The 5 Most Impactful BoSTalks of 2017

There are over 170 published talks from Business of Software Conferences available to watch right now.

That’s a lot of talks.

Tens of Thousands of hours worth of Business of Software talks were watched this year. New talks, old talks, short talks, long talks.

Out of those 170, which talks did the good people of the Business of Software Newsletter deem the most useful to them in 2017?

(You can sign up for said excellent Newsletter here)

Here are the 5 most recommended talks from 2017:

5 – What Would A Founder Tell His Younger Self?

Rand Fishkin, the self titled ‘Wizard of Moz’, opened up about his life as an entrepreneur. Looking back at his career at Moz, what would he change? What would he keep the same? In this honest and entertaining talk, Rand gives a lot of helpful pointers for people growing their SaaS businesses.

 

4 – How We Almost Messed Up Trello

A great tradition of Business of Software is CEOs and Founders sharing lessons they have learned off the back of mistakes they’ve made. Considering Trello was acquired by Atlassian for $425m earlier this year, it’s probably fair to say that the ‘almost’ in the talk title is pretty important here. A fascinating interview with Michael Pryor, the CEO of the post-it note software with over 25 million users.

 

3 – Lessons Learned In 17 Years Building And Exiting A SaaS Company

If anyone knows about anything about running a SaaS company, Gail Goodman does. Her previous talk at BoS is one of our most popular ever. Here she reflects on some of the key learnings that made Constant Contact a success – Pricing, Leadership, Teams, and Strategy are just a few of her topics in this talk. It’s fair to say that Gail rode the long, slow, SaaS ramp of death, and won.

 

2 – How Can We Use Tech To Hack The Human Consciousness?

Your customers don’t always behave how you want them to. Fact. Even with your brilliant UX, copy that’s been iterated to perfection, and a clear CTA, for some reason not everyone is converting. Rory Sutherland dives into the human unconscious and discusses how to help your customers make the right decision. A brilliant, hilarious, and incredibly insightful talk.

 

1 – The Agony And Ecstasy Of Selling My Business

What is it like to sell a business that you founded – your company, your baby, that you’ve poured years of hard work and graft into? What is the night before closing like for the founder? Is an exit the pinnacle of success for a SaaS business? Jason Eckenroth has been through it, and in this talk he gives an incredibly honest and open account of what it was like to sell the business he founded, ShipCompliant. A worthy number 1 on this list.

 

We’ve got some fascinating talks from our 2017 Conferences still to publish in the new year. Make sure you sign up to our newsletter below to ensure you don’t miss out on more top quality SaaS talks.