What I Learned at the Forbes Summit in Phoenix as an Entrepreneur

I had just flown from working in New Delhi to New York—and then, shortly after, to Phoenix. My head was still trying to figure out what time zone it was in.

A few months ago, I was invited to attend the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi, but it was canceled due to regional tensions involving Iran. So instead, I decided to attend the Forbes Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. I’m glad I did.

There were speakers ranging from Dwyane Wade to Ashley Graham, and one of the biggest takeaways I heard—over and over again—was this: be active on social media.

Whether we like it or not, social media is becoming our résumé.

So many times, when I was chatting with fellow entrepreneurs, the first thing they asked for wasn’t a pitch deck—it was the company’s Instagram or TikTok handle. They want to see your product, your content, your audience. And honestly, it makes sense. There are roughly 5+ billion social media users worldwide, so people are plugged in at some level.

Post, post, post.

People aren’t just buying your product or using your service—they’re buying into you. They’re trusting you. And at the end of the day, most business owners are in sales… whether we like to admit it or not. You’re selling your product, but you’re also selling yourself.

One CEO in the food (chocolate) industry talked about how his family documented their entire entrepreneurial journey. Not just the wins—revenue, growth, big moments—but the behind-the-scenes too: sourcing inventory, packaging, the messy middle.

Because let’s be honest—these days, people mostly post the highlight reel. The money, the success, the “we made it.” But they skip the part where things were hard, messy, or uncertain—the part people actually relate to.

That stuck with me. That was takeaway number one.

The second big takeaway: your pitch deck.

I’ve struggled with this myself—trying to perfect it, running it by friends, colleagues, tweaking it over and over. But the reality is, you just have to put it out there.

Pitch to investors. Pitch to VCs. Pitch to anyone who will listen.

Because the truth is, you won’t know what needs fixing until you’re sitting in that room. You’ll walk out of each meeting realizing exactly what landed—and what didn’t. Waiting for it to be perfect is a trap. It’s never perfect.

The summit itself was incredible. The weather was great, the people were inspiring—not just the panelists, but the attendees too. From Forbes 30 Under 30 listers to aspiring ones, to people just dipping their toes into entrepreneurship—we were all there for the same reason:

To push ourselves, and to meet people who get it.