Founders often ask which of these they should do first. It depends on what you're asking for, so start from the ask and work back to the room.
Our stake: we run pitch nights. They're one row in the table below, described the same way as the others.
Six rooms, side by side
| Room | What it is | Who's in it | What it costs you | It fits when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open mixer | A venue and a start time | Whoever came | Little or nothing, and an evening | You're new in town and want range |
| Pitch night | A few founders on stage for minutes each, then questions | Founders, operators, sometimes investors | A low-priced ticket and an evening | You want honest reactions and people at your stage |
| Demo day | The showcase that closes an accelerator or programme | Invited investors and alumni | A place in the programme first | You're in a cohort and raising now |
| Accelerator | A programme that runs for months, with mentors and a cohort | A selected cohort | Often equity, and months of your calendar | You want structure and a deadline, and accept the trade |
| Founder dinner or peer group | A small table, the same people, repeated | Founders at a similar stage, by invitation or membership | A fee or an invitation, often a revenue threshold | Your company is running and you need peers |
| Conference | Stages, an expo floor, thousands of badges | Everyone | A pass, travel and several days | You have meetings booked before you land |
Match the room to the ask
- I have an idea, I want your honest take. A pitch night. You get questions back from people with no reason to flatter you.
- I came with a problem. A small table: a founder dinner, or a pitch night that seats people by topic.
- I want to grow. A conference, if you can book meetings ahead. A mixer for range, if you're new to the city.
- I've hit a ceiling. A peer group of founders one stage ahead. An accelerator, if what you're missing is structure.
Where our evenings sit
We're the pitch-night row, with one difference. The first hour is spent at tables on topics the city voted for, before anyone takes the stage. Then five founders get five minutes each, and the room asks the questions.
We aren't a fund, an accelerator or a demo day. We don't take equity, and we don't work on your idea with you for three months. If you need a programme, a cohort and a deadline, an accelerator will serve you better than we will. If you need the same eight founders every month, look for a peer group.
What a table like this can't tell you
Whether a specific room is any good. Two pitch nights can share a format and feel nothing alike. Go once, with one ask, and decide after. Are startup networking events worth it? has five checks you can run from the event page first.
Quick answers
- Is a pitch night the same as a demo day?
- No. A demo day closes a programme, and the programme invites its audience. A pitch night is open to anyone with a ticket, and the stage is by application.
- Do I have to be raising to pitch?
- No. Founders pitch at our evenings anywhere from the first line of code to Series A.
- Will investors be at a pitch night?
- Sometimes. We never promise it for a given evening.
- Which should I do first?
- If you can't yet say your ask in one line, a pitch night. It costs one evening to find out what people don't understand about your idea.
