How to Start Your Startup with a Bang – Throwing a Startup Party

The history of entrepreneurship is marked by myriads of startups with amazing ideas which never came to be because they didn’t know how to get off the ground. After all, not even the best idea in the world will be able to help you if there’s no one there to hear you. The answer to this problem is much simpler than one would assume. All you have to do is to use the ancient Roman wisdom and lure your audience with a little bit of panem et circenses. In other words, throw the best possible startup party. But how?

Identify Your Target Audience

The key to a good party is knowing the sensibilities of your guests. In this case, your guest list may consist of the press, industry figures, investors, influencers, target audience or all these groups jumbled together. Be it as it may, knowing who you are making this party for will help you determine all the other important factors like venue, location, the number of guests, amusement, etc.

Set a Budget

Another important factor that will guide your later decisions will be the available budget. Keep in mind one thing – you should put all effort into impressing your guests, but throwing money at them won’t cut it and you will have to do a lot of explaining to the investors. So, keep your budget within reasonable boundaries, impress your guests with quality content instead of outrageous gimmicks and try to be as efficient as possible.

Find Sponsors

A great way to make your tight budget a little bit less tight. Of course, begging people for money just to mention them in a speech is out of the question and no one would ever agree to such an arrangement. Do your best to find sponsors that will actually fit the context of the event you are trying to put and find some fun and engaging way to make them part of the entire story.

Set Up a Way to Measure If the Party Was Successful

Even if your party manages to make some splash, if you don’t gather feedback and use the momentum you’ve achieved, you can as well say that you’ve just burned a huge pile of money. Now, measuring ROI of such events is not that easy but it can be done with these few moves:

• Count emails generated from RVSP confirmations.
• Use referral links to track sales generation.
• Measure social media mentions.

Also, your guests should never leave the party wondering “Now what?” If you want to ensure staying power, prepare some material that will keep the audience engaged even after they leave the party.

Find the Right Location

Simple as it may sound, finding the right location is a living nightmare, especially if you are throwing the party outside. You have to think about weather, find out some commercial shade sails if it’s going to be sunny, provide free Wi-Fi, take care of the catering, see if the location features enough parking space… It goes on and on and on. Don’t be lured by an affordable price, and be sure to check all these small details – every one of them can make or break your party.

Ensure VIP Endorsement

Although not essential, VIP endorsement can really elevate a party. The good thing is that you don’t even have to call Brad Pitt to make an appearance. Even the presence of small local celebrities will do the job and create much needed buzz. Now, if you ensure celebrities’ active involvement, and make a guest appearance on their social media profiles, you are in for a ride.

If you follow these few tips, you should have no problem granting your startup that initial exposure it desperately needs. Once you get off the ground, though, the fate of your startup will be only in your hands.