SaaS industry has been taking a massive shape in the recent few years. The global SaaS market is expected to reach worth $130 billion by the end of the year 2020. With such a boom in the industry, entrepreneurs and SaaS founders are more than willing to stay updated on the current trends. There are multiple SaaS conferences that are happening towards that end all around the world that are worth attending.
SaaS is bringing an irrevocable shift in the business model of the software industry. With the subscription-based economy, it has become much easier for companies to acquire new customers. But with the ease of business, the challenges that come along are quite new too.
Customer churn is one of those challenges these new companies are facing. This has given rise to a new function in the SaaS organization called customer success. Hence, wherever you hear the mention of SaaS business, the discussion on customer success tags along with it.
Why attend SaaS conference?
Since SaaS is a relatively new industry, all the SaaS founders and entrepreneurs are learning the nuances of this business on the go. Standardization has not occurred so far in this industry as everyone is growing through their own understanding of the business. New concepts like recurring revenue, customer lifetime value have emerged out of this journey.
Hence, it has become paramount to learn from others’ journeys. Luckily, there have been many B2B SaaS conferences happening all around the world which call SaaS enthusiasts from different parts of the world every year. They share their lessons, visions, and insights which are quite valuable for other SaaS entrepreneurs who are on the cusp of their growth journey.
If you are one of those with dreams to drive your organization to glorious success in the SaaS industry, then attending these conferences would bring new dimensions to your business practice.
Top 22 SaaS conferences in 2021
We take pleasure in giving guidance to the budding SaaS organizations. Hence, from time to time, we come up with valuable information or insights that help them propel their growth trajectory. This list of top 22 SaaS conferences aims towards a similar end where we selected the best ones for your use. So here we go!
Quarter 1
- SaaStr Annual 2021
- SaaStock 2021
- Business of Software Europe
- South By Southwest, SXSW
- The UX Conference 2021
- Growth SaaS Summit
- Customer Success Summit
Quarter 2
- SaaS Monster
- Dublin Tech Summit
- Adobe Summit
- Recurring Revenue Conference
- DesignOps Global Conference
- IBM Think 2021
- MicroConf Growth
Quarter 3
- TechCrunch Disrupt 2021
- Product-Led Summit—Virtual
- INBOUND 2021
- Traffic & Conversion Summit
Quarter 4
- Slush 2021
- Mind the Product Conference Digital
- WebSummit
- ProductCon 2021
Please note that we will be continously updating this list through out the year with more conferences and information. So go ahead and bookmark this page!
Quarter 1
SaaStr Annual 2021, SF Bay Area: Feb 2-4, 2021
SaaStr is one of the best SaaS conferences in the industry that happens every year. For the year 2021, if things go as per the plan, then the dates are expected to be Feb 2-4. It will be held in the SF Bay area and more than 15000 Cloud and SaaS experts will be attending this event.
It will bring around 5000 mentorship sessions along with 100 workshops. More than 250 speakers would be sharing their knowledge and experiences in different sessions.
SaaStock 2021: Spring and Summer, Online
SaaStock is one of the biggest worldwide communities of SaaS founders, executives, and investors. They organize yearly conferences on SaaS in Europe, North America, Latin America, and APAC. Due to the current pandemic, they have announced to organize their next year’s events online. Two events will be happening next year, one in spring and another in summer. They haven’t announced the dates yet.
Business of Software Europe: March 2021, Cambridge UK
This is a highly curated event bringing useful insights from many thought leaders in the SaaS community. They cover talks around many relevant topics for SaaS leaders including growth strategy, product management, leadership, organizational culture, and more.
It especially conducts interactive sessions that allow group exercises and topic-focused discussions in groups. The 8th Business of Software Conference will be held in March 2021, in Cambridge UK.
South By Southwest, SXSW, Online: March 16-20, 2021
This event brings in the best of brightest minds from the creative industry. Apart from the regular sessions, it also hosts creative events like film-screening and music showcases. If you are looking for getting food for thought for your startup from people from diverse professional fields, then this is the event you must attend.
The UX Conference, online: March 1-2, 2021
The UX conference is a two days interactive conference that hosts real-time online events. Designers from greatest organizations on the planet like Amazon, Discovery, Dropbox, Google come to share their experience in this event. This is also a great opportunity for you to network with some greatest designers in the world.
SaaS Growth Summit, online: February 11, 2021
It’s a one day event delivered entirely online where experts would be sharing their insights on marketing, automation and scaling a SaaS business. Attendees have the option to select a topic and the event host would keep them updated with its content, expert advice and exclusive offers.
Customer Success Summit, online: February 10 – 11, 2021
It’s a two day virtual event where more than 30 customer success powerhouses would be sharing their knowledge through more than 20 hours of action-led presentations. Important topics around Customer Success like driving revenue and retention through onboarding, delivering growth through customer success and many more would be delivered by expert speakers.
Quarter 2
SaaS Monster: 21-24th June 2021 in Toronto, Canada
SaaS Monster is one of its kind events organized by websummit, Collision, and RISE. It brings speakers from well-established firms to talk on four topics most relevant to SaaS – enterprise technology, security, cloud, and big data. This is going to have a high focus on technology. So, if you are a techno-enthusiast then it makes more sense for you to upgrade your knowledge through this event.
Dublin Tech Summit: 21 – 22 April 2021, RDS Dublin
This SaaS conference is held in Dublin, a city fast becoming the heart of the European tech community. This event brings a wealth of knowledge and invaluable insights from influential business and tech leaders all across the world. In this two days’ conference, successful startup leaders from over 70 countries share their knowledge, discuss trends, and network with others. This is one of the most followed growth accelerator conferences for ambitious entrepreneurs.
Adobe Summit: April 13 – 15, 2021, Virtual event
This is mostly related to developments happening in the field of customer experience. They are planning an online event with more live content and more opportunities to network. They bring a wealth of knowledge of leaders from a wide range of fields like marketing automation, analytics, and commerce. The plan is to draw inspiration from these fields and help the evolution of thought leadership in customer experience.
Recurring Revenue Conference: April 2021
This is the only conference in Southern California that focuses exclusively on the subscription economy. As the name suggests, this event has its main focus on the nuances of recurring revenue that is the soul essence of any SaaS business.
Over 700 business leaders join this conference to share their knowledge about the recurring sources of revenue and ways to grow it. They share what is helping them grow and where they failed along with their learnings.
DesignOps Global Conference: May 2021
Specially focused on experience economy, DesignOps Global Conference is an event for design leaders, researchers, developers, product managers, and business leaders that are defining the way we scale research, design, and deliver new products. This is a preeminent global conference for the professionals working in digital transformation.
IBM Think, online: May 11-12, 2021
IBM Think hosts an event where real-time conversations about the latest advancements in technology in the world take place. Greatest of the insightful discussions on the positive impacts of latest technologies like hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence on world happen here. This is a great opportunity for you to upgrade your vision and network with some industry geniuses for the growth of your business.
MicroConf Growth, Denver, Colorado: April 25-27, 2021
MicroConf Growth conference is especially useful for the early-stage growth startups. This conference aims at providing the tips and learnings for the early stage startups to help them propel towards long-term sustainability and success. Listening to the celebrities would always not be practical for new ventures, and this conference understands that point. Hence, it brings more speakers who understand your stage more precisely and talk about what is most relevant for you.
Quarter 3
TechCrunch Disrupt: Sep 21-23, 2021
This is a conference for getting an experience of Silicon Valley right from the comfort of your home. It’s a three days online event where startup leaders share their stories to more than 10,000 attendees. This conference is one of the most renowned ones and has helped IT giants like Zuckerberg, Benioff, Musk, Mayer, in their early stages of development.
Product-Led Summit, New York: July 28 – 29, 2021
Product-led summit brings in the world’s best product leaders to discuss on the core concepts of product-led growth. These concepts include recurring revenues, customer retention and business performance which are at the top of the minds of every startup entrepreneurs. Leaders from some greatest product-based firms like SAP, HubSpot, mailchimp, etc. come here to share their stories.
INBOUND 2021, Boston and Online: Sep 7-10, 2021
This conference is a super-collision between leaders from product management, creative SaaS marketing and startup founders. It is a high energy, high stimulation event for those who yearn for an explosive growth in their companies. With more than 70,000 attendees from sales, marketing and service fields, it presents a vast opportunity to network in person as well as online.
Traffic & Conversion Summit, San Diego, CA: Sep 13-15, 2021
Traffic and Conversion summit is one of the greatest source of informational events for marketers on the planet. It hosts leaders as well as celebrities who share their real-life experiences and learnings that are easy to implement for the growth aspirants. You leave this event with more actionable steps and less theoretical concepts.
Quarter 4
Slush 2021, Finland: 19th – 20th November 2021
This is an event for budding startups’ founders aimed at equipping them to solve the real-time problems of the current times. This is a gathering of more than 25000 curious minds who are all set to make a mark in the startup world. This will be held in Helsinki, Finland.
More than 2000 investors would be attending this event. So, if you are seeking investment for your upcoming projects then this is the place to be and make meaningful connections.
Mind the Product Conference Digital: 18-19 November 2021
Mind the Product conferences have more focus on product development strategies. It brings a great confluence of design, technology, and business for its attendees. Some of the biggest names in the product designs come to attend this event to share their knowledge around product management.
It also allows a great opportunity to network with product leaders from different organizations. So, if you are a SaaS founder and looking forward to upgrading your product then learn from the best product leaders in this event.
WebSummit, Lisbon: Nov 1-4, 2021
Lauded by Forbes as one of the best technology conferences on the planet, this conference will be held in Lisbon, Portugal this year. The main focus of this event is gather some ideas about the future from the leaders across technology companies, startup unicorns, politics and even heads of states. Year 2020 marked a great success where global influencers like prime ministers of Portugal and Spain and co-founder of LinkedIn spoke in this event among many others.
ProductCon, online: Nov 18, 2021
This is the largest product management conference in the world. It is organized around different distinct themes and gathers over 15,000 product professionals from all around the world. This happens four times in a year, once in each season. Check out its official website for the exact dates of all the events along with more details of this event.
Wrapping up
Few of these events have a strict focus on SaaS business, while others are from a wider range. Attending these events would enlarge your vision for your organization. The inspirational leaders from different tech-startups have a lot of experience to share in these events.
You could be one among the crowd, but the knowledge that you can absorb in events like these can thrust you to a fast-growth path. You never know what clicks you about the wisdom shared by any leader. Just being there with an inquisitive mind is all you need and you would definitely bring inspirational energy back to your firm.
Rohan has over 11 years of experience in client services, marketing and hospitality field. Previously, he was head of digital marketing for a hi-tech mobile application. Rohan is driven by new challenges and the possibility of making an impact on individuals and businesses.
Published September 28, 2020, Updated March 01, 2023
