On April 15, something pretty amazing happened. More than 1,000 invited guests from all over the world participated in a virtual fintech summit. They joined from their apartments and houses in Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo. No airplanes, hotels or convention centers were required because we were all the same distance apart, together in a common virtual space. And there we viewed panel discussions from industry leaders, learned and connected with each other.
This global virtual fintech conference was the brainchild of Jeff Cruttenden, Eli Broverman and James Layfield, the founders of Acorns, Betterment and Rise. About 3 weeks prior, they had reached out to me to help bring their ambitious idea to fruition. We decided to call it the Quarantine Summit, an event by founders and for founders to provide optimism and community during the COVID-19 crisis. We wanted to capture how fintech founders were adapting and the bright spots that are emerging. And, of course, it would be all virtual, 100% social-distancing and quarantine friendly.
At first look, the timeline seemed impossible, but we moved at startup speed, rallied our industry friends, and made it a reality. The response was amazing and the speaker lineup off the charts. In just 3 weeks, we confirmed 75 founders, CEOs and industry leaders to participate, including Jefferies Group Chairman Richard Handler, Grab Financial’s Reuben Lai, Sopnendu Mohanty from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ping an Group Chief Innovation Officer Jonathan Larsen and the founders of Acorns, Axios, Better.com, Betterment, Binance.US, Blockchain.com, Credit Karma, Indiegogo, Railsbank, Rise, Say, Steady, TransferWise and YieldStreet.
To capture a global audience, we organized the Summit in two parts. Part 1 was on April 15 at 11:00am-3:30pm EDT, time zone appropriate for North America and Europe. Part 2 was on 8:00pm – 12:30am EDT, the next business morning in Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai. This made for a very long day for the organizers, but how gratifying it was to bring the fintech world together and share global perspectives in a single event.
There were many valuable lessons from Quarantine Summit. Many founders and their companies are struggling during this challenging time, a global pandemic and financial crisis all at once. But our innovative fintech solutions are proving to be both mission-driven and mission-critical. Fintech companies are built for this. And how inspiring it is to see fintech founders stepping up for both their customers and employees.
I look forward to building new amazing virtual events, like we did at Quarantine Summit, to engage fintech communities. The possibilities are exciting and bringing these events to life is exhilarating. Even during a time when social distance is the new normal, how grateful I am for technology that helps us to all stay connected and in community.