If there is anything we have realized from operating a global event series, it’s that in order to succeed in SaaS, you have to think global (even if your zip code happens to be in the San Francisco Bay area.) We are super excited to announce our expansion to the West Coast to help foster that mindset in the world capital of SaaS. SaaStock West Coast, taking place in September, will be the most actionable conference in the region, providing insight and connections you can put to work today that will take your business from $10K-10M ARR.
The SaaStock ecosystem on the West Coast
Much can be said about the SaaS space on the West Coast. There is no shortage of talent, strength, badassness or unicorns in San Francisco, the broader Silicon Valley, the whole state of California and even in the neighboring states of Washington, Oregon or over at British Columbia in Canada. It’s a comfortable home to so many amazing SaaS companies that scaling out of the region or internationalization is something of an afterthought. That comfort, however, comes with a hefty price tag especially in San Francisco: on operational costs, on talent and customer acquisition. Moreover, that cost will never be as significant a burden as when in that weird, exciting and challenging space between $10K and $10M in ARR. The growth stage.
This stage is tough as is, without undergoing it at one of the most expensive places in the world. In its heart, lays the building of the repeatable success machine. It’s the founder’s onerous task to bring all its parts together. It spans a vast number of elements: choosing which features to build first, hiring people that are the right fit, establishing the company culture that will keep them around, nailing the go-to-market strategy that will be the gift that keeps on giving, coming up with the sales strategy that will not burn out all the funding before it brings returns, tackling churn and all other key metrics that are fundamental to making a subscription business work, and many others. Constantly tending to that machine and oiling it as to avoid the friction caused by competing priorities within it, are only some of the things that will come in at this stage for the discernable SaaS founder.
When resolving these challenges in a hypercompetitive environment, hearing aspirational stories of reaching Unicordom, provides little comfort or guidance on how to proceed with the minutiae of every single day. However, there is a shortage of real straight talk of the struggle that is growing a SaaS company day in and day out. SaaStock West Coast provides the antidote.
Why San Francisco
The beating heart of SaaS on the West Coast is undoubtedly San Francisco. A diverse melting pot of nationalities and cultures, it’s the best base for an inclusive event that is intimate enough to foster connection. Growing deconcentration from the city with SaaS startups and companies starting to move away from the valley due to high living costs, rental and operational costs, we see an importance in a concerted effort to bring people back to the same room. The actionable learnings and targeted networking will be there. However, what we believe to be vital is equipping people from the region for this new decentralized reality. We know exactly how that feels and how to make it work – it’s the modus operandi of any SaaS company East of the Atlantic Ocean or west of the Pacific. “How do you go beyond San Francisco?” is one of the key questions we want to help you tackle.
The fundamentals of SaaStock West Coast
An event built with growth in mind and all the challenges that come with it, SaaStock West Coast will focus on the holy trinity of successful SaaS growth: Actionable advice, targeted networking, and proactive problem-solving.
SaaStock West Coast will be an actionable use of your time on themes we know are very important to you such as:
- Hiring & Culture: Hiring a team, reducing churn and increasing staff retention in light of big tech competitors that offer insane salaries and benefits.
- Operations & Scalability/Product: Managing friction between the product and commercial team to deliver a product that your customer needs and wants
- Product/Marketing & Growth: establishing a product and moving it upstream, particularly when acquiring the first batch of customers
- Pricing/Product: Optimising and adjusting your service model to make it financially viable for SMBs, resolving pricing strategy when working with smaller contracts, offering the right service support and onboarding, reducing inefficiencies by creating a self-sufficient product and experience.
- Internationalization: Strategies to scale up from West to East Coast to wherever your heart desires – Europe, Middle East and beyond.
- Internationalization of sales: Upselling your platform to enterprise organizations on a local and international scale, identifying the right customers and prospects for the sales team to spend time on, applying AI and automation techniques/software to integrate product usage data to prioritize leads and eliminate manual processes.
All of these and more will be jam-packed in 20 hours of interactive and relatable content designed to inspire growth, create better value for your customers, scale up your company and raise your business metrics to elite levels. The innovators, changing the face of SaaS, will present these in a variety of content formats:
- Industry best practice will be offered through case studies from SaaS startups that have successfully scaled-up from west->east coast ->the EU. This will give founders & CEOs the proven strategies needed to tackle product-market fit in a crowded and competitive market
- Interactive workshops will deep dive into the practical steps necessary to retain and engage top-tier talent as early to growth stage SaaS startup, from tackling how to source talent from unconventional talent pools, looking outside of the Bay Area, to looking at the role of each employee in shaping the culture needed to fuel sustainable expansion.
- Questions & solutions focused roundtable sessions on tackling friction between the product and commercial team – the difference between what you can sell vs. what you are delivering, how to apply cutting edge tech and communicate this value to the end customer.
Targeted networking
The SaaS community is well developed and nurtured on the West Coast but the time to engage with the people who are important to you is minimal. That is why we are putting the most significant and valuable to you founders, investors and other stakeholders in the same room allowing you to have more productive conversations than in months otherwise.
Proactive Problem Solving
Beyond getting advice on the most pressing challenges you are dealing with right now, the reality is you have to be ready for the ones that are coming next. Getting a head start in understanding the problems you’ll face before you have to face them, is an invaluable advantage you can gain by joining us. By bringing people that are a little bit further on the journey from you, you will know exactly what’s coming next and what are the things to watch out for. That mix of reactively and proactively solving challenges all at the same time is an unmissable opportunity.
Top notch lineup
Alastair Mitchell, General Partner, EQT Ventures
Bob Tinker, Co-Founder & Board Member, MobileIron
Dan Martell, Chief Instigator, Dan Martell
David Skok, General Partner, Matrix Partners
Derek Sathers, Partner, Winning by Design
Edith Yeung, Partner, 500 Startups
Guy Marion, CEO & Co-Founder, Brightback
Leela Srinivasan, CMO, SurveyMonkey
Michael B. Gilroy, Partner, Canaan Ventures
Nathan Latka, CEO, The Latka Agency
Patrick Campbell, CEO, ProfitWell
Tae Hea Nahm, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Storm Ventures
Tiffany Luck, Senior Associate, GGV Capital
Tomasz Tungusz, Partner, Redpoint Ventures
What is in store during the 3 days
SaaStock West Coast will bear all the hallmarks of our flagship event, with tailored content, meaningful relationships, and actionable takeaways that your business can see the benefit from immediately. It will include:
SaaS.City, the pre-event day filled with hands-on workshops and bootcamps taking place all around San Francisco.
Our one-day conference with content based on company stage and topics of interest
SaaS expo showcasing the latest and greatest, local and international SaaS products
Investor meeting zone with advanced matchmaking to ensure that no potential opportunity is missed
Startup Program, providing early-stage start-ups with invaluable mentoring and the chance to pitch to relevant investors
SaaSociety, the leaders retreat for founders who have reached $3M+ ARR.
All of that, combined with the chance to take a break from the grind, socialize with like-minded peers, and unwind at our parties, makes SaaStock West Coast an absolute must for anyone in SaaS.
There’s a reason why we’ve been referred to as the “Disneyland for SaaS Companies”. We live and breathe SaaS and make it our business to ensure that every element of the SaaStock experience adds value to our attendees. If you’re excited to be part of it and join us in San Francisco in September, you can find out more or register to attend here.
