Daniel – Like Rob said, this is really a different type of event. Really, it’s for entrepreneurs by an entrepreneur. Some events (including one going on next week in town) ask entrepreneurs to pay thousands of dollars to attend and present. I think that’s bogus. There are some folks presenting who are very early stage – these guys can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars to present their ideas. Even if an entrepreneur could, they shouldn’t. If you really have a good business money people will want to talk to you. Also, like Rob said all the slots are taken at this point (although I’m still trying to figure out who will and won’t get slots from the applicants). As for people taking your idea – again, Rob is right – at the end of the day, it’s all about execution. Everyone has ideas. Not everyone can execute their idea.

Most events that give startups an opportunity to present a) charge a lot more than $0 to presenters, and b) give people a lot longer than 3 minutes to present. So other events more of a bent toward established companies. Startup Riot is geared toward anything from idea-stage ventures looking for co-founders to well-funded, VC-backed companies with product and revenue.

As for someone taking your idea… someone else probably already has your idea, or at least something pretty similar. Solid execution of that idea is what matters. Milestone events like this can be a good kick in the pants to take action. Maybe you could have a demo cranking by May 19th? Or are you cooking up a rapid growth plan for http://digibutter.nerr.biz/ ?