SaaStock, the company that hosts the largest gathering of software as a service (SaaS) founders, executives, and investors in Europe, is expanding into the rapidly growing Asian SaaS market with the first edition of SaaStock Asia taking place in Cyberport, Hong Kong on May 14-15, 2019.
SaaStock’s Year’s First Conference in Asia
SaaStock’s CEO, Alex Theuma, explained why the company has chosen to hold its first conference in Asia in 2019:
“Our global mission is to help SaaS companies gain traction, grow and scale. We have been doing this successfully in Europe and North America for 4 years now but we realize that the Asian market is very different. Asian SaaS companies face very different challenges to those faced by their western counterparts, and this creates a need for a dedicated space for SaaS companies in the region to come together and learn from the successes and failures of others who are on the same path. That’s what SaaStock Asia is all about.”
SaaStock’s flagship conference in Dublin, Ireland is in its fourth year and attracts more than 4,000 business leaders from around the world for the most relevant learning and networking experience in the SaaS industry.
The SaaS Market Opportunity in Asia
In order to grow a SaaS business in Asia, entrepreneurs need to figure out not only how to secure funding, but how to overcome the many challenges of operating in a fragmented market: tackling local regulation, how to deploy a lean sales ‘machine’ across a diverse region, navigating different languages and payment methods, and getting buy-in from enterprise organization not accustomed to buying from startups.
Despite these and many more challenges to be addressed on the agenda at SaaStock Asia, a recent MarketWatch report revealed that the SaaS market in the Asia-Pacific region is accelerating at a blistering pace of 34.28% year-on-year, as compared to the global SaaS market growth rate of 21.4%.
The SaaS market in Asia is less mature than those of Europe and North America, which goes some way to explaining its faster rate of growth. However, there is an undeniable trend of Asian businesses adopting more and more SaaS solutions in order to take advantage of both the functionality and cost benefits.
According to Theuma, “The relative immaturity and rate of adoption of SaaS in Asia represent a huge opportunity for Asian SaaS startups, as well as for global SaaS vendors aiming to expand into the region. Where the competitive landscape in other parts of the world is incredibly crowded, there is still so much untapped opportunity here in the Asian market.”
What SaaStock Asia Offers Attendees
SaaStock has put together an unprecedented line-up of the best minds in SaaS in Asia in order to deliver a learning and networking experience unlike any other available in this part of the world.
The full speaker list for the event is available but some of the highlights include:
- Pieter Kemps, Principal, Sequoia Capital
- Anna Gong, CEO & Founder, Perx Technologies, Singapore
- Max Armbruster, CEO, Talkpush
- Hande Çilingir, Co-Founder & CEO, Insider
- Eric Siu, CEO, ClickFlow
- Patrick Cai, Managing Director, China, Winning By Design
- Meena Sanhu, VP of Marketing & Growth, Predictable RevenueTM Inc.
- James Gilbert, APAC Director, HubSpot
- Dave Ng, Principal, B Capital
- Vinod Chandramouli, Global Head, Pre Sales, Freshworks
- Cameron Priest, CEO & Co-Founder, TradeGecko
- Wai Hong Fong, Chieftain & Co-Founder, StoreHub
- Nathan Latka, CEO, The Latka Agency
- Gene Soo, Director & Co-Founder, StartupsHK
Summary Agenda
The packed agenda includes a host of learning and networking opportunities:
- May 14: SaaS.City
SaaS.City is a day of hands-on learning on May 14 where attendees can choose between Growth Marketing and Sales Leadership bootcamps delivered by leading experts in the field and specifically designed to enable SaaS companies to grow their business in the Asian market through tried and tested marketing and sales strategies.
- May 14: Startup Program
The Startup Program is an opportunity for SaaS startups to partner with SaaStock events at a much more accessible price, with additional benefits and perks. Qualifying startups amplify their visibility by getting similar benefits as our partners, complemented by a tailored day of practical workshops, matchmaking with investors, and further support from SaaStock’s partners.
- May 15: SaaStock Conference
This is the main conference day which will involve 200+ SaaS founders, executives, and investors from 80+ companies, 12+ hours of content, 10+ partners, 20+ startup exhibitors, and the most relevant and actionable SaaS learning and facilitated networking on the continent.
- Topics to be covered at the conference include:
- 3 Lessons Learned from Scaling a Mid-Market SaaS Across South East Asia
- Going Global – Overcoming Regional Challenges to Land & Expand Your Asian SaaS
- Unlocking SaaS Opportunities into & out of China
- The Global State of SaaS: Tangible Insights from 10,000+ ARR, Valuation and Growth Data Points
- 5 Do’s & Dont’s Lessons When Securing Your Next Round of Funding
- Hiring, Retaining & Retraining: A Founder’s Guide to Leading a Superstar Sales Team
- Building a Scalable Sales Model to Survive HyperGrowth
- Going from $0 – $30 Million: The SaaS Playbook for Success
- Demystifying Product-led Strategies to Grow Your SaaS Business in Asia
- The Secret to a Winning Go-To-Market Strategy in Asia – Building a Customer-Focused Brand
- May 15-16: SaaSociety
SaaSociety gathers an invite-only curated audience of entrepreneurs who have achieved annual recurring revenue exceeding $3M and select technology investors; an even more extraordinary and opulent setting to connect.
- Quotes from Previous SaaStock Attendees
“If you’re running a software as a service business, I can’t think of a better place to com. The community at SaaStock is just incredible.” – James Gill, CEO, GoSquared
“If you’re in SaaS, it’s a no-brainer.” – David Darmanin, Founder & CEO, Hotjar
“I’d say come to SaaStock because you want to get smarter. It’s a really great opportunity to get exposed to the global SaaS ecosystem.” – Jessica Weisz, COO, SoapBox
“It’s like Disneyland for SaaS companies.” – Conor O’Loughlin, CEO, Glofox
“The people. I was very surprised how many people I meet that are highly interesting.” – Jasper Masemann, Principal, HV Ventures
- Pre-conference Events in Singapore and Hong Kong
SaaStock is hosting two evening events, Singapore on April 23 and Hong Kong on April 25, to give the SaaS communities in these cities a taste for what SaaStock is all about ahead of the main conference in May. This is part of SaaStock Local , a global initiative to build and nurture regional SaaS ecosystems.
- Call to Action
“We’re extremely excited to bring the leading founders, execs, and investors from the Asian SaaS scene together and to watch the resulting magic happen. Everything from large funding rounds and customer contracts, to new partnership deals and joint ventures, have been known to come out of facilitated meetings at SaaStock. We can’t wait to see what happens following our first conference in Cyberport, Hong Kong on May 14 & 15.” – Alex Theuma, CEO, SaaStock.
SaaStock Asia is an unmissable event for SaaS leaders in Asia and those looking to unlock the Asian market opportunity. There are still some tickets available for here so snap them up before they are sold out.
- Company Description
SaaStock is a global community of software as a service (SaaS) founders, executives, and investors. Our mission is to help SaaS companies to gain traction, grow, and scale. We achieve this by bringing the leaders of SaaS together at our annual conferences in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Australasia. To keep adding value year-round, we organize quarterly SaaS meetups in cities all over the world, continuously share actionable learnings from the best minds in SaaS, and connect the global SaaS community online.
