Connecting Thought Leaders in SaaS

The Ascent Annual Conference

October 6 – October 8, 2021

Registration Coming Soon!

1000

Invite-Only Executives

+40%

C-Level

+50%

VP-Level

$20m+

Annual Revenue

Virtual Platform

A Highly Engaging Virtual Experience – 3 Days of Virtual Content and Networking Featuring the Top Thought Leaders in the SaaS Space.

NETWORK AND MAKE NEW CONNECTIONS

Network and set up video meetings with the right people with our AI-Powered networking app.

INTERACTIVE ROUNDTABLES

Each interactive roundtable and workshop is designed to help you build the skills needed to thrive.

ATTEND LIVE VIRTUAL WEBINARS

The biggest names in SaaS bringing you top-quality keynotes & firesides.

Learn About Sponsorship Options

Conference Demographics

TITLES and LEVELS

C-Level/Founder (39%)

Other (19%)

Director (16%)

VP (14%)

Manager (12%)

POSITIONS and CATEGORIES

CEO/Founder (23%)

Marketing (20%)

Sales/Biz Dev (17%)

Investing (12%)

Operations (12%)

Client Success (7%)

Dev (4%)

Press (3%)

ANNUAL REVENUE

$50-100MM ARR (24%)

$100M+ ARR (18%)

$30-50M ARR (29%)

$10-20M ARR (14%)

$20-30M ARR (15%)

2020 Speakers

Sarah Bird

CEO Moz

Lu Zhang

Founder & Managing Partner Fusion Fund

Neal Sales-Griffin

Managing Director Techstars

Esther Dyson

Executive Founder Wellville

Chris Savage

CEO & Founder Wistia

David Siegel

CEO Meetup

Christi Olson

Head of Evangelism for Search Microsoft

Rand Fishkin

CEO SparkToro

More 2020 Speakers 2020 Agenda

Sarah Bird

CEO Moz

Sarah Bird serves as the CEO of Moz, the world leader in Search Engine Optimization software. With Sarah’s leadership, the company has grown to over 34,000 customers, 150 employees, $60+mm annual revenue, raised $30mm venture capital, launched multiple software products, and created a beloved marketing brand. Prior to Moz, Sarah practiced law and travelled the world. She regularly speaks about entrepreneurship, business models, search marketing, women in tech, and fostering an inspiring company culture. She has served on the boards of Sitrion, a private company, and the Washington Technology Industry Association. Sarah was named a Henry Crown Fellow, Geekwire CEO of the Year Finalist three times, Role Model of the Year, Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, Puget Sound Business Journal 40 Under 40, a Top 100 Women in Tech.

Lu Zhang

Founder & Managing Partner Fusion Fund

Lu Zhang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund, a renowned Silicon Valley based investor, a serial entrepreneur and a Stanford Engineering alumna. Fusion Fund is active in supporting early-stage entrepreneurs who are looking to build globally disruptive companies using innovative technologies to drive systemic change originating from the U.S market. For the past couple of years, Lu leads the Fusion Fund team funnels exits of multiple portfolios’ IPO and M&As. Lu received the title of 2018 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (Davos). She has also garnered other accolades including the Featured Honoree in VC of Forbes 30 Under 30 (2017), Silicon Valley Women of Influence (2018), Town & Country 50 Modern Swans – Entrepreneurship Influencer (2017) and Top 10 All America Chinese Youth (2018). Prior to starting Fusion Fund, Lu was the Founder and CEO of a medical device company focused on non-invasive technology for the early diagnosis of Type II diabetes (acquired in 2012). Lu is active in the entrepreneur and investor communities and serves as a board member and 2020 president for Youth Council of Future Forum.

Neal Sales-Griffin

Managing Director Techstars

Neal Sáles-Griffin is an entrepreneur, teacher, and nonprofit leader. He co-founded the first beginner-focused in-person coding bootcamp, and most recently ran for mayor of Chicago. He's currently the Managing Director of Techstars Chicago, serves as co-chair of the School of the Art Institute's MakeWork council, and is an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering where he teaches entrepreneurship.

Esther Dyson

Executive Founder Wellville

Esther Dyson(@edyson) is executive founder of Wellville(@WaytoWellville), a 10-year nonprofit project (2015-2024) to nudge society towards long-term and equitable thinking by showing the social and financial value of investing in health for all. She is also an active angel investor, focusing on human capital and health (more than “care”), space travel and a variety of useful innovations in areas such as agtech and logistics. She started her career as a proofreader, journalist, Wall Street analyst and finally editor/publisher/conference manager (Release 1.0 and PC Forum - 1982-2007). In 1996, she wrote the best-seller “Release 2.0: A design for living in the digital age (Broadway Books). In addition to a Harvard BA in economics, she earned a certificate of completion from the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (2009) outside Moscow, for her six months of training as a backup cosmonaut.

Chris Savage

CEO & Founder Wistia

Chris Savage is the co-founder and CEO of Wistia, a web-based software solution that helps marketers turn viewers into brand advocates to grow their businesses. After graduating from Brown University, Chris and his co-founder Brendan Schwartz, started Wistia in Brendan’s living room in 2006. They founded the company with the goal of helping businesses effectively market their products or services more creatively through video. Recently, Savage and Schwartz turned down an offer to sell Wistia and took on $17.3M in debt instead, which allowed them to buy out their investors, gain full control of Wistia, and take the path less traveled in the tech industry. Now, more than 500,000 businesses across 50 countries depend on Wistia's products to build their brands and their businesses, including HubSpot, MailChimp, Sephora, Starbucks, and Tiffany & Co.

David Siegel

CEO Meetup

David Siegel is the CEO of Meetup, the leading social media platform dedicated to online groups that meet in person. He has over 20 years of experience as a technology and digital media executive leading organizations through innovative product development, rapid revenue growth and traffic acceleration. Prior to joining Meetup, David was CEO of Investopedia and before that, President of Seeking Alpha. David holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics & Economics and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and Pace University where he teaches courses in Strategic Planning & Entrepreneurship.

Christi Olson

Head of Evangelism for Search Microsoft

Christi is the Head of Evangelism for Bing at Microsoft, and since 2015 has been annually recognized by PPC Hero and her peers as one of the 25 Most Influential PPC Experts. For over a decade she has managed digital marketing and analytics teams across Enterprises, Agencies and Start-Ups. Her love for digital and expertise in search has led her to keynote and speak at hundreds of conferences globally, including at over 80 conferences in 2018. She is a contributing author about all things search, conversational AI, and digital marketing across the web at Entrepreneur, TheNextWeb, MarketingProfs, Search Engine Land, and Search Engine Journal.

Rand Fishkin

CEO SparkToro

Rand Fishkin is the cofounder and CEO of SparkToro. He’s dedicated his professional life to helping people do better marketing through his blogging, videos, speaking, and his book, Lost and Founder. When Rand’s not working, he’s most likely to be in the company of his partner in marriage and (mostly petty) crime, author Geraldine DeRuiter. If you feed him great pasta or great whisky, he’ll give you the cheat code to rank #1 on Google.