This past Monday I attended Startup Riot as an observer. We had originally signed up to pitch but I dropped out last minute due to us not really needing anything. We’re still refining our business to try and rise above the noise so whatever we had wanted to pitch weeks ago would have been outdated by the time the event started.
Overall, the event was great. The venue was easy to find, it was clear to navigate inside and it had a really nice, modern feel to it. I did manage to do some networking and passed some cards out but probably not as much as I would have liked being that I didn’t present.
Being that so many people already wrote nice things about the event, I figured I’ll chime in with some suggestions for next year’s event.
1. Plugs/Sockets! - I know it’s rude to want to play on your laptop and pass notes via backnoise in the background while presenters are speaking, but if both of the above are allowed, then there really should have been more sockets and extension cords on the sides to help make it easy for laptop owners.
2. More Booths - The sponsors got some great exposure from demoing their services at the booths. For the startups that presented, it would have been nice if there were some room carved out for them on the side of the ballroom where they can go stand, demo their product and help answer questions after the pitch. A lot of presenters told the audience they could find them after the presentation to chat - but it was hard to find them all at times. (Maybe startups who wants an elaborate booth could pay for it.)
3. More Job Seekers - I spotted a ton of entrepreneurs, co-founding members and investors. However, besides for Paul who dressed the part, I really couldn’t tell who else was a student or a job seeker. Maybe they could wear a different color name tag?
4. Group the Presentations by Common Elements - 55 companies is a lot of pitches to go through. Even though there were ample breaks in between each group, you could tell by the increasingly harsh comments in the back channel that some people stopped paying attention near the end of the day. If the pitches were grouped by some common element, investors or job seekers would only need to really focus on certain groupings and relax and network during the others.
5. Company Name on Name Labels - While there was probably a great reason why this was omitted, presenting companies should at least have them on their name tag.
With that said, I’m looking forward to next year’s event. Atlanta needs more events like this.
