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OTTAWA, CANADA, NOV 4-5 2026 • ROGERS CENTRE

CANADA’S CONFERENCE FOR SAAS OPERATORS NAVIGATING THE AI SHIFT.

Real deployments. Real dashboards. Real operators from Canada’s top SaaS and AI companies sharing what’s working.

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Why Attend SAAS NORTH

Future-Proof Your SaaS In The Age Of AI

Meet Top Investors & Raise Capital To Scale Faster

Learn From Industry Leaders On AI, GTM, & Growth

Founder-Only Sessions With Actionable Playbooks

Unmatched Networking With Top SaaS & AI Innovators

Be Part Of Canada’s Largest In-Person SaaS Community

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Regular Price $1,199

$599*/person

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SAAS NORTH’s Biggest Names

Since 2016, SAAS NORTH has been attracting the biggest names to our stage. Check out our past speaker alumni!

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Tobias Lütke

Founder

Shopify

Tope Awotona

CEO & Founder

Calendly

Katherine Homuth

Founder

Oomira & SRTX

Swish Goswami

Head of Growth & Marketing

Boardy

Neil Patel

Co-Founder

Neil Patel Digital

Stephany LaPierre

Founder & CEO

Tealbook

Mara Reiff

Chief Data Officer & Co-CEO

FreshBooks

Dax DaSilva

CEO

Lightspeed

Jason VandeBoom

Founder & CEO

Active Campaign

Alison Taylor

Co-Founder & Co-CEO

Jane

David Cancel

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman

Drift

Jason Smith

CEO & Co-Founder

Klue

Sarah Stockdale

Founder

Growclass

Steve Munford

CEO

Trulioo

Kelly Schmitt

CEO

Benevity

Wade Foster

CEO & Co-Founder

Zapier

Sara Cooper

Chief People Officer

Jobber

Canada’s Largest SaaS Community. Your Biggest Networking Opportunity.

No bad LinkedIn pitches. Just real connections that matter.

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Don’t Just Take Our Word For It

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SAAS NORTH is the best place to learn, scale, and raise capital. If you’re building a SaaS company, there’s no better event to connect with investors and seize funding opportunities.

Neil Patel
Co-Founder, Neil Patel Digital
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The best founders in SaaS and AI come together at SAAS NORTH to tackle the industry’s most interesting challenges.

Andrew McLeod
CEO, Certn
“

Each year, SAAS NORTH gathers companies, entrepreneurs, and seasoned industry experts to connect and exchange ideas around one of the most vibrant areas in Canada’s tech ecosystem – SaaS.

Jeff Shiner
CEO, 1Password
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If you are a founder, investor or interested in SaaS, SAAS NORTH is the conference for you. I was impressed by the caliber of attendees, speakers and ideas presented.

Tobi Lutke
CEO, Shopify
“

I was very impressed by the quality of the content at SAAS NORTH. This conference is a great learning opportunity for both start-up and scaling companies.

Kelly Schmitt
CEO, Benevity
“

SAAS NORTH brings a lot of value to the SaaS ecosystem. You get not only the companies, but also the mentors, financiers and partners that the companies can leverage.

David Ossip
CEO, Ceridian
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I was here last year and it worked out really well. Met a lot of really cool companies, and I’m here for more of that this year.

Tope Awotona
CEO + Founder, Calendly
“

SAAS NORTH was a game-changer. I closed a $3M round and landed $100K in advisory business, all from connections made at the conference. If you attend one tech event in North America, make it this one.

Adrian Salamunovic
Co-Founder, MILLIONS.co
“

SAAS NORTH has seen tremendous growth…This is a great place for SaaS companies to meet others…

Michele Romanow
Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Clearco

2025 Sponsors

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Exhibitor Hall Of Fame

We provide booths so you can scan badges like it’s cardio.

Let’s be real — your product deserves more than a cold LinkedIn DM. At SAAS NORTH, you’ll meet decision-makers, demo-gawkers, and just the right mix of “we’re buying soon” energy.
 
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Evan Solomon, Canada’s first Minister of AI & Digital Innovation, & Michael Buhr, Executive Director, C100

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Hello to Canada’s SaaS and AI Community,

Markets change, hype cycles peak and fade, and technology transforms how we operate. Few leaders have lived through as many turns as Louis Têtu, Executive Chairman and Former CEO of Coveo. With three unicorn journeys under his belt, Louis joined SAAS NORTH to share timeless lessons and future-focused predictions.

His message: Success in SaaS comes from ruthless focus, relentless ROI discipline, and the courage to invest when others pull back.

Key takeaways:

  • “If you’re running a SaaS company, you better be the best in the world at something... Olympic gold medalist level.”
  • In downturns, “your only buyer is the CFO”. SaaS founders must prove ROI relentlessly.
  • Growth, customer advocacy, and people care remain the three pillars of resilient SaaS leadership.
  • Economic tides will rise and fall but you control the size, quality, and speed of your boat.

The SaaS Fundamentals That Never Change

SaaS leaders often get caught in the noise of market shifts, AI waves, interest rate cycles, or the latest funding trends. But as Louis Têtu, CEO & Chairman of Coveo, reminded the SAAS NORTH audience: fundamentals always win.

Louis has scaled three companies to unicorn status. His vantage point is shaped by decades of SaaS cycles, from the dot-com boom and bust to today’s AI-native economy. What stands out is how consistent the winning strategies are, regardless of the macro environment.

1. Focus and Excellence: Be the Best in the World

“If you’re running a SaaS company, you better be the best in the world at something... I’m talking about gold medalist podium, Olympic here and drop everything else because when you’re the best in the world at something, you convert your sales and marketing dollars much more.”

Focus is a recurring theme for Louis. He challenges SaaS leaders to cut half their product portfolio, drop markets where they cannot win efficiently, and double down on the core areas where they can truly lead.

In an AI-saturated 2025, this lesson hits harder: customers are bombarded with “AI-enhanced” pitches. Being differentiated means going beyond features, it means owning a category with clarity and conviction.

2. Economic Cycles: Don’t Waste a Good Crisis

“Economic cycles never last forever. And that’s really, really important. And it goes both ways.”

Louis has seen multiple downturns and expansions. His contrarian advice:

  • “Be cautious when everyone’s unduly confident.”
  • “Be bold when everyone’s fearful because right now everyone’s very fearful. Never waste a good crisis.”

In today’s environment, where AI optimism is colliding with investor scrutiny, his words resonate.

Downturns are moments to acquire great talent, invest in innovation while competitors cut back, and emerge stronger.

3. Capital Discipline: Spend with Intention

“Capital is never a proxy to spend money and P&L exuberance never wins long-term. You always need to think long-term.”

This perspective is especially sharp as SaaS founders face pressure to balance growth with efficient unit economics. With capital costs higher than in the 2010s, companies must treat every dollar as strategic fuel, not runway to burn.

4. Selling in a Crisis: The CFO is Your Buyer

“Your only buyer is the CFO. So, you need to run ROI. You need to be maniac about ROI when you sell to customers.”

When budgets tighten, SaaS sales must shift from aspirational outcomes to provable financial results. Louis advises reducing friction: shorter-term commitments, opt-outs, and confidence-backed pricing models. The value proposition? “A bag of dimes for a nickel.”

In 2025, this means AI-native SaaS startups need more than “efficiency promises.” They must provide hard ROI data: time saved, revenue lifted, churn reduced. Data-backed proof wins CFO approval.

5. The Three Pillars of Leadership

There are only three things SaaS CEOs should wake up worrying about, according to Louis:

  1. Find Growth – “If you’re not growing, you’re history.”
  2. Deliver Best-in-Class Customer Experience – “You don’t want satisfied customers, you want advocates.”
  3. Take Care of Your People – “You cannot build a great company unless your people are well.”
  4. This people-first orientation is more relevant than ever. In the AI-native era, teams are adapting to rapid changes, shifting skill sets, and new operating models. Recruiting, culture, and well-being remain non-negotiable foundations.

6. Data Over Opinions

“Always bring data to decisions because data doesn’t care about your opinion, nor does it care about mine.”

For SaaS founders in 2025, this mantra underscores the shift toward evidence-led decision-making.

Metrics like CAC, LTV, net revenue retention, and ROI are the ultimate arbiters of strategy.

Final Word: Build Your Boat

Markets rise and fall. Investor sentiment shifts from euphoria to fear. AI hype will eventually recalibrate. What doesn’t change is your ability to build a resilient boat.

As Louis puts it: “The tide goes up, the tide goes down. You cannot control that. The only thing you can control is the size of the boat, the quality of the boat, and the speed of your boat.”

For SaaS leaders in 2025, this means: cut the noise, focus on fundamentals, and play bold when others hesitate.

Those who do will not only survive the cycles but they’ll emerge as category-defining winners.

SAAS NORTH is Canada’s hub for scaling SaaS and AI companies. Founders, teams, and investors come to learn, connect, and grow with the country’s largest in-person tech community.