Tuesday saw local conversational AI company Drift's third annual HYPERGROWTH conference at the Wang Theatre in Boston's Theater District.
Drift bills the daylong event as "part tech conference, part leadership summit and part motivational talk." It's an apt description: speakers included a rock climber, a U.S. Navy SEAL, a Harvard Business School (HBS) professor and the founder of Spanx. A running theme? In order to grow, you have to be willing to take risks, to have grit and to be confident in your team.
"You have to embrace the possibility of failure—and sometimes, epic failure," said HBS professor Anita Elberse during her talk.
Drift also took the opportunity to announce the launch of its latest and "most technically advanced" AI tool, Drift Automation, via a rare onstage appearance by founder Elias Torres. Drift Automation is the first product to come out of the Drift AI Lab.
BostInno live-tweeted the conference throughout the day. Here are some key takeaways from some of the talks at HYPERGROWTH.
Growth and culture are not mutually exclusive.
Startup founders and early employees often fear that scaling will come at the expense of company culture. But there's no reason for one to supersede the other. Ultimately, growth will be necessary, so it's paramount for executives to strike the right balance.
Your team is everything. Ride for them.
Surround yourself with good people. Then, make sure they know they're valued. As a leader, you have to provide professional development and career advancement opportunities—otherwise, you're not really doing your job.
And remember, your employees are humans first.
Always be strategizing.
Different companies have different needs. How can you get from Point A to Point B without sacrificing your mission?
Branding is about people.
Marketing is never really about the product. It's about the community—the interpersonal connections, the feeling of loyalty to other people—to which a product can open the doors. Customers will know when they're being advertised to. How can business leaders play with that?
Persist.
It's obvious, but it's important: Never be afraid to fail. Believe in yourself and your team. And go hard when you need to.
