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As Brandon Bailey, founder and CEO of TutorD, built his career in software engineering, he came face-to-face with the “lack of diversity and inclusion” in tech — and he wanted to do something about it.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of TutorD. Brandon Bailey.}

Bailey worked at a consultancy in Chicago at the time, and as co-lead for one of the firm’s employee resource groups, he partnered with a couple of community-based organizations. One partnership was with a middle school in Bronzeville.

The school was located about 15 minutes from Bailey’s home, but the students “had a totally different lived experience,” the founder recalls. Many of the kids had never been on an escalator or inside a skyscraper despite living just minutes from downtown.

Related: Technology Opens the Door for Entrepreneurs to Achieve the Triple Bottom Line

The program helped the students have those experiences and access internships and other opportunities. “That gave me this drive and passion for the educational experience and helping facilitate it,” Bailey says. “It changed my life. I know it changed [their lives].”

But Bailey wanted to figure out how to reach even more people. He landed a job at an edtech startup in Los Angeles, California, and began to think about how he could bring together education, engineering and entrepreneurship.

When considering the platform or tool that could accomplish that, Bailey noted one significant obstacle: There was an issue of connectivity for students who didn’t have access to computers in their homes. However, most students did have cellphones, so Bailey decided to meet the students where they were and build for those.

Related: How DEI and Sustainability Can Grow Your Triple Bottom Line

“We wanted to lead with providing value to the community first and gaining trust and buy-in.”

Bailey officially founded TutorD, an edtech platform for teachers and tutors to enable distance learning, and TutorD Scholars, a nonprofit that teaches “urban youth in-demand 22nd century skills,” in 2019.

“We wanted to lead with providing value to the community first and gaining trust and buy-in into what we were doing,” Bailey says. “So that’s why we led with the nonprofit TutorD Scholars first, while building out the software platform.”

Teaching made it easier to figure out the specific tools students would need on the platform and how to tailor lessons to their unique learning styles.

Related: This Black Founder Stayed True to His Triple ‘Win’ Strategy to Build a $1 Billion Business

 ”We’re teaching [the students] in different ways,” Bailey says, “so using visual, auditory, reading and kinesthetic. [It’s] a very intentional approach.”

Entrepreneur sat down with Bailey to learn more about how he’s grown TutorD into a successful business — and the role that Intuit’s IDEAS accelerator program has played.

Intuit’s IDEAS accelerator program provides founders access to capital and the company’s AI-powered platform, service and experts, plus business coaching from the National Urban League and executive coaching from Zella Life to support their business and professional growth.

Related: Over Half of Small Businesses Are Struggling to Grow, Intuit Survey Shows — But These 5 Solutions Can Help

Learning the accounting fundamentals was a game changer

Through the IDEAS program, Bailey got valuable exposure to the basic accounting fundamentals, like cash flow and profit and loss statements, that make or break a business.

“That wasn’t something I had a lot of support with growing up, looking back at it,” Bailey says. “In our household, [and] it is common across Black and brown households, we didn’t have that training around finances.”

Receiving that technical training helped Bailey and the TutorD team develop a clearer sense of where the business was headed and how its costs and sales projections would shape that trajectory, the founder notes.

Related: Why Accounting Skills Are Indispensable for Entrepreneurs

Streamlining the business’s messaging was also key

TutorD used Intuit’s MailChimp, an email and marketing automation platform for growing businesses, to streamline its communications.

Not only did the platform make it easier for people to get in touch with TutorD, but it also helped cultivate a sense of presence — making the business seem bigger than it was, Bailey says.

 ”We’re a team of five right now, and we’re dealing with other companies that are 200, 500 people strong,” Bailey explains. “And they have $20 million backed by different investors. [MailChimp] helped us appear bigger than we are to compete in the market and with other edtech companies.”

Related: How to Streamline Your Company’s Internal Messaging and Communication

Leaning on mentors helped during tough times

The business coach that Bailey connected with through Zella Life also became an integral part of TutorD’s journey.

Having a support system in place was invaluable as Bailey juggled the challenges of growing a business with major life events, he says.

“My father passed away, and my baby came, and I had an injury, all in a three-month span,” Bailey says. “My coach had also lost his mother around that time, so we [had a] really deep connection, and he was able to help.”

Related: How to Evolve From Manager to Mentor and Create a Lasting Impact in Your Organization

Bailey says that the IDEAS program put TutorD in the position to scale — and gave him and his team the confidence to talk to people about their journey.

Advice for young entrepreneurs

Bailey encourages other young, aspiring entrepreneurs to never stop learning, seek out opportunities where there’s a need and ability to create value, connect with other founders who can serve as mentors, and leverage the community to help lay the foundation for business success.

He’s also excited to see people embracing the “triple bottom line,” which tracks a business’s financial, social and environmental performance — and suggests anyone considering the leap to founder do the same.

“ People are waking up to [the fact that] it’s not just about making money and some infinitely growing, making-money approach to entrepreneurship and capitalism in general, but really looking at it with a triple bottom line approach, generating sustainable profit or revenue for yourself, your family, business and shareholders, but also making an impact in the community,” Bailey says.

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

Are you nearing retirement age?

Career resources platform Resume Genius released a new report this week, the 10 Best Jobs for Older People in 2025, which reveals the 10 best-paying jobs for adults aged 55 and older, based on high salaries, low physical labor demands, and high job growth.

The company used data from the BLS’s Labor Force Statistics Current Population Survey, O*NET Online, and the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook to create the report using several parameters, including removing jobs with salaries lower than $49,500 and roles that require education higher than a Bachelor’s degree. The occupations listed also had to have at least 100,000 employees who were 55 or older.

Related: Here Are the 10 Highest-Paying Jobs with the Lowest Risk of Being Replaced By AI: ‘Safest Jobs Right Now’

In the top spot was sales managers, who lead sales teams and work to improve customer reach, according to the report. The job requires low physical activity and pays a median hourly wage of $66.38. Other professions in the top five were accountants and auditors. These jobs ask professionals to analyze budgets and file taxes, and are well-suited for older adults because they offer flexible work schedules, such as seasonal tax work and consulting.

“Experience is highly valued across industries, and many employers are seeking older candidates to step into leadership or managerial roles,” Resume Genius Career Expert Nathan Soto shared in a press release. “Don’t be afraid to venture into fields beyond your previous career; your skills may be more transferable than you realize.”

Here are the 10 best jobs for older adults, according to Resume Genius.

1. Sales managers

Median hourly wage: $66.38

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 6%

2. Computer systems analysts

Median hourly wage: $49.90

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 11%

3. Management analysts

Median hourly wage: $48.65

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 11%

4. Accountants and auditors

Median hourly wage: $39.27

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 6%

Related: ‘Good Career Move’: These 10 Jobs Will Most Likely Get Raises This Year

5. Social and community service managers

Median hourly wage: $37.61

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 8%

6. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing

Median hourly wage: $35.63

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 1%

7. Property, real estate, and community association managers

Median hourly wage: $32.07

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 3%

8. Food service managers

Median hourly wage: $31.40

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 2%

Related: These Are the Most In-Demand Jobs for 2025, According to a New Report

9. Insurance sales agents

Median hourly wage: $29.02

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 6%

10. Real estate brokers and sales agents

Median hourly wage: $28.35

Estimated job growth (2023-2033): 2%

Let’s be honest: Most of what we call artificial intelligence today is really just pattern-matching on autopilot. It looks impressive until you scratch the surface. These systems can generate essays, compose code and simulate conversation, but at their core, they’re predictive tools trained on scraped, stale content. They do not understand context, intent or consequence.

It’s no wonder then that in this boom of AI use, we’re still seeing basic errors, issues and fundamental flaws that lead many to question whether the technology really has any benefit outside its novelty.

These large language models (LLMs) aren’t broken; they’re built on the wrong foundation. If we want AI to do more than autocomplete our thoughts, we must rethink the data it learns from.

Related: Despite How the Media Portrays It, AI Is Not Really Intelligent. Here’s Why.

The illusion of intelligence

Today’s LLMs are usually trained on Reddit threads, Wikipedia dumps and internet content. It’s like teaching a student with outdated, error-filled textbooks. These models mimic intelligence, but they cannot reason anywhere near human level. They cannot make decisions like a person would in high-pressure environments.

Forget the slick marketing around this AI boom; it’s all designed to keep valuations inflated and add another zero to the next funding round. We’ve already seen the real consequences, the ones that don’t get the glossy PR treatment. Medical bots hallucinate symptoms. Financial models bake in bias. Self-driving cars misread stop signs. These aren’t hypothetical risks. They’re real-world failures born from weak, misaligned training data.

And the problems go beyond technical errors — they cut to the heart of ownership. From the New York Times to Getty Images, companies are suing AI firms for using their work without consent. The claims are climbing into the trillions, with some calling them business-ending lawsuits for companies like Anthropic. These legal battles are not just about copyright. They expose the structural rot in how today’s AI is built. Relying on old, unlicensed or biased content to train future-facing systems is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. It locks us into brittle models that collapse under real-world conditions.

A lesson from a failed experiment

Last year, Claude ran a project called “Project Vend,” in which its model was put in charge of running a small automated store. The idea was simple: Stock the fridge, handle customer chats and turn a profit. Instead, the model gave away freebies, hallucinated payment methods and tanked the entire business in weeks.

The failure wasn’t in the code. It was during training. The system had been trained to be helpful, not to understand the nuances of running a business. It didn’t know how to weigh margins or resist manipulation. It was smart enough to speak like a business owner, but not to think like one.

What would have made the difference? Training data that reflected real-world judgment. Examples of people making decisions when stakes were high. That’s the kind of data that teaches models to reason, not just mimic.

But here’s the good news: There’s a better way forward.

Related: AI Won’t Replace Us Until It Becomes Much More Like Us

The future depends on frontier data

If today’s models are fueled by static snapshots of the past, the future of AI data will look further ahead. It will capture the moments when people are weighing options, adapting to new information and making decisions in complex, high-stakes situations. This means not just recording what someone said, but understanding how they arrived at that point, what tradeoffs they considered and why they chose one path over another.

This type of data is gathered in real time from environments like hospitals, trading floors and engineering teams. It is sourced from active workflows rather than scraped from blogs — and it is contributed willingly rather than taken without consent. This is what is known as frontier data, the kind of information that captures reasoning, not just output. It gives AI the ability to learn, adapt and improve, rather than simply guess.

Why this matters for business

The AI market may be heading toward trillions in value, but many enterprise deployments are already revealing a hidden weakness. Models that perform well in benchmarks often fail in real operational settings. When even small improvements in accuracy can determine whether a system is useful or dangerous, businesses cannot afford to ignore the quality of their inputs.

There is also growing pressure from regulators and the public to ensure AI systems are ethical, inclusive and accountable. The EU’s AI Act, taking effect in August 2025, enforces strict transparency, copyright protection and risk assessments, with heavy fines for breaches. Training models on unlicensed or biased data is not just a legal risk. It is a reputational one. It erodes trust before a product ever ships.

Investing in better data and better methods for gathering it is no longer a luxury. It’s a requirement for any company building intelligent systems that need to function reliably at scale.

Related: Emerging Ethical Concerns In the Age of Artificial Intelligence

A path forward

Fixing AI starts with fixing its inputs. Relying on the internet’s past output will not help machines reason through present-day complexities. Building better systems will require collaboration between developers, enterprises and individuals to source data that is not just accurate but also ethical as well.

Frontier data offers a foundation for real intelligence. It gives machines the chance to learn from how people actually solve problems, not just how they talk about them. With this kind of input, AI can begin to reason, adapt and make decisions that hold up in the real world.

If intelligence is the goal, then it is time to stop recycling digital exhaust and start treating data like the critical infrastructure it is.

Target just promoted an insider to CEO, tasking him with turning the company around amid decreasing sales and foot traffic.

Target announced on Wednesday that its Chief Operating Officer (COO), Michael Fiddelke, will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in February 2026. The company’s current CEO, Brian Cornell, who has been in the role for 11 years, will retire that month.

Related: It Started With a Simple Question: ‘What Is Your Life’s Purpose?’ Now, Their Company Is In 500 Target Stores

“There is no one better suited to move Target forward than Michael Fiddelke,” Cornell stated in a news release. “He brings a remarkable level of resolve in the face of complex challenges, a deep passion for growth, and a natural ability to inspire those around him to define what’s next.”

According to Business Insider, Target has reported drops in comparable sales, or sales from stores and digital channels, for six of the past nine quarters. On Wednesday, Target stated that comparable sales declined by 1.9% in its most recent quarter ending July 31.

^{Target’s new CEO, Michael Fiddelke. Photo by Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images}

Foot traffic to Target stores has also dropped, decreasing 3.9% year-over-year in June. And Target’s stock is down over 28% year-to-date, with the company’s market value hovering around $44.6 billion at the time of writing.

Related: Target Is Lowering Prices on Thousands of Items — Here’s Where You Can Expect to Save

Fiddelke joined Target in 2003 as an intern and has been with the company ever since, according to his bio on Target’s corporate website. As COO, he led investments to build and grow stores and the company’s digital footprint.

Fiddelke’s turnaround plan for Target

During Target’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, Fiddelke acknowledged that the company was “not realizing our full potential right now” and stated that he was assuming the CEO role “with a clear and urgent commitment” to “get back to profitable growth” and “build new momentum.”

On the call, Fiddelke outlined a three-part plan for Target to reclaim profitable growth.

First, he said that Target had to “reestablish” its merchandising presence through unique products in categories like apparel, home, and food and beverage. Fiddelke emphasized that the company had a $31 billion private label portfolio, stating that the portfolio of brands could be a way to bring newness to store shelves.

“We need to reclaim that merchandising authority,” Fiddelke said on the earnings call.

Related: Target Teams Up With Shopify To Give Online Small Businesses Brick-and-Mortar Shelf Space

Second, Fiddelke wants customers to “find a sense of joy” every time they step into Target. He tasked the company with delivering “an elevated experience” with well-stocked shelves and clean stores.

“We have to do better here, especially in the consistency of our experience,” Fiddelke stated on the call.

Finally, Fiddelke said Target should tap into technology and AI to allow the team to move faster and accurately forecast sales, which will make its business and guest experience more efficient.

“Our performance over the last few years has not been acceptable,” Fiddelke said on the call, adding, “We have real work in front of us.”

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A former Food52 executive, Shannon Muldoon, 38, recently took a plea deal for making personal charges on the company credit card — for more than $270,000.

Muldoon was indicted in August 2024 for one count of grand larceny in the second degree, but she won’t face jail time; she accepted a plea deal earlier this summer for five years of probation, per an exposé this week from The Cut.

“She basically walked away with all of the clothes. And the memories,” a coworker told the outlet.

Related: Another ’30-Under-30′ Business Superstar Was Convicted of Fraud — This Time for Defrauding JPMorgan Chase Out of $175M

Muldoon was running Food52’s branded content arm, Studio 52, and was issued a company credit card. According to the report, from 2021 to 2023, she charged hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of expenses, including Botox, fancy gyms, designer clothes, and travel to wellness retreats. There were excessive charges from the luxury clothing site, Net-a-Porter, despite Food52’s policy of not providing clothes for talent at photo shoots. (Executives learned of this policy after the fact.)

^{Sophie Nathan, Shannon Muldoon, and Christine Tebcherany attend “Fitness Junkie” Book Launch at Longchamp on July 11, 2017, in New York City. Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan | Getty Images}

However, Muldoon was keeping the expensing and labeling up to code, and the software that tracked employee expense reports didn’t catch anything, according to the report. But after a company reorganization in 2022 and Muldoon taking extensive time off in 2023, colleagues began questioning things like why producing their videos was so expensive and how Muldoon afforded her lifestyle, which she was showcasing on Instagram.

“The $270,000 in unauthorized purchases is a very conservative estimate as to Ms. Muldoon’s theft,” the Manhattan DA’s office said, according to court documents seen by The Cut. “Our investigation showed additional unauthorized purchases from other luxury clothing brands, furniture companies, and other travel-related charges.”

Related: The Latest on Art World Scam Artist Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin

Future Commerce points out that this case highlights a major failure of corporate oversight and how modern, automated expensing systems and approval processes can “enable years of unchecked financial abuse.”

The Cut reported that Muldoon has paid $15,000 in restitution so far, but could face penalties up to $262,000, which will be determined in September.

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An OpenAI staff member is clearing up the “misinformation” online and telling high school students that they should “absolutely learn to code.”

On an episode of the OpenAI podcast last week, OpenAI researcher Szymon Sidor noted that high school students still gain benefits from learning programming, even though AI coding tools like ChatGPT and Cursor automate the process.

Learning to code helps students develop problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, Sidor said. He noted that even if programming becomes obsolete in the future, it is still a viable way to cultivate the skill of breaking down problems and solving them.

Related: Perplexity CEO Says AI Coding Tools Cut Work Time From ‘Four Days to Literally One Hour’

“One skill that is at premium, and will continue being at premium, is to have a really structured intellect that can break complicated problems into pieces,” Sidor said on the podcast. “That might not be programming in the future, but programming is a fine way to acquire that skill. So are other kinds of domains where you need to think a lot.”

Podcast host Andrew Mayne, who was previously OpenAI’s chief science communicator, agreed with Sidor. Mayne stated that he learned to code “later in life” and found it to be a useful foundation in interacting with AI to engineer precise prompts.

“Whenever I hear people say, ‘Don’t learn to code,’ it’s like, do I want an airplane pilot who doesn’t understand aerodynamics?” Mayne said on the podcast. “This doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Though Mayne and Sidor may believe that learning to code is foundational and recommend it to high school students, another AI leader presents a contrasting viewpoint. Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, the most valuable company in the world, said in June that AI equalizes the technological playing field and allows anyone to write code simply by prompting an AI bot in natural language.

Instead of learning Python or C++, users can just ask AI to write a program, Huang explained.

Related: AI Will Create More Millionaires in the Next 5 Years Than the Internet Did in 2 Decades, According to Nvidia’s CEO

Big Tech companies are increasingly turning to AI to generate new code, instead of having human engineers manually write it.

In April, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that staff members were tapping into AI to write “well over 30%” of new code at Google, higher than 25% recorded in October. In the same month, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that engineers are using AI to write up to 30% of code for company projects.

^{Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.}

Despite all the talk about strategy, innovation and growth, one of the most undervalued assets in modern leadership is something deceptively simple: presence.

Not stage presence. Not personal branding. But the steady, intentional presence of a leader who knows how to show up. Especially when it’s inconvenient, uncomfortable or uncertain. In today’s world of constant disruption, remote work, geopolitical shifts and cultural change, presence has become a strategic differentiator. And yet, we rarely talk about it.

As the CEO of BGN, a global energy company operating in complex, volatile markets, I’ve seen firsthand how a leader’s presence has an outsized impact on business outcomes. How we show up for our teams, clients and partners is far more about consistency than sheer charisma.

Related: This One Overlooked Habit Could Transform How You Lead, Connect and Grow Your Business

Why presence matters more than perfection

Leaders often feel pressure to have the right answer, the perfect plan, the flawless execution. But in high-stakes environments, people aren’t looking for perfection. They’re looking for stability. They want to know someone is paying attention, making decisions and staying engaged, even when the path forward isn’t clear.

That’s what presence delivers: It signals reliability in the face of chaos. It builds trust when trust is hard to come by. And it anchors teams through uncertainty.

In our industry, technical expertise may get you in the room, but genuine presence keeps the deal alive. It’s what allows you to be called upon when things go wrong without fear of being labeled foolish. It’s what gives your team the confidence to act without second-guessing. It’s the reason people stay, especially in highly demanding and stressful sectors.

The myth of the distant leader

The old-school leadership model glorified distance. Leaders would once hide behind a corner office, a closed door, and rely on an immovably rigid chain of command to gain respect. But the world has changed, and that model doesn’t work anymore. Leaders today are expected to be accessible without being overbearing, present without micromanaging, and available without losing sight of the broader company mission.

That balancing act takes intention. It means being deliberate about how and where you spend your time. It means having the discipline to stay visible when it would be easier to retreat behind data, dashboards or delegation.

For BGN, for example, presence takes the shape of physically showing up in new markets instead of relying on intermediaries from a distance. I must be prepared, and am even honored, to answer tough questions in open forums — even if I don’t have all the answers. This also means taking the time for real conversations with clients, port workers, technicians and new hires. Not just with the executive circle.

Related: This Overlooked Leadership Skill Will Help You Build Trust, Influence Teams and Thrive Under Pressure. Here’s How to Develop It.

Presence is especially powerful for female leaders

For women in leadership, presence is often misunderstood. We’re told to “speak up more,” “take up space” and “command the room.” But authentic presence, as we’ve learned, is less about performance than it is about being grounded in our values, our priorities and our responsibilities.

When women leaders show up with clarity and calm, it disrupts expectations in a good way — especially in spaces in which we are underrepresented. It changes the energy and helps to refocus attention on the mission, vision and broader impact of a company’s work.

And in many environments, it opens the door for others to lead differently, too, with more empathy, more nuance and more depth.

How to cultivate real presence

Like most things in life, presence is a practice and habit refined over time. Like any practice, it requires intentional effort. Over time, I learned that there are a few simple ways to do this:

• Be available when it matters most. Don’t just show up for the good times — show up for the setbacks.

• Listen longer than you speak, especially when tensions run high. Presence is about making space for others.

• Respond, don’t react. People notice when you stay composed under pressure. It creates psychological safety for them and the wider group.

• Be consistent. In your values, your tone and your follow-through. Unpredictable leaders, while arguably effective in the short term, lose trust and confidence in the long term.

• Invest your time in people. That’s where loyalty, insight and innovation come from.

Related: 5 Core Strategies for Cultivating Executive Presence

In a world where chasing speed, scale and visibility seem primary goals, presence may feel slow or soft by comparison. But don’t underestimate its power. Presence is what steadies a company during transitions. It’s what keeps clients from walking away during conflict. It’s what gives teams the courage to act boldly because they know their leader is right there with them.

When leadership is grounded in presence and substance, not ego, that’s when the real work gets done. If powerful and long-lasting relationships are the engine to strong business, then presence is the fuel.

Best Buy is revealing a new third-party marketplace that opens the doors to smaller vendors, in an effort to boost variety and sales.

Best Buy launched the marketplace on Tuesday through its website and app, highlighting that the move more than doubles the number of items available in the “largest expansion ever” of Best Buy’s product offerings, according to a press release.

The company’s online marketplace introduces hundreds of new products to Best Buy across categories such as seasonal decor, office and home supplies, and movies and music. For example, it includes pots and pans from brands like Martha Stewart and Crock-Pot, and adds musical instruments like guitars and drums for the first time. Best Buy also plans to add licensed sports merchandise through the marketplace “soon.”

Related: Walmart Wants to Help U.S. Entrepreneurs Get Their Products on Its Shelves. Here’s How to Get Your Stuff in the Door.

“Our customers have always looked to us to bring excitement and inspiration in ways only technology can,” Best Buy’s Chief Marketplace and eCommerce Officer, Frank Bedo, stated in a press release. “With marketplace, we’re able to give them not only more of the latest technology, but a massive new collection of products outside of the tech space, so we can truly offer the full experience they need.”

The marketplace is similar to Amazon and Walmart in that it depends on third-party sellers to sell products and takes a portion of the sale as a commission. Customers can return products bought through the marketplace directly to a Best Buy store or ship them back to the seller.

Best Buy’s Chief Customer, Product, and Fulfillment Officer, Jason Bonfig, told CNBC that the new marketplace will fill in gaps in the retailer’s offerings, such as cases for older phones and batteries for older cameras. Smaller sellers with niche products can find a home in the new Best Buy marketplace, he said.

Related: Amazon Prime Day 1 Was the ‘Single Biggest E-Commerce Day So Far This Year,’ According to New Data

Best Buy’s new move arrives after the company posted declining revenue. Best Buy reported its first-quarter earnings in May, noting that domestic revenue for the quarter was $8.13 billion, a 0.9% decline from the previous year.

Best Buy’s market value was $15.69 billion at the time of writing, with its stock down over 14% year-to-date.

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Let’s cut to the chase: most companies go to conferences to check a box, not to drive results.

I’ve worked with everyone from billion-dollar brands to scrappy startups. I’ve seen booths with six-figure budgets generate zero pipeline and a LinkedIn DM campaign outperform an entire sponsorship package. The reason? Most companies treat conferences like a high school science fair — look pretty, hand out freebies, hope someone likes your volcano.

Here’s the brutal truth: If your event strategy is built around foot traffic and branded socks, you’re already underwater.

Conferences can still deliver serious ROI. But only if you stop thinking about them as standalone tactics and start treating them like what they really are: a live-action funnel with a very short attention span.

Step 1: Get ruthlessly clear on why you’re going

This sounds obvious. It’s not.

Most companies attend events with vague goals like “brand awareness” or “thought leadership.” Translation: no real strategy.

If you can’t answer this question — “What does success look like from this event, and how will we measure it?” — cancel the booth. Your “why” should fall into one of three categories:

• Lead generation (measurable pipeline and conversion)
• Brand positioning (keynote, panel or media presence)
• Strategic partnerships (investor intros, co-marketing, business development)

Pick one primary goal. Then reverse-engineer your entire presence around it. Everything else is noise.

Related: 17 Must-Attend Conferences for Entrepreneurs Ready to Scale

Step 2: Craft a message that cuts through the noise

Nobody cares about your “AI-powered scalable solutions” if that’s all you’re saying.

You need a message that punches. Something that aligns with the conference theme but actually says something.

For example, one of our B2B SaaS clients recently sponsored a fintech event. Everyone was talking about “frictionless onboarding.” Snooze. We reframed their message as: Stop onboarding users who’ll churn in 30 days. It turned heads. It made execs stop and say, “Tell me more.” That’s the bar.

Your message should be:

• Clear (no buzzwords)
• Controversial (just enough to spark conversation)
• Consistent (across booth, decks, social and follow-up)

Step 3: Pre-game like a pro

You don’t show up to a marathon without training. So don’t show up to a $50,000 event without a warm list.

Your pre-conference playbook should include:

• LinkedIn outreach (three to four weeks out): Target attendees, engage with event hashtags and join relevant groups. No pitches — just real engagement
• Direct invites: Email past leads or ideal customers: “I’ll be at [Event]. Let’s meet IRL if you’re attending.”
• Organic buzz: Have leadership — not just the company page — post about why you’re attending and what you’re bringing

Remember, ROI doesn’t start at the conference. It starts the moment your name hits the attendee list.

Step 4: Focus on booth experience, not booth design

You don’t need a spaceship booth. You need meaningful conversations.

Train your team to do more than demo software. Teach them to:

• Ask smarter questions
• Listen for pain points
• Offer real value (not just tchotchkes — think insights or content)
• Capture context for every lead (“Spoke about [X] challenge, referred by [Y]”)

Also — script your follow-up before the show starts. A generic “Great to meet you at [Event]” email kills momentum fast.

Related: How to Win Over the Room With Effective Persuasion Skills

Step 5: Follow up like money’s on the line

The event ends when the lights go off. Your window of influence doesn’t.

Here’s a seven-day follow-up cadence that actually works:

• Day 1: Personalized email referencing your conversation plus a relevant asset
• Day 3: LinkedIn message with a short, value-driven follow-up
• Day 5: Add to nurture stream based on interest or product line
• Week 2: Send a post-event content piece — e.g., “5 things we learned at [Event name]”

Then — debrief. What worked? What didn’t?

Document it. If sales aren’t in this conversation, your next event is already a sunk cost.

Bonus: Rethink sponsorship ROI

Here’s a hot take — most sponsorship packages are overpriced hype.

Unless you’re getting:

• Guaranteed stage time
• Tier-1 placement in attendee materials
• Verified audience data before the event

You’re probably better off hosting a private dinner with ten decision-makers or doing a focused side activation.

Relevance beats visibility every time.

A 20-minute meeting with a CMO is worth more than 2,000 logo impressions.

Final word: Be the booth they remember

You don’t win at events by being the loudest. You win by being the clearest, the most relevant and the hardest to ignore.

So before you blow another five-figure budget on glossy signage and lukewarm leads, ask yourself: Are we going to this event to show up — or to show out?

If it’s the latter, you’re already ahead of the pack.

Over the last 10 years, investing in and leading companies, I’ve wrestled with one big question: How do you build something that lasts in a world that changes faster every day?

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve probably felt it too. There’s always a new AI tool, a new social platform or a new business model. It’s not just noise — it’s acceleration. Thanks to positive feedback loops (like Wright’s Law), the pace of technological change really is speeding up. Better tools lead to better tools. It’s exponential.

So how do we keep up? How do we lead teams, build products and stay relevant without burning out or constantly pivoting?

Here’s what I’ve learned: You need a North Star. A clear purpose that guides every decision — no matter how fast the world changes.

Related: Stop Searching for Your Purpose — It’s Delaying Your Success. Here’s What to Focus on Instead.

Purpose over product

Technology is rewriting the rules daily. If your business is built around a single product or service, it’s only a matter of time before someone else builds something better, cheaper or smarter.

But if you’re anchored to a purpose — a meaningful problem you’re solving — you can’t be disrupted. You might need to change how you deliver on that mission, but the mission itself keeps you steady.

Let me give you a few examples that have shaped my thinking:

• Tesla started with expensive electric cars. Now it builds batteries, solar panels, a charging network — even autonomous taxis. All in service of one purpose: to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
• John Deere is known for tractors. But today, they employ just as many software engineers as mechanical ones. Why? Because their mission isn’t just selling green machines — it’s empowering the people who feed the world. That now includes satellite data, AI and automation.
• At Singularity University, where I serve as CEO, our purpose isn’t programs or events — it’s to educate, inspire and empower leaders to create breakthroughs powered by exponential technology. That’s our filter for everything. If it doesn’t align with the mission, we don’t do it.

What this looks like in practice

If you’re a founder, CEO or builder, here’s how I recommend you apply this thinking:

• Define your purpose. Not what you do, but why you exist. What’s the problem you’re solving and why does it matter?
• Get your team aligned. People don’t want to just punch a clock — they want to work on something that matters.
• Use your purpose as a filter. New product idea? Strategic hire? Partnership? Ask: Does this move us closer to our mission?
• Let go of distractions. Misaligned initiatives confuse your team and dilute your energy. Focus builds momentum.
• Align your business model. Purpose and profit should work together. The more impact you make, the more value you create.
• Stay flexible. Tech and markets evolve. You don’t need to cling to what worked before — but your mission should stay rock solid.

Final thought

There’s no stopping the pace of change. But you don’t need to outrun it. You need to out-align it — with purpose.

In my experience, there’s no better edge than knowing exactly why you’re doing what you’re doing. When your team is aligned around that North Star, it’s not just your product that wins. It’s your brand, your culture and your long-term relevance.

That’s how you build something that doesn’t just survive disruption — but drives it.