So we are 40 days out from the 4th Annual, SaaStr Annual. And also just a few days away from ticket prices increasing on January 1st. (This is your very last chance to get discounted tickets + save an extra 20% on tickets.)
We’ve learned a lot over the years, and as we’ve grown, for the most part, it’s gotten better each year, but with growth also have come some growing pains. If you attended before, I thought it would be worth highlighting the key things we are upgrading this year:
- Much More Structured Networking. You asked for more chances to meet more folks, and we’re delivering. We’ll do more small, kick-off sessions on Tuesday where you can meet people. We’ve taken the Tuesday parties in-house so they are better structured for networking. On Wednesday, we’ve added Braindates so you can meet up with a bunch of new folks (as well as out speakers) as well in small groups and 1-on-1. PlatoHQ.com will be hosting mentoring sessions with top VPs of Engineering and Product. And much more. Our goal is you come out meeting at least 2x as many folks this year as last year.
- More Meeting VCs and Investors. We’re doing “Lunch with a VC” sessions again this year, but this time, there will be preregistration for the sessions, and far more sessions. In addition, we are adding Braindates (1-on-1s and small groups sessions) with VCs this year too. Combine that with better social events, and we are hoping you can meet 2x-3x more investors this year, if you want to.
- Much Better Registration. This sounds minor but it isn’t — last year it was tough to get in quickly on Day 1. We’ve 10x’d the resources here and hope to get everyone in the door within 5 minutes. Fingers crossed!
- Much Better Sponsor Hall / Experience. We’ve both upgraded the location as well as the attendee flow to the sponsor pavillion. Our braindates and much of our mentoring will be held there, and most food and beverage experience will be there as well. We hope for 2x the prospect flow to sponsors and top of 160% year-over-year attendance which should make it all much better.
- More Food and Beverage. Our food has always been high quality, but sometimes we’ve struggled to get it served promptly and in the right ratios. We’ve fixed that this year, we think. And there should be food the entire day, not just at meal times, so eat and drink when you want. We also eliminated hard alcohol from the event.
- Better WiFi. This is the bane of all events. But one benefit from being in the Hilton Union Square is it should at least be better.
- Pre-Selecting Sessions. This is being finalized, but you’ll be able to select which sessions you want to attend. This should be 2x-5x better than last year when many of the smaller sessions were hard to get into.
- Stay on-site at the Hilton Union Square. If you don’t have a place to stay yet — stay at the venue. This will be much easier and enhance the experience. Click here.
- More Bootstrapping Speakers, More Meet-the-Experts Speakers, More of Every Type of Speakers. You wanted more unicorns? More sales sessions? More bootstrapping sessions? The answers are Yes, Yes and Yes. You got it!
So it should feel smaller even as it’s 166% bigger. Rock and Roll and see you Feb 6th!
