BEGINNING TO THINK...
That the mentors, advisors, and executive investors are smarter than everyone is giving them credit for.
Keep in mind, ANDI did NOT have a booth at CES, nor do they have a booth at MWC.
Now, this is GOOD NEWS folks! I couldn’t yet find the cost of this years setup so here is the data from 2017 (it would be more expensive this year):
1. Cost to set up a 10x10 booth: minimum $3800
2. Cost to connect to Wi-Fi, booth setup, and other Misc “booth requirements”: $600-$1300
3. If you’re a “startup”, you could rent a turnkey booth at the Eureka Marketplace for starting $1000
Now, imagine Mike and his team saving $5000-$10000 for exposure (don’t lose me yet)...
Let’s work in the middle ($7500): An average plane ticket costs $640. Multiply this by 5 and you have $3200. Now, being conservative, let’s say each person has their own room ($120 ea). We are now at $3800. Food (50/ day x 5 people = $250) now puts us at $4050. Following me still? This is $950 cheaper than the cheapest booth setup they would have had. BUT, it gets better.
With 5 people at a single booth, you HOPE all 5 people are constantly communicating with someone that walks by. Chances of this happening are less than 50% (all 5 busy at the same time). BUT..
If you have 5 people who have chosen to instead to walk around, network, and have a bigger impact, you know they are engaged 100% of the time, each day. And you STILL would have saved hundreds of dollars.
To me, during the startup phase, engagement guaranteed is more valuable than taking the chance to have a booth setup. Now, imagine the cost of a booth setup at the worlds LARGEST mobile conference... SUPER EXPENSIVE!
Mike and his team are doing this right folks. I’ll be honest, my advisors and Series A investors advised me to do the same. We learned our lesson after a single booth setup in Raleigh, NC many years ago. Engagement is better outside of paying for a booth, PERIOD... during the startup phase.
Trust the team. Trust the product. Trust not what you hear but what you see. I see 1) value 2) a great team of big names and 3) good communication.
ANDI LONG AND STRONG!
