Devcon Thoughts
The following was originally supposed to be a small tweet thread that I concocted in my mini-van cab that had the windows open while it was 95 degrees in Denver. However, thanks to Twitter’s unrelenting inability to retain a previously-saved tweet thread when the app freezes on iPhone, I thought I’d communicate my thoughts via a more reliable Medium (pun 1000% intended).
So here it goes;
- The Moov Team Crushed It
Even though I didn’t get invited to the VIP dinner this year (maybe next year I’ll be hotter have a chance, as Cokie said), the Graham, Jared and the rest of the team executed the conference with precision.
A mainstream Fintech conference typically has the following content breakdown;
- 10% useful panels
- 20% bullshit founders shilling their bullshit products
- 70% parties
Fintech Devcon was none of the 20% — Moov capitalized on a smaller and more engaged audience by inviting the brightest leaders in the space today to speak on popular topics in Fintech, and it paid off. It was real people proposing questions that got the audience primed to thinking about how to solve real world problems.
I even got to sit down with Wade at one point, and let him projectile vomit his payments knowledge all over our new VP of Engineering. He’s new to Fintech so he caught about every 3rd word, but that’s better than I did the first time I ever spoke to Wade Arnold.
Most folks still have no idea what Moov actually does, but if whatever it is they do doesn’t work out, they can certainly fall back on being a Fintech events company.
2. I Got to Meet More Fintech friends IRL
Over the course of the last three days, I found myself several times in groups of people where I was by far the dumbest person. That may say a lot about me, sure, but it really speaks to the quality of individuals in our space. Meeting folks like Ohad Samet of TrueAccord, Matt Harris Jr of Bloom Credit, Zach Brunke of HM Bradley and Aaron Frank of god know’s what’s next was really special, having only spoken to them on the phone/hangouts previously. I’ve learned more about different areas of the Fintech space in the last 72 hours than I’ve learned in a couple of years, and I’m very thankful for that!
3. We have a Tour de Force of Women in Fintech
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the quality of the conversations driven by women like Saira Rahman, Maia Bittner and Cokie Hasiotis (et al) throughout the convention. While still grossly underrepresented in our space (we must do more), I’m confident that these femme leaders will continue to write the book from which the next generation of the most influential Fintech companies will emerge. I’m excited to both watch it and hope to have a hand in driving representation and inclusion in the space for some time to come.
4. We Must Do More to Combat Climate Change
This was my first time in the Denver Metro area. I had flown through DEN several times but never left previously. The drive to/from the airport was brutal, but even more awful was the air quality. As we sat on the rooftop of Le Meridian hotel having drinks on Tuesday, I was told that the smog that had replaced the usual picturesque landscape of the Colorado Rockies was produced from the wildfires in and around the Lake Tahoe area. That smog lingered until I left earlier today, and it really hit home that pollution is often carried thousands of miles away — and as someone who is sensitive to air quality, it really affected me significantly over the last couple of days. Only on the flight home as I’m typing this up am I finally getting some respite from they dryness and smog in the air.
5. The Denver Food Scene is Rockin’
This morning I was feeling adventurous, so I went to a place called Sam’s №3, a Coney Island style diner. Highly recommend it, but make sure you don’t have any important face to face meetings the rest of the day. If you do, make sure you imbibe in a fair amount of coffee after the gut bomb of deliciousness that is their Country Fried Steak and Eggs (photographed below). Beyond that, the quality of Mexican food in Denver blew the TexMex equivalent out of the water in my opinion. Otra Vez Cantina had some of the best chicharrón I’ve had on a taco in ages.
Whelp, we’re landing now. Thanks to everyone who took the time to connect, share war stories and banter. It was great to see so many friends and colleagues, old and new. Here’s to Fintech Devcon 2022!
