Providing and Marketing The Value

Provide Value

Provide opportunities to get in front of a large group of people who can help you.
Let people make an informed decision about the value of attending
Develop a calendar of events and resources that is more geared towards helping founders get their companies off the ground.
How to manage your board?
How to understand term sheets?
How to know if the goals you set on your angel round will be enough for A round investors?
Have a set of online articles or blog posts.
Provide a mechanism for angels to get leads from referrals.
Provide a mechanism for entrepreneurs to find introductions to angels.
Do more good than harm
Provide leverage in the community above the dollars they consume as an organization.
Get juices flowing.
Help people aspire to give it a shot
Don't be a waste of time and money.
Don't be a waste of time.
Don't charge for an event and not provide enough value for that $ amount.
Don't make people feel like they didn’t get what they paid for.
Don't have people leave the event with good buzz and conversations but nothing very useful.
Don’t disallow entrepreneurs to get in contact with active angels.
Don't waste the entrepreneur's time on individuals who haven't invested before.
Don't charge entrepreneurs for something they could spend a few hours figuring out on their own (LinkedIn, John Cook's blog, etc.)
Don't overpromise and under deliver and charge a lot.
Don’t have the STS mailing list be more educational than the event.

Marketing the Value

Help people understand the value they're getting
Keep integrity in the marketing promise, expectations, and delivered product.
Position the value as visibility
Explain why it is valuable
Let people make an informed decision with the right set of expectations.
Be clear on how you operate:
Type of people in the audience
Whether you're an info event or a pitching to investors event
How much information to disclose about the company.
Whether the pitching will directly affect funding results.
Be clear about where you draw the line with different fee structures.
Be clear about community leaders who participate in the event, as far as their underlying motive.
Clarify what "early stage" means:
"early stage" is a business that has a working prototype and is in need of seed funding.
"start-up" means you are up and running and have customers as well as revenue and need to get over a financial gap.