Event category: Breakouts
Events
November 18, 2021
10:25 AM - 10:55 AM EDT
How Fellow App Prepared for its $24 Million Series A Fundraise
Canadian companies are raising growth rounds left and right, and it’s so exciting to see Fellow’s $24 million Series A round added to that list. While COVID-19 tailwinds helped the company close a round in just two weeks, Aydin, CEO and co-founder (and 6x SAAS NORTH emcee) credits the company’s intense 30-day preparation process as a huge factor in their success. Take a look inside how Fellow prepared for its Series A fundraise and learn the steps that you can follow too.
10:25 AM - 10:55 AM EDT
Founder Led Marketing
Startup founders often struggle to know when and how to make their first marketing hire. Learn strategies to avoid common timing pitfalls and tips for approaching the hiring process more thoughtfully.
You will learn: the essential elements of marketing to help founders figure out what kind of marketer they need, knowing the right time to add a marketer and when to start planning and how to establish the issues the hire would tackle.
November 17, 2021
02:40 PM - 03:20 PM EDT
Navigating the Capital Conundrum: A Discussion on When, How and Why to Raise Capital to Grow your Business
It is a challenge for bootstrapped entrepreneurs to know WHEN the best time is to raise capital and to evaluate the different capital options available to determine what is best to drive growth. The Canadian tech ecosystem is flush with liquidity at present and lenders, VCs and other investors alike are competing for the best businesses. Hear from lenders and entrepreneurs about their practical experiences navigating these challenging waters and exploring different sources of debt and equity financing opportunities.
02:40 PM - 03:20 PM EDT
How to Build a Product & Category in Parallel
Achieving product-market fit is the ultimate goal for startups and also scale-ups looking to launch new product lines. But what comes first: the product or the market? This session will cover how to bring customers, market and product development together into one cohesive and cross-functional strategy that will accelerate your go-to-market and maximize your chance of success. Tamara and Chris will share lessons and tactics from their own experience building a product and category in parallel as they transitioned Unbounce from a landing page builder to a multi-product conversion intelligence platform.
02:40 PM - 03:20 PM EDT
Demystifying Enterprise Sales: How to get to “Yes” Faster with Financial Institutions and Other Large Companies
B2B SaaS sales can be a long, lonely, and tiring job, especially when you are selling to large enterprises and financial institutions. What may look like an obvious win can get dragged out over compliance-related questions and reviews, integration problems, needing to coordinate between multiple departments, etc. In this panel discussion, we will dive into key questions to ask, major hurdles to prepare for, and successful approaches that have worked.
01:45 PM - 02:25 PM EDT
Taking Your Growth Marketing from Startup to Scale-up
Hear how the Growth Marketing Director at Clio, Alex Shipillo, draws on his experience and shares how growth marketing differs in startups versus scale-ups.
Things to learn: What marketing teams at startups and scale-ups should focus their energy on, how your marketing team, programs, and process can scale as the company grows and common pitfalls to avoid when transitioning from a startup to a scale-up.
01:45 PM - 02:25 PM EDT
Negative Churn! The Ultimate Guide to OFFSETTING Revenue Churn With Upgrades, Cross-sells and Add-ons
Churn is one of the most hotly debated questions of all SaaS. Bessemer Venture Partners says an “acceptable” churn rate could be as high as 7% annually, though there are many SaaS CEOs who consider anything above 5% unacceptable. So… is negative churn even possible? Yes. It’s the “holy grail” of SaaS metrics in fact – and when it’s negative, this is a really POSITIVE thing! In this presentation we’ll assess negative churn, why it’s such a powerful growth mechanism, and how to get there with these four “account expansion” strategies.
01:45 PM - 02:25 PM EDT
SEED Fundraising Strategy Redux: How Early SEED Opportunities Have Exploded for Startups in 2020-2021
Finding the best way to fund your SaaS company is not easy, and there are more options to consider than ever as fundraising continues to change with the post-COVID19 economic rebound.
Our panel will provide tips on how to navigate the world of virtual fundraising, prospecting, referrals, pitching and due diligence when you can’t meet investors face-to-face. They will share new investment processes and alternative fundraising opportunities such as the deregulation of angel capital, crowdfunding, friends and family rounds, , new funds for underrepresented groups and other seed money opportunities.
11:35 AM - 12:15 PM EDT
The Ultimate Guide to Community-Led Growth: A Case Study of the Top in SaaS
Why do some software companies have a loyal, cult-like following? While others blend into oblivion? Is a good product enough to win in the SaaS market today? In this Masterclass with two leading community builders, explore how brands like Peleton, Gong, Notion & Duolingo build their raving fans. Walk away with a 4 step process to start building your own loyal member base today.
