Conferences are more than just the content and networking opportunities. Conferences provide time for SaaS businesses to take a step back from the day-to-day to work on the business instead of just in the business.

Working on your business is about reflecting on your SaaS business model, the market you are in or creating, and where your north star of success lies. It is okay to rethink everything, and a good conference will inspire exactly that. 

In the modern era, many conferences have embraced digital communication tools and provide an opportunity for people to collaborate like never before. The blending of in-person and online opportunities is a new frontier for many and a welcome one to the busy SaaS entrepreneur. 

If you are looking for new ideas, strategies, tactics, and partners, then the following conferences are worth your attention. 

First Quarter

#1 ProductLed Summit

  • Date: January & July
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

Dubbed the Netflix of product conferences, the ProductLed Summit offers tremendous value for free and low cost. Don’t let the low costs trick you into thinking it is low value. The summit features speakers from OpenView, Netflix, ProdPad, and Intercom.

Sessions feature the nuts and bolts advice on user onboarding, website optimization, customer acquisition, customer retention, and customer discovery among many others. 

If you are serious about turning your SaaS business into a product-led, customer value creation machine, this conference is essential. 

#2 Startup Grind Global

  • Date: February
  • Location: Online, San Francisco / Silicon Valley

Why you should attend

Startup Grind Global conference is valuable to smaller startups that need help with everything from social media marketing, capital raising, to achieving product-market fit. 

Speakers from Twilio, Y Combinator, and Slack frequent the conference. Engaging workshops increase knowledge retention and provide opportunities for focused networking. Fittingly, there are hands-on workshops led by SaaS startup leaders on over 30 topics. 

#3 SaaStock Remote

  • Date: February
  • Location: online

Why you should attend

With sessions like “How SaaS companies can make better decisions,” and “The Motivational Flywheel: A Secret Weapon to Achieve Hypergrowth at Scale,” it is no wonder why the SaaStock Remote conference is attended by top SaaS companies like Chargebee and established tech giants like Facebook and Google. 

#4 ProductCon

  • Date: February / September
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

SaaS businesses require efficient product discovery, design, and execution. ProductCon is the best place to build or optimize a product team with speakers with deep product experience from companies like Netflix, Facebook, Salesforce, Heap, and Kickstarter. 

This conference is also one of the most diverse on the SaaS product circuit: “ProductCon highlights Product Leaders from diverse backgrounds and leaders of color.” Building both a talented and diverse team is one of the unique perspectives you will gain at ProductCon. 

#5 SXSW

  • Date: March
  • Location: Austin, Texas

Why you should attend

A long-running, highly regarded conference and festival, the SXSW (South by Southwest) is one of the original conferences for SaaS, creativity and innovation. If your SaaS business is connected in any way to the creative and entertainment industry, this is an important opportunity for networking.

“[E]xperience unparalleled discovery, learning, professional development, and networking with creatives from around the world.”

Past speakers include J.J. Abrams, Stacey Abrams, and James Cameron. You can engage with coaching mentors and industry experts whether you are early in your SaaS business journey or looking to expand.

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Second Quarter

#1 Content Marketing Conference

  • Date: April
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

Content marketing is a key ingredient in the long-term success of a SaaS business. The Content Marketing Conference provides a holistic approach to content marketing education with a mix of technical, personal well being, and comedy that is unique and worthwhile. There are sessions focused on content creation, optimization, and distribution that will supercharge your content marketing efforts.

#2 Adobe Summit

  • Date: April
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

The Adobe Summit is a powerful combination of practical insight and future gazing that will inspire and teach a SaaS organization how to excel in the modern business world. There are sessions for marketers, designers, data scientists, developers and CEOs. With over 400 sessions, there is something for every SaaS company role.  

#3 IBM Think

  • Date: May
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

A SaaS company needs to know how to build a software product quickly and utilize the latest technology to optimize the experience. IBM Think provides a plethora of IT sessions that cover topics like racism, AI and Robots, and the Future of Work. 

Speakers include Adam Grant, Malcolm Gladwell, and Dr. Lisa Dyson. 

If you are a SaaS company innovating in the B2B space, the conference will empower your Dev Team to think bigger. 

#4 CXO Summit

  • Date: May
  • Location: Austin, Texas

Why you should attend

The CXO Summit features panelists from SaaS companies, venture capital, and large corporations. Sessions focus on tactical advice for SaaS sales, marketing, engineering/product, and data science teams. Attendees should take advantage of 2- minute one-on-ones with venture capitalists, corporate leaders, and SaaS experts. 

#5 Collision

  • Date: June
  • Location:Toronto

Why you should attend

One of the largest SaaS and business conferences in North America. Collision provides a diverse set of perspectives from Stanford academics, musicians, new media, politicians, and of course SaaS companies. The diverse group provides both a variety of experience and opportunity to network outside the echo chamber of other SaaS companies. 

#6 B2B Marketing Exchange

  • Date: June
  • Location: Scottsdale, Arizona

Why you should attend

If your SaaS company is primarily focused on selling to businesses, then you will be rewarded by attending the B2B Marketing Exchange. The sessions focus on strategies and tactics that involve use of software tools and customer acquisition strategies. 

#7 Dublin Tech Summit

  • Date: June
  • Location: Dublin, Ireland and online

Why you should attend

Described as “Europe’s fastest growing tech conference,” the Dublin Tech Summit is accessible worldwide and features speakers from Spotify, NASA, Reddit, Zoom, and Mastercard among other business and tech titans. Topics are diverse and cover macro issues in technology in business and sessions focused on startup SaaS companies. 

#8 MWC Barcelona

  • Date: June
  • Location: Barcelona, Spain

Why you should attend

SaaS companies that are interested in the mobile and IoT space should consider attending MWC Barcelona. Sessions focus on topics like artificial intelligence in the mobile space, optimizing for 5G networks, and leveraging open source technology for your SaaS business. Presented come from companies like Nvidia, Red Hat, Accenture and Facebook. 

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Third Quarter

#1 Mind the Product – Digital Americas

  • Date: July
  • Location: San Francisco and Online

Why you should attend

For SaaS Product teams and CEOs that want to optimize their product execution, Mind the Product is a conference that is a must attend. The two-day conference also comes with a year membership to community and technical resources that are invaluable to a product team. 

The organizers are putting extra effort into replicating the in-person experience for the online audience. Breakout rooms, one-on-ones, and keynotes are all part of the new digital experience. A blend of tactics, action steps, and networking await you. 

#2 MozCon

  • Date: July
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

Moz is a household name amongst SaaS marketing teams. MozCon build on the Moz reputation by offering deep insights into SEO strategy, mobile marketing conversion and local search. 

The curriculum depth includes events on “The Science of Purchasing Behavior,” “Game-Changing Ways to Use the Google Search Console API,” and  “Maximize Your Conversions: Harnessing full-funnel optimization for B2B success.”

If your SaaS business is ready to immerse itself in the intricacies of SEO and marketing growth, then MozCon is a must. 

#3 SaaStr Annual

  • Date: September
  • Location: San Francisco

Why you should attend

Venture capitalists and established SaaS companies attend SaaStr to explore cutting edge business models and products. 

“From the CEOs of Slack and Zoom, to the founders of Datadog and Atlassian, to break-out leaders from Calendly to Flexport … everyone comes to SaaStr Annual.”

The event includes a Masterminds of SaaS, Legends of SaaS, and on the final data a Money and Mentors. SaaStr Annual features 500+ mentorship sessions and 350+ top SaaS VCs available for one-on-one and 10-on-one opportunities. 

#4 Traffic & Conversion Summit

  • Date: September
  • Location: San Diego, California & Online

Why you should attend

As the name of the summit conveys, the Traffic & Conversion Summit is focused on the key metrics that keep SaaS marketers up at night. The digital marketing revolution is here and SaaS companies that want to take advantage of the new channels available need to consider this conference. 

This conference is light on the theory and heavy on the real-world tactics. SaaS marketing teams will return from the Summit with immediately actionable takeaways that will accelerate growth. 

#5 Business of Software

  • Date: September
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

SaaS companies need to be product and growth driven machines. Business of Software provides deep dives into growth strategy, product management, company culture, and leadership. 

Past sessions cover a range of important topics including imposter syndrome, mapping the future of your business, and creating new breakout products. 

#6 TechCrunch Disrupt

  • Date: September
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

TechCrunch Disrupt is a vertance of the SaaS startup world. For SaaS companies in the earlier stages, this event could catapult a company into hypergrowth. With a focus on founders, the event provides insight into managing cash flow, venture capital raise, and assessing product-market fit. 

Big names in the venture capital world like Sequoia Capital, Mayfield, and Lightspeed Ventures attend this event. With the TechCrunch Startup Alley experience, founders have opportunities to pitch live and attract attention to their SaaS business. 

#7 SaaStr Annual

  • Date: September
  • Location: San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Why you should attend

SaaStr is a large gathering of SaaS companies and should be on every SaaS company’s calendar. As Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom said, “For SaaS companies, SaaStr Annual is our Super Bowl moment. We all get to learn, enjoy — and have fun.”

Featuring over 400 venture capitalists and 100+ sessions, regardless of the stage of your Company’s growth, there is something for everyone. Companies that feature speakers include Shopify, Calendly, HubSpot, Y Combinator, Datadog, and Twilio. 

Get your pitch ready and your networking mode switched on!

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Fourth Quarter

#1 Recurring Revenue Conference

  • Date: October
  • Location: Marina Del Rey, California

Why you should attend

SaaS companies looking to optimize their sales and growth strategies should attend the Recurring Revenue Conference. Sessions provide insight on how to reduce customer acquisition costs and churn while creating new revenue channels for your SaaS business. Some big names like Lighter Capital, Wells Fargo,and CBRE sponsor this SaaS growth focused conference. 

#2 Inbound

  • Date: October
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

HubSpot is a leader in the SaaS Content Management System (CRM), marketing, and customer service space. Inbound is their sales, marketing, and service philosophy that is featured at the Inbound conference and helps SaaS companies attract, engage, and delight customers. 

Speakers that attend Inbound include: Oprah Winfrey, Hasan Minhaj, Sarah Paiji Yoo. There is something for everyone on your marketing, sales, and customer support teams with topics on SEO, customer education, and building your SaaS company’s credibility.  

#3 SaaS Tiger

  • Date: December
  • Location: Online

Why you should attend

This SaaS conference features sessions for both consumer and B2B SaaS companies. SaaS Tiger has partners from the financial and tech industries like Seagate, Visa, and Intuit. Past topics include user experience, using data for growth, and SaaS marketing. Additionally, there are 1-on-1 meetings to expand your network and go deeper on specific topics. 

#4 Slush

  • Date: December
  • Location: Helsinki, Finland

Why you should attend

Slush’s mission is, “to create and help the next generation of groundbreaking entrepreneurs.” Companies like Stripe and venture capitalists like Sequoia Capital speak at this event. If your SaaS is targeting the European market, there invaluable insights on the state of the European technology market. However, Slush has a global perspective and all SaaS companies would benefit from attending Slush. 

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Choose your adventure

With so many great options, there is a path for any SaaS company to follow. Take time to reflect on your goals for each quarter and try adding a conference that corresponds to that goal. Serendipity may be your ticket to SaaS stardom.