Sep 17, 4:00 – 6:30 PM (UTC)
ONE Tech Hub, Schoolhill, Aberdeen City, AB10 1JQ
Good ideas rarely fail because they aren't good enough; they fail because nobody adopts them. Join Gavin Tweedie, who has spent thirty years helping organisations from Microsoft to BMW cross that gap, for a fireside chat on why trust, not technology, decides which ideas survive.
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Startup Grind Aberdeen, with Gavin Tweedie
The technologies already exist. The investment is growing. The ambition is there. So why do so many good ideas still fail?
Not because they weren't good enough. Because nobody adopted them.
Aberdeen is in the middle of one of the biggest industrial transitions in its history, and the hard part was never the technology. It's persuading customers, investors, partners and talented people to believe in something before it's proven. That's a different skill from building the thing, and most founders learn it late, if at all.
Gavin Tweedie has spent more than thirty years helping organisations navigate exactly that gap, across North America, Asia and Europe, with companies including Microsoft, Vodafone, BMW, AstraZeneca, Ericsson, the BBC and DHL. His conclusion after all of it is blunt: the technologies keep changing, but what drives adoption barely changes at all.
Innovation creates possibility. Adoption creates impact. Trust is what connects the two.
What we'll explore
Why the best ideas fail, and it is almost never about product quality. The power of the first follower, and why your first customer buys your product but your first follower validates your business. What founders who win actually do: they don't sell harder, they reduce uncertainty, create early success stories, and turn early adopters into advocates. And why Aberdeen's transition, whether energy, decarbonisation, AI or advanced manufacturing, will be decided by how many people move together, not by who has the best technology.
Who this is for
Founders trying to land their first customers. Business leaders introducing something new into a sceptical organisation. Anyone who has built something good and watched it struggle to get traction.
Details
Thursday 17 September 2026, 5:00pm to 7:30pm
Format: fireside chat and audience Q&A, with networking
Think Partnership Ltd
Executive Leader
Thursday, September 17, 2026
4:00 PM – 6:30 PM (UTC)
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