Description

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Jay Weintraub. If there is a term that describes Jay over the past 15 years are the words "event entrepreneur. Jay transformed his early digital marketing domain expertise into an industry-leading event shaper. 

Today, Jay’s portfolio consists of: Blueprint (real estate tech), Manifest (logistics tech), Medicarians (age tech), and Cumulus (agri / food tech). He has delivered four exits, and his passion for thoughtfully connecting people – Connectiv – a portfolio of industry-defining events.

While events are what the communities seek, Jay wants to serve unique experiences. He shares that success is not measured by the number of attendees or sponsors. Instead, the team at Connectiv judges ourselves by our impact on some of the world's largest, most complex, and necessary global industries. 

On this episode, the pair discuss: Jay’s main areas of interest post-InsureTech Connect, why industries? What purpose? How does Jay serve sectors by delivering a highly engaging conference experience and meeting face-to-face? What can we learn from cross-fertilizing learnings from attending other events, from problem-solving to collaboration?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The beauty of an event is, oftentimes, you’re trying to capture a movement, you’re trying to find a moment in time where the world is changing, and when that is. There’s so much uncertainty. Simply face-timing with the right people can add immense value.
• Is the movement in InsureTech about new products, new ways to underwrite, different ways to do claims, or was it back to customer service or engagement? It could be everything. The question is: Which one is right for you?
• If we can find ways to make things predictable and repeatable, we can scale more and more. That’s one of our goals. For a company like ours that convenes large-scale events, the milestone is about how we touch more lives. For us, touching more lives is connecting more industries in the same way. There’s almost always some company that touches multiple verticals. 
• No one wants to be first; everyone wants to be first to be second. The hardest part about what we do is that, like everything else, scale matters. It’s really hard to get to a 7,000-10,000 person show starting off at a 300-500 person show. What makes the challenge is that everyone thinks it’s super scalable (like tech), in our type of business, it’s not just about raising a ton of money, getting the biggest sales team with the biggest funnel, it’s not a single widget that you can scale across an infinitely large team. It’s about the one-on-one connections which is more akin to scouting, venturing or startup roles, there a lot of not-so-glamourous work: research and figuring out who’s is relevant.

BEST MOMENTS

‘One of the magic things about insurance is that it’s impossible to name something that insurance doesn’t touch.’
‘We’re trying to get more connected as a whole.’
‘Data itself is a commodity; you can buy a list of companies. But you’re not going to advance your company by buying that big list and trying to mail that big list. The only way you’re going to do it is by asking: “Is this person relevant?” It’s the personal outreach and understanding of your goal.’
‘Who do you want to be? Sometimes you have to accept you can’t be everything to everyone. The best companies do this, especially in insurance; there isn’t anyone who’s number one in every line of business.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Jay Weintraub: If there is a term called "event entrepreneur," that certainly best describes my last 15+ years. I transformed my early digital marketing domain expertise into an industry-leading event. Four exits later, and my passion for thoughtful connecting forms the basis for Connectiv – a portfolio of industry-defining events.

While events are what the communities we serve experience, our success is not measured by the number of attendees or sponsors. Instead, we judge ourselves on the impact we make on some of the world's largest, most complex, and necessary global industries. 

Today, our portfolio consists of Blueprint (real estate tech), Manifest (logistics tech), Medicarians (age tech), and Cumulus (agri/food tech). 

I have been fortunate enough to speak across the globe and am an investor in 60+ companies, as well as having been an advisor to a dozen more. 

Should you wish to connect, feel free to email jay at connectiv.com.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayweintraub/ 

ABOUT CONNECTIV

Connectiv is a live events studio that, for the past decade, has dedicated itself to creating industry-leading gatherings. Our passion and expertise lie in owning and operating at scale, vertical-specific conferences. 

The events we have created attract more than 15,000 people each year. In 2021, we will be bringing to market two new vertical shows, including Manifest - the future of logistics. Where industry transformation is front and center, and change in industries is inevitable, what will never change is our mission to facilitate face-to-face interactions. We believe the in-person experience is the best way to advance conversations and discover disruptive trends that are changing content consumption and consumer behaviour.

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures