Networking at a startup event is pretty hit and miss. Conference networking is that way in general, but there's even less coherence when the only thing bringing together the attendees is an interest in running a business.
If you ask me, the primary reason to attend startup school is that you'll see a lot of "famous" people who are just names to you, and you'll begin to realize that they're human. That's a worthwhile experience if you've never done it before, but I wouldn't go into the event with grander expectations.
Couldn't agree more. I've attended the one in NYC last time. While I enjoyed some of the talks (I had seen the others before), it wasn't much different than watching the videos.
The hallway conversations and the networking was indeed vibrant and full of energy, but no different than any other startup event, or sxsw, or meetups, or...
I'd say that there are smaller and more focused events (Eyeo comes to mind, even though not free and much longer), that are more rewarding. Anyway, I'd probably go again if invited, mostly for FOMO (fear of missing out).
It's a pretty busy day usually going into late evening. While you might get to talk to some people over lunch, and there are afterparties hosted afterwards, it's not the event I'd call the most beneficial to networking. Combined with introversion and shyness of half the attendees, it makes it a pretty tough proposition for networking.
