Small Business Expo?

December 03, 2024

by a searcher from Duke University - The Fuqua School of Business in Burlington, NC, USA

Has anyone attended a Small Business Expo event? I'm considering attending the one in Atlanta on 12/11/24 as a way to meet business owners. Curious if anyone else has experience with these events and has insights. Thanks! https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com/

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Reply by a searcher
from Duke University in Burlington, NC, USA

I appreciate all the comments here. I did opt to attend the Atlanta Expo. I wanted to provide some high level feedback on my experience for others that may be interested in a similar event in a nearby city. I don’t know that I would spend a lot of resources to travel to one of these events for ETA purposes, but I have ties to the Atlanta area and could easily make arrangements. Overall, I did think it was a worthwhile opportunity to meet several professional services providers face to face (e.g., SBA banking reps, alternate financing firms, a couple of marketing firms that could potentially help with mass outreach, a CRM rep, etc.). As others alluded to, there really wasn’t much interaction with potential acquisition targets. I did meet several business owners that offered to connect me with folks in their networks that may be open to selling. Time will tell if any of this networking leads to an acquisition, but I did think it was a good use of a few hours, so if there is a similar event in your city it could be worth checking out.

Reply by an intermediary
in Raleigh, NC, USA

Hi ^redacted‌ - I'm not sure what kind of business you're looking for but my experience was with a business advisory firm. I was the sole vote against attending. We spent tens of thousands to sponsor a booth. We had several of our sales team attend. Our ICP were biz owners $1M+ revenue and looking to increase their revenue/profit or scale. We got 0 customers. Why? Because it's a free event and really designed for the soloproneur that's starting out. I found the average attendee is making under $500k in revenue. I hope this helps!

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