The 13 superb speakers at SaaStock Berlin
Berlin is not only one of the most vibrant and fun cities to live in Europe but is also a big reference point on the SaaS map. As one of the SaaStock on Tour speakers, Sofie Quidenus-Wahlforss, recently said on the SaaS Revolution Show, it’s a dream to be in Berlin now.
At SaaStock on Tour Berlin we are showcasing what that dream is and what is the general feel of German SaaS. The 13 speakers descending from all corners of the country and all parts of the tech scene will serve lessons on silver platters.
From skipping the nine most common mistakes that Christoph Janz has experienced, through scaling beyond product market fit with Sofie Quidenus-Wahlforss and Hanno Renner, all the way to learning how to achieve success a second time around with Vanessa Stock, when the first one was Wunderlist, you will be sure to leave with a bag full of important lessons. Add to that selling magic from the hands of visitors Steli Efti of Close.io, Stan Massueras of Intercom and Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo of TravelPerk, sprinkled on top of 200 kindred SaaS souls, it will be a day to remember.
Book your ticket for SaaStock on Tour Berlin, coming up on June 7th.
Christoph Janz, Managing Partner, Point Nine Capital
Christoph Janz is Managing Partner at Point Nine Capital and has a long and successful history of entrepreneurship and angel investments. Christoph and PointNine have been instrumental in the healthy growth of the European SaaS ecosystem since the firm was founded in 2011, both through their investments and follow up support, as well as the wealth of helpful information they have published through the years. In Berlin, Christoph will share the 9 mistakes he has learned from 10 years thriving in the SaaS space. Things like how to get your act together when you are raising funds, does giving 10% to an advisor make sense, how to figure out the degree of product-market fit you have and what the spread between the entry pricing and the enterprise pricing should be.
Talk: 10 years investing in SaaS in 22 back of the napkin charts
Michiel Kotting, Partner, Northzone
The early days of Michiel Kotting’s career were at the Boston Consulting Group after he completed his MBA at Harvard. In 1999, he founded Digital Jones, an artificial intelligence company based in Silicon Valley. Michiel’s rich professional experience includes being a partner at Accel Partners before he joined Northzone in 2016. His current investment portfolio includes Catawiki, Personio, FreightHub, and Aidence. Mobile, FinTech, AI, and data analytics are all topics close to heart for him. At SaaStock on Tour Berlin, Michiel will sit down for a panel with portfolio founder Hanno Renner as well as Sofie to figure out together what happens after product market fit and Series A.
Talk: We have found product market fit. What now? Scaling beyond Series A
Sofie Quidenus-Wahlforss, CEO & Founder, Omni:us
Sofie Quidenus-Wahlforss is an entrepreneurial force of nature. With three companies behind her back, in 2015, she founded Omni:us, a SaaS solution, which helps make sense of unstructured digital documentation. Sofie has a patent for the omni:us Vshape Scanner Technology. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Woman Technology & Research Award. Having found product market fit in the insurance industry and working with 12 amazing enterprise clients already, Sofie will share her experience so far and what happens next.
Talk: We have found product market fit. What now? Scaling beyond Series A
Hanno Renner, Co-founder & CEO, Personio
Hanno Renner is one of the Jack of All Trades in the German SaaS landscape. After studying engineering and entrepreneurship in universities around the world, he got RYA Yachtmaster qualification and spent more than three years as a skipper of sailing yachts. At the same time, he founded his first business — Feedbackme, which digitalizes feedback for presentations. In 2015 Hanno co-founded SMB HR Operating System Personio. The company has had a stellar growth so far, which is attributed to very healthy and disciplined hiring and onboarding. Hanno will join the panel on scaling beyond Series A to share what has happened since.
Talk: We have found product market fit. What now? Scaling beyond Series A
Steli Efti, CEO and Co-Founder, Close.io
An alumni of Y Combinator and a founder of a number of startups, today Steli Efti is the CEO of Close.io. The platform defines itself as the inside sales CRM of choice for startups and small businesses. Flamboyant and outgoing most of the time, Steli is a walking treasure trove when it comes to talking to customers and selling. His topic at our Berlin event will focus to increasing sales by doing SaaS product demos right.
A few of the tenets include talking about the big picture rather than individual features. With every feature you demo, you have to think value for the customer, not mere functionality and a bit of sensation when you speak. Make sure that is in the prospect’s language and handle your mouse like a pro because the person you are demoing to is following your every move. Oh, and when asked something, respond with a question. For the rest of the ingredients, join us in Berlin.
Talk: Giving SaaS Product Demos That Sell
Kevin Kimber, Venture Partner, Eight Roads
For most of his professional path, Kevin Kimber has had a lot to do with all things tech and SaaS. He served as the Managing Director of Cloud UKI at SAP, after a couple of other tech-related managerial jobs at ServiceNow, Zuora, and others. Since 2017, he is a partner at Eight Roads Ventures, part of what is called the value-add team. He advises portfolio companies on go-to-market and sales strategies. At SaaStock on Tour in Berlin, Kevin will share why value-add investing is so important for budding businesses.
Talk: What Value Add investing means for your Startup
Moritz Poewe, Partner, Paua Ventures
Moritz Poewe fancies new tech and life-changing ideas, as he notes himself. He used to be the CTO of Nachtagenten, a leading nightlife and community platform in Germany. Since 2010, he is a partner at Paua Ventures, where he works on funding and helping portfolio companies. Moritz provides support in strategic consulting, deal flow management, IT processes, and HR efforts. He will take part in our panel on the importance of partnering with a VC that provides value-add investing.
Talk: What Value Add investing means for your Startup
Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo, VP Global Sales and Customer Success, TravelPerk
Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo is a pro in marketing and sales. After two positions as Chief Revenue Officer — at the world leading POS platform Vend and at Veeqo.com, he joined TravelPerk in 2017. The company is awarded as the fastest growing SaaS business in Europe. Jean-Christophe is currently the Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for sales, marketing and customer success.
Jean-Christophe will grace the stage twice in Berlin. One will be to share insights on the art of selling in a crowded space, which has putting yourself in the shoes of the buyer at its center and understanding their overwhelm. He will share the stage with Thibaut de Lataillade. After that key discussion, Jean-Christophe will remain on the stage and delve deep in the reasons why Travelperk has such a tremendous growth.
Talk: 5 Key reasons why we grew 1000% YoY;
The art of competitive selling: How to sell your product in a crowded marketplace
Thibaut de Lataillade, MVP Digital Markets, Gartner
Thibaut de Lataillade has more than 25 years of experience in business management, sales, and marketing under his belt. He has a proven track record in cloud, mobility, digital marketing, CRM, marketing, sales, and growth strategies. Thibaut has held managerial and executive positions at large tech companies such as Cegedim and SAP. He is currently the MVP Digital Markets at Gartner. Thibaut will speak about the best tips for selling a product in a competitive landscape through his experience at Gartner and GetApp.
Talk: The art of competitive selling: How to sell your product in a crowded marketplace
Stan Massueras, EMEA Sales Director, Intercom
The list of prominent companies in Stan Massueras’s resume is long. After starting his career at Citi, he passed through Hewlett-Packard Financial Services. Then Stan joined Facebook as a Sales Manager for more than four years. His next stop was Twitter, where he spent two years as Senior Sales Manager for Continental Europe. Since last year, he is Director of EMEA Sales for Intercom. With such a rich professional background, Stan will certainly give us valuable insights into acquiring customers — and growing a $1B business.
Talk: How to Acquire Customers and Grow a $1B Company
Connor Murphy, Managing Director, Techstars
Serving as Managing Director of Techstars is the latest outpost for Irishman Conor Murphy. Connor first spent more than six years in management consulting. Then he went on to found Datahug, a platform that uses data science to master networking between people. He raised funding from Salesforce, DFJ, Oyster, and Ron Conway, and then led the company to exit to Nasdaq listed Calliduscloud (Nasdaq:CALD). In Techstars, Connor invests in machine learning and B2B SaaS startups. Some of the recent companies in his portfolio include Bewgle, Ultimate.ai, WiseAthena, Gtmhub, Sensifai, RefineAI.com, Praktice.ai, Greendeck, Sustanalyse, and Teamscope. He has received Best European B2B/Enterprise Startup at the Europas and Gartner Cool Vendor awards.
Talk: Going Corporate: What’s the Right Recipe? Big companies are seeking closer ties with SaaS startups to spur innovation. Some operate their own venture funds internally, invest directly or partner as LPs. What’s in it for the corporate & the startup? What do other investors think about working with CVCs? How do we see the trend evolving?
Chiara Sommer, Investment Director, Intel Capital
Before joining the investment world, Chiara Sommer was on the flipside, having founded and managed her own company pickagenius. Then she moved on to become a Senior Investment Manager at one of the most renowned seed stage venture capital investment companies in Germany, High-Tech Gründerfonds. Chiara made investments in companies in a wide range of fields, including B2B Software, SaaS, Marketplaces, and AdTech. As of recently, she is the Investment Director at Intel Capital. It has invested $12.2 billion in 1,500 companies in the last 27 years.
Talk: Going Corporate: What’s the Right Recipe? Big companies are seeking closer ties with SaaS startups to spur innovation. Some operate their own venture funds internally, invest directly or partner as LPs. What’s in it for the corporate & the startup? What do other investors think about working with CVCs? How do we see the trend evolving?
Vanessa Stock, Co-founder, Pitch
Vanessa Stock is a pro communicator and has been an HR consultant and HR director for a number of prominent companies. Some of her top topics include organizational culture, culture change, team development, HR strategy, and recruiting. In the beginning of 2018, Vanessa co-founded Pitch, a new Berlin-based company made by the Wunderlist team. At SaaStock on Tour Berlin, she will talk about the journey of building a global company, a second time around.
Talk: After Wunderlist: Building a Global Software company from Berlin, the second time round.
Meeting these 13 speakers in the same room in Berlin on June 7th is a rare opportunity. Don’t miss it and grab your ticket now. In the meantime,read up our list of the top 30 German funds and the 30 Überkinder companies of German SaaS.
