# Booth-Kellogg ETA Conference

The largest annual 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.

- Category: Communities & Networks
- Pricing model: One-Time
- Where it fits: Learn & Choose Your Path
- Website: https://www.etaconference.com/

## At a Glance

If you attend one ETA event a year, this is the one: the density of investors, [searchers](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher), and operators in a single Chicago day is unmatched.

## What It Costs

Registration priced by attendee type, and the 2026 page (13th annual, October 30, 2026) posts the tiers: a student ticket at $125, a Booth and Kellogg alumni ticket at $150 and general admission at $200 (etaconference.com, September 2026).

## Best For

Anyone deciding between search paths who wants a year of conversations in one day: capital providers, current searchers, and operators all attend

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: The academic anchor event of the ETA calendar, with the deepest investor attendance of any single day
- Pro: Panels run from first-decision questions through operating, so it serves every stage
- Pro: University hosting keeps registration accessible relative to industry conferences
- Con: One day in one city; if you miss October in Chicago you wait a year
- Con: Networking density favors people who arrive with a clear ask and follow-up plan
- Con: 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 active in the category sponsor or attend. Searchfunder threads regularly organize meetups around the date.

## Compared With

- Which gathering is worth the trip while you are still searching? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/booth-kellogg-eta-conference-vs-main-street-summit.md)

## Sources

- https://www.etaconference.com/
- https://www.etaconference.com/13etaconference/begin
- https://groups.chicagobooth.edu/etag/eta-conference/

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/community.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/booth-kellogg-eta-conference
Last checked: 2026-09-20

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt