Leah Solivan

In just two years, AI has gone from a headline to a daily habit. More than half of U.S. adults have used AI, and hundreds of millions of people engage with it around the world — yet only a small fraction pay for it. That gap tells us something big: we’re still just at the beginning of how AI will shape everyday life.

Leah Solivan — engineer, TaskRabbit founder, and investor — blends personal experimentation with real market signals to show where AI is already quietly changing how we talk, learn, shop, create, and make decisions. She reveals the early patterns of behavior that hint at what’s coming next — and where the outlier products will break precedent and redefine what “normal” looks like. With clarity and humor, she explains why trust, context, and thoughtful human guidance matter just as much as the technology itself — and how everyday people, families, creatives, and companies can prepare for the shift.

What audiences walk away with:

• A clearer picture of what’s hype — and what’s here to stay.
• How AI is becoming part of emotional, creative, and practical daily routines.
• What signals to watch to know which AI tools and behaviors are about to go mainstream.

Leah Solivan has broken precedent on many levels, from reimagining the Future of Work with TaskRabbit, to challenging the Venture Capital industry as a young Latina. She is passionate about sharing her journey and highlighting other’s unprecedented journeys as well. Imagine a world where the boundaries of what’s possible are constantly being pushed, where societal norms are challenged, and where new precedents are made every day. This is the world we will explore in Breaking Precedent, a dynamic presentation dedicated to uncovering the stories of those who dare to innovate, trailblaze, and redefine the status quo.

Throughout this presentation, Leah will delve into the lives of extraordinary individuals who are not just thinking outside the box but are completely dismantling it to create new standards and pathways in their respective fields. From technology and art to social justice and beyond, Leah will share journeys of breaking barriers and setting new precedents. This presentation is also about equipping you with the tools and strategies to break precedents in your own life and work. We will explore practical applications that will empower and inspire you.

Mom always told us not to talk to strangers, but are there really any strangers today? Ten years ago it was unthinkable to flag down a random car and hop in for a ride, but today, with the use of technology, we don’t hesitate in sharing rides with people we don’t know. We are willing to hire a handyman through an app, such as TaskRabbit, and we are renting out rooms in our own houses to people we’ve never met before. How did the sharing economy begin and what will it evolve to next? In this dynamic speech, Leah will share her story of starting TaskRabbit and why 2008 was a pinnacle for the beginning of the sharing economy. Over the last 15 years, this new trend has evolved into mainstream adoption and continues to grow and scale in new ways that are changing the future of work. Leah will explore how businesses, large and small, will need to evolve to support this new fragmented workforce, and how, despite the skeptics, providing more flexibility and entrepreneurship in our work environments will drive innovation, support diversity, and ultimately translate to stronger, longer lasting companies.

After 8 years as a software engineer at IBM, Leah quit her job to found TaskRabbit. With no prior business experience, no MBA, and by withdrawing $20,000 from her IBM pension account, it was a cold winter night when she had the idea for founding TaskRabbit. After bootstrapping the company for 18 months, maxing out credit cards, and building the business from the ground up, Leah was able to raise over $50 million dollars in venture funding, expand the company internationally, and propel TaskRabbit as a leader of the sharing economy movement. Then in 2017, Leah oversaw TaskRabbit’s successful sale to IKEA – the multinational home décor corporation's first step into the on-demand platform space.

There were many lessons learned along the way, and in this dynamic speech, Leah will share five important lessons that changed the game for her life and her business. From having “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” to discovering ideas, instead of inventing them, Leah will explore how anyone can be entrepreneurial and drive innovation for their team, business, or organization, ultimately achieving greater happiness for themselves and truly loving what they do.