A Q&A with Andrew Moses, U.S. Growth Market Business Development Leader, MorganFranklin Consulting.

Several members from the MorganFranklin Growth market recently attended the 2016 ICR Conference, Wall Street’s premier growth company event. The invite-only conference brings together more than 150 public and private companies, along with the nation’s top institutional investors, private equity firms, and equity research analysts. Approximately 2,000 people gathered in Orlando, FL across three days to hear from some of the most high-profile, fastest growing companies in consumer goods, technology, and retail.

We sat down with Andrew Moses, U.S. Growth Market Business Development Leader, post-conference to pick his brain about top trends and conversations, and get an inside look at this premier event.

What were some of the biggest and best consumer and economic trends discussed at the conference?

Companies are heavily focused on two major concepts – (1) differentiation and (2) consumer experience. With the concept of differentiation, attendees heard from a wide range of restaurant chains in different verticals. Each of their CEOs focused on what makes their company different and why being the “best” in a particular niche is going to drive exceptional growth.

Secondly, there was a significant focus on the consumer experience. The common thread across presentations was that the C-suite realizes consumers are smart – and are getting smarter every day. Consumers hold the key to a company’s success, which makes it ever more important for a company to focus on what makes their consumer experience exceptional. We also heard that lousy consumer experience can ultimately ruin great companies.

What was your favorite presentation and why?

It is difficult to select a “favorite” because it felt like there was an endless flow of outstanding presentations. It’s truly a testament to the hard work ICR puts in to curate the presenting companies and ensure that the best and brightest companies get to share their stories. That said, a few presentations in particular really stood out:

  • Rebecca Minkoff’s CEO, Uri Minkoff, shared the company’s extremely impressive story and its recent foray into the “smart store” – which looks to be a “game changer” for retail. The global lifestyle brand is using RFID tags and smart technology to meet the needs of their customers in ways previously unimaginable.
  • iPic Entertainment opened with a video that provided a great glimpse into its entertainment experience. What is most impressive about iPic is how it is making the “experience” more important than the movie in the eyes of moviegoers. Moviegoers used to pick a movie and then find a theater. Now consumers are first selecting iPic as the theater and then figuring out which movie to watch from the choices playing at iPic—talk about a brand transcending an industry!

Would you recommend this conference to others and why?

The ICR Conference was outstanding. What was most impressive to me, was the quality of the presenting companies and their interest into collaborating with other companies and the attendee population for feedback. It truly was a two-way dialogue between some great companies and the market.