Comments on: CIX – Canadian Venture Capital Meetup

By: Carl

Carl — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:45:40 +0000

This is simply profiteering from the dark side of VC. Eventually, you realize that you you should never pay for money, or especially for the shot at money. That’s what lotteries are for. Networking is free and contingency fees always provide an incentive for third parties to raise cash and filter the nonsense out. All this does is a force an entrepreneur to sacrifice a mortgage payment so a new elitist funding group can serve shrimp cocktail.

By: Carl

Carl — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:45:40 +0000

By: James

James — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:56:28 +0000

The fine print on the reg page also says “* In addition to the conference fee, $495.00 will be charged should your company be selected as a Presenting Company.”

As an entrepreneur trying to make the startup a living, breathing, successful reality, this additional charge (conference + travel + pitch cost) starts to make it look like a $2,000 bill. That’s $200 per minute of presentation or almost $700 per guaranteed meeting.

I think entrepreneurs already fully recognize the nothing-ventured, nothing-gained mantra, but why is the burden of cost on the startup? It looks like an additional tax on trying to get your venture working.

And how many startups will be selected to present for 10 minutes? It can’t be too many, maybe 5 at the high end? Doesn’t it seem more fair for someone who stands to benefit from the potential dealflow to sponsor this part of the event for $2,500 (5 companies x $495) instead of extracting that from the startups?

Lastly, unless we (the startups) know the ‘20 leading investors,’ the proposition is pretty weak. It’s a matter of speaking to the right people, not the most people. So it could be 100 leading investors. The number doesn’t really matter. Who are they and what are their areas of expertise / investment? That’s what counts.

By: James

James — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:56:28 +0000

The fine print on the reg page also says ?* In addition to the conference fee, $495.00 will be charged should your company be selected as a Presenting Company.?

As an entrepreneur trying to make the startup a living, breathing, successful reality, this additional charge (conference + travel + pitch cost) starts to make it look like a $2,000 bill. That?s $200 per minute of presentation or almost $700 per guaranteed meeting.

And how many startups will be selected to present for 10 minutes? It can?t be too many, maybe 5 at the high end? Doesn?t it seem more fair for someone who stands to benefit from the potential dealflow to sponsor this part of the event for $2,500 (5 companies x $495) instead of extracting that from the startups?

Lastly, unless we (the startups) know the ?20 leading investors,? the proposition is pretty weak. It?s a matter of speaking to the right people, not the most people. So it could be 100 leading investors. The number doesn?t really matter. Who are they and what are their areas of expertise / investment? That?s what counts.

By: John Philip Green

John Philip Green — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:19:54 +0000

So we have this trophy here… says “Best Pre-VC Deal” from the Canandian Venture Forum (from the TVG). Did the phone ring off the hook with investors?

Nope. Interest from the VCs we were already talking to did not increase. Other Canadian VCs expressed no more interest than they were already.

Overall Value = Zero – ticket cost.

Also known as, DON’T GO.

A year later, we closed an A round from a large Indian company. CVF meant nothing to them.