Per the response of several startups who participated in an audience poll, the organizers of the upcoming Startup Summit have decided to scale back the event from two days to one.
The announcement was made in an email sent out Thursday from event organizer Mark Bavisotto, who also leads Startup Grind Triangle.
The poll, which was sent to entrepreneurs in the organizers’ network, sought answers to two questions: what did they think of the conference, and what would keep them from being able to attend? Answers to the first question were generally positive, but the second question received a more constructive response — “The consensus was they didn’t want to take their focus away from their startup for two straight days,” wrote Bavisotto in the email.
In a detailed LinkedIn post, Bavisotto further explained that the impulse to take an audience poll came after the conference didn’t gain as many signups as expected after it was announced earlier this summer. He added that, based on his experience in organizing events for more than three years, he understands that it’s generally difficult for startups to make early commitments to events.
The best solution determined by Bavisotto and his team would be to limit the duration of the conference to one day—a decision he describes as “a lesson learned.”
“We had to pivot and make this a 1 day conference to meet the needs of our target audience. We adjusted the format and created an explosive 1 day conference that will meet the needs of startups without compromising content or quality,” Bavisotto added. “As with traditional startups, we made a pivot after releasing our initial concept and getting feedback from our target audience. I’m sure I could have saved myself a step initially by asking them that second question early on, but the number of days never factored into my thought process. Lesson learned.”
Startup Summit will now be held on October 16 at North Carolina State University’s Hunt Library. The program consists of panels, keynotes, educational workshops and networking sessions—all designed to be a crash course in topics essential to startup business development, including everything from funding to team-building and operations to sales and marketing.
The agenda of the event has been adjusted and is outlined in full here.
Tickets are $59 for early-stage entrepreneurs and $79 for early bird general admission (early bird sales close August 31). A $139 bundled registration offer for two tickets is also available. There’s also a ticket option for the happy hour reception, priced at $35. More information on Eventbrite.
