

Making Startups Pay for Awards - sanjayparekh

I did a quick blog post about the Technology Association of Georgia asking companies that they selected for their Top 40 to pay after being selected (http://www.sanjayparekh.com/georgia-startup-award/).  I kind of have an issue with this and there has been a furious discussion in the Twitter stream about this (I'm @sanjay, you can find my tweet replies there to some of the comments).<p>I'd like some feedback about this and would love to hear how prevalent this is in other cities/regions.  Do startups get charged money to pay for the event when they win stuff or is this unheard of?
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socialtistics
It is not unheard of (i.e. DEMO is a good example). However, comparing this
event to DEMO is like comparing apples and oranges. The visibility of DEMO
makes the fee a little less hard to swallow. The visibility of this event is
limited primarily to a particular state. They would be better off marketing
this as a "conference" or "exhibit" where up to 40 companies can participate
and a Top 10 will be selected. To say it is the Top 40 in Georgia though is a
little deceiving and false advertising in my opinion. For example, what if I
am legitimately selected as one of the top 40 and cannot afford to participate
(and assuming I do not qualify for a "scholarship"), does the next company in
line take my spot or are only 39 companies exhibiting? If the next company
takes my spot, then you really can't say it is the Top 40 in Georgia, it is
more like the Top 39 and a company that could afford to pay. Yes, I know it
clearly states that I will be charged a fee if selected before I apply, but
that in itself destroys the notion of a "Top 40" since obviously the only 40
companies there are going to be ones that can either afford to pay or qualify
for a scholarship.

The better option in this case would be to setup something like TechCrunch50
where the top 50 get to present for free, BUT other companies can exhibit for
a fee.

The bad part about these events being marketed like as a "Top XXX" competition
is that people generally assume, based on the title of the competition, that
if you aren't exhibiting then you are not a "Top Company", when in fact you
could have been selected but unable to afford the cost of exhibiting.

Sadly when events like this are held and marketed this way I think good
companies are often overlooked. My technology may be the next great thing, but
will be overlooked because I can't afford the "entry fee" to exhibit and be
viewed as a "Top 40" or possibly a "Top 10" in the state.

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sanjayparekh
Not to just keep pimping my own things, but this was why I started Startup
Riot (<http://www.startupriot.com>) which I just held in Atlanta last week.
Presenting companies pay nothing and there are no exhibitors. Other startups
can attend and pay the registration fee ($20/person for startups).

That said, you make a good point on what happens if a company drops out
because they can't pay. I'm not clear as to what happens. Since it's billed as
a Top 40, I'm assuming they fill the slot with someone else.

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sanjayparekh
Can't make the above links so here, to make this easy:

<http://www.sanjayparekh.com/georgia-startup-award/>

Sanjay

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coglethorpe
I think the TAG people have a funny definition of "WIN"

