About Seb
Seb Potter is a strategist and product leader with nearly 30 years of experience in digital transformation. He has founded startups, built product teams, and led major initiatives for organisations such as the BBC and British Gas. Today he works with Lab Digital in the Netherlands, helping global clients connect business strategy with technology, and guiding programmes of innovation and organisational change.
Seb’s focus is on human-centred technology — creating solutions that are effective, sustainable, and respectful of the people who use them. His work combines practical delivery with a broader commitment to making technology a positive force for lasting impact.
The Talk
Future proof is a myth. Build for change instead.
“Future-proofing” has become a common ambition in digital strategy, but in practice the future rarely unfolds the way we expect. Platforms and roadmaps designed with certainty in mind often end up fragile, locked into assumptions that no longer hold true. The rise of AI, the emergence of new customer interfaces, and the pace of change in digital commerce all show us the same thing: long-term bets are less valuable than the ability to adapt quickly.
Seb Potter explores why adaptability matters more than future-proofing, and how organisations can approach change with confidence. Drawing on experience helping ambitious brands to replatform and evolve their digital ecosystems, Seb will highlight the difference between businesses that become stuck in their roadmaps and those that stay flexible enough to keep moving when the unexpected happens.
The talk will consider what makes some organisations better equipped to respond to shifts in technology and customer behaviour, and why building resilience into digital platforms is a more realistic goal than trying to predict the future. Along the way, Seb will share lessons from real-world projects where adaptability proved to be a strategic advantage, and offer practical questions leaders can ask of their own organisations to assess how ready they are for change.