There’s a phrase software billionaire Richard White uses a lot when pressed to talk about the changing global funding conditions facing entrepreneurs: “You’ve got to be able to wash your own face.”

He was talking about his experiences building a $27 billion company from scratch, and repeated the maxim three times in a 25-minute appearance, landing it so expertly that Rory San Miguel, the co-founder and chief executive of drone data analytics software start-up Propeller Aero picked it up in a later session when White left the stage.