This year’s SaaStr Annual once again exceeded expectations, with over 10,000 SaaS leaders and fans coming together in San Francisco last week. With so much great knowledge being shared, narrowing down key takeaways to just a few is a challenge. But here are few of the top-level themes that stick out in my mind.
With the tagline ‘scale together,’ it was clear from the outset that the conversation would revolve around growth and ARR at every stage. Attendees were keen to learn about the challenges their companies would face at each milestone and key SaaS leaders attempted to demystify the crucial steps between no ARR, $1m ARR, $10m ARR and $100m+ ARR. With lots of new players in San Francisco for 2017, the insights from those who have walked the walk proved popular and invaluable.
While the interviewers and moderators brought out tons of incredible knowledge on what key pain points companies can expect to experience at each growth step, it was evident that choosing how to grow was just as important as what to expect when you do.
A clear mission and a hungry team focused on outcomes were the key elements expounded by many panel presentations, especially those by Chris O’Neil (CEO of Evernote) and Tracy Young (CEO of Plangrid). O’ Neil’s presentation in particular brought insight into how employees should be your most important driver, with a fire in their belly, ready to vouch for the product.
The team you build is the company you build – Chris O’Neil, CEO of Evernote
The growth these leaders have experienced comes from their clear ability to focus on product-market fit and the individual customers buying the product. Optimizing your funnel, marketing efforts and pitches to demonstrate how your product can make more time for your customer is the key to successfully creating value.
With the audience as a whole so focused on growth, the next steps for many of the attendees will certainly be global expansion. There’s no doubt that Lemkin and the SaaStr organization will respond to this in 2018 by featuring SaaS leaders who have successfully helmed global businesses.
I’m excited to see the growth within SaaS as a whole, and SaaStr Annual has proven to be an invaluable platform for SaaS thought-leaders to share their knowledge across the industry. It was great meeting everyone this year, and you’ll absolutely be seeing Moresby Media at SaaStr Annual 2018.
