Will this be like other conferences?

This is one day in Brighton that you'll be able to focus on learning how to grow a digital product business. We've handpicked some of the best teachers in the world. You won't just be hearing inspiring stories. You'll get actionable advice that will help your business grow. It doesn't matter if you're already 100% product focused or just starting the journey. You'll be surrounded by like-minded people who want to help you to succeed.

This will not be eight hours of you being talked at in an auditorium packed to the rafters. We have some great speakers coming and you will learn insightful things from their talks. But we'll be making sure it's much easier than usual for you to meet the speakers and other delegates. You'll get much more from the day when you discuss your specific business and the ideas you are working on.

Is this just for software businesses and people who usually work on them?

While some of our speakers and many of our attendees will be programmers they won't be talking about deeply technical things. The one thing all our speakers have in common is that they are creative people. They've all made digital things. Some are writers, some are designers, some are videographers. But there are others who wouldn't consider themselves any of those things. The Internet has matured to the point that you don't need to be technical to start a business selling digital products.

Why are you charging for this conference?

If you’re used to going to free conferences you probably found yourself spending much of your day staring a walls of logos. While it might not have been obvious at the time, you will have been listening to some speakers who paid to speak to you. You were the product of those conferences not the customer.

LTV Conf is made for you. We don’t have any sponsors. We’ve hand picked speakers that are worth paying for.

Why does this conference seem expensive to me?

If you’re used to going to low cost grass roots conferences with tickets less than £200 you may have had to put up with some sponsors. But, more likely, you were packed in like sardines so the organisers could cover their costs. Theatre-style seating away from natural light is great for consuming content for a few hours at a time. It’s not the best way to spend a day really learning things and making new connections.

LTV Conf is taking place in a venue that could seat 800 people. We’re selling just 146 tickets. You’ll be comfortable all day and you’ll be able to meet all the speakers and delegates that you have specific questions for.

Why does this conference seem cheap to me?

If you’re used to going to industry conferences that attract corporate delegates you’re probably used to spending more than £1,000 for an experience like this. You might even be worried about how low the ticket price is in comparison to your day rate. Your time is valuable and you want to make sure this will be worth a day of your time.

Neither Jon or Andy organise conferences to make a living. We’re working on this in our spare time so we’re not taking too much time away from building digital products. We’re not hiring a massive team, creating elaborate displays or adding luxury bells and whistles. We’re organising LTV Conf because we want to create a valuable experience for ourselves and people with similar interests who can join us in Brighton.

Is this conference all about making money?

We've made some rather bold statements about how you'll benefit from attending Life Time Value Conf. We're confident that you and your business will come away from the day far better off than when you arrived. But you won't be hearing about exploitative get rich quick schemes. This is a conference about creating value for people not extracting it from people.

To follow in the footsteps of our speakers you need to be primarily motivated by the desire to help people. It takes hard work to build a business that makes money while you sleep. What you'll learn will help you carefully focus on the hard work that will actually make the biggest difference to your customers and in turn your business.

OK, but will I learn how to become a billionaire?

The media loves talking about outlier businesses with valuations in the billions. And when they can't find enough of them they sensationalise the stories of people trying to create them. As a result there's no shortage of speakers and conferences talking about how to become the next Zuckerberg.

We believe the world will be better with 1,000 highly-profitable one million pound businesses. They are the kinds of businesses that are within your reach. Brighton doesn't need billion dollar businesses that put growth before everything else and neither do you.

I don't recognise the names of the speakers. Who are they?

The speakers we’ve invited are not "household name entrepreneurs". That's intentional. They're all people whose success is relatively easy to replicate. And they're all people whose success you'd like to replicate.

They didn't get lucky breaks thanks to family friends, top-tier university connections, exclusive startup accelerator introductions or simply being in the right place at the right time. They didn't risk all their savings "betting the farm" on their big ideas. They didn't become notorious for engaging in over the top publicity stunts. They haven't been responsible for huge failures that have cost other people their livelihoods.

Every speaker we've chosen for you is recognised for their accomplishments by their peers in their respective industries. They've also become well known in the world's growing community of independent digital product businesses. That's because they've chosen to be more open than others about how they've achieved what they have. They're not afraid to share things that traditional businesses would consider top secret. They're all participating in LTV Conf primarily because they want to help you do even better than they have themselves.

You could say their public speaking skills have helped them to become thought leaders. But they all spend more time practicing what they do than they spend thinking about it and talking about it.

Do you have sponsors?

LTV Conf will be 100% funded by ticket sales. No annoying sponsors competing for your attention. No grant funding requiring us to play politics. No hidden agendas. As someone who's bought a ticket, you are the most important part of this event.

What time does it start?

Registration will open at around 8:30am. If you are super keen you can arrive then, grab a coffee and spend an hour starting to meet people before the opening remarks at 9:30.

What time does it end?

The structured part of the day will finish before 6pm. As soon as it’s finished you’ll be able to continue the conversations you’ve started over a drink in a (quiet) nearby bar. We recommend you plan to stay in Brighton overnight or leave as late as possible.

Is there a full schedule?

There will be a full schedule available on the day. This isn’t the kind of conference where you’ll benefit from picking and choosing the parts that you will attend. You’ll get most value from it if you can take a break from everything else going on in the world and give it your full attention from beginning to end.

Who is organising this event?

Your hosts for the day will be Jonathan Markwell (http://twitter.com/jot) and Andy Croll (http://twitter.com/andycroll). The event is being run by Jonathan’s limited company: Inuda Technology Ltd.

Both Jon and Andy have spent over ten years working with digital product businesses. They’re software engineers by trade but they’ve seen first-hand how technical skills are far from being the most important thing in digital product businesses. They've felt the soul-crushing results of too many investment-fixated startups. They've enjoyed the rewards of seeing independent businesses flourish through bootstrapping their own way to success.

Jonathan brings with him experience of founding The Skiff coworking community, Brighton Dynamic digital product business community and Open Coffee Sussex monthly meetup. He's going to make sure you come away from the event with a new set of connections that will make sure you never again feel alone on your journey to making digital products.

Andy brings with him experience of growing the popular Brighton Ruby annual conference and monthly meetup. He's going to make sure you come away from the event with a to do list of actions, specific to your business, that will start making a positive difference in a matter of weeks.

What other things happen in Brighton?

Far too many good things to list here. Check out The Brighton Digital Festival (http://brightondigitalfestival.co.uk) It’s the annual September celebration of all the brilliant art and technology related things that happen in our wonderful city.

Where can I work while I’m in Brighton?

If you’d like somewhere to work in central Brighton with a community of like-minds and a rock solid internet connection check out The Skiff. Drop jon@theskiff.org a line for a special arrangement for LTV Conf participants.

Where can I stay while I’m in Brighton?

Full list of recommended hotels coming soon. If you’re keen to book make sure you’ll be within walking distance of The Brighton Dome.

Where can I eat while I’m in Brighton?

Full list of recommended restaurants coming soon.

Anything else happening in the Brighton during that week in July?

Sunday 3rd to Tuesday 5th - If you’re interested in Coworking

From the evening of Sunday 3rd July until the morning Tuesday 5th July Jon is running a retreat in the Sussex countryside. He’ll be joined by LTV Conf speaker Alex Hillman and other people involved in running coworking communities. Drop Jon a line via jon@inuda.com if you’d like to come along.

Thursday 7th - If you’re a digital product business owner

There will be a 7:30am central Brighton pickup to join a Netwalk run by adventure company Unknown Epic. You’ll be back in Brighton by 10:30 having enjoyed breakfast in the company of Sussex’s spectacular scenery and a collection of local business owners. This is the regular monthly gathering of Brighton Dynamic, a community of Sussex-based digital product businesses. If you’d like to become a member and join this walk please drop Jon a line via jon@inuda.com.

Friday 8th - If you’re a Ruby developer

Andy is running this year’s Brighton Ruby conference. LTV Conf speaker Patrick McKenzie will be there giving a more technical talk. Jon will also be there trying to top up his Ruby skills. Grab your ticket at http://brightonruby.com

It sounds amazing but I can’t make it. Are there other conferences I could go to to learn similar things and meet similar people?

There are a few. Our favourites are MicroConf (http://www.microconfeurope.com/) and Business of Software (http://businessofsoftware.eu). Sadly neither of them are in the UK this year.