Guest Post: “There are other people like you – it’s not all Silicon Valley!”

Lianna Patch and Alli Blum here – conversion copywriters extraordinaire and not-so-secret SaaS geeks.

Having met online just a few weeks before Business of Software 2017, Alli and I naturally threw caution to the winds and decided to become in-person BFFs at the conference this year.

But mere friendship wasn’t enough for two Type A copywriters. Nope.

We also decided to do a conference “takeover”, and interview BoS speakers and longtime attendees about their conference experience!

We asked everyone the same 3 questions:

• What do you most want to teach at the next BoS?
• What topics or ideas do you come to BoS to learn about?
• Why do you keep coming back to BoS? (Or why would you return?)

And because #conferencelife is always crazy, we caught up on Slack with some of the speakers whom we couldn’t interview in person.

Hopefully these honest answers (which, you’ll notice, share a common theme) convey what Alli and I felt immediately. This is a conference for founders and teams who are comitted not just to building better software, but a better world – and who are willing to be open and vulnerable about their challenges so others can learn from them.

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Brennan Dunn, RightMessage

https://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/m8lkvjcoop?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

 

Bridget Harris, YouCanBookMe

What do you most want to teach at the next BoS?

How to learn from my mistakes.

What topics or ideas do you come to BoS to learn about?

Other people’s mistakes.

Why do you keep coming back to BoS?

The depth of experience and professionalism in the crowd. There’s no BS – it’s straight to the good stuff.

 

Elliot Murphy, KindlyOps

https://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/7enwym459p?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

 

Jason Cohen, WPEngine

https://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/ycwvkpjd0n?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

 

Joanna Wiebe, Airstory + Copy Hackers

https://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/wdcbly23vt?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

 

John Knox, HomeAway

What do you most want to teach at the next BoS?

I’d love to teach personal finance for founders. Everyone has a personal notion of wealth, which I find fascinating. Wealth ties itself to our notions of happiness, self worth, even what we believe we’re capable of.

Also, folks with business talent don’t necessarily have talent managing their own money. I’ve met founders who have lost it all, founders who are rich and unhappy, and founders who feel trapped by their own business. Surprise: a successful business doesn’t mean you’re done growing.

What topics or ideas do you come to BoS to learn about?

I come to BoS to learn the things I didn’t know I should know. It’s really inspiring to see how creative the BoS speakers and attendees are. They approach business (and life) differently than most, and they’re willing to share what they learn. BoS attendees are my role models 🙂

Why do you keep coming back to BoS?

The people keep me coming back to BoS. It’s that simple. Where else can you talk to these folks, learn from them, and be treated like a peer or a friend?

 

Jonathan Tarud, Saasler

What do you most want to teach at the next BoS?

I want to someday be able to talk at BoS. A lot of the speakers and attendees have had a huge impact on me and my business over the years. i just want to be able to return the favor with some of the things I’ve learned.

What topics or ideas do you come to BoS to learn about?

One of the hardest things is typically sales, marketing and product strategy. There’s a lot of that at BoS, and it’s in the name: it’s what it takes to become an actual business in the software space.

That there is a conference like this is a privilege, since most others are typically on the technical side.

Why do you keep coming back to BoS?

The people. The speakers. The lessons learned.

 

Mike Taber, BlueTick.io & Dave Collins, Software Promotions

https://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/g8qg895cto?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

 

Peldi Guilizzoni, Balsamiq

https://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/dflgh7gyzr?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

 

Scott Berkun, Author

What do you most want to teach at the next BoS?

I’d love to teach “The ultimate magic killer secret to everything” because there’s no such thing – it’d be a short and easy talk to give!

What topics or ideas do you come to BoS to learn about?

A favorite thing is that all the speakers are veterans and speak from experience. I never know which talk I’ll get the most from, and that’s part of the fun.

Why do you keep coming back to BoS?

Mark invites me! Hard to refuse an invitation from the man himself.

 

Sherry Walling, ZenFounder

https://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/45sibdz37p?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

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Thanks to Lianna and Alli for this guest post! Keep in contact with them in these places:

Lianna Patch, Punchline Copy

Twitter    //   LinkedIn   //   Website

Alli Blum, How Do They Get Customers

Twitter   //   LinkedIn   //   Website