The Access Filter: How Founders Choose Which Conferences Should Earn Their Budget

Fall is conference season, with three of the biggest stops on the U.S. tech calendar all taking place within a few weeks of each other.

VMware Explore just wrapped in Las Vegas, Dreamforce takes over San Francisco in mid-September, and TechCrunch Disrupt follows in October Every one of them asks a founder for the same three things: travel, a ticket or sponsorship fee, and a bet that the room inside is worth the cost.

Exhibitions are now the single largest channel in exhibitor marketing budgets, pulling in 40.8%, according to research from the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. Its VP of Research, Nancy Drapeau said, "There's no more compelling signal of effectiveness than where marketers choose to allocate their finite marketing dollars."

Not everyone spending that budget is confident it's working. 74% of Fortune 1000 exhibitors increased their event budgets last year, but just 6% say they're confident in converting the leads those events produce, according to momencio's 2026 State of US B2B Events report.

In 2024, Ayaz Ahmadov, CEO of the pet-care app Dosty, flew from Baku to San Francisco to exhibit at TechCrunch Disrupt, one of the tech scene's largest events. He had familiarity presenting at conference booths at INMerge, a large tech conference in his home country of Azerbaijan, but he told International Business Times that Disrupt was different.

Every conversation "had the potential to be transformative" he said, noting that investors, journalists, and operators who can actually move the needle were in attendance.

For founders looking for better ROI from their conference budget, there are a few suggestions some experienced conference goers recommend.

Relevance beats scale

Ask experienced conference goers what consistently returns value from events and most likely it won't be the size or prominence. It's how relevant the event is to your company's goals.

To understand better, Ahmadov said he goes online to research outcomes of past editions of events he's considering to attend. Instead of how cool the venue is, or the names of keynote speakers, he tries his best to identify investments made or partnerships sprung as a result of the trade show. He also looks to see if local markets where events are held are mature enough to "convert conversations into outcomes."

Eugene Malobrodsky, a partner at One Way Ventures, reached the same conclusion about outcomes, but from the other side of the event table.

His Pathfinders collective is an advisory bench that matches successful founders with portfolio companies solving similar problems; and the firm's flagship One Way Summit is a curated conference with one mission, to support immigrant founders in the US.

"At a general conference, people are going there to do their sales or business development," Malobrodsky told International Business Times. "When there is a common pain or common goal, it's a lot easier to find the right people in that place."

As an attendee, Ahmadov agrees with this logic. Given a limited events budget, he said he'd prefer to attend well-targeted, pet-industry trade shows over a bigger, flashier tech conference. "I would rather be highly relevant to 500 people than merely interesting to 10,000," he added.

Ask your current customers

In these types of curated scenarios, it can also help to be a little creative with your delivery to conference attendees.

Milad Geravand is the CEO DeepCare, a German healthcare startup that created a desktop sensor and app to improve wellness at the workplace.

He went on to tell International Business Times that conference goers might often not even know the have a problem your company can solve while walking the showroom floor, and may blow past your booth altogether.

Instead, Geravand said at his recent visit to New York for the Wellbeing at Work Summit, he opted to sponsor a workshop rather than buy a booth, and left with 42 enterprise leads in hand.

He also looks for feedback from customers he already has. Since DeepCare only attends a handful of events per year, he said he asks customers: "Which events do you rate as genuinely exceptional, and which are just fine?"

According to Geravand, "The people we already sell to are a near-perfect proxy for the ones we want next."

"If an event fails those checks, we skip it, even a famous name," Geravand added. "The discipline is being willing to say no to good events so we can fully commit to the extraordinary ones."

Apply to the Stage, Not Just the Floor

Choosing the right room is one problem. Getting the right people to notice you once you are in it is another.

Rachel Sheppard, Global Strategic Director of Ventures at Mars Petcare and co-lead of the Leap Venture Studio accelerator program, told International Business Times that one of the most reliable ways to get an investor's attention at a crowded event is to stop competing for it on the showroom floor; be part of the show instead.

Plenty of events open slots for pitch competitions, panel discussions, workshops and more where founders can share their experience and expertise to the wider conference audience.

Presenting on stage can often serve as an icebreaker for conversations with investors, journalists and potential clients.

Sheppard cautions however that, "When pitching at events, founders often default to the highlight reel. But what actually builds my confidence in them is hearing about the times things didn't go as planned, when they had to adapt, pivot into a new market, or rethink their product after customers did something unexpected. That honesty is worth more than any polished pitch."

Make every dollar spent count

Not every founder has the luxury of full sponsorship packages or attending multiple events per year. For some just starting out, it could be make it or break it after one tradeshow.

Jessica Berger founded Bundle x Joy, a petcare startup whose seed round was led by Leap Venture Studio. As a spend-conscious founder, she aims to make every dollar count.

She told International Business Times that instead of buying a full booth, she will split the cost with a complementary brand.

"Go to the events and learning sessions, that's where real conversations happen," she said, pointing new founders toward peer communities like Startup CPG over paid floor space as the better move for limited budgets.

The relationships that last

It's important to remember that conferences are often just the beginning of the business relationships that can take companies to the next level. Malobrodsky, the investor, said that terms sheets aren't often signed on conference floors.

Instead, conferences provide the inspiration of someone who has done what you want to do before you have; access to investors who are attending curated events to find founders like you; and a place to have unguarded conversations with people looking to solve similar problems.

Malobrodsky was a founder for over a decade before becoming an investor. Late in his career as an entrepreneur he said he landed in an invite-only founders circle – the kind where candid, sincere conversations happen.

"I realized, if I would have met those people earlier, I would have probably made a few decisions differently," he said. "Some of the mistakes could have been avoided."