Lightning Talks at BoS USA 2025 – Will You Be on Stage?

At Business of Software Conferences, some of the most surprising, memorable, and actionable insights come from the Lightning Talks.

These are short, sharp, 7.5-minute talks given by attendees on topics they care deeply about. No fluff. No long intros. Just insight, storytelling and impact.

And yes: Lightning Talks are back for BoS USA 2025. Applications are now open.

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What are Lightning Talks?

Lightning Talks are a BoS tradition. Here’s what makes them special:

• 7.5 minutes. That’s it. Just enough time to say something meaningful.
• Real stories, real lessons. No sales pitches. Just ideas that stick.
• Anyone can apply. Whether you’re a founder, product manager, engineer, or marketer — if you’ve got something powerful to share, we want to hear it.

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Why Should You Apply

• You don’t need to be a pro speaker. Just bring your voice and your story.
• You’ll get coaching. BoS helps you shape your talk with friendly speaker support.
• You’ll stand out. On stage, in front of a thoughtful, engaged community of SaaS leaders.

And most importantly: you’ll contribute to the heart of BoS – honest, human stories that help others build better software businesses.

It’s a rare opportunity to spend time thinking about a specific topic of your own choosing and distilling it down into something you can quickly and effectively communicate to others.

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Past Lightning Talks have covered everything from:

• Running a company while parenting toddlers
• What burnout taught me about building better software
• How I built a culture of feedback in a remote team
• Lessons from shutting down a product

Check the latest talks:

Steve McLeod – How Bootstrapped Teams Really Choose What Feature to Build Next

Steve shares 5 unique and interesting approaches he’s discovered so far.

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Gareth Marlow: No One Knows What They’re Doing. Especially You. Lead Anyway.

Gareth Marlow shows you why waiting until you feel “ready” is a trap, and how embracing uncertainty-with confidence-separates those who lead from those who hesitate.

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How do you apply and how do we select the speakers?

• You submit your idea here by Friday 5th September 2025.
• We will select a short list of talks.
• From the applications, we select a maximum of five talks to speak on stage.
• In the event that we have too many great quality applications, we will select a smaller group of the potential talks and invite those speakers to participate in a bake off during day one of the conference at which one of the speakers will be invited to speak on the second day.

Submit your Lightning Talk here. Deadline Friday 5th September.

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