SaaStock18 is in just a few days, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome you all in Dublin.

SaaStock was born and raised as a conference on these shores and we will always have a special place in our hearts for the local SaaS heroes punching above its weight. Founders, executives, investors and all-round sound individuals are all joining us and we are excited to welcome them.  Here is a list of 18 of them. If you don’t have a ticket, you are running out of time as we are running out of space so grab one now. With this piece we are offering a special discount. Use code SLAINTE20 (Irish for Cheers).

Darragh Geoghegan, CEO & Co-founder, Effective Software

After graduating mechanical engineering at the Institute of Technology in Tallaght, Darragh Geoghegan dived deep in manufacturing and cryogenics. He worked as a software engineer at BOC in Ireland. He then spent five years as Development Manager at Abbeyridge Developments in the construction field. In 2008, Darragh was ready to launch his own venture, and he became one of the co-founders of Effective Software in order to craft a novel health and safety management software.  Where you will find him these days.

Nicola McClafferty, Investment Director, Draper Esprit

Nicola McClafferty studied Business and Finance in Dublin and started out her career as an investment banking analyst. She quickly moved on to become an Associate at Balderton Capital. In 2009, she took the position of Investment Manager at Ravensbeck Limited. In 2011, Nicola followed her entrepreneurial passion and founded her own company, COVETIQUE.com, an online retailer of pre-owned luxury fashion. It was acquired by ASOS in 2015. Since February 2017, she has been an Investment Director at Draper Esprit, splitting her time between its offices in London and Dublin.

You can catch Nicola at the panel Meet the investors: What do growth investors look for?

Peter Coppinger, CEO, Teamwork

Peter Coppinger started programming on a Commodore 64 when he was just 8. By the time he was 10, he knew his passion was creating software with like-minded people. In 1999, he co-founded Digital Crew, which started out as a small web consultancy company. Together with his team there, Peter created hundreds of websites for small and medium-sized companies. In 2007, Peter founded Teamwork, programming version 1.0 on his sister’s sofa. He is still its lead developer, as well as CEO.

At SaaStock18, Peter is sitting on the panel Venture Capital: Founder friend or foe?

Shane Evans, CEO & Co-founder, Scrapinghub

Shane Evans knows a thing or two about startups, having launched his career at lastminute.com in 1999. He was the Head of Engineering there, spending five years at the company. Founder and director at a couple of other businesses, in 2010 he found Scrapinghub. He served as its Director since its launching, and is currently its CEO. Scrapinghub is a great example of a properly functioning distributed team, consisting of 99 people spread out across the world.

Andreea Wade, CEO, Opening.io

Andreea Wade is one of those unstoppable ladies that has roamed many professional fields – all successessfully. Starting out with journalism in her native Romania, she later graduated with a BA in Media and Marketing from the Dublin Business School. Andreea has worked in TV, radio and print media, organised concerts, music festivals, and startup and entrepreneurial events. In January 2015, she co-founded Opening.io, a talent matching AI filter for resume databases and job platforms.

Barry Devon, Co-founder & Head of Customer Acquisition, Akita

Barry Devon has been roaming the technology field for more than 20 years, mixed with a couple of years of studying and working as an archeologist. One of his first tech positions was at Microsoft, followed by three years as Account Executive for Corporate Sales EMEA at Salesforce. In 2015, he became one of the co-founders of Akita, the renowned customer success platform. He is also serving as the company’s Head of Customer Acquisition. Akita automates the tasks and their timing for Customer Success Managers, making their lives easier and their work – more productive.

Caroline O’Reilly, Senior Director of Software Development, Workday

Caroline O’Reilly has an MSc degree in Distributed Systems and Networks and an MBA from Trinity College Dublin. She has been a software engineer and developer at diverse tech and other companies, including Intel and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. In 2012, she joined Workday, the leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance, HR, and planning. Since 2017, she’s the Senior Director of Software Development at the company, building the next generation of Workday services and coordinating a globally distributed team – from California through Ireland to New Zealand.

Rory O’Connor, CEO & Founder, Scurri

Equipped with an MBA degree, Rory O’Connor started out his career as a management consultant. He was a Programme Manager at AOL Broadband and took on various other consulting positions. He joined the Growth Engine Ambassador Program at Google between 2015 to 2017. Rory has been running Scurri since 2010, serving as its founder and CEO. Scurri is an e-commerce platform that optimizes processes like ordering, shipping, and delivery.

Cillian O’Grady, Commercial Director, Tweak

One of the first professional steps of Cillian O’Grady was at Compaq in 1997 as Corporate Sales Manager. Since then, he has worked at numerous companies, including ten years at Oracle. After Oracle, Cillian moved on to become the VP of Global Sales for Initiafy, a leading contractor management software platform. He then joined LogMeIn, where he was involved in EMEA sales on executive positions. In July 2018, Cillian joined Tweak as its Commercial Director. Besides his sales and marketing work, Cillian is fond of mentoring and coaching others, helping their talents blossom.

Susan Nolan, Head of Operations, LearnUpon

Susan Nolan started out with a BA degree in Information and Communications Technology from Trinity College Dublin. Besides Ireland, she has lived in places like Luxembourg and India while working for Bowne & Co, a provider of shareholder and marketing communications services. Susan’s next career steps were as software consultant at Azyra Systems and Murex in Dublin. In 2013, she became the Integration Manager of RR Donnelley. Since 2014, she has been on LearnUpon’s team as the Head of Operations.  

Lisa Raftery, COO, TenderScout

Lisa Raftery has studied Psychology, Employment Law, and Internet Marketing, but her field of interests is even broader. She started out as membership executive at the Irish Software Association and at IBEC before moving on to Ulster Bank, where she spent more than nine years. In February 2018, she joined TenderScout as Head of Marketing. Just recently she moved on to become the company’s COO.

Aimée Louise Carton, CEO, KeepAppy

Aimée Louise Carton graduated with a BA degree in Sociology from Trinity College Dublin and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam. She has been a part of various student and professional organizations as volunteer and participant. In March 2018, Aimée joined KeepAppy, the internationally award-winning mental wellness app as its Marketing Coordinator. Soon enough – in May 2018, she became the CEO of the company. KeepAppy is an app that aims to help its users take control of their mental and physical wellbeing.

Cormac McCarthy, CEO, StatusHub

Cormac McCarthy got his degree in Electronic Engineering from the Cork Institute of Technology and has been involved in web development ever since. He started out as the Business Director of Digital Crew, an internet app development company. Cormac was the Business Development Manager for a number of web development businesses in Australia, before moving to Dublin. He then served as the Customer Experience Manager of Copper.io, a suite of developer tools. In 2016, Cormac became the CEO of FollowUp.cc in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2017, he is the CEO of StatusHub, an incident and event communication tool tailored for the education and enterprise sectors.

Clive Lennox, Director of Irish Business Development, Silicon Valley Bank

Clive Lennox got his MSc degree in International Banking and Finance from Heriot-Watt University. He then worked as Institutional Treasury Sales at Anglo Irish Bank before becoming the Managing Partner of the FSA regulated boutique foreign exchange brokerage Clear Currency. Clive joined the Silicon Valley Bank in London in 2011 as Senior Foreign Exchange Dealer. In 2016, he moved back to Ireland to become the Director of Ireland Business Development for the SVB. The Bank offers credit solutions between 1 and 30 million euro, spanning growth loans, working capital and acquisition finance. It recently hit its $100 million investment target in Ireland.

Phil Bass, Business Development Manager, Leadfeeder

Phil Bass studied Marketing and Digital Media at the Dublin Business School. He spent more than four years at j2 Global as Sales Team Leader. In 2015, Phil was a part of Your Entrepreneur Revolution, a community of young and driven entrepreneurs in Dublin. He founded his own business, Focusline, where he is still the founder and director. In August 2018, Phil came on board of the sales intelligence tool Leadfeeder as Business Development Manager.

Maeve McConnon, Manager for Western U.S., IDA Ireland

Maeve McConnon has more than 20 years of experience in the Foreign Direct Investment field. She made her first steps at IDA Ireland, the government agency that promotes and secures foreign investment in the country, already back in 1995. Today she is the Manager for the Western U.S., equipped with her extensive experience in numerous sectors such as, technology, consumer products and services, and business services. Some of the companies on Maeve’s current client portfolio include prominent names like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Uber, EA, Amazon, Paypal, Ebay, Airbnb, and Twitter.

Áine Mulloy, Co-founder and CMO, Girl Crew

Áine Mulloy studied Literature and Publishing at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She got a postgraduate diploma in Digital Marketing from the Digital Marketing Institute. After a number of intern and volunteer positions, Áine became Market Research and Editorial Executive at the Educational Company of Ireland, where she worked between 2013 and 2016. She is a co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of GirlCrew, a female-only social community. Áine is a TEDx speaker, and was included in Top 100 EU Female Founders to Follow, as well as in the 30 Under 30 list. She is an active advocate for diversity and female empowerment.

Edward Hendrick, Founder & CEO, Sonru

Edward Hendrick studied Agricultural Science at University College Dublin before redirecting his path to Entrepreneurship with a Diploma from the Waterford Institute of Technology. He founded Sonru in 2007, an automated video selection application for screening job candidates. Edward is Sonru’s CEO. The online video interviewing technology is designed to help both interviewers and candidates, making the recruitment process fair and efficient.

Curios about the Irish SaaS ecosystem? TechIreland did a handy snapshot for us. See below or explore for the interactive version. In short, SaaS is kicking ass in Ireland and we couldn’t be happier for that.

Thrilled about SaaStock18? So are we! Make sure to grab your tickets, as they’re almost sold out! Remember to use code SLAINTE20 for a 20% discount. And then meet these and many other extraordinary people between October 15th and 17th.