46/52: Events of 2024
#CapitalAtRisk
The 2010s was the decade of the Entrepreneur. The 2020s will be the decade of the Investor.
“Be part of the solution, not part of the pollution”.
My Seep tea-towel
Welcome to new subscribers…
🆓 Free subscribers get a short preview and all free public posts. NB: All posts in 2024 will have paid-subscriber-only parts.
💰 Paid subscribers get access to all posts, the angel investor Q&A podcast I did during the 2020 lockdowns, the full archive and can request a video call to ask me anything and talk about the things I don’t share anywhere else.
💰💰💰 Founding Members get all paid benefits plus you get to WhatsApp me unlimited questions for discussion, you get a one hour discussion session once a quarter plus a great lunch in London, on me.
Go to everything (then don’t)
Back in 2011 I’d be going to at least three, sometimes four or five, events after work each week. That’s how you have to start — go to everything — some will be great, others terrible. At some you’ll meet amazing and inspiring people, maybe even life-long friends, at others pessimists and doomers! But you have to go to everything to find out.
I don’t go to as much these days and the four events I’ve listed below were easily the best of 2024. Maybe I’ll see you at some of them in 2025…
1. VALUEx
Started by Guy Spier in 2011 with fewer than a dozen people, VALUEx is now packing out the biggest venue in Klosters as well as the two main hotels.
The principles of VALUEx are confidentiality, non-solicitation, and gestalt. As well as those simple principles it has a wonderfully simple format — free time in the morning (walk, ski, chat), have some lunch, then come and listen to people sharing investment ideas. All followed by a great dinner then drinks at the Piz Buin Hotel bar.
There are some incredible brains in the room during those few days in Klosters and you can read my brief write-up from 2024’s event here.
I attended for the first time in 2024 and immediately re-booked for 2025.
2. ID8 at Kindred
I keep saying to Anna, ID8 is the most generous and unique big event in London right now. I want more of ID8 but also know that quality is a rare thing so I want Anna to keep the standards super high!
The ideas shared are always world changing, eclectic, thoughtful and often quite eccentric. These events remind me of the very best 2011 had to offer, when starting a startup was a weird thing to do, but people were pitching ambitious, and often mad, ideas to an enthusiastic, encouraging and engaged crowd.
You can see more about ID8 here and a bit about the most recent one here.
3. VC Lab & Venture Trailblazers
As you’ll know from this and this I’m a happy part of the VC Lab cohort 16. Participants in the programme get a tonne of value on calls and in online support groups but as well as that Adeo often does more public interviews, like this one with Ilya Strebulaev, a Professor at Stanford whose research focuses on Venture Capital, startups, and innovation as well as insights from his Stanford classes on angel investing, VC and Private Equity.
You can watch the one with Ilya here and find more interviews from the Adeo and others here.
4. The 9others Winter Party
Twice a year Katie and I host a party with many more than 9others. This is the chance for people who’ve been to meals with 9others to meet again, catch up, help out, and meet people who’ve been to other meals. It’s also a chance for us to invite great people who’ve not made it to a meal just yet.
At the most recent Winter Party last month there were five ‘originals’ from the first ever meal with 9others in December 2011. There were Katie and myself of course but also Toni, Gerard and Seena.
Here’s to many more meals with 9others and a couple of parties in 2025. Sign up here for more on 9others.
What makes for a good attendee?
Perhaps this ought to be the genesis of a longer post for the 9others Substack, but if you’re going to an event, how can you make the most of it? Here’s what I reckon:
Be curious — find out what they do, of course, but also what challenges the person you’re talking to is facing, ask why a lot and find out how they got to this point in their journey.
Contribute — ask what might help. Do they want to meet people in a similar situation, or people who are a little further on? Is there one thing they could name, right now, that would help them take a step forward? Ask what their gut is telling them to do… and why…
Don’t sell — no one likes that person who is just there to pitch so don’t do it. If you think that you might be, just turn the conversation around and ask more about the other person’s work or non-work life.
You can make the most of the event once it finishes by connecting up and following up immediately, or certainly by the next morning. (My trick used to be writing notes on the business cards I’d been given at the event on the way home while the conversations were still fresh in my mind).
In your follow up you could send something useful based on the conversation you have — a podcast link, an article, information about someone doing something similar — anything you think might be helpful.
And never wait for other people to follow up first — get on with it — if everyone waited then no one would do anything and nothing would happen.
And what makes for a good host?
Everyone loves a good host, but not everyone loves being a host. Here’s how you could make it a better experience for your guests (because after all, they are who the events are for, not you!):
Introduce people to each other — you should know at least a little bit about everyone who is there, that way you can grab Person-A and say, “Hey, you should meet Person-B over here because…”.
It should appear easy and seamless, even if it’s not — the attendees shouldn’t know about anything that goes wrong — never complain about the tech or the logistics.
Have one thing that’s a bit weird or eccentric — have courage to do something differently. For 9others that’s the pricing — for the Parties the tickets typically start at a fiver then each ticket goes up by 50p (there are also some secret 50p and other randomly priced ticket buried within the others!).
Tell guests to talk to people they don’t know — Mike Butcher was terrific at this in the early days of TechHub on Old Street roundabout. People (maybe not just Brit’s) like to have ‘permission’ so if you tell people to turn around and say ‘hello’ to someone they haven’t spoken to then they have the excuse to say, “Hello — who are you then…?!”.
In other news
✍️ To get to 52/52 I’ll be rattling through some posts in the next few hours.
↗️ I’ve been up north, in Alnwick for the last week — a wonderful place to switch off and enjoy good food and long runs (see below).
More from me?
If you like my writing you can get more by buying my book, ‘Find your 9others’. It’s on Amazon here.
And if you’ve already read ‘Find your 9others’ please leave an Amazon review here.
Q&A
🆓 Free subscribers get a short preview and all free public posts. NB: All posts in 2024 will have paid-subscriber-only parts.
💰 Paid subscribers get access to all posts, the angel investor Q&A podcast I did during the 2020 lockdowns, the full archive and can request a video call to ask me anything and talk about the things I don’t share anywhere else.
💰💰💰 Founding Members get all paid benefits plus you get to WhatsApp me unlimited questions for discussion, you get a one hour discussion session once a quarter plus a great lunch in London, on me.
Important: None of these posts are investment advice. If you are thinking about investing you should seek the advice of a suitably qualified independent advisor.
#CapitalAtRisk