SaaStr Europa Or SaaStr Annual: Which Should I Go To?

Republished By Plato

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So both of SaaStr’s mega events are coming up. First up, the 4th SaaStr Europa is finally coming to London on 6-7 June. 4,000+ of us will get together there to share, scale and learn.

Next up is the 9th SaaStr Annual in the SF Bay Area, Sep 6-8, once again in sunny San Mateo on our 40 acre campus right between Palo Alto and San Francisco. 11,000-12,000 of us will gather there this year. 11 stages, 1000 mentoring sessions and braindates, 800+ VCs.

Which should you join, if you are picking one?

A few Pros for each … and some insights:

How SaaStr Europa is better:

4,000 is Goldilocks size to meet people: Big enough to attract many of the best, but not so big you will miss people. I bump into most of the folks I want to see at Europa. I miss a lot of them at Annual.
More fun, less intense. Again, 4,000 is big, but small enough that it’s more informal, more laid back, more collaborative. It’s more of a destination event. People mainly come to meet other leaders in SaaS, but also to enjoy London or Paris or Barcelona, depending on where we are.
Highest % of founders and VCs. Tons of VPs of Sales, Marketing, Product and CS still come to Europa. But as a percentage, it’s most highly concentrated in CEOs, founders and VCs. A great Europe-to-U.S. founder I talked to last week that went to both last year said it was easier to meet other founders at Europa, and easier to meet sales execs to recruit at Annual.
Tons of European VCs. If you want to meet European VCs, come to Europa. Many come to the U.S., but the concentration at Europa is intense.
It still attracts the best. If getting to the U.S. is tough, you will still meet many of the best coming to London. And if you live in London or Paris or anywhere easy to get to London … just come.
Less commercial. We have 200+ sponsors at Annual and that makes it fun in many ways, but also at the margin, more commercial.

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How SaaStr Annual is better:

Everyone is either there — or close by. If they aren’t attending, they likely work in the Bay Are an anyway. That justifies the trip right there.
The highest % of global VCs in SaaS. Our meet-a-VC program coinnects hundreds of VCs with hundreds of founders. VCs come to Annual to hunt. Same with Europa, but it’s mainly European VCs.
11 stages, 500+ braindates and mentoring sessions. It’s literally all at Annual.
Your jaw with drop at the CEOs that come. Who comes to SaaStr Annual over the years? The CEOs of Slack, Zoom, Calendly, HubSpot, Monday, Mailchimp, New Relic, Okta, Databricks, Gusto, Coupa, Grammarly, PagerDuty, and so much more. Almost all of the greats come or have come.
You’ll inspire the team. Do your team offsite, or at least bring your whole management team. They will come back profoundly inspired — and challenged to do even better.
Visit many of your top custoers on the same trip. Come to Annual for the networking, but push on and visit all your customers and partners already in the SF Bay Area.
It’s special. SaaStr Annual is the biggest founder and exec-focused event in Cloud. It’s all about helping you scale and learn, from the best and with the best. It’s unique and something every SaaS leader should attend at least once. Ideally, much more often. But at least once.

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Both are great. If you can, come to both at least if you’re in Europe. You can visit so many partners, customers, and more when you come to Annual, since it’s already in the SF Bay Area. Pair it with your trip that quarter or year to the Bay Area anyway.

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Published on April 17, 2023