The Web Summit 2019 is over and now and it is all getting normal. I've processed all the business cards received, virtual and physical. That doesn't mean I've been able to respond to everyone properly, but now everything is somehow mapped and the pending items of personal life are gradually being resolved… Anyway, this week it is almost normal life.
Many people have written about Web Summit 2019, and I confess that I am not very fond of some articles I read in the press, about how the event is the wonder that will save the world or how we should not go because there is nothing good to get from it.
The truth is that 70,000 Web Summits happened, because each of us who have been there lived a different version of such a big event.
What I share here is a little bit of my experience. It wasn't my first WS, but every year we learn more about how to get the most out of it.
It's a huge event, I will get frustrated, I won't see 20% of what I wanted, but still, it's really worth planning!
I downloaded the app and set up my schedule (and believe me, this is not easy with more than 1,200 speakers). And to add a little help, there is the chat, where the participants can make contact before the event even begins.
And this is chaos! For good, of course.
I received over 100 contacts from start-ups or investors to schedule a conversation. I could only respond until the beginning of the event. After it had started, it became impossible.
In the planning issue I usually follow two guidelines:
(1) set my goals and only then set up the agenda, also choosing a few themes outside of my initial goals to relax and have access to other themes and
(2) leave plenty of free space on the agenda.
In my view, lectures and interviews inspire, bring the main discussions, open the mind and give us references
It's 15-20 minutes of talk, so there's not much room to be deep. Which isn't necessarily bad.
If your expectations are aligned to it, some lectures are great. This year I attended very few lectures. But the ones I did, I really liked it. It is usually a very good selection of speakers and quite diversified.
A conference that opens with Snowden and Huawei president and closes with the White House CTO and the EU (European Union) competition commissioner already shows the scene of global disputes over our data – we've turned to be the product.
I made a bad decision to watch the opening with Edward Snowden: I faced a crowd to enter the event, but when I finally succeeded, the Centre Stage was already full. I watched him on a big screen outside, speaking online from Russia. I could have seen it at home.
The rest of the event I attended a few sessions, wrote down references for further research and I was left with that feeling of "I'm wasting time with so many interesting people to meet out there".
Some of my highlights:
- Melanie Perkins, CEO of Canva: "The reason we fight insecurity is because we compare our backstage with the highlights of others".
- Margrethe Vestager, EU competition commissioner: applauded a few times in a 15-minute interview. She spoke about Google ("when you look for something on Google, in fact Google is looking for you") and reminded us about the awareness of manipulation ("one thing I love about magic shows is that you know you will be manipulated").
- Michael Kratsios, CTO of the White House, received some boos and shouts of "Snowden! Snowden!" by accusing China of spying and remembering us all about the role of the United States as the guardians of freedoms around the world.
- The apotheotic closure with Mr. President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Souza. There are charisma, vitality and stage mastery. Many applause from the audience who, on the way out, still tried one last selfie with the big screen from the main stage in the background.
But there are many other stages: for all tastes and depth levels.
(1) Workshops: here there is more depth. An hour and a half of content more related to "how" and not just "look at how sensational, I did this and that".
(2) Start-up pitches: these always frustrate me. Not for the start-ups. But because they are pitches and, despite working with pitches all the time, I don't like this model. I can't (yet) think of a better option in terms of investor efficiency. But in terms of effectiveness… Mental note: think of an alternative to pitches. Think and implement.
(3) Startup university: board sessions of CEOs, founders and investors to those who are starting their start-up.
Just a few examples.
Big companies are there too, but I am not sure if they reach the full potential of Web Summit.
Most large companies that display in the Web Summit do it only as branding action to show that innovative image. I've heard of some with recruitment actions, but I don't know if they interact with start-ups. They could promote challenges, or use similar structures like the investor lounge or "investor meeting" to meet start-ups.
I spent most of my time in the booths of startups and in the areas for investors – where high potential meetings happen.
Start-ups are divided into ALPHA, BETA and GROWTH categories, according to their phase. This division makes investors’ lives easier, as some invest in early stage companies and others prefer more traction (which consequently demands greater investments). Every day they change, so, a start-up does not stay the three days in the booth, only one day.
Start-ups receive all sorts of visiting: investors, curious, consultants offering services and other start-ups looking for partnership or contacts. I suspect they don't get many scout visits from large companies. If I'm right, it's a real shame.
For those who are investors, it is worth using the investor meeting area. Before the event starts you can filter start-ups of interest (by country, sector, stage, investment ticket, etc.) and block two hours of your calendar. So, at the appointed time, you got to this area and a super kind staff puts you on a table that's yours for those two hours. The start-ups take turns there, the staff ensures that each one only spends 15 minutes and that's it, in 2 hours you've met 8 start-ups of your interest.
But the best of Web Summit (at least mine) was to meet people. Curious, interested and interesting people, crazy to build together.
I met friends from the consulting times (one of them I haven’t seen in 20 years!), I met people from the IMD alumni, many entrepreneurs from various countries and my angel investment colleagues. In the Summit, at dinners and happy hours. A real party.
I also participated in a mission of more than 190 Brazilian entrepreneurs and investors who came to participate in the event and still had an intense agenda of interesting visits to unicorns, accelerators, government agencies.
Imagine the amount of dinners, coffees, beers (or imperial, in the local language), laughs, exchanged cards and future plans that happened among these almost 200 people!
And for WS 2020 I already know I will meet many of them and others who were not in this edition, but have ensured that they will not miss the next!
See you in 2020, Web Summit!
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