How We Get 100s of Founders to Attend Our Events
Selling tickets for events isn’t just about putting up a link and hoping people will show up. It takes strategy, persistence, and a strong understanding of your audience. Over the past few years, I’ve figured out what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to marketing and selling tickets for events—especially for Startup Ecosystem Canada and Canadian Choice Award.
Startup Ecosystem Canada hosts startup events across Canada, from intimate networking meetups to large-scale summits. Selling tickets, whether free or paid, follows a similar principle: if your event isn’t valuable, no one will come. And in a world where people don’t even bother clicking on free webinar links, convincing them to pay for an event and show up takes real effort. Here’s how we do it.
1. Start With Events That People Already Want to Attend
When we were first getting started, we didn’t just launch our own standalone event and hope for the best. Instead, we leveraged an existing audience.
One of our earliest and most successful events was an afterparty for Collision, one of the biggest tech events in Canada. Thousands of founders were already coming to Toronto for Collision, but there was only one official afterparty. We saw an opportunity and created our own unofficial afterparty.
How did we market it?
- We scraped Collision’s website to find a list of attendees.
- We emailed them with a simple message: “You’re coming to Collision? Join us at this exclusive afterparty with 300+ founders and investors.”
- We listed the event on Eventbrite and Luma, making it easy for people to register.
- We ran targeted social media ads focused on startup founders attending Collision.
The result?
- Over 1,000 event requests
- 700 registered attendees
- 300+ people actually showed up
And here’s the thing about free events—expect only 50% of registrants to actually attend.
This event gave us our first email list of startup founders, which became a goldmine for future events.
2. Keep the Audience Engaged Between Events
Hosting one successful event isn’t enough. The real game is building a community so people keep coming back.
Here’s how we did it:
- Took high-quality event photos and shared them on social media.
- Created a LinkedIn community where attendees could stay connected.
- Sent follow-up emails thanking people for attending and teasing future events.
- Engaged with founders on LinkedIn to keep our brand fresh in their minds.
When people have a great networking experience at your event, they’ll want to stay in the loop. That’s why our repeat attendance rate skyrocketed after just a few months.
3. Diversity in Events = Higher Engagement
A community needs variety. If every event is just another panel discussion, people will get bored. So we mix it up:
- Tech networking events
- Investor-founder matchmaking sessions
- Christmas parties
- Toy drives for charity (which, by the way, no founder dares to miss because… well, bad PR)
- Afterparties for major conferences
Different formats attract different types of people, which expands our reach while keeping our core audience engaged.
4. Cross-Promotion With Other Communities
Another game-changer was collaborating with other founders and event organizers.
For example, let’s say we meet Ryan, the founder of an AI startup, at one of our events. If Ryan is hosting his own event, we help promote it to our email list, and in return, he promotes our events to his community.
This cross-promotion strategy means:
- Our events reach new, relevant audiences.
- We double or triple our email list without spending a dime.
- Founders trust us more because we’re connected with other industry leaders.
5. Multi-Channel Promotion: Email + Event Platforms + Social Ads
We don’t rely on just one marketing method. Here’s the exact mix that works:
✅ Emails – Our most powerful tool. Every event is promoted through our email list with well-timed campaigns.
✅ Eventbrite & Luma – These platforms give events extra visibility and bring in organic registrations.
✅ Social Media Ads – Paid ads targeted at founders, investors, and startup employees ensure we reach the right people.
✅ Organic Social Media – We actively post event updates on LinkedIn and Twitter to keep engagement high.
✅ Personal Outreach – A simple LinkedIn DM to the right people can do wonders for ticket sales.
6. The Key to Selling Paid Tickets
For free events, the biggest challenge is getting people to show up. But for paid events, the challenge is convincing people to buy.
Here’s what works:
- Early bird pricing → Creates urgency.
- Limited-time discounts → Makes people act fast.
- VIP tickets with extra perks → Justifies a higher price.
- Using testimonials from past events → Builds credibility.
Once people trust your brand and see the value, ticket sales become a lot easier.
Final Thoughts
Selling tickets for events isn’t just about promotions—it’s about building an engaged community. If people love your events, they’ll keep coming back. If you’re just spamming links without offering value, no one’s going to care.
The strategies I’ve shared have helped Startup Ecosystem Canada become a well-known name in the Toronto startup scene. It took trial and error, but now, we fill up events consistently and maintain a strong community of founders and investors.
If you’re trying to sell tickets for events, start with providing value—everything else will follow.