QB Connect Conference

QuickBooks Connect, Oct 20-22, 2014, was Intuit's premiere conference to celebrate their foray into the subscription business of QuickBooks Online. The conference was a chance to meet people, see the cloud technology, and get the advice needed to start, run and grow a business. It was a unique experience and an opportunity to make valuable connections.

The over 4000 attendees included a veritable who's who of industry movers and shakers. Vendors I work with such as Expensify, and Zen Payroll had sponsorship booths. I got the Zen t-shirt to prove it.

Accountants, such as myself, attended to become "Advanced Online Certified", a new certification Intuit rolled out at the conference. That test is extremely hard to pass, so the day-long training will be invaluable too.

Headline presenters included entrepreneurs Magic Johnson, Martha Stewart, Kevin Clearly, Cliff Bar & Co. CEO. Marc Andreessen (Netscape fame) got up from his sick bed to be interviewed by Scott Cook, Founder, Intuit Inc. Mr Andreessen is a VC now, so perhaps he wanted first dibs on the next FaceBook developer who might have been in the crowd? The level of creativity required to create a business such as FB was what I found most exciting about the conference too.

 

During the conference, I gravitated towards Sarah Clansky to answer my Intuit information booth questions. By the third question, she shared with me that she doesn't actually work for Intuit Corp. Rather; she's the project manager for doubledutch.me—the business that developed and managed the QB Connect conference app. She has 3 more conferences to roll out this month alone. Two years ago that business didn't exist, or if it did, just as idea, a vision, or maybe a dream? 

 It's a joy and a blessing to be around attendees, and my clients, who all have such a high level of business creativity.