As we count down to SaaStock USA, we’re thrilled to welcome some of the most innovative companies in the SaaS industry as our event sponsors. These companies are not only shaping the future of SaaS but also playing a key role in making SaaStock a must-attend experience.
In the lead-up to the conference, we’re sitting down with industry leaders to explore their company journeys, uncover key trends in their space, and learn why they choose to work with SaaStock.
For this edition, we sat down with Luca Penati, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Beefree—a returning sponsor—to dive into the Beefree story, emerging trends in email marketing, and why they’re coming back to SaaStock USA.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Beefree?
Absolutely! I’m Luca Penati, Chief Marketing Officer at Beefree. I’ve spent many years in tech, primarily on the agency side, as a storyteller, PR professional, and brand strategist. I’ve been fortunate to work with and represent companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Intel, giving me deep insight into how innovative brands build strong connections with their audiences.
I’m passionate about working with impactful companies and products that solve genuine problems. Before joining Beefree full-time, I worked as a consultant, mostly with SaaS, crypto, and other emerging technologies startups. Beefree was one of my earliest consulting clients and ultimately became my last before deciding to join the team permanently. Today, my role is clearly communicating Beefree’s value, what sets us apart, and how we genuinely help businesses succeed.
So, for those unfamiliar with Beefree, how would you describe it?
At Beefree, we create easy-to-use design tools that help businesses quickly build professional, branded digital content without needing coding skills. We have two main products: Beefree SDK and Beefree.
- The SDK is designed for SaaS companies or big organizations that want to embed powerful content creation tools, like email editors, landing page builders, and popup builders, directly into their platforms.
- Beefree is a standalone tool tailored for marketers, communicators, and email creators who need an intuitive yet powerful way to create great emails and landing pages, making their workflows simpler and more efficient.
How has Beefree evolved since its beginnings?
It’s been an incredible journey. Beefree started as a side project within an email service provider. Fast forward to today, we’re serving hundreds of thousands of users in over 150 countries, our revenue consistently grows by double digits annually, and we have a fantastic global team of over 100 people. Last year, we also acquired Really Good Emails, a thriving community with hundreds of thousands of email creators, known for their extensive collection of email inspiration and for hosting Unspam, a popular conference dedicated to email makers.
Along the way, we’ve had the humbling experience of working with some of the world’s most recognizable brands. From helping Netflix, Volvo, Bosch, Headspace, and L’Oréal create stunning emails with Beefree, to powering content creation for platforms like Bloomreach, Freshworks, Iterable, and Customer.io with Beefree SDK, we still get a thrill when a big name chooses us. But what excites us even more is seeing how our tools help teams, big and small, design beautiful, on-brand communications faster and more efficiently.
What specific problems does Beefree solve for SaaS companies?
One of the big challenges for SaaS companies is embedding robust content creation capabilities into their platforms without a huge development investment. Our Beefree SDK solves that. It enables SaaS businesses to quickly integrate powerful, dependable, easy-to-use email editors, landing page builders, and popup builders into their products, significantly speeding up their time-to-market while reducing complexity and ongoing maintenance.
What trends are you currently seeing in email marketing?
We’re seeing a few major shifts in email marketing.
- Brand consistency and user governance are becoming increasingly important, especially for larger, decentralized organizations. Audiences also expect more interactive and highly personalized content, with AI playing a growing role in automation and content generation.
- Mobile-first design and accessibility remain critical, particularly with the European Accessibility Act pushing companies to ensure digital content is inclusive. Businesses are becoming more proactive in structuring content for readability and compliance, an area we continue to support through evolving design tools.
- AI is also transforming localization, making it easier for businesses to adapt messaging across different languages and cultural contexts. Additionally, AI-powered content optimization is helping teams refine messaging, maintain brand voice, and improve readability across audiences. Beyond copy, AI is starting to assist in design workflows, enhancing accessibility, suggesting smart layouts, and automating brand compliance checks.
How do you see AI and automation shaping email marketing?
AI and automation are making content creation more efficient, enabling teams to generate engaging, high-quality copy faster. At Beefree, we’ve focused on AI-powered writing assistance, from subject line suggestions to automated content refinement and personalization.
Looking ahead, we see AI playing a bigger role in design, offering intelligent layout recommendations, accessibility insights, and automated brand compliance checks. Our goal remains the same: to empower users with smart tools that enhance creativity rather than replace it.
What common mistakes do you notice in email marketing?
The biggest mistakes I see are overly complex designs that overwhelm readers, neglecting mobile optimization, skipping crucial A/B testing, and sending generic, impersonal content that doesn’t resonate with the audience.
What’s your best advice for SaaS companies looking to improve their email effectiveness?
I’d say focus on four key things:
- Make it personal – Customize emails based on your audience’s needs and behavior so they feel relevant, and time them for when they make sense in their journey.
- Keep it easy to read – Use a clean, mobile-friendly design that looks great everywhere.
- Test, tweak, repeat – Try different subject lines, layouts, and CTAs to see what works best.
- Make sure it lands – Good deliverability matters. If your email goes to spam, no one will see it.
Beefree recently went through a rebrand—can you tell us about your approach?
Our rebranding was about more than updating our logo—it was about better connecting with our customers. We took the time to define a distinctive personality and voice that resonated with all our audiences, from SaaS developers to marketers. The rebrand emphasized clarity, simplicity, and human-centered design. Additionally, we changed the product’s name from “Plugin” to “SDK” to better reflect the capabilities we offer.
Beefree SDK also offers a free version and proof of concept. Can you elaborate on your strategy here?
We strongly believe in product-led growth (PLG), offering a free version of Beefree SDK so SaaS companies can directly experience the value of embedding our tools. We also provide Proof of Concept (POC) opportunities, allowing businesses to validate integration and see firsthand how our tools improve their workflow before fully committing. This way, they can see we deliver on what we promise, risk-free, because there is nothing worse than investing in a solution that does not live up to expectations. Our goal is to make upgrading to paid plans a confident and natural progression.
Can you tell us about the Beefree SDK Startup Program and how it helps early-stage SaaS companies?
Startups need to move fast and scale efficiently, but resources are often limited. This is why we created the Beefree SDK Startup Program, a way for early-stage SaaS companies to integrate world-class content creation tools without a major upfront investment.
The program provides $10,000 in SDK credits, followed by a 50% discount on any plan for 12 months after the credits are used. This gives startups the flexibility to embed our email, landing page, and popup builders into their platforms at no cost initially, so they can focus on growth without financial constraints.
We launched the program at SaaStock USA in Austin last year, and the response has been incredible. Many of our startup partners have successfully scaled their businesses using Beefree SDK, cutting down development time while delivering outstanding design experiences to their customers.
For any startup building a SaaS platform that requires content design tools, this is a risk-free way to test, integrate, and scale while keeping costs low. AI is becoming an increasingly valuable tool for startups, and our SDK allows them to leverage AI-powered copy assistance today while keeping the door open for future AI-driven design enhancements. As we continue to explore new AI opportunities, our goal is to give startups cutting-edge tools that support creativity, efficiency, and brand consistency.
How do you market effectively to your technical audience?
Technical users greatly value clear and thorough documentation. We invest significantly in our SDK documentation to reduce time to value (TTV) and ensure developers can integrate quickly and confidently. We pair this with comprehensive resources that help technical teams can maximize the benefits of our product seamlessly.
Lastly, why is partnering with SaaStock particularly valuable for Beefree?
SaaStock is perfect for us because it brings us face-to-face with SaaS founders, product owners, and key decision-makers—exactly the audience who benefit most from Beefree SDK. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to showcase our Startup Program designed for early-stage SaaS companies, offering them powerful content creation tools without major upfront investment.
Have you found SaaStock beneficial in achieving your goals?
Absolutely! We’ve been partnering with SaaStock since its inception and consistently achieve great outcomes. It’s led to numerous valuable partnerships, new customers, and strategic relationships, making it an essential event in our annual strategy.
Join Beefree at SaaStock USA
We’ve spent ten years working with our Sponsors to make sure our events deliver impactful return on investment.
Work closely with our team on a bespoke package that will help you build your pipeline, generate brand awareness, and make the connections that will help transform your business, including:
- Brand awareness across our events from a show floor booth to fringe event sponsorship.
- Distinct networking experiences that guarantee impactful meetings with the right people.
- Tailored opportunities to engage with your ICP.
Find out more – Get in touch with our team today.
