As we enter the new year with 12 more months of learning, growth, hustle and so much reward under our belts, we start 2018 with a bang and the launch of SaaStock18.

We’ve been a global event and community since year 1. Delegates from 34 countries attended SaaStock16. Even more countries were represented in SaaStock17. We had our first groups from Brazil. We had a plane load from Finland. Teams from Germany, France, India, all joined us in Dublin. Most had never met before. But almost immediately started behaving like SaaS kindred spirits.

Nobody dared say scaling SaaS was easy. There was a sense of catharsis. But also a lot of well-deserved fun amidst that.

At SaaStock18, we expect to welcome an even more diverse melting pot of SaaS founders, executives and investors who collide at parties, hotels and corridors. Exchanging learnings to new and old friends alike in this craft business.

That is what SaaStock is all about: creating the environment where people in SaaS act naturally, humbly and respectfully to one another, exude humility, and learn together. It’s how a well-knitted and kind community is fostered.

We are doubling down on all these things that are fundamental to the SaaStock experience and bringing in some exciting new elements.

New speakers

Each year we see a step change in the event. No more so than in the speakers who take the time away from running their global SaaS businesses to fly from all corners of the world to Dublin to share their learnings, tactics, frameworks, successes and failures with our community.

This year our speakers will be even more global than the previous editions. Just a few newcomers:

Eric Santos, CEO of Resultados Digitais. RD is the leading digital marketing platform in Latin America. Eric has scaled his company to 600 employees and is doing north of $30m ARR and by the time he takes the stage at SaaStock18, that would probably be close to $50 million. To get there, he’s had to educate an entire market about digital marketing before he could lure them with a SaaS marketing automation tool. He recently told us that story on the SaaS Revolution Show.

Michael Litt, CEO and Co-founder of Vidyard. One of the leading SaaS Entrepreneurs in Canada, Michael has been called the Canadian Zuckerberg. He used to make 100 cold calls a day to get the first sales through the door. Nowadays Vidyard has a 2140% growth rate and has banked over $60 million in VC funding from Bessemer Ventures, Battery Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz, amongst others.

Corey Thomas, CEO of Rapid7. The first public company CEO to take the stage at SaaStock, Corey credits his parents and humble background for shaping his work ethic and values, that helped him work his way up to the chief executive position of the corporate network security company that serves nearly half of the Fortune 1000 companies.

Frederick Kerrest, COO and Co-founder of Okta. The company which went public last year, connects and protects employees of many of the world’s largest enterprises. Frederick has spent almost two decades driving corporate efficiency via innovative software solutions.

Mamoon Hamid, General Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He has emerged as one of the most respected venture capitalists in the Valley and has developed an impressive approach to investing and company-building.

Reshma Sohoni, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Seedcamp. Reshma is one of the authors of the European Startup Manifesto, the document to support startups promoted by the European Union. She was born in India and moved to the US with her family when she was 10. Later, she went to France to do her MBA with a return ticket to the US but, as it happens, she fell in love with Europe and decided to stay.

And a few returnees:

David Skok, one of the most beloved speakers in SaaStock17 is back. So are returnees from SaaStock16 — David Cancel of Drift, Brynne Kennedy, CEO at MOVE Guides, Nikos Moraitakis, CEO at Workable and Peter Reinhardt, CEO of Segment. We can’t wait to hear where they are at now, two years after we heard from them.

This will be the best lineup we’ve ever had and certainly the most global.

New dates, same venue

After 2 years taking place in September where on both occasions we luckily caught the last of the Dublin Indian Summer, SaaStock18 moves to its new home on the calendar in mid-October — 15–17th. We are staying put at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), occupying some of the bigger halls.

Why the change of dates?

For one, we clashed with the National Ploughing championships in 2017 (yes it’s a thing, a rather big one for Ireland).

Dreamforce was another serious consideration. Dreamforce18 is in late September, in what would have been one week after SaaStock18, had we kept our original dates. We wanted to avoid the clash and make sure our friends from Salesforce could join us.

Moving also gives everyone more time to prepare after the summer break. Those Europeans do love a LONG summer vacation. And by moving to October, our partners, attendees and yes, us, get that little bit longer to prepare. To be better.

Dublin will be just as nice and welcoming, we promise. The weather will still be mild, the Guinness will taste as good, the town will be buzzing with gigs and banter. There is no time like autumn in Dublin.

New and returning partners

SaaStock18 will be the biggest showcase of SaaS in Europe in 2018. We’ll have 300 exhibitors, more than half of which will be SaaS startups.

Salesforce is returning again as a Platinum partner. Sure the change in dates may have helped, but we’ve built a great partnership with Salesforce and work together across the year to deliver value, not just at the event itself.

Then there are our Threepeat partners. We ❤️ChartMogul, Teamwork.com, Sellsy and Receptive with all of our beating hearts. They have been with us for 3 consecutive years and have become an integral part of SaaStock and helping drive the success of the conference.

We’re pumped to welcome first timers Aircall, Paddle, Segment, Voxbone, Botify, and Silicon Valley Bank.

Why are they all partnering with us?

  • To showcase their brands to thousands of new prospects.
  • To do face to face business with many SaaS decision makers.
  • To catch up with existing customers from around the world, strengthening the relationship and getting valuable feedback.

You can join them. Drop us a line.

Same goals

Amidst all new things about SaaStock18, one thing remains the same — the goal that started it all, three years ago.

Build a global gathering of SaaS leaders, fostered on sharing knowledge, inclusiveness, and celebration of the superhero feats it takes to build a successful SaaS company!

3000 leaders from more than 50 countries will join us this October with that in mind. We can’t wait to welcome them.

New website

Have a look at our newly designed website for SaaStock18. We have taken on the brand elements from SaaStock17 and have thrown in our full intent to create an event, which is as useful as it is bonding, cool and fun. We’re bolder, bigger, better and SaaStock is truly a global gathering of SaaS leaders.

What you will notice is that no tickets are on sale yet. But a little box will ask you for your email to join our insider sale. If you join it, you will be the first to get notified when tickets do go on sale on April 1st. No practical jokes here, just 500, 2-for-1 tickets available for €999. Leaving the insider sale to just that would be too practical, however. Which is why we threw in a little gamification with neat prizes to the pot. Sign up to learn more and have some fun.

Here is to a happy 2018 and a happy SaaStock18!

 

P.S. Before we see you in person in October, drop by the SaaS Revolution Club’s new online home on Facebook. We will be having AMAs, webinars, and lots of SaaS banter.