> Mmm, could we define sales job? On the business front, the meetups are used to promote our (indie) conferences. The meetup groups don't mind when I ask them to buy a ticket. They can just say no and we're not pushy about it.

Not the OP but: I encountered this often. Recruiters or startup founders would start attending mainly to pitch their company or try to recruit.

It was the same cycle every time with every group I went to: Starts out small and useful, as it gets more popular it becomes a target for the "hustle culture" crowd.