My sense is that 96%–99% of public speaking VCs do is Low-but-Not-Zero ROI.
Yes, getting on main stage at a Huge Event with you profiled in front of 1000s is A+. Getting in front of a perfect target audience of founders (like at SaaStrAnnual.com) has real ROI.
E.g. IMHO this is clearly positive ROI with Keith Rabois :
But VCs do a lot of speaking at tiny, not really on-point events that have travel time and other issues. Then get rushed at stage afterwards by founders they would never invest in. And the video isn’t recorded, nor pushed into a content marketing engine. Or anything. And often they speak on large panels where each VCs gets like 11 words in.
Even TV, really, doesn’t perform that well. No one really sees it, unless you put it on your website. It does look good on your FB and your profile, though.
I think mostly it’s slightly lazy PR, if it’s done without a strategy. It’s easy. It feels good. But it isn’t measured, and it doesn’t really perform, 95% of the time.
…
Still, my rough rule, is do >any< on-point event, no matter how small, if you get to be on stage. You usually make at least 1 new good connection out of it.
And ubiquity does work. If you are everywhere, it may not be an ideal use of time. But it does work.
View original question on quora
