Biography
Mike Butcher MBE is the founder and editor of Pathfounders, a technology media outlet, community and podcast covering startups, investment, and the AI-driven transformation of the technology industry. He was previously Founding Editor-at-Large at TechCrunch, where he spent 18 years covering the European startup ecosystem and the rise of global technology companies.
A technology journalist since 1995, Mike is an influential commentator, moderator, and broadcaster who has interviewed leading figures in technology, politics, and culture. He regularly appears on BBC News, Sky News, CNBC, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, and Channel 4, and has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Web Summit, DLD, and 4YFN.
He is also the founder or co-founder of initiatives including The Europas, Techfugees, TechHub, Startup Coalition, and TechVets. He received an MBE in 2016 for services to the UK technology industry and journalism.
Sessions
- AI For TodayModerator
Fireside 2 — Agents That Touch Real Money
Tuesday 22 September, 17:20 – 17:35Auditorium StageMost AI-in-finance sessions are about what could be automated. Sophie Cornay runs Qonto AI, a team of ten shipping agentic workflows into a live banking product used across Europe: invoice handling, payment tracking, categorisation, real-time cash visibility. That means agents operating where mistakes cost money and someone has to be accountable for them. This fireside is about the line she drew — what an agent decides, what it never decides, what broke in production, and what actually slows a team down when the product is regulated. A working account of shipping agents in finance, not a forecast.
With Sophie Cornay
- AI For BuildersModerator
Fireside 4 — Generative AI at Consumer Scale
Tuesday 22 September, 18:00 – 18:15Auditorium StageShipping a generative feature to professionals is a product problem. Shipping it to a very large consumer base is an engineering, cost and quality problem at the same time. Artavazd Mehrabyan, Co-Founder and CTO of Picsart, on what changes when your users aren't experts, your inference bill is a line item on the P&L, and the feature has to work the first time or it doesn't get used again. What consumers adopted, what was built and ignored, and what the engineering org had to become.
With Artavazd Mehrabyan
- AI FoundationsModerator
Fireside 8 - Everyone Talks AI. Who's Actually Transforming?
Wednesday 23 September, 17:20 – 17:35Auditorium StageAI pilots are everywhere. Real transformation is harder to find. In this fireside chat, Enric Escalé Garrell, Partner at SDG Group, cuts through the AI hype to explore what separates experimentation from meaningful business transformation. Expect real-world lessons, a business-first perspective, and an inside look at how SDG is applying the same transformation principles to itself through SHIFT.
With Enric Escalé