Building the future of virtual conferences
Every year, 1.5 billion people fly billions of miles to make connections. A lot of the time, all that travel is only necessary because the tools to do it virtually are awful. Konf is going to remedy that.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve worked with hundreds of startups as a mentor/advisor/coach. Mostly as a pitch coach. As part of that, the question “Haje, why aren’t you doing another startup” has come up with some regularity.
My honest answer has been that, as someone who’s seen startups succeed and fail, I’ve realized that the odds of a startup working out are extremely slim. For me to do another startup, it would have to be with a magnificent team, in an exploding market that I am passionate about, where I can have a real positive impact in the long run. If I’m being honest, I had resigned myself to those stars never aligning again, and that I would instead apply what I’ve learned to other early-stage companies.
And then everything changed.
A shift in behaviors
Don’t get me wrong; COVID is — in one way or another — going to be temporary. I don’t know what that means, but for the purpose of this blog post, it doesn’t matter. What does matter, is that this pandemic has brought on a tremendous set of changes. People who have never been running virtual events before are doing birthday parties, weddings, and board game nights. Companies are needing to adapt. Humans, it turns out, are pretty adaptable creatures. Is virtual the right way to go for all of these events? Good heavens, no; I would be delighted to never have to go to another Zoom wedding. But we’ve all been surprised by how deeply you can connect virtually, without having to step a foot outside.
Something is emerging. For a lot of the events and meetings and conferences and meetups where we were collectively shoving ourselves into cars, on public transport, or on airplanes, there’s a better way. Or rather, there should be. I’ve attended dozens of virtual events, and most of them are awful. In part, because people don’t know how to run events virtually. In part because the tools that are being used are all internal communications tools. I love Zoom and Slack and I use both daily — but using them for large-scale public-facing events is like using a Stanley 5-ounce magnetic tack hammer — an excellent tool for upholstery work — to saw down a redwood tree.
The world is full of problems that aren’t best solved with a 5-ounce tack hammer. Virtual conferences and virtual events are two excellent examples. Yes, there are a flurry of competitors out there trying to solve this problem, but I think they are missing the magic sauce. They are failing to educate would-be conference organizers on how to run incredible virtual events. And they are hiding behind opaque pricing.
The future of virtual events
When Damien came to me and showed me what he was working on with Konf, I knew I had to get involved. At first, I stepped in part-time, helping do some marketing for the company. But as time went on, our conversations shifted from the tactical to the strategic — and I knew I had to join him in building this company, and the future of virtual events.
Damien is continuing to build Konf as its CTO, and I’m going to wear the CEO cape as the company continues to do one of my favorite things in the world: Connecting humans, on a human level, and doing the environment a favor at the same time.
Are you running virtual events? Excellent. We have a product in private beta, and I want to learn more about your pain points and your challenges. Email me on haje@konf.co.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some money to raise and a company to build. Come learn more at Konf.
