The no-selling rule, explained
Every GullyFuture speaker agrees to one rule before they stand up: it is not a pitch. Why the rule exists, what it does and does not forbid, and why we would rather lose a speaker than bend it.
A session where somebody who does the work explains it to people who have not seen it up close is only valuable if the students can trust what they hear. The moment a speaker has something to sell — a course, a company, a job, a product — everything they say becomes advice from an interested party, and the students know it.
So there is a rule. Here is what it is, precisely, because the edges matter.
What you should come away with
- A speaker may explain their work; they may not sell to the room
- The rule protects the students' trust, which is the only thing that makes a session worth their hour
- It applies to recruitment and sign-ups as much as to products
- Sessions are free and there is no commercial arrangement, so there is no exception to negotiate
- It costs us speakers occasionally, and that is the evidence it is real
The rule, stated plainly: a speaker may explain what they do, where they work, what they have built and how it works, because that is the entire point of them being there. A speaker may not sell to the room. That means no offers, no discounts, no 'come to my workshop', no product demonstration that is really a sales pitch, no collecting contact details for a follow-up, no recruitment drive, no asking students to sign up for, join, download or buy anything. The line is between describing your work and asking the room for something.
Why it exists is simple to state and easy to underestimate. Students arrive at a session having spent years being sold to — coaching classes, courses, platforms, everybody with an answer that costs money. What they almost never get is somebody with nothing to gain telling them the truth about a profession or a business. That is the thing GullyFuture exists to provide, and it only works if it is actually true. One session that turns into a pitch teaches a room of students that this is like everything else, and the next speaker inherits that suspicion.
The edges, because speakers ask about them in good faith. Can I say where I work? Yes — and what it does, and why you chose it. Can I say my company is hiring? You can say it in answer to a direct question, briefly, and point students to the ordinary public route; you cannot make it the theme, collect resumes in the room, or turn the session into a screening. Can I mention a book, a course, a tool I found useful? Yes, if it is not yours and you gain nothing from it. If it is yours, no — not because it is not useful, but because the students cannot tell the difference between a recommendation and a sale, and the rule exists so they never have to.
Can an entrepreneur describe their business in detail? That is exactly what Entrepreneurs on Campus is for. The first customer, the pricing mistakes, the cash-flow month, what the business does and how it makes money: all of it, in as much detail as students want. What they may not do is sell that product to the room, recruit interns from it, or leave with a list of names. Describe the business; do not do business.
Why there is no exception is worth spelling out. Sessions are free for students. We do not charge institutions for a standard session. Speakers are not paid. There is no commercial arrangement anywhere in the room, which means there is nobody with a legitimate claim to a sales opportunity, and so nothing to negotiate. A speaker who needs the room to be a market is not a fit for this format, and we say so kindly and early.
Does it cost us? Yes, occasionally. A speaker who wanted to promote something declines when they hear the rule, or is not invited back after ignoring it. We consider this the system working. A rule that never costs anything is a preference. This one is a rule, and the students it protects are the reason a room full of them will still turn up next time.