Am I the only one who thinks Austin's tech meetup scene is splitting into two camps?
Went to a founder happy hour on Rainey St and heard two guys arguing about whether demo days are still worth it, one swore he closed a $40k contract from a 90 second pitch, the other called them a waste of a Tuesday night. I honestly can't tell if the smaller dinners around town beat the big stage shows, so which one actually moves the needle for you?
Man, my buddy went through this exact thing last year. He did the big demo day thing at some warehouse on East 5th, paid like 75 bucks, got 90 seconds on stage, and walked away with nothing but a hangover and a couple of business cards. Then a few weeks later he got pulled into one of those small dinners at someone's house off South Congress, maybe 12 people, and he said the whole night was just real talk about who was hiring and what tools people actually use. He ended up getting introduced to his now business partner at that dinner. The big shows are fun for the free beer and the energy, but the small rooms are where stuff actually gets done.