Dear Reader,
I hope this finds you well.
Last year, I had the opportunity to attend the Web Summit 2022 tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal and it was incredible. So, I thought I should share my experience with you. I am sure you would find this valuable.
I’ll be covering my experience at the conference, the lessons learnt from the talks I attended, and my recommendations if you are attending this (or any) conference.
Let’s dive in!
But wait.
What is Web Summit?
Web Summit runs the world’s largest technology events. It has grown from a 150-person conference in Dublin in 2009 to this mega event in 2022 at Lisbon.
The 2022 Web Summit occurred from the 1st – 4th of November at the massive 20k-seater Altice Arena in Lisbon, and had over 71,000 attendees from 160 countries. These included startups, investors, speakers, journalist, and other attendees who came to network, be educated, or participate in the inspiring pitching competition.
All the major tech companies like Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft, and leading European startups were ably represented.
The Altice Arena. Lisbon, Portugal.
I walked 75,000 steps and looked at every booth, so you don’t have to.
There were over 2000 startups exhibiting in booths at the conference. I visited all of them. Across every sector, although AI was a recurring theme.
The talk sessions were separated according to different themes such as DeepTech, Content Makers, Crypto, creatiff, MoneyConf, Growth Summit, and HealthConf. Each day the main events took centre stage at the Altice Arena.
These sessions typically lasted between 15 - 45 minutes. This kept things short, precise, and lively. I attended 13 different sessions, 3 of which I found impactful and would be discussing further in this article.
Session 1: Confessions of modern design: How design is changing, and how we need to change with it
By Yuhki Yamashita, CPO Figma
In this session, Yuhki explains that in product design we commonly approach a problem by first crafting a problem statement, and then identifying a solution. This is design theory.
In his experience at Uber, YouTube and now Figma, the opposite is usually true. You start with a solution and then find a problem. Iterating while remaining a Work in Progress (WIP).
For example, Figma was built on the founder’s believe that design could be a collaborative experience through multiplayer editing. No one else expected this to work, fast forward a few years and this is the norm, leading to a proposed $12bn acquisition offer from Adobe.
In this ‘solution-first’ approach, Yuhki proposes 3 key questions and tips for Work In Progress (WIP).
Qs. 1 When do I review work when it’s constantly changing?
Tip 1: Rather than waiting for the perfect moment before reviewing WIP, Yuhki proposes using a predictable cadence, for example every week.
Qs. 2 How do I give feedback to work, when it’s always evolving?
Tip 2: The form the feedback takes is just as important as the feedback itself.
This is important. Many times, I’ve seen someone present their WIP and receive feedback that isn’t well thought out or constructive. Sometimes it’s just an idea. But that ‘idea’ could leave the presenter overwhelmed or discouraged.
Yukhi proposes a solution for this by taking a leaf out of HubSpot’s book.
When giving (and qualifying) feedback the Hubspot marketing team use a hashtag system which are hashtags you put at the end of your feedback to indicate how important it is.
They are based on the idiom – ‘how willing to die on this hill are you’ – how important is this opinion to you?
#fyi
Hill dying status: I don’t even see a hill.
Meaning: this was just for your information.
#suggestion
Hill dying status: I saw the hill, but didn’t feel strongly enough to commit the calories to climb it.
Meaning: this is a suggestion, take it or leave it.
#recommendation
Hill dying status: I climbed the hill. I breathed deeply. I contemplated my life. I walked back down.
Meaning: this is a recommendation.
#plea
Hill dying status: Dying on a hill is not on my bucket list, but if it were this would be a really good candidate.
Meaning: They definitely want to die on the hill, so be ready for a rigorous debate.
Qs. 3 How do I know when it’s done and ready to ship?
It is really tempting to keep iterating on your work and making it perfect. But you have to be ready to let go, allow for imperfections, ship, and get feedback.
Customers understand, and what to get involved in iterating.
“Users would much rather have a product that is less perfect but continuously evolves, than one that stays the same”.
Tip 3: Be less precious about work that ships.
“There is both an opportunity and an expectation that the work evolves after launch.”
Session 2: A founder’s guide to building a $17.5bn SaaS unicorn
By Andrey Khusid, CEO of Miro.
My 2nd session was by Andrey Khusid, the CEO of Miro.
Miro is a Visual collaboration and whiteboarding tool for teams – like a visual google doc.
In just 25mins, Andrey took us through his incredible journey growing up in Russia, founding and growing Miro over 11 years, switching from a B2C to a B2B product, and raising $400m in series C funding.
How it started.
In 2011, Andrey was running a digital agency working with customers across the world and knew he needed a platform to connect and collaborate with them. That’s how Miro was born.
Side note: It’s interesting how many successful startups started by experiencing a pain point, solving the problem for themselves, and discovering there are others with a similar problem they can also solve it for.
From B2C to B2B.
Miro initially launched as a visual social network where users could login with their social media accounts. But then the team noticed that 90% of people used it for a productivity use case. So, they pivoted to a B2B tool for teams.
The pandemic, a perfect storm.
Miro focused on listening to their users, iterating on the product and operating profitably. By the time the pandemic hit, the Miro team had an 8 years head start of getting all the pieces in place – brand, enterprise marketing, product growth loops – operating as a well-oiled growth machine.
Before the pandemic Miro had about 4m users, but has since grown to over 50m in 2022. 91% of Fortune 100 companies are Miro’s customers. In January 2023, they raised a $400m series C funding to fuel their expansion. Luckily for them, the current transition to hybrid work is perfect for Miro.
This was an excellent talk, that really showed a founder’s journey.
Session 3: In conversation with iPod and iPhone creator, Tony Fadell and Fast Company.
Very few people can say that they have been associated with not 1 but 2 products used by millions of people, which have caused a technological, and cultural shift.
Tony Faddell is one of those people and has helped create 3 ground breaking products: the iPod, the iPhone, and the Nest Learning Thermostat.
Tony Fadell spoke at Web Summit of the back of the release of his new book: BUILD An Unorthodox Guide to making things worth making. This was a must see. In a fireside chat, Tony answered different questions on his life, career, and the book. Let’s jump in.
Qs: What was the most meaningful aspect of the iPod and iPhone experiences to you?
After a decade of failure to finally take everything that I learnt, all the people the networks to put all that together and be able to deliver on the iPod quickly and then the iPhone executing well. Changing the world twice is just mind blowing. It is really warming but it’s a responsibility.
I learnt never to hope that I would be successful, especially coming from General Magic. All of you who are making stuff learn about failure, the right product, the right timing, and the right market. You should see General Magic the movie and see what came out of it. It’s a story about disaster that turned into redemption later.
Qs. You recently published a book Build, that is filled with a lot of advice on making things. Can you distil some advice from the book for the audience?
Sure. It’s an encyclopaedia of mentorship. It’s mostly about failures and the things I learnt along the way from my mentors like Steve Jobs and my grand father and what they taught me about building things worth making.
This book is to honor my mentors, and to give back real hard worn lessons.
Qs. How do you find Mentors?
You start with mentors even as a small kid, people who see something in you. It’s people in your network, you naturally trust and they trust you. It’s not going to be a business transaction but a special relationship.
Seek them out because you do need those relationship – someone who has been there and is knowledgeable. They may not understand your business but understand human nature.
You can find mentors everywhere. At your company, mentors could be older people that have experience. They want to work with young people and feel young again. Seek them out.
For people in tech, you don’t have to have a mentor who is a technologist. For example, Bill Campbell was a coach a football team and a sales expert at Kodak. He knew nothing about technology was a mentor to Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin.
You want someone who understands people, from who you can learn how to lead people.
Qs. What did you learn from your failures?
From my first failure at General Magic, we didn’t understand our audience, we were just building for geeks. We didn’t understand the customer journey and who were building for.
From Phillip I learnt sales and marketing. We made a great product but didn’t know how to sell and market it.
From Apple I learnt about the customer journey, about how to take a product such as iPod and iPhone to market, and how to do it successfully – understanding every customer touch point with your product.
This is what really came out of my failures. Understanding the customer journey. Customers don’t just buy a product; they look at the entire relationship you have with them. Each of those steps is about building trust, education, and getting them to understand what you are doing. If they love what you are doing, they go and tell others about it. That’s word-of-mouth marketing.
Qs. What did you learn from your failures?
From my first failure at General Magic, we didn’t understand our audience, we were just building for geeks. We didn’t understand the customer journey and who were building for.
From Phillip I learnt sales and marketing. We made a great product but didn’t know how to sell and market it.
From Apple I learnt about the customer journey, about how to take a product such as iPod and iPhone to market, and how to do it successfully – understanding every customer touch point with your product.
This is what really came out of my failures. Understanding the customer journey. Customers don’t just buy a product; they look at the entire relationship you have with them. Each of those steps is about building trust, education, and getting them to understand what you are doing. If they love what you are doing, they go and tell others about it. That’s word-of-mouth marketing.
Qs. I assume General Magic didn’t succeed because the technology wasn’t there, but the iPhone had everything in place. Was technology the barrier for General Magic?
General Magic made the iPhone 15 years too early in 1992/3. Before the internet, mobile data, Wi-Fi, websites, we were doing it all – downloadable content, and flight booking through a phone line. But we didn’t have the processing power, the screen, battery, and all the technology necessary to create the iPhone 15 years later.
We had the right idea but we needed the tech to be right and the society to be right to understand the product we were solving. Society didn’t have cell phones, so they didn’t know what a mobile was and if they even needed it.
Fast forward to the iPhone. Users had 3 devices and use cases:
Productivity on their laptops – emails, spreadsheets.
Connectivity through cell phones – SMS and calling.
Entertainment through their iPods.
They had to carry 3 different devices, the cables and chargers. When the iPhone came out it was all in 1 device - productivity, entertainment, connectivity.
A lot of people understood the pain and we brought the painkiller.
The mobile data networks were there, the retail shops were there. All those things came together, enabling Apple to leapfrog to where it is today.
I love this final distinction by Tony that yes, the technology needed to be in place for the iPhone to be created but also the potential customers needed to understand it and be ready, the mobile data networks and retail. All the pieces needed. So, you have everything required to bring a solution to clear problem with a clear market.
Those were the 3 most insightful sessions I attended at Web Summit. I attended other sessions on music creation, fintech in Africa, branding, and creating social media content.
Other Experiences
Besides attending the sessions, and visiting the startup booths, something amazing happened while I was in Lisbon for Web Summit. I got to see David Guetta perform for free.
He was in town to perform at another tech event and they were doing an online random giveaway. A friend of mine who was also attending the conference saw the event and signed us both up, unbeknown to me. We both got tickets and got to see him perform and for almost 3 hrs it was simply amazing.
Conclusion
I am so glad I got to travel to Portugal and attend Web Summit. Seeing and being a part of the entrepreneurial energy of 71,000 people was magnetic.
I was reminded that entrepreneurship is really about optimism, believing that you can contribute to creating a better world. This is what assures me that no matter the challenges that we read in the news, the world would be fine because of these dreamers, builders, and creators.
I encourage you to attend the next Web Summit. If you decide to go, here are some recommendations to make the most of your experience at Web Summit or any conference:
Decide what you want to get out of the experience – a new opportunity, funding, or networking
Review the agenda to know which topics and sessions are most valuable to you
Most of these conferences have an app which helps you track the schedule of the events and network with other attendees. Register and use these apps
Network and strike up conversation with other attendees. It can be daunting but it gets better with practice
Have Fun!
While I was on the lunch queue after a session, I struck up a conversation with a husband and wife pair who had started a company together building medical wearable devices for people with rare health conditions. This started because the husband had one of these conditions. They were solving a problem for themselves, and then scaling the solution to the world.
Entrepreneurship at is finest.
I hope you found this useful. Good luck and bye for now.
Nero
Delivering Value, Racing Towards Excellence.
You can also read other book reviews on:
Succeeding ( Mindset, How to fail and still win, Strategy Rules from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs), Customer Discovery and Product Building( The Mom Test, Inspired, The $100 Startup, Choose Yourself, The Alchemist).
Other articles on: Figma: From 0 to $20bn, Me, My Product Management journey, Career Framework, , Career Advice, Strategy, Management & Teamwork, Spotify’s Product Story
And many more at Business Notes by Nero Okwa.
If you have any more questions kindly leave a comment below or message me at notesbynero@gmail.com.
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