Wrapping up Toronto

The week in Toronto attending Collision Conference was something else. I referred to it as an ‘assault on the senses’ earlier this week and the sheer volume of speakers, meetings, dinners, drinks and other activities combined with the truly lovely warm weather made it a great week. There is lots to digest, in particular the direction of the financial markets and what the impact of all the turbulence will be on both founders and investors in tech. A longer piece on this very issue is in the works for early next week.

But there were other things too. Analysis of how tech (in particular AI) keeps progressing as well as serious discussions on the role of journalists and access to accurate information. I attended a series of panels on the latter and hope to be part of the journey to provide truthful and accurate information as this newsletter evolves over time. It got a nice little boost yesterday when Kasparov himself retweeted yesterday’s instalment which brought lots of new readers to this site.

The one thing I take away is that whatever the markets are doing, the drive to innovate and collaborate is relentless. There are enough positive things in the mix that we should not lose sleep over the present economy (inflation, energy, housing) and concurrent stock market fluctuations. If anything, they create immense and unexpected opportunities.

Enjoy the (sunny) weekend, see you next week.