We have been so busy since May building our community of 400 founders and CEO of European software companies. And finally we all had a chance to get together and meet each other for the first time at the launch event in London on Sept 14th. As the founder of Boardwave I was so proud to see so many people come together with a common aim of sharing our wealth of knowledge, experience and wisdom, from right across Europe, to help each other build more successful businesses and create the next generation of globally successful software companies
"The most complete group of European Software leaders ever assembled in one place"
Over 200 people turned up, with many of our Patrons & Committee members acting as hosts with the goal of helping attendees make new connections and foster new meaningful relationships.
In the 24 hours prior to the launch many members had used the "Connection Request" feature on the website, to reach out to someone else attending with the goal of meeting on the day. The Boardwave team curated 60 new connections, alongside the spontaneous conversations that happened in the room. This feature is still available, so if you saw someone there who's details you didnt get, or theres someone you wished you had met and didnt, you can still request to be connected.
To make the discusion and debate flow we had polled members prior to the event, to see what the most important issues are to them at the moment. The four that rose to the top were; Scaling Sales, The War for Talent and Retaining your people, Delivering Customer Value, and Managing in a Challenging economy. Each corner of the room debated one of these issues. Here is Steve Kelly, Boardwave Patron, Chair of Technation, and formerly CEO of Sage. talking to Chris Manton-Jones, CEO of Cobalt.io about Scaling Sales,
Steve also talked to some of our Next Wavers, who represent the best of the next generation of Software leaders; Jenny Griffiths MBE, Founder & CEO Snap Vision, Tugce Bulut, Founder & CEO of Streetbees, and Dominik Pinter, CEO Kentico
For many people this was the first time they had seen each other since the pandemic. I saw lots of people reacquainting themselves with old friends, but importantly making new connections and helping one another.
This was the launch we had dreamed of in January when we first started talking about the idea. People came from Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany and Italy to be there. Thanks to all our members who came along and made it a very special occasion. Now we roll into the Autumn with a Debate Series of Dinner & Breakfast Events, that take some of the key issues and start to drive more into the detail, and offer practical advice. So if you came along and enjoyed the launch or couldnt make it, signed up for a Boardwave Debate.
Finally thank you to all our sponsors, who's support has been fantastic, without them none of this would have been possible.