With an incredible 15 stages featuring such a vast variety of talks from some of the world’s most influential speakers from over 500 companies and, showcasing some the the most exciting startups the world has to offer, it was incredibly difficult to chose the highlights from day one of the 2015 Web Summit. Despite wanting to include everything that the opening day had to offer, we at eBuzz Towers have managed to narrow it down to a select few top picks.
“The grand conclave of the tech industry’s high priests from all over the world”. -The New York Times.
Mike Krieger, Co-Founder Instagram
Mike Krieger, the fascinating co-founder of Instagram, took to the centre stage yesterday afternoon for his much anticipated talk; Instagram In Focus. Discussing just how much the social media platform has changed since it was founded in 2010, Krieger went on to talk about his vision of the network’s future. With over 75% of photos being taken on smartphones, Instagram is undoubtedly the perfect tool to capture and share the world’s finest moments.
“We want Instagram to be timely and personal”. – Krieger
If you missed Instagram In Focus yesterday, you can catch further talks from the brilliant Krieger today.
Peggy Johnson- Microsoft’s Executive VP
Microsoft’s executive vice president of business development; Peggy Johnson, another extremely interesting speaker, not only took to the centre stage at tech conference with her stimulating talk; Partner, Thrive or Die, but also spoke at the start-up stage with Don’t Play Hardball, Build Up Relationships.
The inspiring individual who has only been working with Microsoft for a mere 12 months, discussed how she has managed to secure deals with numerous companies such as Uber and Dropbox by finding a solution to a problem that more than one company is struggling with. She spoke about the importance of partnership and the use of new platforms to create relationships to help companies to thrive.
Uri Levine – Co-Founder & Chairman at FeeX
The co-founder and chairman at FeeX; Uri Levine, took to the startup university summit stage with his captivating talk; Falling In Love With The Problem. The theme of identifying a problem and building a product around it’s solution seemed to surface throughout the entire day, but Uri certainly managed to deliver an extremely stimulating talk concerning the topic.
As a startup, in order to be successful – you need to do one thing right, only one. solve your user's problem!
— Uri Levine (@UriLevine1) October 30, 2015
Andy O’Donoghue – The Gadget Buzz : Head Of Digital at Beaumex
Our very own Andy O’Donoghue took to the enterprise summit stage an incredible three times yesterday, first, hosting a panel on Mining The Data Goldmine, secondly with a fireside with Marc Jones of SoftLayer on; The State Of The Cloud and lastly with The Open Talent Economy. Watching the captivating gadget guru discuss some of the topics he’s most passionate about, was a highlight for us back at eBuzz Towers .
Birthday beer from @brewbot – the coolest personal brewery on the planet : birthdays work at the #WebSummit! pic.twitter.com/YsD1gDrWnZ
— Andy O'Donoghue (@ADODonoghue) November 4, 2015
Top Startup Picks
1.Whistle
Introducing a new era of pet care. An extremely promising Web Summit startup company which caught our eye yesterday was Whistle; a company whose aim is to help dogs to live both happier and healthier lives. The clever company, based in San Francisco helps owners to better understand their pets. The guys have created an on-collar monitor that helps measure your pet’s activity and tracks your pet’s location from your smart phone.
“Improving the lives of our pets as they do ours.” – Whistle
BullyBug
BullyBug the incredibly inventive anti-bullying product was unveiled yesterday. It’s creators took to the Web Summit stage to talk about the product which came about as part of the Solas Project initiative; Solas Business. A group of 11-year old 5th class children from St. Audoen’s school, together with Boys and Girls; the creative advertising agency came up with the BullyBug as a solution to tackle the problem of bullying which numerous children experience in their daily lives. The technology behind the product is just one element of the incredible anti-bullying idea. The team have brought the BullyBug to a prototype stage but are currently seeking partners to help them to run a pilot scheme with the ultimate goal of rolling out the initiative nationwide.
0n stage now #bullybug pic.twitter.com/M0FocaknH9
— LOB (@Lob09) November 3, 2015
Another sure highlight from day one – Web Summit colourful sheep!
Obligatory morning sheep photo #websummit pic.twitter.com/IoFhdRFJfA
— Web Summit (@WebSummit) November 4, 2015
Make sure to check eBuzz tomorrow for highlights from day two of the “best technology conference on the planet”!
Post by Paula Murphy
