SaaStock part techfest, rockfest and cool hang out

October 24, 2022
|In Zngly Blog
|By Mike Wilson

SaaStock is a conference dedicated to ‘Software-as-a-service” bringing together participants from across the ecosystem – investors, influencers, thought leadership and founders, with companies from acorns to unicorns.

It was held in Dublin at the RDS, (with some pop-ups across the city), over three days (the main part was Sep 18th – 19th) with 5,000 delegates from across the world. it’s the biggest SaaS conference in Europe.

It was our first time attending. Zngly is bootstrapped and proud of it. No VC. No outside money. We are building a profitable business, creating value not valuation. We make every pound / dollar / euro a prisoner! 

So… we paid hard earned ‘list price’ cash for our tickets and we wanted to get the maximum return of time, money and opportunity!

Myself and Oscar attended, he took point on Customer Service, and I covered Business Development. We set ourselves some goals:

  1. How do firms talk about themselves, what sets them apart. How do they ‘sell’
  2. Our clients love Zngly. How do we increase customer adoption
  3. What are the hard decisions that we need to make, and when to make them

So what did we learn, was it worth it?

When you get to immerse yourself like this you see how really important it is to get our industry together. Nothing beats meeting people.

After lockdowns this was the first gathering of SaaStock. We had a month of meetings and insights every single day. 

Having real human connection and hear people’s experience first-hand, it’s just invaluable.

What did we learn…

  1. There is the mother of all recessions coming make your business relevant and flourish
  2. Bootstrap all the way! Be cockroaches not unicorns. Not just survive, but thrive
  3. Be confident, stick to your plan, progress is incremental steps. Build on good foundations
 
So let’s dive in and share with you how we got on…

So how did it work – what’s the format

The conference is organised in three parts:

  • Formal(ish): A great agenda of speakers, keynotes and sharp folk sharing experiences. The sessions are really well moderated. 20 minute, high paced, content rich. No fluff or puff. All proper.
  • Collide: Stands and booths. From ‘pop-up’ pubs to stalls that would not look out of place at a village fair. Lots of friendly folk, who want to pitch, sell, demo, and also to listen and connect. There was a tonne of great swag and sweets. It was most definitely sugar fuelled! We left full in every possible way.
  • Connect: The SaaStock app was super easy to use, scan a QR code, connect and meet-up.  The Nightstock events were great fun. SaaS folk know how to work and play! With lots of people visiting Dublin and wanted to sample all the fun of the city.

Organised across ‘stages’ – Bootstrap, Growth, Accelerating and Scale – it’s like a Geeky Glastonbury without the mud. It’s not all back slapping and shooting to the moon. Quite the opposite. 

There was failures, heartache and tears shared. The challenges of getting a business off the ground and wind under it’s wings. Practical, proper advice.

A special shout out to the Bootstrap moderators, curators and speakers stage. Great content and connections. Thank you!

So – lasting benefits…What did we take away for Zngly

 We validated our approach to marketing and business development, forget the funnel (for now). We’ve got it right with laser focus on the great opportunities we have.

 How and when to scale and the key decision factors within that scaling, seeing the problems other founders faced. Do not put off the difficult decisions.

You can see the ‘aha’! moment – the real power of cloud delivered innovation, Time To Value, that’s what it’s about.

We feel energised to be part of a community and Zngly is where the smarts are – SaaS delivered, open-source, no-code. We fuel our clients at the speed of a click.

Be the promise delivered. 

So how is it measured…

We are already adopting some of the findings and advice.

There is no better reference than a happy customer.

Three key takeaway:

  1. Adoption: Our existing clients, their day to day use of our platform. Listen to them.
  2. Analytics: How Zngly is delivering real measurable returns and value. Power them.
  3. Ambassadors: There is no better reference than a happy customer. They will champion you.

So SaaStock…

We will be back next year. With a stand. And on a stage. Loved it.

SaaStock, you do indeed Rock!