48. Caribou Honig, Founder at Sempervirens

Will Bachman and Caribou Honig, a member of Harvard and Radcliffe's class of 1992, had a conversation about Caribou's journey since graduating. Caribou graduated from the University of Virginia with a JD MBA and got his first and only real job at Capital One. During his tenure, he met his soon to be wife and had a couple of kids. In 2006, Caribou left Capital One and took a year off to spend time with his family. He then co-founded a boutique venture capital firm and launched a couple of industry tech conferences. Hosting a Successful Conference Caribou was not expecting to be in the conference business, yet he found himself creating an industry tech conference. He began to focus on the subsector insure tech around 2015 and was looking for a good industry conference to attend. He couldn't find one to his liking so he decided to create his own and has since been running the conference successfully.  He explains how he created the world's largest Insurer Tech conference. With a partner, he launched the Insurer Tech Connect conference, which became a large success. Subsequently, they launched Transform, a conference focused on the impact of technology on the workplace. This year, they are launching other conferences such as Prop Tech, Logistics Tech, Food, and Ag Tech. Caribou shared that the process of creation was exciting and interesting for him. They lined up the venue and dates for the conference, which was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Tactics for a Successful Conference Caribou talks about how they organized and promoted a successful Insurtech conference in Las Vegas. They booked the Las Vegas Convention Center, set a goal of 600-1000 attendees, and ended up with 1500. They created a one-page PDF to explain the event and sent it to potential attendees and key speakers. They also asked venture capitalists to promote the event and offer discounts to their portfolio companies. In the end, the conference was a success, and it was gratifying to see 1000 people having conversations and networking. He was a VC at a conference that wanted to make it easier for people to meet and double opt-in to meetings. To do this, they created an app where people could see who else was attending, what they were interested in, and describe what they were looking for. In addition, they had flags at tables with numbers so that when people double opted-in to meetings they knew exactly where to meet at what time. However, they had more people than they had tables and flags, so they had to make do with tape on the floor and numbered squares. In the end, the solution worked and people appreciated the simple social engineering. Events for Venture Capitalists Will asks what makes the event great for a VC, and how that could be different from what other stakeholders like an entrepreneur might value. Caribou explains that vendors can be a difficult stakeholder to work with because they often come to events with the intention of making a sale. This does not align with the investor mindset, so vendors can sometimes get frustrated when they are not able to get on stage. The conversation highlights the tension between creating an event that is tailored to the needs of the VC and the needs of other stakeholders. The conversation discusses the post-COVID period, how people are now more eager to attend events, and that people are cutting back on attending certain events. Caribou suggests that certain categories of people, such as entrepreneurs gearing up to fundraise, can benefit from attending such events. Prequalifying People for a Conference Caribou and Will  discuss how to prequalify people for a conference. Caribou explains that they would not prohibit people from buying tickets and attending, as it would be exceptional and bad behavior. However, they need to curate what's on stage, so if a company is uninteresting to them, they won't be onstage. They are open to the idea of companies paying for space in the Expo Hall. Pay-to-play on stage is something they avoid, as it cheapens the quality of the product. The events are all held in Vegas, as it is neutral territory, has great logistics, and it is difficult for people to just pop in and out. This ensures all attendees get the most out of the event. Timestamps: 07:28 Planning a Successful Conference Event  11:46 Leveraging Word of Mouth and Earned Media for Event Promotion  14:11 Designing a Networking Event  15:57 VC Matchmaking at Honig Caribou Conference  19:58 Designing Events for VCs and Other Stakeholders  26:24 Social Engineering Design Insights: Bringing in Name Brand Artists to Increase Attendance  29:11 The Economics of Running a Conference  32:47 Impact of COVID-19 on B2B Trade Marketing and InsureTech Connect Conference  40:05 Prequalifying Attendees and Benefits of Hosting Events in Las Vegas  52:28 Investing in Innovative Companies and Harvard Courses  54:19 Overcoming Challenges in Physics Math Class  Links: Website: sempervirensvc.com  CONTACT INFO: linkedin.com/in/caribou Twitter: @caribou101