Cracking the US is a massive opportunity, but it can be a minefield. Hear from operators who’ve done the miles. Caleb Helm (VP Global Operations & Partnerships, Lumin), Nick Whitehead (CMO, Serko), Ruth Macleod (ex‑NZTE), and Byron Powell (CRO, Parkable) share practical strategies, missteps to avoid, and what they’d do differently if they started again. This webinar is followed by an exclusive 15 minute Q&A for KiwiSaaS members. 

What you’ll learn:

• When to enter: timing your move and structuring your go-to-market strategy 

• Compliance basics: the must-knows to stay out of trouble 

• Building on-the-ground presence: hiring, location and first US roles

• Localisation that lands: pricing, packaging and messaging for US buyers

• Pitfalls to dodge: common mistakes that derail promising expansions

Who should attend?

Founders, CROs/CMOs, GTM leaders and expansion teams planning or accelerating US entry.

Event details:

• DATE: Thursday 19 February

• TIME: 12.00 - 1.00pm

• LOCATION: ONLINE

• COST: Free

NOTE: Registrations for this event are currently closed.

All signals are pointing to wholesale transformation of how we build software.

Let's share experiences, hear from people who are further ahead in agentic development, and explore how we push into this in the context of our larger tech teams.

Presenters including:

• Andrew Butel – $25 developer days with Telos

• JD Trask – AI led development and agent platforms with Autohive and Raygun

• Diego Abrianos – Resolving 30% of bugs before they get to humans at Ask Nicely

• Tony Schollum – Shifting to agentic coding, and shipping paid AI products at Re-Leased

Further speakers to be announced

Who should attend?

CTOs, CPOs & Heads of Engineering of larger KiwiSaaS members ($5m+ ARR). Members are invited to join with up to 2 participants per company.

Event details:

• DATE: Tuesday 17 February

• TIME: 9.00am - 12.00pm

• LOCATION: Auror Offices, Auckland

• COST: Free

Join us for a late afternoon of networking and drinks as we wrap up the summer season with fellow SaaS operators in Christchurch!

Event details:

• Date: Thursday, 12th February 2026

• Time: 4:00pm - 7:00pm

• Location: Lumin Offices, 101/210 Armagh Street, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch 8011

• Cost: Free. Drinks and snacks kindly provided by Lumin.

Come along to connect with the local SaaS community, share stories from the summer period, and kick off 2026 with great conversations over drinks and nibbles.

Whether you're building, scaling, or just navigating the world of SaaS in New Zealand, this is a relaxed opportunity to meet others on similar journeys.

What to expect:

· Casual networking with SaaS founders, operators and supporters

· Drinks and light refreshments provided

· Good conversation and community building

Who should come: SaaS founders, operators, and anyone involved in the New Zealand SaaS ecosystem.

You’ve heard about Tracksuit’s wild growth, now ask the Co-Founder & CEO how they did it! Connor Archbold will share what’s worked (and what hasn’t) on the journey from Kiwi startup to global brand-tracking platform. This Ask Me Anything session is followed by an exclusive 10 minute Q&A for KiwiSaaS members.

Tracksuit are on a roll, there’s no shortage of stuff to ask Connor about:

• Raising $40m recently for accelerating global expansion

• Growing a startup to a team of 150 across NZ, US, UK and Australia

• Serving more than 1,000 clients, including blue chips like Disney & Uber Eats

Who should attend?

Founders, marketing and revenue leaders at companies targeting global growth or preparing for the next raise. 

Event details:

• DATE: Tuesday 16 December

• TIME: 11.00am - 11.55am

• LOCATION: Online webinar

• COST: Free

Cracking the US market can be daunting for lean Kiwi startups. This session with Rithum’s Cam Dufty, Jen Leaver and Experian’s Bethany Rasio, MBA, shows how content can help you break through the noise, build credibility with US customers/investors and drive pipeline without adding headcount or budget. Our marketing leaders who’ve taken startups from minute to mighty will share practical models you can apply today. This session is followed by an exclusive 10 minute Q&A for KiwiSaaS members.

What you’ll learn:

• How to build consistent brand signals and a voice that resonates globally

• Scaling output with AI, without sounding generic

• New ways to unearth compelling and proof-rich stories

• Using social platforms as both distribution engines and real-time research labs

• Measuring content impact tied to US market entry goals

Who should attend?

Founders, marketers and small teams looking to enter or expand in the US market.

Event details:

• DATE: Thursday 11 December

• TIME: 1.00 - 1.55pm

• LOCATION: Online webinar

• COST: Free

Auckland, let’s wrap 2025 in style. Join KiwiSaaS, Digital Garage, Hudson Gavin Martin and Stripe for our first annual SaaSmas Party. It’s a mega‑office Xmas celebration for the city’s biggest SaaS community.

We’ve got DJ Two Step on the decks, food and drinks all night, plus prizes for loudest festive fit and best-branded SaaS crew.

Connect with hundreds of founders, operators and product builders, celebrate a massive year, and help kick off a new era of IRL KiwiSaaS gatherings in the tech powerhouse of Aotearoa.

What you’ll get:

• 2 drinks tokens per ticket (then pay-as-you-go or trade with friends)

• Delicious food

• Packed room of smart SaaS humans and end-of-year good energy

Event details:

• DATE: Wednesday 3 December

• TIME: 6.00pm onwards

• LOCATION: Morningside Tavern, 16 McDonald Street, Auckland 1025

• GETTING THERE: Limited parking. Jump on the train, the station is 100m from the venue.

• COST: Early bird: $45 per person
  Team bundle: 6 tickets for $200
  Late bird: $55 (from 22 November)
  

No refunds, no door sales, tickets must be purchased in advance. Grab your spot now.

Supported by:

Party pics:

Thanks to our national partners:

Most SaaS founders unintentionally throw money away, not because their tools are bad, but because of broken RevOps foundations and misaligned teams. In this webinar, AllDemand co-founders Eva McCann and Sam McCann will be joined by Toby Sharp, Head of Revenue and Business Operations at ComplyPro, to discuss the expensive mistakes they see every day in New Zealand SaaS. They’ll share stories, from startups to fast-scaling companies to show where well-meaning teams let pipeline leaks and revenue friction kill momentum. This session is followed by an exclusive 10 minute Q&A for KiwiSaaS members.

What you’ll learn:

• How to spot the real cash leaks: diagnose broken RevOps foundations and misaligned teams

• Identify over-engineered stacks and siloed data that slow growth (and what to cut or consolidate)

• How to find and fix pipeline leaks and revenue friction 

• Streamline process (not stacking tools) to drive predictable, scalable growth

• Frameworks to re-align marketing, sales and customer success

Who should attend?

Founders, CEOs, RevOp, Sales, Marketing and Customer Success leaders

Event details:

• DATE: Tuesday 2 December

• TIME: 1.00 - 1.55pm

• LOCATION: Online webinar

• COST: Free

We’re bringing together leading voices in SaaS and AI sales to unpack what’s really happening on the front line of GTM right now. Join us in conversation with SaaS sales legend Matt Cameron, Grw AI’s Alex McNaughten and Apprento’s Scotty Freeman.

From Silicon Valley boardrooms to scrappy startups, we’ll explore the latest trends, tools and team dynamics shaping modern revenue engines, including how the best sales teams are building resilient cultures, adapting to AI-driven selling and redesigning GTM for an AI-led world.

What you’ll learn:

• Top GTM trends from the U.S. tech scene: what matters vs what’s hype

• How high-performing teams blend AI and human intelligence across the funnel

• Practical plays NZ SaaS companies can apply now to stay competitive

Who should attend?

Founders, CEOs, sales and marketing leaders and managers. Anyone building or leading a revenue engine!  This session is followed by an exclusive 10 minute Q&A for KiwiSaaS members.

Event details:

• DATE: Thursday 27 November

• TIME: 1.00 - 1.55pm

• LOCATION: Online webinar

• COST: Free

What makes a successful commercial strategy for tech companies? We’re taking a closer look at the decisions that matter most. Join our practical webinar on structuring offers, choosing the right revenue model and setting prices with confidence as you grow.

This session is facilitated by Simon Hess, Director at Simon-Kucher, the world’s leading growth consultancy. Simon works with software and internet companies across all stages of maturity, from scale-ups to global enterprises. With extensive international project experience he helps firms translate commercial ambition into measurable results.

What you’ll learn:

• How to structure your product offering so it resonates with customers

• Which revenue models fit different business contexts (and why)

• How to pick a price metric that reflects customer value and scales

• Proven approaches to confidently set prices

Who should attend?

Founders, finance and GTM leaders and product managers. This session is followed by an exclusive 10 minute Q&A for KiwiSaaS members.

Event details:

• DATE: Thursday 27 November

• TIME: 1.00 - 1.55pm

• LOCATION: Online webinar

• COST: Free

'Tis the season to connect, celebrate, and discuss churn rates over cocktails.

Join Christchurch's SaaS community for our end-of-year bash at Crisp & Vale. Whether you're scaling your startup, supporting the ecosystem, or just here for the DJ and drinks—you're in the right place.

Expect: Live DJ spinning beats, competitions (best branded swag, mystery prizes), arrival drinks, food, and the kind of conversations that turn into partnerships, hires, or at least LinkedIn connections.

• When: Wednesday 26 November, 5:30pm to late

• Where: Crisp & Vale

• Tickets: $40

Come for the vibes. Stay for the SaaS talk. Leave with new friends and probably someone's pitch deck.

Supported by:

Party pics:

Photos from Lumin/KiwiSaaS' Caleb Helm and Younity's Rachael Tobeck

Thanks to our national partners

Join Stripe and KiwiSaaS for a networking get-together in Auckland.

Come share the SaaSmas spirit with the New Zealand SaaS community and hear growth stories from real Kiwi customers. Find out more about growth strategies to help you sleigh scale, make merry monetisation, and bring joy to users.

About:

In this edition of Stripe’s SaaS Connect events, we’re excited to welcome Kami’s co-founder Alliv Samson.

Alliv is the cofounder and chief operations officer of Kami, one of New Zealand’s most inspiring startup success stories. This pioneering Kiwi edtech company is transforming how students and teachers collaborate with digital learning resources.

Kami has become a global powerhouse and the co-founders were recently named EY Entrepreneur of the Year! It was also named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential companies of 2022, with 50 million users around the world. In 2025, Alliv also launched Hiraya Ventures, a family office and investment fund with the goal to support the next generation of global Kiwi success stories.

What you’ll learn:

• Customer stories from Kiwi leaders: Hear firsthand how local businesses are building scalable, monetisable platforms.

• Network with the NZ SaaS community: Connect with fellow founders, product and engineering leaders, and the Stripe NZ team over drinks and snacks.

• Emerging trends and strategies for monetisation and pricing: From subscriptions and usage-based billing to embedded payments and revenue-sharing models.

• Global go-to-market insights: Learn what it takes to launch and grow in international markets, including managing cross-border payments, compliance, and reporting.

• Product demos: Get under the hood with Stripe Billing, Payments, and Connect.

Who should attend?

SaaS founders, product leaders, and growth-focused teams looking to scale beyond New Zealand and network with other like-minded businesses.

Event details:

• DATE: Wednesday 26 November

• TIME: 3.00 - 6.00pm

• LOCATION: QT Auckland

• COST: Free

Every startup runway is different and your marketing should be too. In this practical webinar, we’ll map the GTM moves that fit each stage of a tech company’s journey: what to spend (and what not to), how to measure what’s working, and how to align ambition with cash in the bank.

This session is facilitated by Christelle Blanchet‑Aissaoui, a certified Revenue Architect with 25+ years’ international experience helping Kiwi SaaS scale globally, and Tim Nichols, a GTM strategist with 25 years across four continents who’s led marketing from startup through IPO.

What you’ll learn:

• Step-by-step GTM: validation, priorities, channels and team building

• Budgeting to your runway: where to invest now vs. later, with benchmarks and trade-offs

• Proving it works: simple metrics, feedback loops, and dashboards that guide decisions

• Aligning GTM and finance: pacing experiments, resourcing, and scenario planning

About Proxi:

Proxi provides fractional go-to-market leadership to NZ’s fastest-growing tech companies ($1M–$15M ARR), delivering expertise in marketing strategy, sales enablement, and customer success. Over seven years they’ve partnered with 100+ companies, including Portainer, Easy Crypto, Mindhive Global, FileInvite, and Optimal Workshop, helping raise $75M+ while building durable GTM capability.

Learn more at proxi.co.nz.

Who should attend?

Founders, marketing, and revenue leaders aligning GTM with limited runway or preparing for the next raise. Register now to right-size your marketing, prove traction, and extend your runway.

Event details:

• DATE: Wednesday 26 November

• TIME: 1.00 - 2.00pm

• LOCATION: Online webinar

• COST: Free

Organic search remains the #1 traffic source for most SaaS businesses, but the game is changing. With B2B buyers increasingly turning to ChatGPT and other LLMs for research, how you show up in generative AI responses is becoming just as critical as your Google rankings. Join Alla Lvovich from Atlas Digital at this actionable half-day workshop for larger KiwiSaaS members ($5m+ ARR) and gain a clear understanding of how to future-proof your organic growth strategy in an AI-driven search landscape.

What you’ll learn:

• why organic search is still your most valuable channel (and how it impacts everything else)

• the shift happening now: B2B buyers moving from Google to ChatGPT for research

• what Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is and why it matters for your SaaS business

• how traditional SEO performance influences how LLMs rank and recommend your company

• practical strategies to optimise for both search engines and generative AI platforms

Who should attend?

KiwiSaaS members ($5m+ ARR) are welcome to send up to 2 staff to this free-of-charge workshop. 

Event details:

• DATE: Tuesday 25 November

• TIME: 9.00am - 12.00pm

• LOCATION: Serko, Saatchi & Saatchi Building Level 1, 125 The Strand Parnell, Auckland 1010

• COST: Free

The rise of AI search is changing how your prospects discover products and your SEO strategy has to pivot to stay competitive. Join Whippet Digital’s Mike Morgan for a practical, no-fluff session on what’s changed, what still matters and how to win in a multi-platform, AI-accelerated search landscape. This session is followed by an exclusive 10 minute Q&A for KiwiSaaS members.

What you’ll learn:

• The reality about search volume changes, radical shifts in measurement and the shift to zero click user behaviour

• Semantic density and overlap: how to craft content that works for both LLMs and humans

• Topic clusters and query fan-out: what they are and how to apply them in SaaS

• The 8 pillars of the new SEO for classic search and AI-driven discovery

• What’s next for SEO in SaaS and where to invest now

Who should attend?

SaaS founders, marketing and growth leaders looking to grow their pipeline in an AI-led world

Event details:

• DATE: Monday 24 November

• TIME: 1.00 - 1.55pm

• LOCATION: Online webinar

• COST: Free

Discover your leadership superpowers and how to use them to get the best out of your people. Before the workshop, you’ll complete a short AI-powered feedback and personality profile to see how others experience you as a leader. This session for larger KiwiSaaS members ($5m+ ARR), led by Emerging Engines founder Gabrielle Cutfield is about understanding yourself as a human first, before leading others. You’ll put your skills into practice with real-life scenarios through role plays, reflection and discussion to spark those lightbulb moments. You’ll leave with practical tools you can use immediately, a simple plan to keep building new habits and a peer network of like-minded emerging leaders. 

What you’ll learn:

• your natural communication and leadership style

• self-awareness and insights you can use day-to-day

• how to shift from telling to unlocking potential in others

• how to listen deeply and ask powerful questions

• practical coaching tools that work in high-growth tech businesses

Who should attend?

Emerging leaders and new managers, team leads and project leads.

This is a private workshop for larger KiwiSaaS members earning over $5m ARR. Up to two participants per member company.

Event details:

• DATE: Monday 24 November

• TIME: 9.00am - 1.00pm

• LOCATION: Vista, Shed 12, City Works Depot, 90 Wellesley Street West, Auckland

• COST: Free