Conference Deal-Making Platforms

Jason describes how successful conferences operate as temporary marketplaces, particularly in the crypto space, where the key is focusing on large-scale events rather than smaller ones.

Key Points:

• Conference Business Model:

  • Operates as a 3-day marketplace that gets built up and shut down
  • Success comes from going bigger rather than running multiple smaller events
  • Small events provide good experience but are poor business models
  • Generated $10M+ in revenue from single event (Permissionless)

• Revenue Structure:

  • Main revenue from enterprise sponsors
    • Companies like Coinbase might pay $1M to sponsor
    • Better to get full budget for one big event than split across multiple smaller ones
  • Ticket sales focused on networking opportunities
  • Show floor acts as temporary marketplace for deals

• Operational Challenges:

  • Must plan venues 4-5 years in advance
  • 50% of tickets sell in last 4 weeks before event
  • Crypto market cyclical nature makes long-term planning difficult
  • Risk of market downturns affecting attendance (reference to Coindesk nearly failing in 2019)

• Economic Impact:

  • Brings $3-6M in GDP to host cities in just 3 days
  • Cities/countries court large conferences
  • Can receive upfront payments and tax credits from cities
  • Attracts attention from mayors and local government

• Growth Strategy:

  • Consolidated multiple events into just two main conferences
  • Focus on making these bigger rather than launching more events
  • Uses conference revenue to bootstrap other business segments like podcasts and research