Business of Software Conference. What attendees got out of last year's conference.

At the end of a packed 2.5 days in October 2012, we asked the attendees if they could sum up their BoS experience. Here are their responses – uncensored. We think there are lots of reasons to come to Business of Software Conference – we have designed the event so that you can get, over two and a half days, the theoretical grounding, practical knowledge and personal contacts that you need to build a long term, sustainable, profitable software business.

This is what attendees said in their feedback from last year.

• Every time I come to BOS I feel like I’ve found my “tribe.”  Fellow techie entrepreneurs who are dying to roll up there sleeves to get a business going.
• Each year you somehow present the best speakers perfectly relevant to our current/latest dilemma.  Are you eavesdropping on our management calls.
• I’m not one to create and execute on specific takeaways as a result of any conference.  But, I’ve come to realize, after several years of attendance, the ideas and skills I’ve learned have somehow seemed to ‘leak’ into my organization anyway.  My organization is better as a result of the ‘tools’ that BOS has provided to me.
• Business of Software gets you out of the trenches and firefighting, and reminds you that there are 20 other dimensions to your business that are fascinating and important and that you have been completely ignoring.
• Badassingly brain busting.
• Overall, the conference is tailored to startups and young companies. We have been around 25 years with an established world wide base. The content was good and the sessions valuable with some good takeaways but we felt we could likely help alot of companies with some of our lessons learned.
• Great speakers and great conversations. An amazing three days, with much learning and inspiration.
• It was an action-packed thrill ride.
• As an early stage founder, Business of Software was a phenomenal opportunity to learn from phenomenal software warriors who’ve been through the paces of a software company. The conference also put things into perspective, allowing me to take a step back from the day to day trenches to see where the business needed to go next.
• Great place for the novice software business person. If you are ready for personal stories and some bonding go, but if you are looking for more thematic learning and ideas of how to evolve you might as well read some good literature on the topics.
• Learn how to grow your software business.
• It’s like being hit on the head with an anvil forged of startup culture, ideas, and values.  Something that will forever change the way you think about business, software, and organizational architecture.
• A founder-rich environment of entrepreneurial people who want to learn and who are willing to share their experiences and knowledge.
• The Business of Software Conference is a quick way to get up to speed on current thinking in how to build a business that will delight customers.
• I usually come away from the conference with 2 or 3 action items that pay for the conference along with a renewed attitude.
• One of the best places to meet the people who actually make significant revenues in the software industry.
• You are guaranteed to learn something meet someone that makes the trip worth it on their own. As a bonus you get to go to an awesome software conference.
• Imagine a dream world of full employment, meritocracy, innovation and success, abundance, respect, and happiness. It’s real, and it’s going on all the time in the unbridled world of software, and the Business of Software conference is your window into that world.
• As a wannapreneur, it was awesome to be inspired some of my “heroes” speak as well as being pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the talks of those that I didn’t know previously.  And more importantly hope that the connections/relationships that I formed over the past two days continue and spur me to come back next year as an entrepreneur!
• Too much focus on the pure start up.  Many speakers repeated the same theme.  Would benefit from also providing speakers that took a business after start up phase and successfully led through the high growth phase and created a business with lasting value.    Also, no discussions on practical operational challenges of running a software business.  For example, a real discussion on remote versus central development teams, etc.
• Attending BoS is an absolute necessity for anyone involved in software start-ups and provides invaluable information for those in established software companies.
• Expensive – lost some of the “feel” from 2011 being much larger and also the expense made me much more aware of going.
• A great conference for great entrepreneurs to exchange great information about building great business focused on making users great.
• An opportunity to take a step back from the business and get inspired and re-energized, so I can dive back into the business with new ideas, hopes, and wisdom.
• Defies summing up.  Brilliance, compassion, excellence and support all around — who else would you want to hang out, learn, and explore with?
• It’s rare that I can have an interesting business conversation with any random person next to me – this is one of the few venues where I can pick a person out of the crowd and have a deep meaningful conversation, help them, or learn from them.
• Being a software company already grown out of the startup phase and well into maturity, it’s still amazing how much I learn from this conference, which is seemingly the “how to” for start up entrepreneurs.
• Unless you’re buried under a pile of money you pretty much don’t have any excuse for not being at the Business of Software conference.
• Amazingly well done conference. The talks are outstanding and the people you’ll meet are even better.
• BoS is alike to taking a deep breath of fresh air while jogging through the park .. just that it is intellectually doing so with fresh thinking, knowledge and experiences of speakers already blazing the path being unraveled..
• A skinny dip into a pool of software passion.     A high entropy solar wind of actionable information to turn you into a badass s/w entrepreneur.
• Best conference I have ever attended!
• This conference reminded me of being in the classroom with favorite professors.  Clarity, delivery, substance–it was all there!–were the marks of every speaker.  Their collective honesty and vulnerability, frankly, made for a rich and open environment where learning can flourish, far beyond the confines of business or technology.
• It’s good to realize you’re not alone; there are many entrepreneurs facing the very same problems, and they’re just as confused as you are.
• Engaging and enlightening conference that allows you to learn more about the software industry and connect with others.
• Go for the content, re-go for the audience
• It’s like a spa weekend for software entrepreneur geeks – you leave feeling recharged, focused and centered but also a little bit sore.
• The conference every software entrepreneur must attend.
• Great place to meet, interact with, listen to, and exchange ideas with like-minded and passionate individuals.
• BoS is a great venue to meet people, share experiences and learn about how to grow in the (fascinating) business of software. In my opinion, BoS is the best conference for those who are focused in getting their startups on a path to growth through knowledge and shared experiences.
• I got enough inspiration and knowledge in three days to keep our company busy until BoS 2013. It was an experience that no other conference can offer.
• The most inspirational three days of our year. We went home with more homework on how to improve our company and our product than we’ve ever had from a different conference.
• Simply the best conference to attend if you’re serious about running a successful software company.
• Software is only as good as the problems it solves for its users.
• An intent 2 1/2 day event that condensed the best knowledge, wisdom, and experience from the world of starting, growing, and running a software company into one delicious package.
• Nice to get out of the office and have time to think about big business issues rather than the details of the day-to-day
• an awesome collage of people, ideas and information that will help bootstrap your software product company into a BADASS software business with wildly ecstatic customers.
• A bunch of ambitious, smart, hardworking geeks leveraging each other’s knowledge to create their own rules and figure out how to build profitable, sustainable businesses and lifestyles.    I also left wondering; “What is the Business of Software?”.  When is your business about software vs. services? Is GroupOn in the business of software? Is AppSumo (a GroupOn for apps/online services) in the business of software? How about Facebook are they in the business of software? Is the orientation here that the business of software is about delivering business to business products and services versus business to consumer? The line is very blurry, but the audience and content seemed much more focused on business to business solutions.
• I’m very, very tired
• Stay away if your personal finances aren’t in order, because you might just quit your day job and start a company after this meeting. (please don’t use my last name or last initial if you use this in a testimonial)
• Business of Software is a place to meet and talk with people going through the same challenges as you, then learn actionable information on how you can improve your business.
• the best mastermind group in the world for startups. most of your tech smb rockstars in one room.
• Mind stretching brain food
• The most interesting and highest-quality software conference by far. Attendees aren’t too shoddy either.
• A friendly and informal conference with inspiring speakers and attendees. An evangelical church for software entrepreneurs with charismatic ministers and testimonials from members of the congregation.
• Invaluable advice for software companies
• I found that (a) it replenished my sense of excitement and confidence in my startup, (b) drove home the point that I am not the first person to wrestle the sort of difficult questions I’m wrestling with, and (c) provided me with a LOT of ideas and perspectives to mull over going forward.
• Come and be amazed and engaged by leaders and inspirational speakers from the business of software.
• Meeting awesome people, the doers, the FOUNDERS.
• Stimulating, thought provoking, fun, thoroughly worthwhile and good value for money.
• Perfect opportunity to swap war stories and elevate everyone’s game!
• Expose yourself without the constraints of the title on your business card to change the way you approach the software business.
• Jet fuel of inspiration and problem solving tools and approaches for entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs
• The only conference I know of where you leave more mentally awake and refreshed than coming in. To anyone considering coming, DO IT.
• A college semester’s worth of training in entrepreneurship and working in the software industry, packed into three days with a room full of people who are all smarter than you.
• I was honored to be part of an incredible network of talent actively discussing how best to apply their passions and address software business challenges.
• Independence of agenda is imperative to creating an interactive and informative events for the ISV community.
• You dont know what you dont know until you know what others know.
• this wasn’t the theme of all talks, but I liked this aspect: startup wisdom for companies of all sizes and stages.
• Some hundred software biz nerds from around the world sharing their learnings.
• This was the best BoS yet. The only drawback was that there was TOO much good stuff to think about! My next six months are already overbooked!
• BoS is the only place where I feel – professionally – amongst my peers. We’re all working to use technology to build successful and sustainable businesses. I always walk away thinking bigger, thinking clearer, and looking forward to the next time I can be here again.
• As a first timer to BoS, it’s great to meet with like minded people building real business in the areas we are passionate about. That together with the high quality presenters makes this a must see conference. I will definitely be back next year.
• Great for anyone looking to start a company.
• It’s a conference about software but not about code, and one where the presentations are just one-fifth of the real show. And it picked up right where last year left off.
• Inspirational
• The BoS experience is the truest and best representative set of what is now and what is next in software from a business perspective.  Nowhere else can you have access to the people actually DOing the innovation in tech, and they are just as passionate as you are about the craft which remains so essential to success in the software business.
• If you’re serious about your software company there’s no better place to spend your money than going to this conference.
• The only place where I can meet so many similar founders and get real answers to my specific business problems.
• Amazing crowd and good content. Down to earth conversations, a good place to come back to
• Good opportunity to stay out of the day-to-day business for 3 days and reflect on some ideas/what other people are doing (and some academic research).
• BoS equips you to understand what success is to you and also how to reach it.
• That line that “the people make the conference?” It’s never more true than at BoS. So many great conversations with great people, all looking to learn from each other.
• Well worth the investment.
• Fourth year here, and the caliber of participants is better than ever.
• Inspiring
• Hear inspiring content, have amazing conversations, and make fantastic connections!
• A gathering of real entrepreneurs who help each other and build a community
• Everything about the business of software, except technology.
• BoS is a software, technology, and business focused TED. And, because of that, for me, it might be better than TED.
• Smart people. Epic learning.
• A bootstrapper’s MBA in 3 days. An opportunity to learn from software thought leaders offering actionable and seasoned advice.
• BoS is a great community of startup entrepreneurs.
• There is nothing like the Business of Software conference anywhere in the world.  It’s a place where passionate practitioners in the software industry convene to learn and share.  My favorite event of the year.