At 11:30 a.m. in Boston on November 4, founders at the TechCrunch Founder Summit have a choice. They can hear Bessemer Venture Partners’ Kent Bennett discuss how to tell whether customers want a product badly enough to justify expanding. Or they can join Define Ventures’ Chirag Shah for a smaller conversation about breaking into a difficult industry. The sessions start at the same time. Which one deserves the half hour depends on what’s holding up your business.
The one-day event takes place at SoWa Power Station, 550 Harrison Avenue. TechCrunch is the organizer; its official agenda is the place to check for schedule changes. Here’s how we’d use it.
Choose the session that could change a decision
Suppose you sell software to clinics. Ten clinics have agreed to a demo, two are running pilots, and neither has renewed yet. If you’re debating whether to hire a salesperson, Bennett’s Impact Stage session is a good fit. Take a question you can use afterward: which customer behavior would make you comfortable hiring, and which would make you wait?
Now change one detail: the clinicians want the product, but you can’t get past procurement. Shah’s roundtable is the better choice. Ask who signs off on a pilot, what evidence that person needs, and when to bring them into the conversation. Same product, same conference, different obstacle.
Book the small room first
The attendee guide distinguishes between two ways to get a seat: reserve a roundtable through the event app; arrive early for a breakout, where seating is first come, first served. Braindate also lets attendees arrange individual or small-group conversations. Its lounge runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern, so don’t leave a meeting request until the evening reception.
For a founder going alone, a useful invitation might read: “We’ve had two successful pilots, but neither customer has signed an annual contract. Has anyone here made that transition?” A person who has solved the problem can recognize it immediately, and you’ve given them something more interesting to respond to than a request to network.
Real Talk
On November 3, the organizer’s ticket page listed the Founder Pass at $299 before the doors open. That puts the decision in perspective. If your main question is why a customer hasn’t renewed, call the customer first. A day in Boston makes more sense when you need to learn how other founders handled the same problem and have identified someone you can ask.
💡 IskraCore Take
Put one question at the top of your notebook before you choose a stage. Leave with one thing to try: a different person to invite to the next sales call, a better question to ask during a pilot, or a reason to postpone that first hire. That’s a useful return on a conference day, even if you miss most of the talks.