TNW 2024: The XMDS Marketing Team Discovers the Latest in Tech

The TNW Conference is a two-day technology gathering in the wider Amsterdam area that brings together tech enthusiasts and industry professionals to discuss how technology may help us take back the future. TNW speeches are renowned for being bold, perceptive, and motivating. This year, we asked Celine and Amber, two of XMDS's marketers, to attend the conference and discover the latest tech trends. Read on to find out their key highlights from the most interesting sessions.

Day one of The Next Web

On day one, Celine kicked off the event by attending “Behind the Paywall: Uncovering OnlyFans” with Lee Taylor, the CFO of OnlyFans. Did you know that OnlyFans was initially designed for celebrities, influencers, athletes, and others to publish exclusive content for their true fans – their ONLY fans? Although the platform has evolved ever since, Lee's talk offered interesting insights into how OnlyFans distributes money to its users and highlighted the biases the platform faces from banks and other institutions and the challenges it faces.

The next speech, one of Celine's favourites of the conference, was “How to F*Up Your Startup: Best Practices to Failing'' by Kim Hvidkjaer, focusing on why startups fail and how to avoid it. Based on 14 years of research, data from 160,000 failed companies, and his own personal entrepreneurial missteps, he offered practical advice to turn failures into future success.

This was followed by the final talk of the day, "Reviving VanMoof: McLaren Applied's Strategic Acquisition and Growth Support," by Eliott Wertheimer, Co-CEO of VanMoof. He discussed McLaren Applied's recent acquisition of the bankrupt e-bike manufacturer VanMoof and highlighted their commitment to regaining their customers' trust this year.

Day two of The Next Web

On Friday, the programme's second day, they found the speakers to be the most fascinating. Moving on from AI, the most talked-about topic, Amber attended some interesting talks. Firstly, she participated in a lecture by Moon Ribas titled "Seismic Percussion: Revealed Reality." Revealed Reality (RR) stresses the significance of developing new senses to explore our planet thoroughly. Because of the sensors inserted into her feet to detect the earth's seismic tremors, she recognised herself as a cyborg.

Chris Duffey from Adobe presented "Navigating the Future: AI, Customer Expectations, and Business Transformation." Undoubtedly, it was found to be one of the most interesting AI-related talks. Duffey presented five crucial AI adoption vectors and emphasised the need for hyper-personalization at scale in fostering business transformation. He also shared a few intriguing examples of AI gone wrong.

Finally, the marketeers attended Sophia Amoruso's "Rewriting the Rules: Non-Traditional Routes to Entrepreneurship" and Geoff White's "Laundering the Loot From The World's Fastest Heist" sessions. In an engaging story, White detailed how North Korean hackers stole $625 million in less than two minutes, making it the fastest robbery in history and highlighting the significance of cyber security. Amoruso shared her experience of beginning her career on eBay at the age of 22, growing it to a $100 million company, and winning the title of Forbes' richest self-made woman in 2016.

All in all, Celine and Amber had a great time and an opportunity to learn from relevant speakers at The Next Web conference. From a marketing perspective, it was particularly interesting for them to get an inside look at various companies and learn from their successes, failures, and strategies. For those active in the tech sector, we couldn't recommend this insightful event enough! Bring on the 2025 edition!

Enjoyed this read? For more insights, keep an eye on our website. We'll be sharing updates and key takeaways from every marketing and tech event we participate in. https://xmds.nl/news