So we're here at the opening of the next web, New York City.
Why are we here?
So we're here because there's just great demand for a place like this, a moment like this in time where everybody gets together and can learn from each other.
So you can read a story, you can watch a video, but it's just very different if you're in the same space and you sort of bump into people and trade war stories.
What are sort of the thoughts around this year's event specifically?
Yeah, so I think if you look at our company, we try to do things differently.
It was difficult for us to find a location in Manhattan where we would have the freedom to build it, organize it as we wanted.
So you can go to a hotel and everything is set. You can put a nail in the wall and hang up something that you want to change.
So we found this place and it's much more flexible to build something that we want to build.
How did you start scaling? How did you get the momentum that you're seeing right now?
So a big difference for us is that we didn't start out with a business plan where we thought we were going to do this and make a lot of money.
We just started because we wanted to do a conference and we thought it was cheaper than going to a conference and easier, which it wasn't.
Also it wasn't cheaper, but that's how the first conference came into existence.
And then after a year we thought it would be nice to have our own blog for the conference and then hire one writer and we sort of grew from there.
And I think we started seeing momentum at one point, I think it took a few years really, before people started feeling like, alright, they're going to stick around.
This is serious. I can depend on this to be my new source or a conference that I can trust.
And I think one major breakthrough for me was not last year, the year before, when we started ticket sales for the next event, like the day after the event took place in Amsterdam, and we sold like 200 tickets or something.
And then I suddenly realized, like, alright, this is what brand value is, where people trust us to deliver something good and they just buy a ticket in the blinds because they know it's going to be good.
And that was for me a moment where I'm like, wow, that's so different from how it used to be because the first six events, every ticket we sold, I felt like I had to talk to ten people to get one of them to buy a ticket.
So by the time we started selling tickets and it sort of happened automatically, I was really like, who's buying tickets? I didn't talk to a hundred people. Are we just selling tickets out of the blue? That's just so weird for us.
Are there any war stories you could share with us?
Oh, sure. I mean, organizing an event is nerve-wracking and it's just, there's always something, right?
So one of the speakers canceled yesterday and this is our 17th event, so I'm like, oh, sure, well, that happens all the time.
But the team was freaking out a little bit and they're like, oh, that's all part of the show.
So there's, yeah, I don't even know where to start with the amount of challenges you have when you organize an event this size in a different country. That's just, there's always something.
So is there one specific thing you're looking forward to the most of this year's conference?
Well, the ending, of course, drinking a beer at the after party, for us, it's a lot of work putting on an event.
And we all try to look relaxed and smile. But of course, you can imagine that behind the scenes is very stressful.
So the first beer at the after party, that's always very good.
Thanks a lot for this.
My pleasure.
Thanks for taking the time to it.
And see you there, definitely.
At the party, yeah.
