Walking through the rows of exhibiting start-ups at the Web Summit is like running a gauntlet. The entrepreneurs are eager to pitch their ideas to anyone who will listen, which makes sense considering most companies have spent thousands of euros on the tech event and want to get their money’s worth.
Caleb Stavenger, Bio’s Remnant Gaming LLC (US). Estimated summit cost: Over €3,350
Caleb Stavenger was the only person in his team of three who could afford to travel from
Oregon
to the summit. “I came here on my own dime, scarily enough,” he said.
He spent $1,450 (€1,161) on a flight from the west coast of the US. “That was part of the reason the rest of my team couldn’t make it. It would have been about $4,000 (€3,204) for all three of us.”
Stavenger is trying to live on the $300 (€240) in cash he brought with him and is staying at “the cheapest hostel” he could find. He got a start-up package deal for summit tickets themselves. He paid €1,950 to exhibit at a booth for one day, and that came with three tickets.
Stavenger is hoping to raise a minimum of $500,000 (€400,500) in investments for his video game company while in Dublin.
“It’s an investment of our own to be able to come here. We’ll see if it pays off. I’ve had a few people take my card, but that’s as far as it’s gone so far,” he said.
Danielle Cunha, Rent a Local Friend (Brazil). Estimated summit cost: Over €5,350
Danielle Cunha came from Rio with two other people from her start-up, a “rent a friend” travel platform.
They paid the standard €1,950 for three tickets and a booth, €2,400 in airfare and over €1,000 for hotels.
The start-up is privately funded, so Cunha is hoping for exposure more than investment this week. “We’re ok. I wouldn’t say we’re doing well, but we’re not doing bad,” she said.
Still, she is happy her company was selected to attend. All start-ups exhibiting at the summit have to go through a selection process that includes pitching over Skype.
“The stand has been an unforgettable experience,” she said.
Allan Rosenberg, Chop-E (Estonia). Estimated summit cost: Over €4,438
The three-man team from Chop-E, a start-up that manufactures electric choppers, drove 3,300km from
Estonia
to get to the summit.
They had bought three plane tickets before realising it was too complicated and expensive to ship the chopper they wanted to exhibit.
They brought it in a trailer instead, in a process they said was “more fun” than flying anyway.
They spent €600 on their abandoned plane tickets, about €1,500 on their summit stand and tickets, €400 on petrol one-way, about €1,000 on hotels, €538 on ferry crossings and “very many sleepless nights” to get to Dublin.
“It was not cheap, but it’s so much fun, it’s worth it,” said Rosenberg.
What do they hope to achieve? “Basically anything. We are happy to grow organically or take venture capital and make the dream come true. The amount of attention we’ve been getting because of the chopper is just tremendous. We don’t really know how to handle it all,” he said.
Michael Lawlor, Selera Labs (Australia). Estimated summit cost:
About €10,320 “This is a massive event, and there’s a lot of opportunity for exposure, but it costs a lot of money to come here to the other side of the world,” said Michael Lawlor of enterprise data analytics start-up Selera Labs.
“You’ve got to do your homework and make sure you can leverage all the opportunity out of it. For us, this meant stopping off in London for a week and meeting global partners and customers and having a jam-packed week. And, really, coming here to the Web Summit is an excuse to have those meetings and make those introductions,” he said.
The company is a more established start-up and has been operating for four years.
Lawlor estimated he has spent a total of 15,000 Australian dollars (€10,320) on the trip.
"We've forged some strategic partnerships on a global level, and we've identified some partners and customers to start working within Europe, so it's all worth it," he said.
ERIN McGUIRE
