Ask HN: is it worth forking out $1995 for TechCrunch Disrupt?

No. Unless you get to present on stage in the Battlefield, of which only a handful are chosen, the Alley is a complete joke. Majority of the people there will be focused on the Battlefield and hardly any will frequent the Alley floor except mostly other TCD Alley folks and some random people here and there including MAYBE some off handed press folks. Of all the conferences I've attended, by far one of the worse from an attendee perspective (Launch is up there too), much less, a company with a table.

If you're hoping for exposure, this isn't it, unless again, you're in Battlefield. Just about any other tech conference would be worth your money instead, and a lot less generally speaking.

Maybe if you're a B2B company targeting other startups and you're confident you can generate >$1995 in direct sales.

Otherwise it's probably not a great use of funds. There is always the off chance you'll meet the right person and it will help you in a big way, but $2k is a lot to gamble as a bootstrapped startup and there are free ways to meet people.

I think you're supposed to hangout in the foyer, that was some tip I read a while back. You just might look weird without a name tag if you can even get in. Parking lot would look desperate.

The fact you have to think about it says 'no' to me. My .02.

Try to get into the hackathon and build something semi-related to your startup. $1995 then becomes free - the hackathon gives you a free ticket to the event.

No.