For a while now at the lang cat, we have found ourselves in the space where the planning profession and the tech that serves it collide.

We started to give advice tech a bit more airtime a couple of years ago ish at our HomeGame 2 event in Edinburgh, where we heard from the likes of Aveni and Legado on what they were doing to make your lives as advice professionals that bit easier.

It’s crossed our insight path several times as well, including our paper A Disconnected World on the lack of integration in financial services, its successor report A Fragmented World, and through work like Just Fix It Already on the parlous state of affairs that is the Letter of Authority process.

With all that in mind, we wanted to host an event that puts technology front and centre. And, being us, we want to do things differently.

What are we up to now?

So without further ado, we bring you… AdviceTech Catwalk.

It’s an in-person event being held at Studio Spaces, London on 20 June 2024.

This new event is all about the up and coming tech that you as advice professionals might be using in the next few years.

We want to give firms a chance to show their wares, and put the latest developments in front of you that you wouldn’t normally get to see. The focus is not just cool tech, but tech designed with advisers in mind and that advisers can use.

We’re joined by Ruth Handcock, CEO of Octopus Money, who will deliver the keynote. Ruth is going to talk about why advice firms need startups, the barriers to scaling advice and how we can start to change the narrative around tech and advice. Plus what’s in it for tech founders when it comes to working with advice professionals.

Why us?

Because we’re talking to advice professionals all the time, we know the sector really well. We know the challenges you face, and we understand the ecosystem that comes with building an advice practice. So why not us?

We’re creating a space where businesses who might otherwise struggle to get a chance to pitch can do so in a cool set-up that isn’t your usual hotel conference room fare.

This stuff can have a way of taking itself too seriously. Ultimately, we want this to be fun – fun for attendees, and fun for those pitching.

Whether it’s advice and tech, private equity and tech, planners and the industry, we often find ourselves in the privileged position of sitting in between this stuff and stitching different groups together.

It turns out that when you don’t take yourself too seriously, but you actually know what you’re talking about, that creates a nice environment where interesting people can see interesting stuff. So that’s the plan.

What to expect

From a submission process, we’ll select the five most exciting firms to demo what they’re up to and what they’ve built.

They’ll then get (gently) grilled by an expert panel, with the chance for the audience to get their questions in too. We’ll also host some interesting discussions from people in the know drawn from advice, tech and those investing in this tech right now.

You can find out more about the shape of the day and logistics here

Get involved

As we put together our line-up, there’s a few camps we’re keen to hear from:

• Pitchers: If you’re building or developing kit for advisers, we need YOU. We want to put the best of the best in advice tech in front of our audience, so if this sounds like you, we want to hear from you. In exchange, if you’re chosen to feature we’ll coach you through the pitch process and do all we can to get you Catwalk ready. There’s also the opportunity for one firm to take to the stage at one of our setpiece #langcatlive events later this year. Update: We’re sorry but the deadline for applications has passed. Don’t let that stop you from booking your ticket to attend though. 

• If you’re an advice professional, we’d love to see you there. Tickets are £100 plus VAT, with limited tickets available to lang cat insight panel members on a first come, first served basis. (Panel tickets have already flown out the door, so if you’d like to join us it’s worth booking sharpish.)

• If you’re anyone else, we’d love to see you there too. We think this event will be of most interest to advisers, those in and around advice tech, and those investing in the sector. Tickets are £100 plus VAT.

We’re trying something new here, but we’re more than up for it. Fingers crossed you are too.

See you in June.