As many people will know Carbon Global has a brand called spikizi - an ever growing global community-led accent and dialect app. If you haven’t seen it, then check it out at www.spikizi.co

We were lucky enough to be invited to WebSummit, the worlds biggest tech event spanning four days in Lisbon. By big, I mean it was massive. 2000+ start ups, 40,000 attendees and we were invited to pitch three times during the event, in front of live audiences and once for a US investment television programme called ‘Meet the Drapers’. We were also lucky enough to get onto the Alpha track. The Alpha track is designed to help products that are in their early stages to give them exposure to the wider community and to help them grow.

I’ve taken some time to reflect on what we learnt, by all intents and purposes it was successful but here’s what we’ll be working on when we attend Collision in Toronto in June:

1. No matter how niche or full of potential your product is, investors want one clear and defined line of direction, all with a focus on profit. They don’t care that spikizi has four different verticals, they want to see how they can make the most profit in the shortest amount of time. Therefore our focus, our pitch decks and our rhetoric needs to be more one track, succinct and clear.

2. Networking is education. I met so many people. From someone asking to sit next to me at lunch and speaking about his job as a brain surgeon to understanding how business in Moldova works. I learnt so much in a very short amount of time from some brilliant minds. This also brings another side of this lesson to mind; be visible, be present. Whether that's in person at events or being visible in the digital space, networking comes from being seen and being approachable. There are loads of resources available if you're looking for tips on affordable seo services for small business but if you want to get in front of people in the real world, it comes only from putting yourself out there.

3. Having something different at these events makes a huge impact. We saw how many people had a product that helped recruit developers, crypto wallets, AR/VR, all very innovative but it became very beige. spikizi stood out in a good way. It did push some investors off but a lot of people were interested in where we would be going next, we need to look into capitalising on that.

4. Everyone is talking about the Metaverse. It’s fast becoming a reality. I saw a t-shirt the other day that said ‘Make Orwell fiction again’. I think the same should be said for Huxley and Cline too.

5. Talk to someone to get to know them as a person, only then tell them about your product. This is fundamental to everything we do at Carbon Global. We don’t sell our clients services to prospects, we talk to them and by the end of the call offer them a meeting. We get to know them before they’re being sold to. The amount of people at Websummit who were trying to flog their wares was incredible. The ones I remember are from the people we had a beer with at NightSummit, I remember those products because I know their story and that made a big difference.

Business Development is also Relationship Development, that’s all we’re doing, forming and building a relationship for the future; and it’s working. Our clients are winning more work than ever before through our Lead Generation services and we’re getting lots of referrals because fundamentally we’re getting meetings that turn into work. We believe we’re doing it the right way, if you don’t agree, I would love a chat, after all the biggest thing I’ve learnt is that education through socialising is the best form of growth.