SGEntrepreneurs seemed to be schizophrenic yesterday. A couple of months ago, our founder Bernard Leong wrote an article against the ‘pay to pitch’ business model in the funding ecosystem. Personally, most, if not all of us at SGEntrepreneurs agree with his position against this model of obtaining funding. And yet, an event organized by the very entity that operates on a business model we loathe was publicized on SGEntrepreneurs.com.
Why?
SGEntrepreneurs is a site that posts information about events. The tension in the decision to post about such events is analogous to that of a grocery store owner who might sell cigarettes and alcohol even if he was a teetotalling individual, one key difference being that SGEntrepreneurs does not make money from the posting of such events. So to what extent do you protect the people who may visit your store, or in this case blog. To what extent should the team at SGEntrepreneurs be gatekeepers? Do we always indulge in self-censorship. Do we present noteworthy information even if we disagree with the premise of that information.
And yes, we do believe that the Angels Den Speedfunding event is noteworthy.
What was probably lacking in the initial announcement of the event was a ‘Caveat emptor‘ warning.
I say ‘probably’ because SGEntrepreneurs has rarely, probably even have not, editorialize event listings. In a perfect world, the ‘Related Posts’ plugin would have shown Bernard’s earlier post. In a perfect world, people learning about the event would have done their research, learned lots more information about the event and ‘paying to pitch’ and be equipped to make an informed decision about participating.
We don’t live in a perfect world. Which begs the question, how to balance gate-keeping with breadth of coverage. This is a process we at SGEntrepreneurs are continually working on and this incident is a good reminder on the need to establish clear policies.
Lastly, it is naive to think that no one pays when a start-up pitches to investors.
Someone is always left with the bill.
Those free pitching sessions aren’t free. Well, at least free for the start-ups. Most of the time, the potential investors don’t bear any of the cost. The ones who bear the cost are the sponsors and the government bodies.
Let’s look at government bodies bearing the cost. It is in fact tax payer’s money furthering the dreams of a few. It is tax payer’s money that is paying for access to these investors. Access not only the start-ups benefit from, but access that the bureaucrats can benefit from for their own future private endeavors after leaving government service.
Someone always pay.
I don’t think it should be the start-ups. I don’t think it should be government bodies.
Left as an exercise to the reader to figure out who I think should be paying.
DK | 02-Jul-10 at 2:36 pm | Permalink
Personally, I would not publicize an event that I do not agree with. (Example: an event that does balloon release) By publicizing that event on my blog, it sort of give people the impression that I endorse the event.
iantimothy | 02-Jul-10 at 3:18 pm | Permalink
Yes, that’s you personally. The objectives of your blog is different from SGEntrepreneurs.
SGEntrepreneurs, like I alluded to in the post, has many objectives. At times, these objectives clash. Two of the relevant ones are ‘breadth of coverage’ and ‘gate-keeping’.
There is a difference between sharing about an event (i.e. listing it), and promoting/endorsing an event. I do concede though that the line can be blurred and people’s perception of what constitutes endorsement is different from individual to individual.
I believe it would not be presumptuous to say that SGEntrepreneurs is in a privileged position and thus personally I believe it is extremely important gate-keeping duties take precedence. That is why the post was updated to include editorializing of the event listing, something that in my memory we have never done.
Daniel | 03-Jul-10 at 11:56 am | Permalink
@DK: I’m with iantimothy on this one.
The role that sites like SGEntrepreneurs play should be one that informs entrepreneurs the breadth and depth of the available financing or funding options available out there. Whether they are legit or meets the needs of the entrepreneurs, that is for the entrepreneurs to decide.
The problem with enforcing a gatekeeping role such that only the ‘good stuff’ float to the top, is that it’s actually a disservice to entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs. The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of people out there who are out there to cheat your money. That is the real world. As in the real world, entrepreneurs need to learn these lessons themselves.
I personally don’t subscribe to the Angels Den model myself. Where sites like SGEntrepreneurs and mine can do, is that we, as far as possible, highlight alternatives and other options.
But we cannot take away an entrepreneur’s freedom to decide.
Daily SG: 5 Jul 2010 « The Singapore Daily | 05-Jul-10 at 11:37 am | Permalink
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Figorama | 05-Jul-10 at 5:15 pm | Permalink
If it is really so bad then can you tell me why the brotherhood regularly do this all the time? And why in hell is there no shortage of participants?
Frogomama | 05-Jul-10 at 5:21 pm | Permalink
If paying to pitch is such a bad idea. How come the brotherhood have been doing it for so long. Sure they don’t use real money, but the model is the same. And why is there no shortage of participants from both the show and buy side?
Frogomama | 05-Jul-10 at 5:23 pm | Permalink
Besides if you happen to be a gaming developer looking for lobang will you go with Bernard Leong or Darkness?
Frogomama | 05-Jul-10 at 5:41 pm | Permalink
Pay and play is the best way. In the past, they had alot of people, but no quality control. So they complained they had to bear the high cost. Which can run very high. With the pay scheme. Both the prospector and venturist pay. Venturist if the deal goes through pay the bros and they on turn take a cut.
Weekly Roundup: Week 28 « The Singapore Daily | 10-Jul-10 at 11:45 am | Permalink
[...] the universe and everything – Ian On The Red Dot: Paying To Pitch – Sgpolitics.net: The Legacy of Reputation – The boy who knew too much: Top 10 countries for child [...]