Building Out Loud #6: A complex future, phase transitions in startups and a new way to host a conversation
During a big week at Australia's deep tech conference - Tech23 - we brought our portfolio together.
This week:
The Road to 2050 - a masterclass
Four Lessons-Learned from Peerless
Discussion Circles - a new way to host a conversation
The Road to 2050 - a masterclass
Some people think it is futile to think about the future because however hard we try to predict what will happen, that’s not what happens.
Well, that’s true. But.
Imagining stories about what might happen allows us to explore different possible futures, both opportunities and threats. We can throw what we are building against an imaginary future to see if that future could make things better or worse.
We explored this together in a masterclass for Cicada’s Tech23. About 50 deep tech founders came together to imagine what might happen next. It was an opportunity to escape our reactive days and immerse ourselves in our imaginations.
The founders gathered from companies in decarbonisation, materials, food, quantum computing, biotech, healthcare and AI.
Here’s what we did.
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Four Lessons-Learned from Peerless
We recently hosted Peerless — an annual gathering of the Main Sequence portfolio. We haven’t done this at scale, in the same room since the pandemic and thank goodness we are back!
Most of this session was under Chatham House Rules, so I can’t tell you about most of the amazing conversations, but some common ideas resonated that might be valuable to share.
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Discussion Circles - a new way to host a conversation
I have become bored with panel discussions at conferences. A row of stools and an often predictable flow of conversation. At the Main Sequence’s portfolio day this year, we wanted to shake it up, so we took a chance with the format and invented something new.
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