What to expect at SaaStr Annual 2022! 💥

Sep 6, 2022

min read

Many, many years ago, a bunch of 22-year-olds building a software company desperately wanted an in with the biggest tech companies in the world.
They knew that conferences like the JavaOne in San Francisco are where everyone who would ever need them gathered.
Booths at the conference cost anywhere between $20K–50K, a bet they could not (yet!) afford.
So, what do they do instead? Truck in about 15 to 20 cases of beer for attendees and slapped their company labels on them. 🍺
The free drinks were a rage, getting them several free mentions on Twitter, a mention in a popular podcast, AND a booth space worth thousands of dollars.
Today, the same company: Atlassian rakes in over 3 billion dollars in ARR, has had an enviable public market debut, and is valued at well over $ 20Bn 🤯
Oh, and they also stopped sponsoring free beers at tech conferences. (I know. IT sucks.)

It can be argued that making a noise at the biggest tech conferences could very well be the most successful growth hack a company can bet on. (if pulled off, right!)
An in-person event with all your customers, potential customers, VCs, founders you worship, and others you don’t, competitors, phew….
Turning this concept into a recurring blockbuster event is the mutant child of SaaS meets Superbowl (meets Coachella?) —

*drumroll* 🥁

SaaStr Annual 💥 🍾 🏋🏼‍♂️ 👩🏻‍💻

A simple WordPress blog started by Jason Lemkin to share his learnings of going from $0 to $100m ARR at EchoSign (acquired by Adobe), has since then become the largest community of SaaS founders and entrepreneurs to brainstorm and take notes.

And the SaaStr Annual? Only the largest B2B Conference in the world.

🏋🏼‍♂️ Work it

This year, over 10,000+ folks including top VCs, SaaS Founders, VPs, and Execs, gather in San Mateo for 3 full days at an outdoors-festival-style celebration that aims to empower global SaaS cos. to scale faster. 📈

SaaStr is a combination of Software as a Service (SaaS) and Tr (for training, duh!) - and true to its name, Jason Lemkin’s brainchild brings us sessions from Top Tier Speakers.

The agenda this year is pretty lit. Check it out. 🔥

Tactical advice. Legendary speakers. Intimate lunches. 1:1 Braindates. Group mentorship.

You name it. SaaStr’s got it.

The Cloud’s very-own Super Bowl moment; where we get to network, enjoy, let our hair (and guard) down, and also, learn 😌

Some of the sessions📣 we’re super stoked for:

Optimizing GTM for PLG with Stage 2 Capital by Mark Roberge, Cofounder & MD at Stage 2 Capital
How to Create User Delight When Building a Bottom-Up SaaS Business with Pouyan Salehi, CEO & Cofounder at Scratchpad, and & Daryna Kulya, Cofounder at OpenPhone
Secrets To Combining PLG and Enterprise Sales with Grammarly's CEO, Brad Hoover
Key Metrics for Product-led SaaS with Unusual Ventures’ Sandhya Hegde (General Partner) and Alisa Parret (Vice President)
How the Best PLG Companies Build Community First with Toplyne’s CEO Rishen Kapoor (yaas, das right!) and Convosight Cofounder, Tamannah Dhamija
Scaling a Product-Led Growth Model with Anoushka Vaswani, Partner at Lightspeed, Raj Sarkar, CMO at 1Password, Kim Walsh, SVP at Apollo.io, and Chris De Vylder, CRO at Sentry

🤯 The Bussin’

To stand out at SaaStr, amidst a sea of super smart folks is no easy feat. It’s a problem statement we’ve been racking our brains on for quite some time back at ToplyneHQ. (more on this, in the coming weeks😉)

So, how do you inspire everyone, make a noise so people will take notice, rile up the competition AND educate people about your product?

Well, there are a few who’ve Been There. Done That.

💜 Get Shit Done with ClickUp

Reppin’ hard, the ClickUp team went all-in on SaaStr.

Back then, they were bootstrapped, so getting a booth at SaaStr was a risky bet. The team wore the color purple: suits for the dapper, T-shirts with “Get Shit Done” for the brazen, and purple dresses with heels to impress, for the ladies. Everyone exclaimed that they LOVED their outfits.

By Day 2, they were officially the “Purple People.” 🙋🏻‍♀️

For everyone that came to their booth, they learned the customer they were speaking to and tailored the pitch to whatever pain point they could solve best, instead of rambling on about their product. Their go-to question: “How do you Get Shit Done? → a gateway that opened the floodgates to all their customer pain points.

It was a bet that CLEARLY paid off, and how. In 2022, ClickUp is a 4Bn$ rocketship 🚀AND they’re back at SaaStr Annual 2022 as a Diamond Sponsor. 💎

💓 A bunch of DOOLY-gans

Dooly knows how to throw a party. At SaaStr 2021, Mark Jung, VP of Marketing of Dooly told the 12 soldiers he sent to SaaStr: “When people think SaaStr 2021, we want them to think Dooly.”

And think of Dooly, they did.

With a draw to win backstage access at the Chainsmokers’ (also, investors in Dooly) Vegas concert, and custom hot sauces to promote Season 2 of Fire Talks (a show w/ top sales leaders); the booth was already grabbing eyeballs and footfall. Atop of all of this, Mark himself was a keynote speaker on a very hot topic: Structuring your PLG Sales Teams.

To close the event, the Dooligans threw an exclusive invite-only karaoke party to help people let loose. Because let’s face it, the real action happens at the after-after party. 🥂

This year, we’re super excited to see what everyone’s got up their sleeve.

For one, there’s the B2B Comedy Roast organized by Chili Piper, Clearbit, RevGenius, G2, and Mutiny, among others.

We also promise a no-filter live reportage of the same 😎

Follow us on Twitter for your guide to EVERYTHING THAT’S HOT🔥 at SaaStr Annual ‘22 🙌🏼

💃🏻 After Parties

Other than happy hours on-site, live music, spritzes, food & of course, only the world’s smartest guest list—

—There are also some after-parties that we’re sure ARE GONNA BE LIT 🥳

‍

The Hub of SaaStr Nights 🍺
SaaStr itself is hosting an after-party at Barrel Bistro, Urban Momo, and Pacific Catch. Great bites, great drinks, and much more! No pre-sign-up is required, but there will be a badge check. So don’t forget it!
Afterparty with OpenPhone and ScratchPad 🍾
Enjoy Cajun-Creole bites, beer, and wine at C Food Crush! Sign up here.
Happy Hour hosted by Carta & Notion 🎊
An evening social of hearty appetizers, beer, wine, and curated cocktails at Foreigner in San Mateo. RSVP here.

Check out the entire list of after-parties you can attend, here.

And of course, We’ll see you there✌🏼