What to do with all that post-event power

Each October, when Moonshot by TechCabal ends, I’m reminded that the actual work begins after the applause fades. The panels, keynote speeches, and mixers create a sort of excessive, a brief ecosystem of concepts and ambition.

However as soon as the group disperses and everybody flies again to their respective international locations, the query turns into: what do you really do with all that power?

As a journalist, I’ve attended summits throughout the continent — from Kigali to Cape City, Nairobi to Lagos, Kinshasa to Cairo. The conversations are sometimes visionary, however the follow-through could be  uneven. What separates those that flip these moments into catalysts from those that deal with them as calendar filler, is what occurs within the quiet days after the summit. The educational, connecting, and follow-up. The self-reflection. The disciplined filtering of noise.

Right here’s what that appears like, from the place I sit, and what I’d inform the hundreds of pros who left Moonshot 2025 feeling one thing significant simply started.

For founders: Don’t chase contacts, chase conviction

Excessive stage occasions like Moonshot are designed to additional the event of a sector with immense potential, however presents alternatives for serendipity—that good investor assembly within the hallway, that mentor who lastly “will get” your product. However most founders, together with some I interacted with, mistake quantity of interplay for worth.

Handshakes really feel like leads, conversations like alternatives. By the final day, you’ve exchanged fifty playing cards and promised espresso to twenty individuals. Then Monday arrives, and also you’re again within the workplace placing out  operational fires. The window for significant follow-up narrows quick.

The very best founders I’ve met deal with post-summit engagement like a technique. They spend time after occasions going by way of each dialog, rating contacts by relevance: Who may also help me obtain my subsequent milestone? Who can problem my assumptions? Who can open a door that helps me construct?

Then they comply with up with precision. Not “nice to fulfill you,” however one thing like:

“You talked about increasing into Kenya, right here’s a brief memo on our API integration challenges there. Would love your take.”

As somebody who’s within the ecosystem, I’d reply. And that, there, might mark the inspiration of a mutually useful relationship.

Constructing relationships with intent isn’t straightforward. One other fact is that you simply may not get worth within the investor you pitch, however within the fellow founder you seize lunch with. Founders who share related scaling pains can turn into probably the most enduring allies in an ecosystem like Africa’s.

Uche Ark, a former Lagos banker now exploring photo voltaic ventures, advised me he makes it a rule to take care of at the very least one ongoing dialog with one other founder from each occasion he attends.

“They’ve already made errors I haven’t but,” he stated.

So, my recommendation to founders is that after the summit, create a small circle of “accountability friends”, individuals who perceive your struggles and can let you know the reality when the hype fades.

For traders: From commentary to conviction

Buyers are maybe probably the most seen species at any tech summit. They sit on panels, reasonable classes, host dinners. However within the days after the occasion, I’ve seen two sorts of traders emerge.

The primary group recordsdata their notes, updates their pipeline tracker, and waits for startups to e mail. The second group assessments their theses, instantly. They choose up the cellphone, name a founder they met, and ask deeper questions like “Stroll me by way of your unit economics once more. Who’s your prime buyer? What do you want within the subsequent quarter?”

The latter construct conviction quick.

In markets as fluid as Africa’s, conviction is a aggressive benefit. It permits traders to maneuver decisively when alternatives come up, quite than ready for consensus or validation.

So, when you’re an investor, don’t simply acquire pitch decks, join the dots. What did this summit reveal about shifting founder psychology? About the place capital shortage is most acute? Concerning the insurance policies nonetheless holding innovation hostage?

Briefly, use the summit as a mirror in your thesis. Refine it. Deepen it. Check it towards the realities founders live every day.

For regulators: Hear past the applause

Policymakers usually attend summits to “interact the ecosystem.” It’s turn into a part of the choreography — a keynote right here, a panel look there. However the true alternative lies not in talking, however in listening.

After Moonshot, the policymakers who stand out are those that return to their ministries and ask their groups exhausting questions like “What did I hear that challenges our present regulatory strategy? Who ought to we be inviting to our subsequent stakeholder session — not as a result of they’re well-known, however as a result of they’re constructing?”

For those who’re a policymaker, attain out to a few founders or traders you met and ask for trustworthy suggestions on one coverage space. It’s an act of humility, and it alerts seriousness. The ecosystems that progress quickest — Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana — are these the place dialogue doesn’t finish when the microphone is switched off and cameras go off.

For storytellers: Search for alerts beneath the noise

As journalists, we’re educated to seize moments, the headline quotes, the speaker soundbites, the “key takeaways.” However the longer I’ve lined occasions, the extra I realise the actual story doesn’t simply come from the stage.

It’s within the contradictions. The frictions. The quiet consensus forming in aspect classes that hardly ever make it to print.

After occasions, I resist the urge to hurry a recap. As an alternative, I spend time decoding what the occasion actually revealed. For instance, what subjects drew probably the most emotional reactions? Which industries had been conspicuously absent from the agenda? Which narratives are shedding energy, and that are rising quietly of their place?

A great summit tells you what the trade is speaking about. However an incredible journalist discerns what the trade is considering however not but saying aloud.

So, to my fellow storytellers, resist the FOMO-driven recap. Write the piece that may nonetheless make sense six months from now.

For everybody: Keep seen with out being noisy

Networking fatigue is actual. After an occasion like Moonshot, your social feeds overflow with selfies, recap threads, and platitudes. Most individuals fade into that noise.

To face out, don’t put up for consideration however for continuity.

Share one perception that genuinely moved you, and why it issues. Tag the individuals who impressed it. Lengthen the dialog, not the efficiency.

In non-public, attain out to a handful of individuals whose concepts challenged you. Ask questions. Provide one thing in return, a connection, a thought, an article, even an introduction. Generosity scales higher than self-promotion.

And most significantly, schedule reflection. Take a day to evaluation your notes, your stack of enterprise playing cards, and your intentions. What are the three concepts you’ll be able to flip into motion within the subsequent 30 days? What habits or partnerships are you able to construct to ensure this convention turns into a chapter in your story, not only a picture album?

Construction and construct

I don’t deal with occasions like Moonshot as endpoints, I see them as inflection factors. They expose you to what’s doable, then problem you to translate chance into course of.

The individuals who get probably the most out of those gatherings aren’t essentially probably the most extroverted or well-connected. They’re those who doc their studying, comply with by way of on their curiosity, and reconnect with self-discipline. They perceive that ecosystems develop not from panels, however from the numerous unseen conversations that comply with them.

In different phrases, what occurs when the cameras go off, the emails despatched, the coffees shared, the insurance policies rewritten, the tales advised? That’s the actual occasion.