What makes a “good” startup event?

Our quest to find a definition that (almost) everyone can agree on.

I recently took over as one of the “Curators” for the Silicon Valley edition of Startup Digest, a weekly email newsletter with hundreds of thousands of subscribers worldwide that highlights the best upcoming events for people in the local startup community.

As curators, we receive dozens to hundreds of submissions for local startup events every week, and our job is to filter and curate a select number of events that we deem to be the “best”…

…And therein lies the inherent challenge — Every week some events are a clear “Yes”, some are a clear “No”, and the rest are total toss-ups that could go either way. Which begs the question, what makes a *good* startup event?

It seems like such a simple question, but the more I thought about it the more I realized how loaded it is with subjectivity, which is why my co-Curator and I felt the need to document and open-source our event selection criteria guidelines.

By eliciting your feedback, we can hopefully start converging on a widely accepted description of what a “good startup event” entails. Our hope is that by being as objective and transparent as possible, no one can accuse us of playing favorites and there will always be a clear consistency in the way we select events.

To start off, my co-curator and I tried to sum up in 1 sentence what makes a quality startup event, and here’s the Version 0.9 that we came up with:

The best startup events are those that “move attendees further down the path of entrepreneurship” and give current and aspiring startup founders the specific skills, knowledge, and/or connections needed to maximize their chances of success.

In addition, here are some of the key criteria that we consider -

Defining “Event”

For the purposes of Startup Digest, we define “event” as a gathering of people, open to the public, convening at a designated time and place in order to discuss or engage in a common interest.

This means that things like accelerator programs (which are selective) and paid membership-based communities do not qualify as events and thus do not qualify for Startup Digest in and of themselves.

Events, like people, should be focused

The Startup Digest community as we understand it is a very diverse one, consisting of founders, investors, engineers, designers, marketers, product managers, etc. There are tons of great resources for any one of those verticals, but our job is to focus on *startup* events, since an interest in startups is the one thing that all SD subscribers have in common.

That’s why it’s called “Startup Digest” and not “Tech Digest” or “Design Digest”. It’s certainly possible that a niche technical event can provide valuable insight for a startup founder and we’d certainly consider it, but startup-focused events will always take priority over more general engineering/design/marketing events.

The more specific and focused the event, the better

Specific and focused events are more likely to attract attendees with a lot in common, which will lead to more fruitful interactions and networking. An example of a focused event would be a Bitcoin hackathon or a talk on how to build a top engineering/sales team.

On the other hand, general events with a hazy focus (e.g. “the latest in tech” or “the biggest mobile trends”) are likely to attract a more casual, disinterested crowd, and we are less likely to include those kinds of events in the digest.

Quality speakers, venue, and/or sponsors

It makes our job as curators easier when an event is already “pre-vetted” i.e. has received a stamp of approval from someone else whom we already know and/or respect. Specifically, we are partial to events with quality speakers, quality venues, and quality sponsors (in that order).

For example, an event featuring a talk by a household name like Steve Blank or David Heinemeier Hansson would be a no-brainer. These are people with limited time and a brand to protect, and they probably would not lend their name and time to an event unless they thought it was very high quality.

An event that is taking place at the HQ of a highly respected company like Twitter, Stripe, or Dropbox has a much better chance of making the cut. These companies probably would not lend out their event spaces to just anyone, and the same goes for sponsoring.

The more interactive and hands-on an event, the better

By “interactive” and “hands-on” we mean events like hackathons, workshops, etc. as well as larger events that include a hackathon or workshop component.

We’re less likely to approve “networking for the sake of networking” events unless they have some other redeeming quality. We believe that all events by their very nature are “networking events” and that networking happens most naturally and effectively when there is a common, specific topic of interest or task at hand.

The event shouldn’t feel like an advertisement

If an event seems like it’s more meant to promote a company and it’s own product(s) rather than to benefit its attendees, that’s a big no-no in our book. This also goes for “events” that are actually just paid classes or tutorials.

The lower the price, the better

The question we ask ourselves when faced with an event that offers clear value but has a high price point (>$50) is, “Are there any other events this week or in the next few weeks that offer the same value but at a lower price (or for free)?”

All other things being equal though, the more affordable the event, the better. Given the vast selection of events that are constantly taking place in the San Francisco Bay Area and the age of unprecedented online access to quality content that we’re living in, there’s no reason you should have to pay hundreds of dollars to attend an event. (Unless the event is so impressive and unique that its value more than justifies its high price tag.)

Last but not least, the hidden gems

Even today’s top “star” founders and startup companies all started from the bottom at one point. Likewise, we understand that smaller grassroots events and event-based organizations may not have the marketing muscle that larger, more well-known brands have, and we consider it one of our duties at Startup Digest to help surface those small but quality events that might otherwise have trouble getting publicity.

In the absence of any other information, the best (and really only) way for us to know if an event is good or not is to meet the event organizers in person and attend the event ourselves, time permitting. As curators, we always try to speak or meet with event organizers whenever necessary, and nothing makes us happier than when organizers reach out to us first.

If you are an event organizer and you believe your event is high quality but lacks the requisite “star power”, then the best thing to do is reach out to us and show us how awesome you are.

Whether you agree or vehemently disagree with these criteria, we’d love if you could let us know so that we can keep refining them. The more feedback and constructive criticism we receive, the closer we’ll get to our goal.

And sign up for the Startup Digest in your area here if you haven’t already!