You know those people have one million pictures of their dog in their phone’s camera album? Well, that’s me. However, in my phone’s album, the one million pictures are of me attending Business of Software events.
I’ve got pictures of speakers, of the lunch, of Mark walking around introducing people, of speaker’s slides, of the venue the BoS team has chosen to hold the event. You name it, I look like I’m obsessed. There are so many pictures.
And this year’s BoS in Cambridge only added to this growing collection.
BoS, Cambridge, was my second in-person event. The first (BoS USA) involved me flying to Boston, US, to watch some amazing speakers and experience what the BoS community really was all about. This one – on “home soil” – allowed me to continue the fun and play a part in contributing to the community.
What I enjoy about BoS is that it’s a single-track event. It provides attendees with a unique experience to listen to some of the most interesting speakers when it comes to building software businesses. You don’t have to pick a speaker, it’s been curated in a way that you get to watch people who take you on a journey of growing your business. It’s thoughtful.
Unlike other events I’ve attended, it’s clear to me they put a lot of effort into who they choose to speak to, ensuring the speakers are as diverse as their audience and the customers who buy their products.
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on 22 April aimed at promoting environmental awareness and encouraging people to take action to protect our planet. First celebrated in 1970, Earth Day has become a global movement, with millions of people in more than 190 countries participating in various activities and events.
There are many ways that individuals and businesses can contribute to this effort. Some simple steps that everyone can take include reducing energy consumption, recycling, using eco-friendly products, and conserving water. Businesses can also adopt sustainable practices, such as reducing waste, minimising energy use, and investing in renewable energy sources.
There are two types of conferences: those that look like a full fledged garden centre with multiple areas (tracks) attending to different types of greenery (topics), and those that focus on a specific type of growth-worthy species like orchids (founders) or drought resistant plants (entrepreneurs).
Business of Software conference is definitely that boutique kind of experience, with the organising team going to great lengths to make sure every single participant gets the most out of their attendance; a bit like the experienced gardener in your local orchid place who knows every plant’s light preference by heart.
Raleigh, North Carolina is home to a thriving technology industry, making it an excellent location for the Business of Software USA Conference. Here are just some reasons why Raleigh is good for tech folk:
Spending some of those days with BoS friends filled with insights, mind blowing ideas, shifting perspectives, clearing the cobwebs, and having fabulous conversations and laughs – in person!? Yes, yes, yes!
My second attempt at an in-person BoS conference was more successful and exceeded all my expectations! My business partner (and husband), Mike, attended as well. At almost a week later, we are still debriefing, brainstorming, and working through shifting our offerings to more meaningful whole-company quality for our clients.
From my previous blog post here, I did not quite answer the question “How has BoS changed our perspective, our company, or our way of working?”, but this conference’s talks, conversations, lunches, breakout sessions, and more, have provided us with many new insights, as well as reminders of past ideas.
They’re doing great things in the region and are a truly awesome partner for us.
We bring SaaS and software entrepreneurs in the BoS community from around the world together and we know they will get a great welcome.
Regional entrepreneurs are able to join and contribute to an extraordinary network of people. Together so we can spend time thinking about building great businesses.
“We are proud to partner with BoS and welcome you to our tech ecosystem in North Carolina. Having attended Business of Software myself, I can attest to the extraordinary speakers and the unique atmosphere that encourages a spirit of open learning and mutual support among the attendees. I was immediately aligned with the approach to support, a shared philosophy here at CED. As partners, we look forward to creating a memorable experience for all at BoS USA.”
Kelly Rowell, CEO at CED.
Why Raleigh?
So many reasons but here’s my summary:
North Carolina companies have been regular attendees at BoS. The three founder CEOs of Global Data Consortium, Precision Lender and Kevel have attended the conference over 30 times between them and have always championed the cluster. They’ve had some remarkable success over the past few years. We’ve noticed.
The tech cluster in NC is established and on the rise. It has a dynamic tech community, world-class universities, innovative startups and established tech giants. There are some remarkable software companies there.
We went to visit and were blown away by the friendliness of the people, the food, the culture. The willingness to make things happen.
We also think the amazing teams at CED and 2ndF, (pronounced 2 En Dee Eff), share our values, our goals and our belief, Building a company is hard but there is no one single right way to be successful. Bringing smart entrepreneurs together to offer an opportunity to share ideas helps people, companies and ecosystems grow together.
All in all, it feels very BoS.
Added bonus: From touchdown at the airport to sitting in a taxi took 23 minutes. At least 2 hours and 23 minutes less than I have ever got through Logan.
Final word for now from long time BoS attendee, speaker and all round mensch, Bill Spruill:
“I’ve been a long time attendee of Business of Software Conferences and always felt our region would benefit from the world-class learning as well as exposure for our regional entrepreneurs to successful companies from across the globe. As part of my mission to galvanize the entrepreneurial culture here, it’s a coup to bring the conference to NC.”
Bill Spruill, Founder – Global Data Consortium, Chairman – CED
We’ll share more about the venue, the location, the conference, the people that make the cluster tick in due course but BoS Conf USA 2023 is going to be special for so many reasons. Cannot wait.
Hop-On Hop-Off Cambridge: Guided Open Top Bus Tour
The wonderful people over at Quiet Light are happy to announce they’re taking attendees on a tour of Cambridge before early registration on Sunday 26 March!
At Business of Software we want to make a positive impact to you and your business whilst avoiding a negative impact on the world. This has been made even more clear in the aftermath of the pandemic.
When we moved everything online in 2020 we were left with a mountain of BoS merch that didn’t have a home to go to.
The last few days have been some of the most traumatic ever for many in the SaaS and software ecosystem. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), would undoubtedly been a near extinction event for growth stage software companies across the world. They had become a very significant player in the global tech banking ecosystem and the potential disaster of a very large proportion of software companies not being able to access their funds, whether from customer revenue, equity or debt funding would not only have created chaos, it could well have precipitated a much wider global run on banks.
Fortunately, entrepreneurs, investors, SVB staff, industry bodies and let’s not forget, the US and UK governments, have been fast to move to ensure in different ways that those that banked with SVB are able to access their funds and continue normal operations. Of course, there will challenges to come, but the prospect of so many companies becoming insolvent has been averted.
This was probably the first social media bank run in history and it was not a pretty sight. From the run on the bank being accelerated by talk on social media, the instant experts who knew nothing, the hot takes, the pile ons from anyone who had a point to prove or a score to settle, social media has made the situation much worse. The last few days have been a horrible time to be an entrepreneur, or to work in a tech company, without the constant cacophony of uninformed opinion.
Thankfully, in the US and UK at least, there is some clarity now. Other countries are likely following their leads. We hope for the sake of the amazing people in this industry who work hard everyday to create jobs and do great things, that will happen very quickly.
What We Do Now
Imagine being a company founder who had left for a long weekend hike off-grid on Wednesday with no access to the internet to return early Monday morning, refreshed, revived and revved up for the week ahead. It turns out that being away for that time meant they missed all the drama.
