speaker photo

Alistair Croll (Host) (he/him)

Chair, STARTUPFEST - Elevator World Tour - FWD50

Alistair makes early-stage companies improve their go-to-market strategies, and works with some of the world’s largest firms on business model innovation. He also helps governments understand the impact of technology on society, ethics, and resiliency.

As an entrepreneur, Alistair co-founded Coradiant; the Year One Labs accelerator; and a variety of other startups. He has also launched and chaired some of the world’s leading conferences on emerging technology, including Startupfest, Strata, Cloud Connect, FWD50, Bitnorth, Scaletech, and more.

Alistair is the author of four books on technology and entrepreneurship, including the best-selling Lean Analytics, which has been translated into eight languages and is in its tenth printing in China. He speaks internationally on topics such as data science, innovation, scaling startups, digital government, AI, and applying critical thinking to technology. A graduate of Dalhousie University, he has also been a visiting executive on data science and critical thinking at Harvard Business School.

Sessions

Main Track

Welcome to Scaletech 2022

October 13, 20225:00 PM – 5:15 PM GMT+0
Scaletech Chair Alistair Croll welcomes you to Scaletech’s 2022 event. Following a season of intimate online Ask-Me-Anything discussions and in-person dinners on both coasts, we dive into a series of expert talks on a wide range of topics relevant to growth- and scale-stage business leaders. See More.
Main Track

Recapping Scaletech 2022!

October 13, 20228:45 PM – 9:00 PM GMT+0
Scaletech Chair Alistair Croll returns to the stage with some closing thoughts on the people, lessons, and technologies we’ve tackled throughout 2022. See More.
Main track

Common knowledge

September 16, 20252:00 PM – 2:30 PM GMT+0
Circle Virtual
English
The world doesn't change when everyone knows something. Humans are social animals, and we often fear ostracism and disapproval more than physical risk or even death. We often speak out only when we know it's safe to do so. That means change relies on common knowledge: The moment when everyone knows everyone else knows something. In this talk, FWD50 co-chair Alistair explains why this simple fact has made us slow to act on wicked problems like climate change, why a vocal minority can hold back progress, why perception becomes reality, and why the best communicators value simplicity over accuracy. See More.