Guest post by Iaros Belkin, Founder of Belkin Marketing
A deep tech founder spent $180,000 on traditional marketing in 2024. PR agency, LinkedIn ads, conference sponsorships. Result? 287 inbound leads, zero institutional investors secured.
Top tips for Tech Founders
Then he attended three private events over six months. Two invitation-only Davos gatherings, one Tulum music festival. Cost: $35,000. Result? Twelve family office conversations, three term sheets, one became his Series B lead at $2.4M.
For deals measured in millions the closure is likely to happen on a different level. In the places that you’d least expect.
The Event Ecosystems Most Founders Never Think About
Davos Week remains the concentrated capital access point, but not how most think. Forget the official Forum. Real conversations happen at private dinners hosted by family offices at chalets all over the mountain. Guest lists of 12-20-30, organized around specific themes.
UnDavos Summit, founded by Mark Turrell, is another good example. Now in its 15th year with 1,500+ delegates, it combines public sessions with invitation-only investor roundtables. Unlike official WEF requiring institutional sponsorship, UnDavos selects based on achievement.
A robotics founder attended UnDavos 2025 and three private dinners. Within the week: met 8 family office principals, secured 2 term sheet discussions, landed Fortune 500 pilot customer intro. Investment: $12K. Outcome: Series B discussions with 2 Swiss funds, $8M pipeline.
Then there’s the Tulum-Ibiza music circuit. Nobody really thinks of it as a deliberate networking infrastructure. But it has the same international high-level crowd you could meet in Davos. Not party tourism — think tech entrepreneurs, family office principals who love to party. And chill with entertainment magnates, music industry executives and artists with tens of millions of social followers.
VIP or backstage access to major performances functions as a curated business environment. A tech founder secured backstage at a Black Coffee performance in Ibiza. Met a family office principal, two music executives, another Web3 founder. Follow-up over 6 months: $3M investment plus strategic partnership. Investment: $5K.
How to Actually Get The Access
WEF’s Official Technology Pioneers status is the fastest pathway for companies without existing networks. Requires Series A+ and breakthrough innovation. If selected: 2-year engagement, automatic Davos invitation.
The most institutional and predictable way of solving the access issue would be membership organizations. For example, Belkin Marketing Club offers a subscription-based solution to private and VVIP gatherings across multiple events ecosystems worldwide while Backstage.global provides verified backstage access to major music concerts and festivals.
Some strategic advisors can also facilitate introductions to private dinners and invitation-only gatherings. Advisor vets founder readiness, makes introduction to host, founder builds relationship independently.
The Numbers Look Good
Traditional marketing ($150K-500K annually) reaches middle management and junior analysts. Strategic event presence ($30K-80K annually) provides direct access to 10-30 C-suite partners and institutional allocators with actual decision authority. Conversion rates run 2-5x higher.
Institutional investors don’t decide based on pitch decks. They invest in people. These highly saturated days at private gatherings show how executives handle stress, treat service staff, whether they listen or only talk.
Whether we approve or not, trillions in capital operate through networks that don’t respond to cold outreach. For founders seeking institutional funding, ignoring these networks means accepting structural disadvantages.
By Iaros Belkin, Founder of Belkin Marketing
Iaros Belkin is a founder of Belkin Marketing, a boutique agency serving as Strategic Advisor to Deep Tech, Web3 and AI Founders. With over a decade of experience navigating high-stakes global markets, he orchestrates everything good venture team needs: from grants and key partnerships to VVIP events and invisible decisions that helps building the future of tech from Hong Kong to Switzerland.
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