[duhoang]

It's not about being coddled, it's about exploiting entrepreneurs who are either desperate, or new to the game. We don't want to encourage that type of behavior in our community.

"entrepreneur learns that the hard way, so be it."

That attitude is like saying children should learn to look both way before crossing the street the hard way...by getting hit by a bus!

[whenisayUH]

How is anyone being exploited? You have a choice to pitch or not. It's not blackmail. It may be foolish to pitch at these events, but as far as I know, nobody is being forced into pitching or being told "you can't research this event and our track record before signing up."

[duhoang]

It's like a scam...no one is forcing you to be a victim of a scam, you just don't know better. reply

[whenisayUH]

"You don't know better." If an entrepreneur is that helpless, paying-to-pitch is the least of their problems.

[evgen]

So it's better that you get your hand in their pocket before someone smarter comes along the relieve them of that burdensome wad of seed capital?

[rmc]

It's entirely possible to exploit people without holding a gun to their head (literally or figuratively).