This year has brought a lot of novelty into our lives, challenging us to rethink the normal. 2020 marks the 7th edition of Techsylvania, and it will most probably be forever remembered as the odd one out — it’s the first time we meet with everyone online. We called it Beyond Borders not only because this format could literally welcome people from all over the world, but also because we believe that a community has the power to thrive in spite of challenges, through cooperation, learning, and inspiration.
We would call it a fortune that we managed to assemble no less than 60+ speakers into the greatest line-up of speakers in the history of Techsylvania and attendees from 50+ countries, with the unconditional support of our partners and our team.
If shaping the future from home had always been possible, now it’s the only way. We have to be even more creative, more resourceful, more determined to face the adversity and opportunity that tomorrow brings.
We started today with a warm-up networking session before the welcoming panel discussion between Emil Boc, Cluj-Napoca Mayor, and our all-time favourite Techsylvania Chairman and Host Philipp Kandal.
The more serious note was brought in a panel discussion with our guest Ajey Gore (Sequoia Capital) moderated by Jeannette zu Furstenberg (La Famiglia) on how technology enables connection and fuels productivity.
Hopin is our virtual venue for this edition so we couldn’t help but wonder how is the company driving growth while supporting so many global communities in their transition towards digital. Seedcamp’s Reshma Sohoni asked Johnny Boufarhat, Hopin founder & CEO this question and many others.
Following up on the same debating note on the social impact of technology, we listened to Sabin Sarmas (Authority for Digitalization of Romania) in conversation with Ionut Stanimir (BCR) on the tactics behind driving a country development agenda through technology. Leadership and the new ways of during these times concluded the first series of talks of the day, with the intervention of Christina Verchere, OMV Petrom CEO.
Beauty is everywhere and it shares its fair amount of appreciation for its capacity to emerge in new shapes. Michael Smith, the mind behind Estee Lauder Companies’ technology innovation efforts, shared with us his thoughts on how technology meets the prestige beauty consumer of the future.
Another titan in crafting beauty joined the main stage of Techsylvania. Scott Belsky, Adobe Chief Product Officer addressed one of his favourite topics: the unavoidable messiness of the creative process.
Next, two technology aficionados shared the main stage. Fortune CTO Jonathan Rivers showcased his progress from a single site to a digital ecosystem in just 9 months, followed by Andrei Serban from FuzzBuzz who shed a light on the importance of DevSecOps.
In parallel, the Impact Stage brought Esther Delignat-Lavaud (La Famiglia VC) on Creating and Maintaining an Innovative Culture in B2B, followed by Alin Iftemi from Modex on Blockchain time. Additionally, the curious minds could dive into a workshop hosted by Salt & Pepper’s Tudor Gheorghiu on how to generate thousands of invoices in mere seconds.
The participants could browse virtual booths and engage in conversation with others before attending another couple of thought-provoking talks. QuHarrison Terry (Mark Cuban Companies) talked about future thinking frameworks and trends, while Luke Finney (Terminal) addressed the considerations we should take into account when growing teams.
Building mission-driven companies that impact 1 billion people was the epicenter of the conversation between David Gorodyansky (AnchorFree) and Philipp Kandal. A more pragmatic approach to the topic was brought in the panel moderated by Niko Bonatsos (General Catalyst) featuring Hive’s Kevin Guo on building and selling Enterprise AI.
Besides the talks on the main stage, there were a few other activities on different stages. We invited a few guests for Q & A sessions and hosted the Startup Avalanche pitching session, eager to meet the next rising unicorn.
The workshop stage featured another couple of tech experts—Everest Munro-Zeisberger (Fuzzbuzz) on Automated Bug Finding with Fuzzing and Alexandru Albu (Bosch) on Container-Assisted Testing in Build Automation.
Is it possible to make and keep most of your equity, build a company, and stay happy? We had a conversation between Ryan Begelman (Summit) and Cory Reid (Tyton Partners) exploring various tactics. An even larger question was addressed by Trae Stephens (Founders Fund & Anduril Industries): what happened to the future?
Romania’s RPA Rocketship was probably the most awaited moment of the day. UiPath CEO, Daniel Dines shared with us his vision on building a global unicorn in a panel discussion moderated by Alex Konrad from Forbes.
We always turn to thought leaders for insights. The last talk of the day featured two of our long time Techsylvania friends, Tim Draper (Draper Associates) and Rohan Chandran (Infogroup) on how the VCs will adapt to the changes brought by an unpredictable future.
We concluded the day with a workshop on building Fitbit health apps for the digital age from the makers themselves—Bogdan Purcareata & Alexandru Popa, part of the Fitbit team.
Between September 20–25th, our Techsylvania partners are hosting Satellite Events in a more relaxed, semi-formal format, on a wide range of topics such as crowdfunding, the new way of working, gender equity in investment, leadership in technology, and many more. You can check the upcoming satellite events on our dedicated page.
This was a highly condensed wrap-up of our first day. Wednesday fosters its share of wisdom and novelty in the company of many other brilliant minds:
- Tony Fadell, Future Shape Principal, iPod inventor,
iPhone co-inventor, Nest founder - Mark Cuban, Shark Tank Host & Founder of Broadcast.com
- Christopher Leacock aka Jillionaire, Technology entrepreneur and former member of Major Lazer
- Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands (Techleap)
- Reshma Sohoni, Seedcamp co-founder and Managing Partner
- Mark Porter, MongoDB CTO
- Amy Lewin, Sifted Deputy Editor
- Kara Swisher, Recode co-founder, and many more.
Also, we’re going to announce the Startup Avalanche winner of the year. We’ll be posting real-time updates on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram channels. And stay tuned, we’ll be back with the full story!
This edition of Techsylvania was possible with the help of our supportive event partners:
- Platinum Partners: BCR InnovX, Mastercard
- Gold Partners: OMV Petrom, Bosch, Fortech, Snowflake
- Legal Partner: Laurentiu, Laurentiu & Associates
- Innovation Partner: BMW
- Startup Alley Partner: Google for Startups
- Silver Partners: Macadamian, Telenav, Halcyon Mobile, Salt & Pepper, Fitbit, Accenture, Betfair Romania Development, Microsoft, Estee Lauder Companies
- Bronze Partners: Wolfpack Digital, Freshbyte, Cicada Technologies, adLemonade, Modex, Eurid
- Other Partners: Primaria si Consiliul Local Cluj-Napoca, Roca X, Superbet, EQT Ventures.
