83. How to Strike in 2026

So one of the things that I hear all the time, and sadly, we just don't seem to get away from this, is the link between...

Events, specifically analyst events.

And, you know, shall I launch my category at the latest Forrester, you know, IDC, Ovum, take your pick, events.

There should be a little bit of clarity about events.

And I've unfortunately had to cross London many times in recent months to go to the Excel show.

I thought

he was going to say Shed.

Shed of...

Yes.

And they have been heaving.

Right.

And it wasn't the idea that, you know, somehow all these events were just going to go online and we're not going to wander around talking to each other.

People at booths having quite a good time.

Yes.

In fact, there was, and the name escapes me, there was a startup that raised a lot, and I mean a lot of money, and then the founder exited with a lot of money.

claim on the hypothesis that events were gone.

Now, events are back.

I know that you and I have got a good friend who's a chief operating officer for a major events company.

Things are good.

They're booming in the events world.

But isn't the problem with events is if you're a startup, if you're at the beginning of your category journey, they are ludicrously expensive.

Yeah, they are.

So, you know, the mistake is to take all your hard-earned cash, whether it's, you know, your founders' cash, your investors' cash, or even stuff you've scrambled just by your bootstraps, and spaff it all in an event and go, that's going to launch my category for me.

Not all events are the same.

We have to say that from the startup.