Jason M. Lemkin and other speakers describe SaaStr Annual as a high-energy conference where founders and CEOs openly share their mistakes and lessons learned. Attendees say it feels like a supportive home for the community, emphasizing the importance of mission-driven teams and the sense of being part of something larger that helps everyone grow together.
Chapters
There's so much energy at this conference.
So normally if you read a VC blog post, it's like theoretical or kind of tidied up. Sester is like, here is the 3 ways I completely screwed up this hire, and here are 2 ways in which you can get it right.
I think it's incredibly important to be able to have a bunch of companies that have learned the lessons that you might be learning right now. You want to be able to hear stories from other founders or entrepreneurs that have dealt with the exact same struggle.
People have to believe in where they're going. It's not about what you're doing today, but it's about the journey that you're taking together.
There's a lot of promise out there. There's a lot of young founders that are sitting in the audience going, "Hey, wow, I can learn from this," or, "Can I ask you a question?" It'll be really cool to look back and be like, "Hey, we were a part of that, and this is when it all started." Saster to me is home.
It's sort of comforting to actually come to Saster Annual because the community is there for you when you want to grow, learn, teach. They sort of always have your back. It kind of felt like coming home today. I would say it's like your security blanket. That's the best example I can talk about Saster, just because you know that you can rely on it whenever you need it.
There is an excitement around the kinds of businesses that can do things that are innovative, that can do things that are important, and that help people to just do things they never thought they could, right, as a business leader. And I think that you see all of that hope and all of that aspiration and all of that enthusiasm for building something, you know, very present at this event, which I think is really cool.
Good afternoon, everyone, and now for the 6 o'clock news.
If you have a fantastic team that is on that journey together and committed to it, you can be successful.
If you care about something deeply, which is what founders do, they have an authentic mission and they say, stop at nothing, then you find a way to the people who may help you in that journey.
CEOs who may even compete with the next generation, everyone, founders all want to share and help. We're sharing our mistakes, we're sharing our learnings. That's what makes Saastr special. We're all willing to share and who knew? I'm so grateful to everyone that comes and shares at all levels here.
