Unconference 2022

Why are ecosystems the only way for companies to truly scale today? It used to be we could thrive based on out-competing other companies within our industry. That worked during business eras where product innovation, service innovation, business model innovation or technology innovation were sufficient to win the day. But that all changed over the past 5 years. 1. TRANSPARENCY has emerged as a new force, shortening the time we're able to keep customers loyal based on single innovations 2. PURPOSE + TRUST have come to the forefront as values we need to embed into our companies and our teams...We are judged on our IMPACT versus solely on PROFIT. 3. We can't have a WINNER TAKE ALL approach to our competition. We need to deepen our ties with our supply chains + value chains. In essence, we need to rise the tides to life many more boats than our own. And, we need to create new waterways. Think of Airbnb's ecosystem relationships that go beyond the property owners and the guests. There are rich, dedicated communities of services that exist because Airbnb does (example, cleaning services, experience providers) but that aren't owned by Airbnb. Fueling an ecosystem is the new leadership super power. Andrea Kates, Silicon Valley innovation leader and originator of the Get To Next strategic framework, introduces practical guidance for building Minimum Viable Ecosystems, Maximum Value Ecosystems, and ultimately Maximum Impact Ecosystems.

Andrea Kates is a Silicon Valley based corporate strategist who leads residencies around the world based on her masterclass series: Get To Next. She was the CEO of the software company that was the platform to commercialize 13,000 innovation initiatives. Over the course of her career, she's led initiatives in fintech, retail, healthcare, energy, technology for clients at Tata, Ford, Fujitsu, Cisco, Stitch Fix, InnovAsian, Upwork, and Hyatt and worked in 20 countries. She's currently on the Advisory Board of Copenhagen Fintech and involved in a global Future of Work initiative. Andrea has been a speaker on the main stage at TED, Aspen Ideas, Dubai 2020, MinasTechDay, and ConnectBogota. Her focus today is based on 5 years of original research on Maximum Value Ecosystems.