Canadian Conference Gains Traction in Silicon Valley

In June, Traction Conference delivered the largest gathering of growth experts in Western Canada.

So this month Traction headed south to Silicon Valley. Launch Academy, Boast Capital and Victory Square Ventures—the founders of Traction—partnered with AppDirect, based in the Valley, to bring the conference from Vancouver to San Francisco.

“Cities around the world are starting to realize that they don’t have to be another Silicon Valley in order to be a major tech hub, they can have their own distinct identity,”  said Ray Walia, CEO of Launch Academy. “But at the same time cities now understand that in order to grow and be an influential hub, strong ties to the Valley are essential.”

Thirty executives from some of Silicon Valley’s fastest-growing technology companies took the stage and shared lessons learned from scaling and optimizing their companies for growth.

“Vancouver is quickly growing into a major tech hub with its own identity and events like Traction allow us to build bridges in and out of Silicon Valley for entrepreneurs not only in Vancouver but across Canada,” Walia added.

More than 500 people attended the conference, including entrepreneurs and investors. Over 200 attendees were either Canadian or visiting from Canada.

“Traction conference had all attendees glued to their seats for every session,” said Lisa Cashmore, Director, Network Operations, Canadian Digital Media Network.

Each speaker delivered actionable advice to the audience. For example, Patrick Campbell, CEO at Price Intelligently, stated that improving retention and monetization will have 2-4X the impact of focusing on acquisition. By focusing on these growth levers, companies can capture more revenue and reduce the risk of high churn when they optimize for growth, he noted.

Aatif Awan, Head of Growth at Linkedin, reminded the audience that growth should be a scientific approach to growing a product’s usage. Companies must identify different growth channels that corresponds with different user behaviour. For example, if your target users are already on another platform, you should explore partnerships and integrations. Growth needs to be strategic instead of trying every existing strategy and seeing what sticks.