Booth-Kellogg ETA Conference
The largest annual ETA conference in the country: 900-plus searchers, investors, MBA students, and operators in Chicago each fall, hosted by the ETA Group at Chicago Booth, the Polsky Center, and Kellogg's entrepreneurship initiative, with panels spanning funding, searching, and operating.
At a Glance
- Pricing
- One-time, Registration priced by attendee type; the 2026 page (13th annual, October 30, 2026) had not posted tier pricing when we checked. Recent years ran roughly student-priced tickets up to a few hundred dollars for professionals.
- Best For
- Anyone deciding between search paths who wants a year of conversations in one day: capital providers, current searchers, and operators all attend
- Roadmap Stages
- 1. Decide if ETA Is for You2. Choose Your Path
Pros and Cons
Pros
- The academic anchor event of the ETA calendar, with the deepest investor attendance of any single day
- Panels run from first-decision questions through operating, so it serves every stage
- University hosting keeps registration accessible relative to industry conferences
Cons
- One day in one city; if you miss October in Chicago you wait a year
- Networking density favors people who arrive with a clear ask and follow-up plan
- MBA-centric framing; self-funded main-street buyers are a minority of programming
What Searchers Say
Widely treated as the ETA event of the year; searchers and funds plan travel around it, and capital providers we review sponsor or attend. Searchfunder threads regularly organize meetups around the date.
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