How important are social events for startups?

Lately we have attended many different events and fairs mostly in Finland and they all differ from each other quite a bit. Last week we attended Oma Yritys 12 fair in Wanha Satama. It was 2 days and included top speakers, pitch competitions, mentoring and different stands to help you with your own company. Only a week before we attended HotSpot seminar and now we are taking a part of HAAGA-HELIA startup school opening ceremonys in Porvoo and Pasila campuses. We also held panel discussion for about 12 different startup companies in HAAGA-HELIA Porvoo campus.

Why do we attend to all of these? Is it necessary for us to get ourselves into all sorts of events and what is the outcome?

Obviously we go for these kind of events because we feel they are helpful for us in many ways. We get to build our network by talking with influential people involved with the startup industry. We get new ideas and valuable feedback. And most importantly, we let people know about us and our idea. Also to be able to help other startups is really important and it shows you are "professional" and interested in other startups as well.
 
So what if we wouldn't go to all these events? We would probably get more work done with our product and get other things done faster. We probably wouldn't spend that much money for tickets, gas etc.
We would have not won a lawyer services or meet other amazing people to help us out and pitching would be even more bigger pain in the ass right now. So many things would be unknown without the events we attended.


So I believe that one event can change your startup forever and I personally encourage all startups to go out there and let people know about your idea. Making mistakes are OK and you should not be afraid of that. Trust me, we have messed up embarassing amount of times but we are still alive. Talk to as many people as possible. Be prepared with your pitch and most importantly be yourself and have fun. Try to help others and make friends. With these we have succeeded reaching our goals better than we would have thought. Get out of your apartment and let people know about your idea, you never know what impact one event might have for your idea!