Just over 18 months ago, in March 2020—only three days before the start of the event—SaaStr Annual was canceled in lieu of the public health regulations emerging as the COVID-19 pandemic began. Last week, from Monday, September 27 through Wednesday, September 29, the largest SaaS community event in the world finally came back to fruition—and it was well worth the wait.

More than 6,000 executives convened for SaaStr Annual 2021, from all across the globe. The three-day event took place at the San Mateo County Event Center, where attendees discussed, shared, and celebrated all things SaaS.

A packed (but socially distanced!) crowd at the Masters Stage. Photo courtesy of: SaaStr.

In-person tech conferences have once again seen the light of day! It is time to lean into the new normal of corporate events and what health precautions make them possible—well-exhibited by Annual’s outdoor venue, routine temperature checks, onsite rapid testing, and vaccination requirement.

Our event management team worked with long-time client SaaStr, as well as more than 200 speakers, to plan and coordinate all sessions and panels. Content touched on product management, venture capital, building a company from the ground up, and so much more.

Be it in the context of application security, inclusive workplace culture, evaluating market trends, or someplace in between, Annual is about where SaaS is and where it’s headed. Speakers had a wide range of backgrounds—from small and mighty start-ups to some of the most prominent SaaS corporations like Vimeo, Canva, Dropbox, and Zoom.

Stages and speakers
The conference was kicked off by a half-day of digital-only sessions on Monday morning and continued through early afternoon.

Masters Stage. Photo courtesy of: SaaStr

For the live sessions, attendees flocked to the Masters, Legends, and Experts stages—several talks were standing-room-only.

In Tuesday’s session with Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud, she shared the story of the company identity shift from B2C to B2B and how the pivot brought on incredible success for the company.

And, later in the afternoon, Hootsuite CRO Melissa Murray Bailey spoke on optimizing sales revenue by challenging what a successful sales team infrastructure looks like.

Jen Taylor, SVP and CPO, Cloudflare — SaaStr Square Park stage

The Cantina and SaaStr Square Park stages boasted talks from niche and technical experts, offering an intimate space for attendees to learn and connect. These speakers came from dozens of influential companies—Hired, Paysafe, Cloudflare, and Vanta, to name a few.

Key 2021 takeaways
SaaStr speakers ignited conversation among B2B experts, founders, and investors, owning the stage to talk on what they know best.

Here are a few key insights from this year’s event:

It is crucial for a company’s marketing strategy to stem from a place of authenticity and intent.
The success of a sales team calls for a multi-faceted approach: a stellar product, community-led growth, and human-centric design.
The recruitment landscape is changing rapidly and we need to think critically about hiring practices – primarily in the context of fair chance employment as well as the challenges and flexibility brought on by remote work.
There are unicorn companies, but now decacorns too; it’s increasingly important for SaaS businesses to implement a refined VC strategy to power their growth and potential.

Networking and parties
There were other factors that made SaaStr Annual the success that it was. The large number of networking opportunities available to attendees—such as VC office hours, braindates, and happy hours.

There was also an incredible Expo Hall where sponsors had the opportunity to showcase their products and hand out quality merchandise. Each day ended on a celebratory note with receptions and afterparties—the fun made complete by music group Cash Cash and Warrior’s “hypeman” Franco Finn.

Our goal for the conference was simple: to facilitate the exchange of high-quality ideas. In addition to speaker management and content coordination, the cred team was responsible for the digital session’s webinar moderation and onsite support.

We look forward to continuing the conversation at SaaStr Scale, SaaStr’s upcoming virtual event scheduled for December 15.

Wish you had been there?
YouTube recordings of all sessions as well as the presentation slides are now available online.