Last year, as the Business of Software Conference wrapped up its second year in Raleigh, CEO Mark Littlewood sung the praises of the “lots of people who are building here.” He also noted that in the startup world there is often a money first, then build mindset—but that he’d like to continue to play role in reversing that mindset in a place like the Triangle where so much promise already exists.
Following through on that desire, Littlewood and the BoS Conference will be back in Raleigh next week for a third consecutive year. Programming will take place Monday October 6th through Wednesday October 8th at The StateView Hotel (after spending the previous two years at the Martin Marietta Center). As of this writing, you can still register here to attend.
The BoS Conference is a three-day, one-track event where attendees can join “founders, product thinkers, and leaders” for a packed program of on-stage addresses, breakout sessions, and, this year, designated opportunities to meet speakers. As has been the case in years past, the conference will welcome attendees from all around the world (though Littlewood indicated that the local audience may comprise a larger portion of the total than in years past).
As we noted in our preview of the 2024 conference, BoS is not a conference that prioritize hyper-technical or in-the-weeds subjects like coding or finances. Rather, it revolves around high-level advice from industry leaders concerning growth, marketing, leadership, company culture, and, this year, navigating changes brought about by AI.
For a better sense of the event, check out our 2024 recap and Mark Littlewood’s Friday Nooner appearance.
For this year, you can (and should!) view the full agenda here, complete with previews of some of the talks. The general outline, though, is as follows:
Day 1
- “Birds of a Feather” breakfast
- Welcome remarks from Mark Littlewood, pictured to the right in all his glory.
- Jason Cohen (Founder & CIO of WP Engine) on “Escaping the Growth Ceiling.”
- Chris Savage (Co-Founder & CEO of Wistia) on “Building Beyond the Investment Next Round.”
- Georgiana Laudi (Co-Founder of Forget the Funnel) on “AI’s Impact on SaaS Go-to-Market Strategy.” (Laudi spoke last year about driving customer retention by prioritizing what matters most to them.)
- “Birds of a Feather” lunch break
- Kristie Jones (Sales Enchantress) on “Overcoming Founder Advantage – Building a Sales Team That Scales.”
- Breakouts and Meeting the Speakers
- Joe Leech (Founder of Mr Joe) on “Designing Your Ideal Leadership Team”).
- Conference Drinks and Buffet Dinner
Day 2
- “Birds of a Feather” breakfast
- Claire Lew (Founder & CEO of Canopy) on “The Blind Spots That Break Us.”
- Chika Emebo (IDR Solutions) on “When Four Words Collide – Turning Generational Diversity Into Your Superpower.”
- Joel Gascoigne (Founder & CEO of Buffer) on “Navigating A Multi-Year Decline To New All-Time Highs.”
- “Birds of a Feather” lunch break
- Amir Salihefendić (Founder & CEO of Doist) on “Invisible, Essential, Inevitable – AI Where It Matters.”
- Breakouts and Meeting the Speakers
- Lightning Talks
- Raleigh drinks and dinners
Day 3
- “Birds of a Feather” breakfast
- Pierre Chamberland (Founder & CEO of Netgovern) on “Just Make Everyone A Shareholder.”
- Chris Mele (Managing Software of Software Pricing Partners) & Bill Spruill (Co-Founder & CEO of Global Data Consortium, Friend of GrepBeat, and previous Download subject) on “The Price Of AI.”
- Bruce McCarthy (Founder of Product Culture) on “Evolving Clear Strategy From Emerging Vision.”
- Conference wrap-up
Business of Software 2025 has been organized in partnership with CED and with additional support from QuietLight, The SaaS CFO, Atomic Object, and, wouldn’t you know it, those fine folks over at GrepBeat.
Some of said fine folks will be in attendance throughout the conference. If you’re not able to attend, keep your eyes peeled for our recap, wherein we’ll cover the speakers, the event as a whole, and Mark Littlewood’s latest thoughts on his ongoing project here in the Triangle.
