponsorship provide opportunities for your team to connect with that audience in the intended manner? Ultimately you need to know whether or not the event will deliver enough value to justify the cost.

Before committing to any kind of sponsorship package, there are some things to consider:

• Who will attend–prospects, competitors, influencers, or others?
• What kind of promotional real estate will you have–a table or booth, fliers included in event packages, or branded coffee cups at refreshment stations?
• What information will you have access to in terms of lead capture?

While all of this is valuable information, as we’ve mentioned it comes at a steep price. For early-stage teams on tighter budgets, just attending events can be a meaningful source of intel within the ecosystem you’re building for. Getting accepted to speak at a conference as part of a call for papers (CFP) can be a strong signal that the event is a good fit for your startup and audience–and gives you more opportunities to build on your presence with follow-ups at the show and afterward.

All in all, events are an opportunity for your team to connect with the industry. These spaces are an incredible opportunity to showcase your product, connect with potential customers, collaborate with industry influencers, and strategize with partners. By aligning your event strategy with your higher-level goals, events can provide many, many kinds of value.