Filling the Gap
I never had the chance to attend the Dublin Websummit as the value seemed too low and the event very diluted and broad. The sheer scale of the Summit made it look like you would be attending a crowded concert or football game and a bit overwhelming.
Also, the pricing of the web summit amazed me too, wow!!
Websummit was too expensive
“Startups & Bootstrappers, we don’t want you! we want businesses with tons of cash!!”
Out of the crater left in Dublin post-websummit there was a new convention coming and this one looked worthwhile, valuable and relevant to my SaaS business. That event was to be SaaStock and was brainchild of Alex Theuma of the SaaScribe blog.
It looked to be very interesting and great value for money, as it targeted my core area of interest, so I decided to give it a shot!
SaaS City Talks
I attended the SaaS City Bootcamp and was second to arrive at the venue, I wasn’t sure I was at the right place as their was no sign on the door. But after a short while things got going and more attendees arrived for the networking session. The talk itself was fully booked out weeks in advance. Many of the Saastock attendees were wait-listed for access to it.
Once the talks started I was delighted. I had not been to many talks on SaaS or the SaaS Sales side of SaaS business so this was a pleasant surprise.
Fergus Gloster’s talk was entertaining and very informative, as it contained tons of great actionable content from his time at many companies, including SalesForce. I felt I had missed a trick and should have been taking notes. But it turns out we would be given the slides later.
Next talk from #Slack was great too! Wow, what a success story! I would loved to been a fly on the wall when they launched the first version of #slack that obtained 8,000 customers in 24 hours! Phenomenal momentum!
We then broke for tea and scones, how Irish 
Patrick from PriceIntelligently was next and his talk was also entertaining and opened my eyes on my pricing. I intend to follow his advice. And thanks for the great T-Shirts Guys!
Dave Blake from ClientSuccess was next and was such a nice guy! And their business is a great success story too. Their Customer Success SaaS product looks very polished and professional and they are committed to all things Customer Success related.
Some of the guys then took to the streets for a Pub Crawl and then the Welcome Party in the Powerscourt House. I had business to do so I couldn’t attend and being my home town I was less likely not to have other commitments.
SAASTOCK – the Main event
Early start again and I was Darted to the RDS location just in time to make Des Traynor’s talk. It was like a timeline of the Internet and software evolution, but it was very entertaining.
Through out the day there were many great talks and I can’t write about them all as I should because I had not intended to write a blog on it, until today.
There were two stages and at most times each stage area was full and had many other viewers standing and listening to the talks.
For fund seekers there was a great Investor Zone area with many big names like Scale Venture Partners, PointNine, 500 Startups to name but a few. We could see the pitches and deals been discussed, perhaps some up and coming SaaS businesses were partnered up with some big venture funds on the day. There was definitely a hive of activity in there.
The lunch was great. I had expected standard fare, but was pleasantly surprised at the effort the SaaStock team put in. There was Fish Shack, Bagel Factory, Eddie Rockets, and many more.
The weather was nice enough to really enjoy the outdoor marquee where lunch was held. We were accompanied by atmospheric Acid House Music provided by local Dublin DJ Alex Donald. I had the Fish and Chips from Fish Shack which was very nice indeed!
I attended the rest of the talks and meetings with great fellow entrepreneurs and had the obligatory Guinness for the networking session at the end of the day.
Most of the attendees were heading on to the Odeon for the After party that evening. Unfortunately, I was not staying in town as I need to head out to meet my partner for dinner and a show elsewhere but I am sure it was a great night!
Overall Impression of Saastock 2016
I met many great people at their respective business stands and was super excited to try to get the Chartmogul app for Testimonial Robot.
I had a lot of interest from potential users for Testimonial Robot that want to use our White Label offering to collect feedback from their customers.
We are in talks with a business that may want to create multiple accounts with us. So we have a lot to show for attending the event, new contacts, some to many signups, great success stories and a great learning experience on the recent developments with the SaaS community.
A well organised and valuable event that I am glad to have attended. Congrats to Alex and his team for putting on a great event!
