Lead the Way to (and around) THE LEAD Summit

Attending The Lead Summit in NYC next week? Consider this your GPS to lead your way around The Lead. 

Puns aside, 

The Lead Innovation Summit is where a plethora of leaders from the fashion, beauty, home, consumer & retail innovation community will connect with scaled brands, digital natives and technology enablers. 

I first heard about the event when I met Noah G. through an event hosted by Rima Reddy and Dawit Heck as part of ShopTalk. Noah told me about the event and expressed his interest to bring more Israeli technologies, and I was already intrigued. After also hearing great things about the event from friends like Ken Pilot and Nick Reasner , I decided to join as a speaker and help promote the event in Israel.

I think we did a pretty good job with 12 Israeli companies presenting at the event, including buywith, Kahoona, Selektica, Tymely, Revise, Placer, web:eyez, Cymbio, Feel, Pairzon, Rep, and Syte.

As the 2-day summit features more than 140 speakers and 45 content sessions, here are my top picks for what you shouldn't skip.

The Lead event highlights

Wednesday 7/12

The Future of the D2C Business Model | 9:05 am Stage 1

The opening panel with Simeon Siegel, CFA (BMO Capital Markets), Steve Dennis (Remarkable Retail) and Michael LeBlanc will talk about where D2C is going in a world buzzing with outsized tech leaps and AI that are challenging the media consumption world.

How to Make D2C More Profitable | 10:20 am Stage 2

Everyone wants to go D2C now. But profitability is ultimately the test of what keeps any business afloat. With a growing competition base, both from retailers and platforms themselves, it will be interesting to hear what Jose Nino (US Polo Assn), Kyle Widrick (Win Brands Group), James Ferolo (SVP Worldwide) and Richard Kestenbaum (Forbes Contributor) have to say about the space. 

Enabling Next Evolution in Digital Commerce | 2:00 pm Stage 3

Evolution isn't stagnant, as each season, there are new trends that shake up the shackles of retail and commerce. Among them are AI, livestreaming, the producer economy of content creation, and the inter-competition of social platforms. A healthy discussion to hear as we see what our very own Adi Ronen (buywtih), together with Yifat Baror (Osa Commerce), Michael Hershfield (Accrue Savings), Simon Bird (RevLifter), Caroline Turner (Optoro) and moderator Jonathan Shriftman (Expanding Capital) have to say.

Thursday 7/13

How Brands Are Using Generative AI Right Now | 11:00 am Stage 1

The buzzword of the season, generative AI poses both an opportunity to make content and processes more efficient, as well as a risk for stumping creativity and direction and making everything feel out of touch. It will be enlightening to hear what Lee Anne Grant (Babylist), Matt Curtis Cutis (HATCH Collective) and moderator Pano Anthos (XRC Ventures) have to say about this looming trend.

Celebrating The Leading 100 | 2:00-2:20pm stage 1

Every year, The Lead recognizes 100 innovative tech start-ups driving the future of brand-to-consumer. The Leading 100 companies are solving business problems, powering growth, and helping brands deliver on customer expectations through innovative, accessible, and powerful technology solutions. 

buywith is thrilled to be selected as one of the 100 leading technologies alongside several other Israeli companies such as Browzwear, Cymbio, Feel, Fondue, Hexa, Kahoona, Pairzon, Revuze and Triple Whale.

New Rules of Mixing Commerce with Experience | 2:25 pm Stage 1

Is experiential necessary for commerce, or can commerce thrive in only transactional ways? The debate, that was brought to the forefront in the midst of the pandemic, continues with Vinod Kasturi (Maison Kitsune), Michelle Peterson (Kendra Scott), and Liza Amlani (Retail Strategy Group). 

What else?

In addition to the great sessions, during downtime and networking breaks, a trip to the Innovation Village featuring and celebrating the 'Leading 100' and discovering the ‘Brands of Tomorrow’, will be highly informative, where we can learn about the top tech companies in the retail space. 

As registration closes this Friday, there’s still time to get your ticket. Brands and retailers can apply for a free ticket, while other participants can use the code TLISxRETECH to get 30% off.

Come meet me and the buywith team at the event! It will be a pleasure to meet with anyone interested in learning how livestreaming is a reported $32billion dollar industry and growing. To book a meeting with me, click here.