"As my father used to say, 'If you think you've arrived, you're now being shown the door,'" Forbes said.

The company has also begun exploring mobile content and native advertising over the past two or three years. Mobile devices have gone from comprising just 1.5 percent of web visits to Forbes 2.5 years ago to 40 percent of web visits today, requiring entirely different formatting for editorial and advertising content.

In addition, Forbes has begun bringing on advertisers as content creators, helping to put together material that is both dynamic and engaging.

"As long as you label it (as advertising), it's okay," Forbes said.

In the healthcare vertical, Forbes questioned the prevailing wisdom and touted emerging systems that offer patients both more options as well as skin in the game.

"Why is demand for healthcare considered a crisis, while demand for anything else is considered a great opportunity?" Forbes asked the audience.

Procedures not typically covered by insurance have not fallen prey to skyrocketing prices since customers will shop around for the best deal, Forbes said.

He cited as examples a 50 percent price reduction on laser eye surgery (LASIK) over the past decade and steady prices for cosmetic surgery despite a six fold increase in demand over the past 14 years. 

Forbes also praised walk-in clinics such as CVS's Minute Clinic and Walgreens's Healthcare Clinic as a great alternative to the traditional, costly primary care physician model for patients needing only a flu shot or simple procedure.

"Eighty percent of our medical needs can be met by nurse practitioners (who staff walk-in clinics) rather than physicians," Forbes said.

In the financial services sector, Forbes said federal regulators have turned banks into de facto utilities and made it virtually impossible for them to issue loans to small or new businesses.

He believes the financial industry is ripe for outside disruption in the same way that federal regulation of the telecom industry opened the door to wireless providers.

Margaret Trocchio, executive vice president of Computer Equipment Services (CES) in Bay Shore, N.Y., enjoyed hearing Forbes discuss how confusion in the marketplace has obfuscated great opportunities in the healthcare vertical.

She said CES is gearing up to take advantage of the healthcare vertical as well as disruption created by the Common Core and security needs in the K-12 vertical.