CTO Academy at Mixpanel’s London Forum: A Day to Remember

Anyone who’s ever helped pull together even the smallest event knows the feeling: the last-minute nerves, the scramble to check if the location works, and the persistent fear that something—anything—might go off track. Will people turn up? Will the tech work? Will the presenter (gulp) remember their slides?

Which is why we want to raise a glass—and a blog post—to the fantastic team at Mixpanel for absolutely smashing it with their 4th annual customer forum in London.

Held at the historic and stunning Royal Institution, this year’s edition was the biggest yet, welcoming over 250 people through the doors. But this wasn’t your typical “a couple of chairs and a panel about AI” kind of day. Far from it.

Mixpanel delivered a fully-fledged, multi-track, all-day experience with:

• 3 inspiring keynote talks
• 3 leadership tracks spanning Data, Product, and Tech
• A dedicated Mixpanel Masters series for the deeply curious and committed

We at CTO Academy were thrilled to host the Tech Leadership Track—and even more thrilled to do so in one of the venue’s magnificent libraries. Just reading the book spines between sessions gave us goosebumps.

Hats off to the incredible Mixpanel team—especially Amy Hsuan, Larissa McIntyre, Wissam Lebsir, and Anna Crisp—for their tireless work and support. A special shoutout to Ashley Beauchamp for championing our track and her much-loved “Woop-Woop” after our session.

Thank you also to Natalie Kouzeleas for getting us involved from the start.

The keynote speakers were top-notch:

• Paolo Sabatinelli (CPO, Intermobbilia)
• Edward Hsu (Mixpanel)
• And our very own friend Michael Spiteri (Gartner), who delivered a powerful talk on decision-making, right where Michael Faraday once introduced the world to electromagnetism. Talk about standing on the shoulders of giants!

Big thanks to the CTO Academy crew and our guest speakers—Jason Noble, Sanjay Mistry, Corey Latislaw, David Kavanagh, Maria Laura Scuri, Wayde Herman, and, again, Michael Spiteri. And a special nod to Umbar Shakir, who literally stepped off a transatlantic flight to support our track!

To those who joined our sessions: thank you. We feared we might be the “New Music Tent” of the day (brave but empty), but your attendance—and especially those of you who joined all four talks (we see you, Ken Deegan and Duncan Cowan)—was fantastic.

Finally, to everyone who attended the day overall: thank you for helping make it such a vibrant, energising, and memorable occasion. We had a blast, and we hope you did too.

Here are a few more photos from the event, just so you can visualize the atmosphere: