As a SaaS founder, your time is best spent meeting prospects, customers, and folks that match your ideal customer profile (ICP). And B2B events and tradeshows are the hotbed for that. They’re designed to bring people together to discuss market pain points, and explore solutions.
For founders, B2B events are a great way to hear from prospective customers, test their product value proposition, learn about the market, and a lot more.
But there are hundreds of B2B events and tradeshows competing for attention in 2025, choosing the wrong events can cost you thousands in missed opportunities and wasted resources.
We looked through dozens of directories and have compiled a list of SaaS networking events that SaaS startup founders must attend to help them scale their business in 2025.
Here's how we evaluated each conference:
- Founder-focused content: Sessions specifically addressing SaaS scaling challenges
- Investor presence: Verified attendance of active SaaS investors
- Networking quality: Structured opportunities to connect with relevant partners
- ROI potential: Concrete business outcomes reported by previous attendees.
SaaStr Annual 2025 (San Francisco, CA – May 13-15 2025)
Why should you attend? SaaStr Annual remains the #1 event for SaaS founders, and for good reason. The 2025 edition promises to be their most founder-focused yet, with dedicated tracks for early-stage, growth-stage, and enterprise SaaS companies.
Founder benefit: Their new "Founder Connect" program pre-matches you with relevant investors based on your funding stage and vertical—eliminating the random networking lottery that plagues most conferences.
Exclusive insight: SaaStr outdid itself last year and has raised the bar for this year. Here’s a TL;DR of what SaaStr 2024 was like:m
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/srivatsanv_saastr2024-saas-ai-activity-7244588382612287489-4fKB?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAfjJmMBNx0Kg1clX6ttgiDpJsnuvrnM2e4
SaaStock 2025 (Dublin, Ireland – October 14-15 2025)
Why should you attend? While most conferences prioritize the American market, SaaStock provides unparalleled access to the European market.
Founder benefit: Their Founder War Room sessions let you workshop your specific growth challenges with peers facing identical obstacles offering actionable solutions rather than generic advice.
Exclusive insight: SaaStock's new Market Entry Accelerator track is essential for founders considering European expansion, with country-specific regulatory and go-to-market workshops.
SaaStock USA (Austin, TX – May 13-14, 2025)
Why should you attend? SaaStock delivers SaaScity bootcamps focused on CEO strategies, revenue retention, and marketing mastery specifically for founders at the growth stage.
Founder benefit: Their dedicated Startup Day and Global Pitch Competition provide unparalleled opportunities for early-stage founders to get in front of investors and decision-makers.
Exclusive insight: SaaStock's AI-powered networking app matches you with attendees who share your specific challenges and goals.
Startup Grind Global Conference (Redwood City, CA – April 29-30, 2025)
Why should you attend? This conference is ideal for founders who want to showcase their product and connect with potential investors.
Founder benefit: Their 1:1 investor matching program has facilitated deals worth up to $18 million in previous years, providing a clear ROI on your attendance.
Exclusive insight: The conference's unique Ask Me Anything sessions with successful founders who've recently exited provide unfiltered advice you won't hear on public stages.
Location: Fox Theatre, Redwood City, California
SXSW (Austin, TX – March 7-15, 2025)
Why should you attend? Unlike SaaS-only events, SXSW brings together top talent across SaaS, film, music, and culture, creating cross-industry opportunities that pure SaaS conferences can't match.
Founder benefit: The diverse array of topics from advertising and brand experience to climate sustainability and emerging technologies provides fresh perspectives that can differentiate your SaaS offering.
Exclusive insight: Keynotes from thought leaders like Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Laurie Santos offer insights into human behavior and psychology that can transform your product strategy and customer experience.
Price: Registration details available on the website
PLGTM Summit (San Francisco, CA – May 20-21, 2025)
Why should you attend? For founders embracing product-led growth, this focused event brings together over 600 industry leaders across sales, marketing, and operations to share tactical PLG strategies.
Founder benefit: Previous summits have achieved a Net Promoter Score of 74 indicating exceptional value for attendees focused on product-led acquisition models.
Exclusive insight: Their exclusive workshops help you identify and instrument the specific user actions that actually predict conversion and expansion in your product.
Price: Registration details available on the website
Product-Led Summit (San Francisco, CA – September 16-17, 2025)
Why should you attend? With over 200+ attendees and 30+ speakers from successful PLG companies, this summit delivers hands-on strategies to accelerate your product-led growth journey.
Founder benefit: The two-day event includes interactive sessions and workshops on leveraging technology and building effective product strategies specific to your growth stage.
Exclusive insight: Their Conversion Optimization Clinic allows you to submit your signup flow for live critique by conversion experts who have optimized funnels for leading SaaS companies.
Location: Marriott Marquis, San Francisco, CA
SaaS North (Ottawa, Canada – Nov 5-6, 2025)
Why should you attend? For founders targeting the Canadian market, SaaS North brings together Canadian founders, operators, and investors to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities in the Canadian SaaS ecosystem.
Founder benefit: The event facilitates strong connections among regional industry professionals who understand the specific nuances of the Canadian market.
Exclusive insight: Sessions focus on navigating Canadian funding landscapes and expansion strategies specifically tailored to the country's business environment.
Price: TBD (Check website for updates)
ProductCon (New York – May 21, 2025)
Why should you attend? ProductCon delivers an exhaustive agenda including keynotes from influential product leaders, breakout sessions, and interactive workshops focused on product management excellence.
Founder benefit: The conference provides a unique platform for connecting with product managers, mentors, and industry experts who can help refine your product strategy.
Exclusive insight: Their Failed Product Strategies sessions offer honest accounts of approaches that didn't work and what to do instead.
How to maximize ROI from events
Conferences attract thousands of folks and are great for networking and meeting new people. And while grabbing coffee, chit-chatting with people, and making new connections is fun, it is important to have some method to the madness.
Not every person attending an event that you’re attending can turn into a prospective customer or partner for your business. So, it is important to ensure that you spend time striking conversations with the right people.
The key to deriving ROI from events is to prepare for the event ahead of time, and try to meet the right kind of people and nurture leads.
But how do you find out beforehand who these people are that you can meet with?
Highperformr’s AI Agents can help.
With Highperformr, you can proactively identify who's attending the same events as you, and strike conversations with people who fit your ICP and book more meetings from the events.
Taking SaaStr 2025 as an example, here's how you can use this approach:
- Identify attendees: LinkedIn is typically buzzing with posts from people announcing their attendance at major events. Attendees often share content using event-specific hashtags (like #SaaStr2025) or mention keywords related to the event (SaaStr Annual 2025). Use Highperformr to compile attendee lists. The platform can aggregate users posting with specific hashtags or keywords, creating a comprehensive list of likely attendees or those speaking about the event.
- Qualify based on your ICP using Higheperformr: Once you have this list, filter for those who match your ICP.
- Find contact information: For those high-value prospects, Highperformr can help enrich the contact with not just email addresses and phone numbers but other details about the contact and their employer.
- Craft personalized outreach messages:
After that, depending on the immediate buying intent, you could choose to either book meetings with them ahead of time, or nurture those leads.
By doing this homework ahead of time, you'll spend less time wandering conference halls and more time in productive meetings with potential clients or partners who matter to your business.
To learn more about how Highperformr can help you maximize event ROI, schedule a demo with us today!
