Web Summit 2022

Introduction

I was fortunate to attend Web Summit (WS) 2022 in Lisbon, Portugal. My employer, Messari, sent me to Web Summit as part of our Learning And Development program, for which I am very grateful. I had a terrific time in Europe and learned so much.

The topics I was most interested in for WS were:

• Entrepreneurship

• VC and Investing

• Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Interesting projects outside of crypto.

As someone who works in crypto, getting lost in the crypto rabbit hole is easy. I wanted to check in with other industries and see what everyone else is up to in this bear market. This post will capture my findings.

Words From VCs and Investors

VCs and Investors provided helpful insight during the conference. Here’s what they had to say.

Back to Normal

• The craze of 2021 is coming to an end.

• The deals made in 2021 were crazy. Against the grain, against the rules, and very risky.

  • Investors were rushing into deals without due diligence, not following best practices, and throwing money at the wall.

• Now that we are in a bear market, people are less willing to throw their money around.

• VCs have returned to the tactics and strategies they have been employing for years.

Staying True to the Fundamentals - An Important Lesson

As a wrestler in High School, my coach taught me something significant. Single Legs, Double Legs, High-Cs, and Stand up win state championships, not that fancy throw you’re practicing but will never hit. The point was to stick to the fundamentals. VCs expressed the same message to investors.

• Remember what got you to where you are.

• VCs are going back to doing their due diligence. They want sound products, good teams, and open markets ripe for the taking.

• They are returning to tuning out the noise and looking for solid projects.

• Builders - You should prioritize the same. If your project only survives in a bull run, it won’t last for long. Remember the fundamentals as you build.

• Don’t be afraid to add your flair and flavor. That is crucial to your success. But just as dessert can’t be a meal, make sure what you are building has actual substance.

Don’t Over Extend or Over Raise!

• VCs noticed builders going crazy in a bull run. People were spending more, hiring more, and raising more.

• Do not hire more than you need. Keep a lean team. We saw twitter lay off 50% of its workforce; we also saw a high volume of layoffs across the board. Be smart with your hiring. Hire only when you have to.

• Do not over-raise! It’s easy to get more funds than you need in a bull run. But raise only what you need. Why take more VC funds at the price of equity, especially when you don’t need the funds?

• VCs advise companies not to get in over their heads at the first (or seconds, or third) taste of success. Be humble, or be humbled!

Advice from VCs to Builders!

• Projects that succeed are built on sturdy legs. Focus on your tech.

• Provide value in a way others aren’t.

• Over-satisfy your customers. Give them what they want before they know they need it.

• Don’t build a project end-to-end without any customer input.

• Don’t do anything for free.

• The best projects can make it out of a bear market. They are often built in it.

• Seriously consider your exit strategy, fewer companies are IPO’ing, and more are being acquired MA style.

• Focus on revenue in your early days. Investors want to see recurring revenue.

My Take On a Missing Link!

• Most VCs and investors invest in the founding team, the product, and the market. But the team usually comes first.

• Pivoting can be a critical part of a project, but is the technical stack capable of it?

• In my experience, regardless of how synergetic, visionary, and dedicated a founding team is, if their tech is not robust, they might be standing on stilts.

• You don’t want to build a product from end to end and in its final stage in its first iteration. But you need to develop it with sound legs. The project should have flexible joints and be able to pivot.

• I have seen startups with robust stacks be able to move quickly with market demands.

• I have also seen projects that overextended and underdelivered. Lack of testing, spaghetti code, no documentation, lack of automation, poor architecting, and a lack of future thought are just a few reasons that products go from “adding new features to capture the market” to “we need to spend six months refactoring everything, again…”

• VCs and investors should spend more time and resources on “grilling” a founding team’s technical stack. They should consider hiring others to do it for them if they can’t do it themselves. This due diligence can be the difference in investing in a product that can easily maneuver, adapt, and change, leading to your investment to capture the market, satisfy the customer, and grow rapidly.

Entrepreneurs and Builders

During my chats with VCs, builders, investors, and founders, here is what I learned.

Stay Lean, Be Frugal

• Do not over-hire!

• Do your accounting and consider every financial option. There is a true cost of raising funds.

• Don’t think about the short term; consider the long term when raising funds. Exiting high doesn’t isn’t always the best scenario. It’s often better to hold on to as much equity as possible.

  • Good: You own 90% of your company and exit at 10 million dollars (9 million profit).

  • Bad: You own 10% of your company and exit at 80 million dollars (8 million profit).

• Do everything with a purpose.

Communicating with VCs

• Do your research and due diligence. They are looking you up, do the same!

• Get a great lawyer! Without one, you can make expensive mistakes.

• Be ready to answer awkward questions and repeat yourself. Build tough skin and be patient.

• Be kind. Treat the analyst the way you treat the partners. Being a good person will go a long way.

• Do you want to work with this VC for the next decade? Make sure you are making the right partners.

• Check up on your investors until the money is in the bank. People can catch cold feet up until the very last second.

Don’t be afraid to Fail - Or To Get Started!

• Future entrepreneurs and builders, don’t be afraid to get started. There will always be a million reasons not to start.

• Do something today, even if it is just a pet project. Get the juices flowing, and put yourself out there.

• Don’t be afraid to fail. You will fail; everyone fails. Fail fast, fail forward, and try again.

• Tomorrow is not coming; start today!

PIVOT, PIVOT, PIVOT!

• To have a successful business, at some point, you will have to pivot. You will need to pivot.

• Don’t be afraid to follow your gut on this, even if what you are currently doing works.

• If you stay too rigid, others will capture the market you are failing to explore.

• If you can pivot to a wide open market, or provide a unique product, don’t be afraid to take the leap! Being the first in a new market is a great start.

AI and Machine Learning

Everyone’s favorite topic and perhaps the most controversial topic at the summit: ML and AI.

Everyone is Using It; But Are They Using it Correctly?

• Most ML models never make it to production.

• Being mostly accurate can be very dangerous.

  • Our robot won’t drop your grandpa down the stairs 75% of the time.

• Don’t make your models too strong; there are dangers to overfitting.

Chomsky Fears

Noam Chomsky spoke on his fears as it relates to AI and ML.

• ML and NLP are not science (his words, not mine); they are closer to tools than scientific discoveries.

• ML will not save us.

• The future is grim if we expect ML to work.

• Please take what I have written with a grain of salt, as I might be misrepresenting his position. I disagreed with a few of his points and his overall stance. But I also appreciated his take and can see his cautions and worries.

Stand on the Shoulder of Giants….?

• AWS Sagemaker - The AWS team is making it easy for startups to use out-of-the-box solutions for ML.

• Should we rely on the giants to do our dirty work? At what cost?

• In a world where data is king, can we trust our data in the hands of Giants?

• Managed Services have allowed smaller teams and startups to compete with the big boys. Perhaps they can do it again.

My Take

• Don’t be too early. It’s enticing to build an ML team today, but waiting for tools like Sagemaker and others to mature might be beneficial. Start playing around with managed services and see if they fit your use cases. ML is tricky, don’t try to do it all.

• Figure out the proper use case for it.

• Let your team learn and grow; the field is growing, and so should they.

Innovation Outside of Crypto.

As a crypto, data, and software enthusiast, getting lost in my own world can be easy, but it’s great to step back and look at the broader market. Humans are capable of such extraordinary feats; if we stick our heads down one rabbit hole, we will be lost to all the beauty, inspiration, and innovation around us.

Hardware Systems - GrayMatter Robotics

• There is a labor shortage for a good reason. People don’t want to do back-breaking work anymore and shouldn’t have to.

• They don’t want their kids doing this work, which is why we see fewer and fewer people entering the manufacturing workforce in the newer generations.

• AI and robotics in factories are not as simple as they seem. Many moving parts, different pieces, and new products are constantly added. This means that developing robots for this fast-changing industry isn’t always easy.

• Ariyan and his team are helping factory workers with “Augmented” AI. Workers can leverage these tools to learn shapes, sizes, and tasks. They can then depend on these tools to do menial, laborious work.

• I encourage you to check out his chat and learn more about his company.

• This topic hits close to home. It reminds me of my father. He came to the U.S and worked many back-breaking jobs. He did it, but he never wanted it for his children. It is incredible to see someone like Ariyan working to help us get to a place where people no longer have to break their bodies to provide.

Progress in Women’s Fertility - Gameto

• The current process for IVF is painstaking, hard, and limited.

• Only a small handful of women can afford to undergo the procedure.

• Every woman should have the access to a procedure to become pregnant.

• Gameto has been working tirelessly to make this happen.

• Their product is cheaper, less invasive, easier to perform, and has a higher success rate.

• Bringing this technology to underserved communities is critical. Starting a family is such a beautiful experience, I love the vision of a day where everyone has access to able to do so, regardless of their means.

Remote Education

• I can’t single out an individual company here, many are working to help provide meaningful education around the globe to underserved communities.

• I don’t have a college degree, but I am fortunate to have a few things.

  • A high school education.

  • Access to the internet and a computer.

  • Enough money to pay for introductory online courses.

• This allowed me to have a successful career in tech, provide for myself and my family, and live an incredibly fulfilling life without a college degree.

• In today’s world, we are seeing companies put less stock in a college degree (in specific fields, of course).

• I love the idea of a future where we can help provide quality, low-cost education to people who previously could not access it.

• They might not have a college degree, but last I checked, knowledge is power, not a piece of paper.

• Many companies are taking on this mission, and I commend them.

• Some plan to leverage the metaverse to put together classrooms of children worldwide to help them get this education.

• I won’t get into specifics on any individual project, I think the future is bright. As long as we put effort into educating ourselves and each other, we will be in good hands.

The Future is Bright

• The world around us is ever-growing. We are building new tools, developing new tech, and sharing it innovatively. We want to provide value in unique ways and give what we can to our endeavors. We might disagree, have conflicts, and compete for a specific market. I think we can all agree the future is bright as long as we put our heads together and produce our best work!