Johnny Boufarhat, 27, is the CEO of Hopin. He's based in London.
What I do:
From coding Hopin to CEO, my role has evolved a lot in our nearly three years. I have a strong vision for Hopin that starts with driving impact for our customers. My focus is to ensure the incredibly talented leaders and team members at Hopin have the runways they need to pilot their different and equally important areas of the business. A big part of helping to pave that runway is setting clear goals and unlocking collaboration across the company.
Why I love my job:
I love my work at Hopin for many reasons, but my top two are the Hopin team and our customers. The Hopin team works incredibly hard and their passion and spirit is felt regularly in our company all-hands meetings. From TechCrunch to the United Nations, we have also partnered with so many phenomenal companies who are doing really compelling work to bring people together. We learn so much from them and they fuel us to continue to innovate.
My career journey:
My path to Hopin goes back to the mission to make people feel closer. Early in my career, I had been looking for a more meaningful way to connect with colleagues and network live from anywhere, so I decided to work on some code that eventually became Hopin’s flagship product, Virtual Venue. There is an incredible, enduring power to being able to connect from anywhere in the world, and we see so many opportunities to expand, elevate and innovate this technology.
My greatest career accomplishment:
Hopin’s core mission is to make the world feel closer. And while that work is never really done, I am very proud to look back at the last few years and what the Hopin team has accomplished. Each month, millions of people have been able to connect with others from around the world on our platform. And we have only scratched the surface of the opportunity. My responsibility and goal is to continue to innovate so we can give more people more access and opportunity for connection while providing the most seamless, all-in-one event management experience for event organizers.
How I helped my organization during COVID:
In early 2020, we were in the process of updating our tech stack to support the volume of customers on Hopin’s extensive waitlist. When lockdowns began because of the global pandemic, we decided to open the platform up widely, ahead of plans, and soon after added a free plan to ensure as many people as possible could utilize Hopin. Helping to support event organizers whose industry was turned upside down during the pandemic became our top priority.
Beyond the pandemic, this technology has really created an enduring shift in how we gather for shared experiences by permanently extending the reach events can have and the access to join experiences for attendees. We’ll continue to see technology be a driving force for inclusivity and impact in virtual, hybrid and on-site experiences.
Best advice I’ve ever received:
One of the best pieces of advice I received over the last few years has been don’t wait for perfection. It's much better to take action versus waiting for perfection (which doesn’t exist) and letting an opportunity pass you by.
Impressive stats I’m responsible for:
The Hopin team has accomplished so much over the last three years and they deserve recognition for where we are today. What I will say is that, together, we have created a platform that is seeing millions of people join every month in our efforts to bring the world closer together, and we’re all really proud of that.
What’s next?
I can’t share a lot of detail yet so stay tuned—but we really seeing our technology continuing to help to transform the way we all meaningfully connect through virtual, hybrid and in-person events, in addition to how we work and more.
What I do outside of work:
As an engineer at heart, I often turn to coding to help clear my mind and have a creative outlet. Sustainability and education are also really important to me. I was honored to recently join UNICEF’s Global Forum for Children and Youth where education was a central theme. I hope to continue those efforts both personally and professionally.
Connect with Boufarhat on LinkedIn and Twitter.
“Connect x BizBash 40 Under 40” is sponsored by VDA, an experiential marketing and event design agency based in Massachusetts that specializes in custom live, virtual and hybrid experiences.
