

Ask YC: To booth or not to booth ? - iamyoohoo

Hi guys,<p>We're working on the product for my new startup in the ecommerce space. No it's not another ecommerce site builder :) Our product should be ready in the next 5-6 weeks.<p>Our question is: should we advertise by having a booth at the Internet Retailer or shop.org conferences? Has anyone done this at these conferences and was it useful?<p>If not these ones specifically, what have your experiences been with booths at trade conferences or shows in your area of expertise?<p>Cash is tight as a startup and these don't come cheap so would love to get your thoughts.<p>Thanks in advance.
======
paulsingh
Don't do it. I've been considering the same thing for my startup (MailFinch)
for a while now -- it's so tempting, but it's not worth it.

These days, here's what I do to "sponsor" events like these:

1\. Give away a door prize. In my case, I give the conference organizer the
ability to give away three of my "Freelance" packages for a year -- those are
worth $300/each.

2\. I tell the conference organizer that I only have budget for stuff that is
_guaranteed_ to bring me customers. I tell the organizer that I'll give them
an affiliate commission on anyone that signs up through the special link I
provide for the conference. (This is a relatively new tactic for me and, so
far, only seems to work with the larger conferences...)

------
imp
I think Eric Sink describes some strategies for setting up a booth for trade
shows in the Business of Software. So it must have worked for him, but I think
that was after he had a profitable business. I'm not sure how important that
would be for a new startup. You've gotta get the word out somehow though.

