The Founder Effect: What You Choose to Build Once You've Already Won
Creating a standout company is no longer the end goal.
After an exit or exceptional financial success, the question appears:
When you no longer have to build, what is worth building?
Success gives more than capital and freedom. It gives perspective, networks, credibility, and early access to the ideas and technologies shaping the future.
Some start again. Others become investors, mentors, ecosystem builders, or dedicate their time and capital to challenges that take decades to solve.
Together, we’ll explore how successful entrepreneurs use their experience, capital, and influence to shape what comes next.
Discussion
Purpose Beyond Success
What drives founders once money is no longer the goal?
Seeing What’s Next
Which shifts and technologies are still underestimated?
Beyond the Company
How do founders turn experience, capital, and networks into broader impact?
Choosing What Matters
Which challenges are worth committing to for the next decade?
Legacy
What will you enable for the next generation?
In the room:
After an acquisition: Brian Crain - Chorus One, acquired by Bitwise.
Beyond one company: Helene Guillaume - Wild.AI, acquired by Zepp Health.
Investing in what’s next: Jacob Lindberg - Vinter, acquired by Kaiko; Dmitry Stepanov - leads AAL VC and Yango Ventures.
Enabling other builders: Andrew Sever, Jacob Sever - Sumsub, offering KYC and compliance infrastructure to emerging startups worldwide; Alex Golod - angel investor and technology executive; Web Summit mentor and judge.
Building for long-term impact: Karolina Attspodina - WeDoSolar, bringing solar to urban households.
Why
Web Summit is full of conversations about how to build extraordinary companies.
We ask what happens after.
Success doesn’t have to reduce ambition. It can expand its scale, time horizon, and impact - from building companies to enabling founders, institutions, technologies, and breakthroughs that shape the next decade.
Schedule
19:00-20:00 : Welcome reception
20:00–20:30 : Fireside chat with Hadi Moussa, CEO of Oyster, and Mark Loughran, President & Co-founder of NeoFleet Capital and former President & CFO of inDrive
20:30–21:00 : Conversation with Ekaterina Bereziy, post-IPO unicorn founder, focusing on her next chapter and impact initiatives
21:00–22:30 : Networking and cocktail reception
Attendance is limited, applications are reviewed individually.