Reflections on TechBBQ 2021
Last week Grant Compass attended TechBBQ in Copenhagen and we want to share some reflections on some of the talks we heard.
It’s been over two years since we were at any work-related conference so anticipation was high! After milling around the conference exhibitors and grabbing a coffee it was down to business…
After working for 8 years in the White House with Barrack Obama, Simas is now CEO of the Obama Foundation whose aim is to find and help a million leaders across the world with shared principles, education and support.
Two characteristics he singled out for CEOs were confidence in the decisions they make and humility in knowing that they do not have all the answers and admit and own mistakes when they occur.
Being humble means that our initial ideas may not be the best there are. Leaders need to be good at sharing but more importantly to listening. We must learn to let go because often our ideas get better when others build upon them.
An important point made well, was that technology is neither evil or good — but the uses of them by those who have other intentions is always a risk if their design has not been considered from their perspective.
Jennifer von Der Heydt’s company (loop-It) has taken the circular design methodology as the foundation for her business that enables consumers to choose to recycle when at a cafe or takeaway restaurant and ensure a waste-free impact on the environment.
She shared her experiences of collaboration with key stakeholders that by working together produce better ideas. Real change only occurs when you gather everybody around the table to create the change that they can own. Impact happens from this adoption and ownership of the idea. It is important to acknowledge that others have high quality ideas that you may not have. By offering new perspectives that are important, the idea itself becomes more robust.
She recommended to always dig deeper and understand the problem as fully as possible. In some cases they spent a year just understanding how companies and systems worked. When you have a better understanding of the issues, dynamics and systems, then you can begin changing it with the right methods.
This panel all worked within the retail sector but their observations are applicable to any company building a digital product.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is a crucial metric to follow and though generally accepted this must be kept low as the customer base grows this was the first time I heard it explicitly talked about in terms of marketing.
Frederikke Schmidt stated that you need to build brand at the same time as lowering CAC. Though very often they are intangible metrics when we talk about offline marketing, the effect of the effort is hard to measure but it can be felt. She referred to her online ad spend being halved due to the awareness created in offline events.
‘it’ s essential to have a marketing mix that is multi-channel’.
Frederikke Schmidt — Roccamore
Offline and online mix is also a very important factor for SaaS success. The ability to get close and champion your customers is key for engagement and sales. According to Frederikke it’s important to have a presence both in the offline and online world. Be on the street as well as Facebook marketing. Even a free glass of wine in the physical shop can lower CAC significantly.
Both Roccomore and Vivinio saw value in the physical interactions that they have in stores but of course when selling physical products you could argue this is no surprise.
However the passion of being customer obsessed (even Roccamore’s shoes are named after customers) really drove home the importance of listening and embracing customer feedback and interaction.
The final talk we saw was from a VC heavy weight, Chris Sacca, who is now focussed on only investing in companies who are making a positive difference to the climate. His love for Copenhagen was apparent, even sharing that he was due to become ambassador to Denmark if the 2016 election had had a different result.
Though it was through a webcam, Sacca’s conversation was entertaining and it worked surprisingly well. He asked us to remember that VCs get most things wrong but ‘when they get a few right, they get it right big.’
His passion for change has now been directed into companies whose technologies were truly change making for the earth’s climate, whilst also being a ‘goldmine’ from an investment perspective.
Aside from his views on DeFi and Blockchain he stated the most important attribute for his success was being happy and helpful. Helping whoever he could has really given him the best opportunities and has made him happier by doing that. Which is why investing in others is the most meaningful way for him to create impact.
The last time Grant Compass was at Tech BBQ it was pre-pandemic 2019. Our founder was on the Impact stage that was hidden away in an outbuilding in the Øksnehallen complex.
At that time ‘Impact’ felt very much like a buzz word. Where the ‘do good’ part of the start-up world was not as exciting as AI, blockchain and robotic cocktail barmen.
Fast forward to the post-pandemic world and we live in a very different time. Unsurprisingly, the conversation and tone has changed.
We are in a climate crisis. Public health is a global concern. Impact needs to be felt and measured at every level of a business and VCs are seeking out meaningful investments with an all time high of $288B reached in the first half of 2021.
You sense that the time for action is now and this feeling of urgency gave a vitality to this conference. The quality of the talks and speakers reflected this and a realistic view of what technology can do and has done for us.
This felt serious and important this time, and was a welcome addition to the pleasure of attending a live event — a feeling you sensed was shared by over 4500 participants.
We hear a lot of the phrase ‘build back better’ but this time I feel ‘better’ is not what is being talked about. This time it may just be ‘build back different’. It certainly feels that we need to change how we design and build to stop repeating the mistakes of the past.
