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Happy Sunday, pals!

It was an introvert’s nightmare this week with breakfast, coffee, lunch, and dinner meetings most days. Might have had a little cry in the shower before putting my game face on to write this recap on the event. Yw.

In today’s issue

• ⚡️ Lightning List - What I’m reading this week

• 🎁 Web Summit Recap - I went to Lisbon so you don’t have to

• ⭐️ Community Spotlight - Glen Hodgson of Free Trade Europa

• 💰️ Sponsor - Lysted

⚡️ Lightning List ⚡️ 

🇵🇹 TLDA Web Summit Lisbon 🇵🇹 

Look, Web Summit is massive. We're talking 70,000+ people from over 160 countries, including 2,700 startups and 1,000 speakers all crammed into Lisbon for a week. It's wild to think this thing started with just 400 people hanging out in Dublin and has blown up into tech's equivalent of Woodstock (minus the mud, plus way more pitch decks).

🎯 Top 10 Themes

Here’s a breakdown of everything on Center Stage across the three days. Spoiler - it’s AI everything.

1. 🤖 AI: Less Terminator, More Helper

Gone are the "robots are coming for your job" horror stories. Instead, everyone's talking about AI as your work bestie. Peggy Johnson from Agility Robotics brought out their robot Digit and made a great point: "We're trying to take the boring stuff off humans' plates." Honestly, if something can handle my expense reports, I'm all for it.

2. 🧭 Ethical AI Getting Real

Finally, people are talking about AI ethics beyond just buzzwords. Sarah Myers West from AI Now Institute wasn't messing around when she talked about needing to understand "the political economy around AI." Translation: we need to figure out who's actually controlling this stuff.

3. 🎓 Skills Are Getting a Major Makeover

Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director of World Economic Forum, dropped this bomb: "23% of today's jobs will change because of AI." But here's the real talk - it's not about learning to code (unless you want to). It's about getting good at thinking critically, being creative, and knowing how to work with AI tools.

4. 🚀 Tech Democracy is Actually Happening

Small businesses are finally getting their moment. Ping Wu from Cresta showed how even tiny companies can use AI for customer service that doesn't suck. About time, right?

5. 💰 Business Models Are Getting Weird (In a Good Way)

Companies are completely rethinking how they make money. Edward Kim from Gusto made a solid point about how you've got to prove to people something's secure before they'll trust it. Trust = cash, folks.

6. 📜 Regulation: The Necessary Evil

Everyone's trying to figure out how to keep AI in check without killing innovation. Europe's leading the charge with their AI Act, and honestly, it's probably good someone's thinking about this stuff.

7. 🌱 Green Tech Still Matters

Turns out running AI takes a ton of energy. Who knew? (Everyone, actually.) There's a big push to figure out how to make all this tech stuff without cooking the planet.

8. 🔒 Security Without the Headache

Jeff Shiner from 1Password nailed it: "We've been trained to think security has to be difficult." Spoiler alert: it doesn't.

9. 🏆 Global Tech Race is Getting Spicy

The US, Europe, and China are basically in a three-way race for AI dominance. It's like the space race, but with more algorithms and fewer rockets.

10. 💼 Work is Never Going Back to "Normal"

Remote work, hybrid setups, AI tools - the future of work looks nothing like 2019, and that's probably a good thing.

🎪 What The Show Floor Was Really Like

📉 Big Tech Ghost Town

Real talk: the big tech companies were notably MIA this year. Can't ignore the elephant in the room - CEO Paddy Cosgrave's October 2023 comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict led to a mass exodus of big names. Even though he stepped down, seems like some bridges got properly burned.

🌱 Startup City Population: Exploding

The floor was packed with ALPHA stage startups and government innovation booths. Every country seems to want to be the "next Silicon Valley". About half the showroom in each of the four pavilions was taken up by cities and countries wanting to woo founders to register businesses locally.

📊 Real Talk About Format

Let's be honest - this thing is huge. Like, too huge. It's basically impossible to have meaningful conversations when you're sprinting between buildings trying to catch talks or book it to meetings. The days of actually closing deals at Web Summit might be over. It's more like a massive tech carnival now - fun to visit, but don't expect to get much actual business done.

🔮 Looking Forward

Web Summit's still a big deal, but it's definitely hitting some growing pains. The future might be in smaller, more focused events where you can actually hear yourself think and have real conversations. Some groups like South Summit are focusing on just that.

For startups considering whether to go next year: adjust those expectations. Think of it less as a place to close deals and more like a crash course in what's happening in tech. Plus, you get to hang out in Lisbon, which is never a bad thing. (Pastel de Nata 🤤)

Bottom line? Web Summit 2024 was a bit of a mixed bag. The content was solid, the organization was smooth, but the networking value might not be what it used to be. Kind of like when your favorite indie band goes mainstream - still good, just different.

🌟 Personal Highlight of the Week?

Meeting this guy. Nothing like going on a wild adventure and deciding to build a product and company with someone you’ve never met in person before. Six months of crazy ideas and building leading up to a great week of validating our idea and drumming up PR and business for AI Maturity Index.

📰 Check out this great Web Summit summary featuring us in El Español.

⭐️ Community Spotlight ⭐️ 

Glen Hodgson and I were tablemates at an event for the Association of the Future of Work last year and I’ve been a fan ever since.

He is the Founder and CEO of Free Trade Europa and Founder and Secretary General of the Freelance Movement among many other titles and roles.

If anyone has questions about governance and policy as it relates to freelance and contract workers in Europe, Glen’s your guy.

His Nordics Future of Work Summit 2025 was announced this week (invitation only) and the podcast we recorded went live. Give it a listen below!

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That’s all for now, pals. See ya next week.

Eryn