The London tech community is embracing category design, and we got to see that during the Category Design Dinner Forum held at the city’s well-known Duck & Waffle restaurant.
More than two dozen technology CEOs, investors and innovators gathered to enjoy the restaurant’s signature duck served with waffles (yes, of course!) while looking out over London and discussing the ideas and mechanics of category design. The conversation was led by CDA’s Kevin Maney with commentary from partner Mike Damphousse. Daniel Honeywell, CDA’s new partner in London, acted as master of ceremonies.
Attendees included Gary Dolman, co-founder of Monzo; Darko Matovski, founder and CEO or Causalens; James Monico, founder and ex-CEO of Cloudreach; Mark Wood, chairman of Percent and former editor-in-chief of Reuters; and Jo Dalton, Founder and CEO of JD&Co.
As the discussion unfolded, the group touched on concepts such as the adjacent possible and economist Paul Geroski’s study of category lifecycles. We got into topics from books Kevin co-authored, including Play Bigger, Unscaled, and his latest, Intended Consequences. As the evening ended, Mike showed off his tattoos of CDA client logos that have had successful exits. We are already drawing up plans to host another London dinner this summer.
Photo credit: Jack Margerison