I think the issue is that any startup can produce a metric in which they have a nice graph going up and to the right, no doubt some of the 75 companies are likely far more attractive than others but it probably isn't clear without followup which those are.
At the same time I am not sure you can do it any other way and still have the time for everyone to see all the pitches. You are right that longer presentations with a group this big would probably result in most of the audience forgetting most of what they see.
I imagine it would be frustrating for companies which have actual real revenue and growth as opposed to ones that have grown 800% from 1 to 8 users in 3 months.
I don't disagree, but I also think this system is a great way for investors to get a quick glimpse of a ton of awesome companies at once, and find the ones they are most interested in and chat more. Someone else in this thread already mentioned this, but the point of the pitch is not to close a deal. That takes multiple conversations, sometimes days, sometimes weeks.
Personally, I only want to talk to investors who are actually interested in our space, or have expertise and connections in the space, especially when there are hundreds in the room (half the conversations would be a complete waste of time otherwise).
True. The accelerator that operates out of the space I work at, they emphasised the idea of including a slide about what type of people the startup is primarily interested in working with.
At the same time I am not sure you can do it any other way and still have the time for everyone to see all the pitches. You are right that longer presentations with a group this big would probably result in most of the audience forgetting most of what they see.