Hey, Mickey (Photo: hollywood-elsewhere.com)

Mark MacLeod, a partner at the Montreal-based seed fund Real Ventures, recently posted a list of venture capitalists to avoid that quickly got passed around Twitter. Don't take money, he advised, from archetypes like "the banker," "the name-dropper," "the dude on 20 boards," etc.

Those kinds of self-interested parties have been circling around the tech scene for years. But perhaps the downward turn in startup financing is bringing back the sharp elbows that didn't serve as well in a "party round" atmosphere. 

Unfortunately, Mr. MacLeod may have another type of investor to add to his list: the dude who makes you pay to pitch.

A startup investor alerted Betabeat to an upcoming event hosted by FundingPost at Credit Suisse's Midtown office. The entry fee for "entrepreneurs raising capital" is $135 to $150 to meet investors; those who also want to attend a "pitching workshop" will have to fork over $420. "Pitch to 8 VC's and Angels - GUARANTEED," read the subject line of an email soliciting registrations.

The event is sponsored by Credit Suisse, among others, and features a long list of speakers, including, New York Angels, StarVest Partners, 37 Angels, ERA - Entrepreneur Roundtable, DreamIt Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Launch Capital, Golden Seeds, Rho Ventures, Canaan Partners, and many more. Unlike RRE and FirstMark, however, most of the speakers are second and third-tier investment firms.

This isn't the first pay-to-play event FundingPost has hosted. When we looked into the practice in 2011, FundingPost had recently held a lunchtime pitch practice that ran $75 to $350 to present.

The notion of struggling entrepreneurs paying for the privilege of pitching has attracted detractors in the past. Back in 2009, entrepreneur and investor Jason Calacanis wrote:

“It’s low-class, inappropriate and predatory for a rich person to ask an entrepreneur to PAY THEM for 15 minutes of their time,” he wrote. “Seriously, what is the cost to the party hearing the pitch? If you answered ‘nothing’ or ‘the cost of two cups of coffee’ you win the prize!”

But a new twist on FundingPost's event offers something more objectionable than just a fee: a set up modeled after a deli counter.

The biggest issue has always been the long lines. Well this year we are adding a take-a-number feature (like the deli counter) where you can grab a bunch of numbers from the investors you want to meet, and not stand on line! We will have all of the numbers displayed on the big screen (and a mobile page for your phone). You can stand on many lines at one time and just go from meeting to meeting, and network in the middle!

You can have #4 at one fund, #16 at another, #24 at a 3rd and plan your evening accordingly! And no, you can run in and grab all of the #1's at every table as you will miss all of your meetings except one... You need to be at the table when your number is called, or you will be skipped. The numbers will stop at #40, there will be open lines & networking after that.

"As a VC," said the source who sent us the listing, "I can't understand why you would want to be on this list, charging entrepreneurs to pitch you in a deli line style format." Startup founders with or without $135 to $420 to spare might be wondering the same thing.

YoungStartup Ventures.

The New York Venture Summit is back with a magnificent pay-to-pitch event scheduled for this summer. The program with "honor 50 Top Innovators," or rather, the top 50 companies with the scratch to pay for a spot to present in front of "Venture Capitalists, Corporate VCs, Angel Investors and Investment bankers."

There is no fee to apply, New York Venture Summit notes brightly, but it'll cost $1,585 to get on stage at Digital Sandbox, and $385 just to mill around. Investors pay $480. Hey, you gotta spend money to make money, right? At least it's not the spendiest.

New York Venture Summit, on June 27 and 28th, comes a month after TechCrunch Disrupt, which has a nice reverse freemium model: startups and attendees can get free entry by entering the hackathon or making it into the Startup Battlefield pitch competition. Failing that, you can shell out a few thousand bucks for a booth.

Conventional wisdom says pay-to-pitch events can be a prime racket, especially in the era of the wantrepreneur. Even pitch fests at Y Combinator and TechStars demo days are starting to turn some investors off, suggesting that the top tier investors still prefer to source their own inbound rather than cram into a big sweaty room/warehouse to watch a series of slidedecks.

Paying to pitch isn't in itself evil, as event organizers have pointed out to Betabeat. Pulling these events together takes time and money and most startups can pay $50 for a spot at the Ultralight Startups Forum or $150 to apply to pitch New York Angels. CORRECTION: New York Angels no longer charges a fee, chairman Brian Cohen said.

The worst of criticism is leveled at off-brand pitch events like New York Venture Summit, which tend to attract junior VCs without much decision power and entrepreneurs who aren't plugged into the authentic scene. YoungStartup Ventures, which puts on the event, is also notorious for its aggressive email marketing.

Repeated email blasts is never a good sign. YoungStartup has some brand names on its side, however, including Jeanne Sullivan of Starvest Partners and David Teten of ff Ventures. Register now and save 50 percent.

(flickr.com/nanpalmero)

Entrepreneurs and other startup economy workers have started complaining about rising fees of events around town—the sheer abundance of tech events in New York has us habituated to all-star panels and pizza for $0 to $5. But while $35 classes at General Assembly inspire the occasional grousing, there is one thing that seems to really get the startup community riled up: events that charge entrepreneurs to pitch.

Just over two years ago, web publisher and CEO Jason Calacanis blew this issue up by declaring war on a set of angel groups that charged founders to pitch investors. "It’s low-class, inappropriate and predatory for a rich person to ask an entrepreneur to PAY THEM for 15 minutes of their time," he wrote. "Seriously, what is the cost to the party hearing the pitch? If you answered 'nothing' or 'the cost of two cups of coffee' you win the prize!"

Other bloggers, VCs and web personalities such as Robert Scoble picked up the rallying cry; even the generally well-regarded New York Angels, which charges a $150 application fee, came under fire. The most egregious offender was Keiretsu Forum, which does not advertise its fees, but reportedly charges entrepreneurs between $1,000 and $8,000 to present. Keiretsu, which has chapters all over the world and bills itself as "the world's largest angel investment community" is still in business. Maverick Angels, another group Mr. Calacanis fingered for "investigation," is still in business and charges entrepreneurs $250 to $1,000 for its events.

Entrepreneur Greg Costikyan wrote in 2007 of the New England Venture Summit (domain expired, cache is here:

That room of 200 people is maybe 25% other entrepreneurs waiting their turn or listening to other pitches to get a better sense of how to polish their own, and maybe 50% service folks who actually want to sell you stuff, and maybe the other 25% are investors of one kind or another. Of whom the vast majority would never invest in whatever it is you're pitching. And of the handful who remain, almost all are so junior that unless they go back foaming at the mouth with excitement, it doesn't really help.

But that was in 2007, you say. Entrepreneurs today are smarter and leaner, and you can find all the VCs you need on Twitter.

In New York, there are a number of pitching events that charge entrepreneurs. The New York Angels still charge $150, which many in the tech scene feel is justifiably low for the service provided and the cover costs of hosting. Ultra Light Startups hosted a pitch panel last week that charged founders $50; the FundingPost recently held an event that ran $75 to present or $350 to present and participate in a lunchtime pitch practice.

So how much is too much? "I've always been curious as to why people think pitching should be free," Ultra Light Startups founder Graham Lawlor wrote in an email. "I think each event is unique and startups should evaluate paying to pitch as an investment, alongside their decision of which lawyer or web host to use.  I like to believe startups that pitch at Ultra Light get far more than $50 worth of value in exposure and feedback (and sometimes prizes). I suspect the people who think pitching should be $0 are not running many events themselves."

"I don't think they're necessarily bad or exploitive of founders, or that there won't be any good companies there," said Trevor Owens of Lean Startup Machine, a hackathon-style event that charges first time attendees $299. "On the other hand, I've never been to one, because I don't need to meet investors like that. The old fashioned intro works for me and I've built up a network in a short time by just being involved."

Meanwhile, New York founders we spoke to say they regularly get come-ons from pay to pitch events.

"Sadly it's a cancer... you need to keep screening for it," Mr. Calacanis wrote in an email to Betabeat. "Event producers get greedy and desperate.... it's easier to sell to desperate startups looking to get venture money than do the hard work of building a conference with the support of sponsors."

Betabeat is working on an investigation into the pay-to-pitch economy in New York City. How much is too much? Are naive founders getting ripped off by paying hundreds of dollars to pitch investors? Let us know in the comments or email ajeffries c/o observer.com.