SaaSpocalypse Now lands in Wellington this month
TL;DR: SaaSpocalypse Now Wellington is nearly here: 300 SaaS people, practical functional streams, peer discussion and our first-ever Total Bad SaaS Awards on 24 September. Also this month: Tech Summit ‘26 and our SaaS leaders breakfast.
New speakers + sessions announced for SaaSpocalypse Now Wellington!
On Thursday 24 September, 300 SaaS people will take over HNRY Stadium for one practical day on The New SaaS.
This is not a sit-and-nod conference. Choose the stream that fits your role, compare notes with peers facing the same shifts and leave with clearer next moves for your company. Special thanks to our supporters: Avid Legal, Creative HQ, Drumbeat, New & Improved, MBIE and Talent Army.
Our day includes a morning keynote, practical functional deep dives, peer discussion and the first-ever Wellington Total Bad SaaS Awards. Across the streams, we will get specific about the questions SaaS teams are grappling with now:
Where are we really at with agentic AI and what does it take to build a code factory?
How do you accelerate AI transformation when there is already plenty on?
Token costs are real. How are teams managing cost and value?
In marketing and sales, what should humans do and what should agents do?
How can product teams be supercharged with AI?
We will also look at why product portfolios are exploding; who is launching their second, third, fourth or fifteenth product, and how? Plus, what a tech company without an engineering function could look like and the patterns emerging leaders are using to do more, faster, with less.
Marketing, Sales & GTM will dig into AI-assisted buying, attention, brand, pricing and the next GTM motion. Hosted by Serge van Dam (Investor/director, Re-Leased, Cogo and Tapi) and Charlie Marsh (Senior Customer & Sales Leader), with Rob Borland (Head of Sales NZ, Xero), Kendyl Morris (Content Growth Marketing Lead, Starshipit), Nick Whitehead (Chief Marketing Officer, Serko) and Jacques Lourens ( Head of Fractional RevOps, Oxygen Advisors).
Product & Engineering is for teams exploring agentic development, bigger product bets and expanding product portfolios. Hosted by Simon Young (Chief Technology Officer, Serko) and Tasneem Gould (Director of Product, Caterpillar Trimble), with Mick Clarke (AI Enablement Leader, Kindo), Suhel Mangera (Principal Product Manager, Envato), Brian Wang (Enterprise Architect, Trade Me) and Iryna Melnyk (Product coach).
People, Ops & Leadership explores how AI is transforming organisations — from operating models and leadership to recruitment and the changing skills teams need. Hosted by David Clearwater (Executive Director, KiwiSaaS) and Jenae Turner (Head of People, Ideally) with Matthew Gerrie (Chief Operating Officer, Serko), Charlotte Brochoire-Falamić (Head of HR, Projectworks) and Vanessa Radich (Head of People, Appetise).
Bring the team and fire them up with what is possible right now.
Begin your day with coffee, brekkie & good people
Before SaaSpocalypse Now takes over HNRY Stadium, join New+Improved and Drumbeat for a relaxed breakfast (7:30am-9:00am) with fellow startup and scale-up leaders.
There is no formal agenda and no grand speeches; just coffee, brekkie and useful conversation with people building category-defining companies. Meet Barney Chunn, Fallon Savery, Laura Lowther, Simon Pound, David Clearwater and Serge van Dam before the big day begins.
RSVP here (even if the event page shows a waitlist, there may be room for a few more!)
Celebrating Wellington’s Total Bad SaaS people!
Our inaugural Total Bad SaaS Awards are here to celebrate the people behind the moments that matter: the unexpected sale, the rescued release, the customer save, the first-time leader who steps up, or the team mate who simply makes the whole community better. These are individual awards for Wellington SaaS people who have done something totally bad (in the good sense) over the past year. The stories can be serious, funny, impressive, slightly chaotic, ideally all of the above.
Know someone who deserves a trophy and a bit of public glory? Don’t overthink it. Tell us who they are, what they did and why it deserves recognition. Nominations close on Thursday 10 September.
Check out our award categories and place your nomination here.
Christchurch: Tech Summit ‘26
I’ll be in Christchurch this month for Tech Summit ’26 with Vanessa Radich, Head of People and Culture, Appetise. We’ll be digging into the forces reshaping SaaS, from changing markets and moats to the operating models teams will need next (themes carried through to SaaSpocalypse Now in Wellington on 24 September). Secure your Tech Summit ’26 $100 discount (non-member rate) with the promo code: technzmember100
If you’re around, kick things off at our SaaS Leaders Breakfast first: Wednesday 16 September, 7:15–8:30am at Westend Stories Cafe & Eatery. Kate Radcliffe Reid and KiwiSaaS Canterbury are hosting a low-key pre-Summit catch-up for local founders, SaaS leaders and anyone building in the space — coffee, kai and useful conversations — then straight into the day. The themes will carry through to SaaSpocalypse Now in Wellington on 24 September.
Now hiring: fresh roles at KiwiSaaS companies
Currently, there’s 3 open jobs at AoFrio, 5 at EROAD, 48 at Gallagher, 5 at Serko, 14 roles at Tracksuit, 3 at Kindo and 6 at Kami.
Just announced! SaaSpocalypse Now Auckland
Half-day conference
Following SaaSpocalypse Now Wellington, we’re bringing the key ideas, evidence and practical lessons north for Auckland’s SaaS leaders.
This is not the full conference on repeat. It’s a focused executive-level briefing: a half-day distillation of what we’ve seen and learnt across the past year, from changing market dynamics and durable advantages to new operating models and AI adoption. Connect with your community to:
✨Understand your strategic options — new market strategies in wild times, new moats and the hunt for durable advantages
✨Reimagine your operating model — challenge your thinking with examples of how leaders have shifted their teams and ways of working
✨Level your functional teams — see where you’re leading vs lagging by functional area and what you should be pushing into tomorrow.
Serge van Dam, Charlie Marsh, Tasneem Gould, Simon Young and Jenae Turner join us to share practical perspectives on what’s changing across strategy, sales/ marketing, product/engineering and people/operations. Special thanks to Atlas Digital for their support.
Thursday 15 October | 9:00am-1:30pm | Wynyard Quarter | Register now
Join NZX Tech Investor Day
Looking to better understand how New Zealand’s high-growth tech companies are positioning for what’s next? NZX Tech Investor Day brings together investors, advisers, capital-markets leaders and senior executives for a full day of practical market insights.
Hear directly from a selection of listed and private companies at pivotal growth stages through short presentations followed by Q&A.
Thursday 8 October | 9:00-4:00pm | Auckland | Register here
SaaSmas is coming!
We’re bringing SaaSmas back for 2026 with more practical workshops, community events and end-of-year parties across the motu. What would you like to learn about? Got a workshop idea, a lesson worth sharing, or a topic you’d like to present with us? And would you like to put your company in front of the KiwiSaaS community through this year’s Advent Calendar?
Exporting tech? Share your experience with MFAT by 18 September and help improve support for digital tech exporters.
Ngā mihi nui,
David Clearwater
Executive Director, KiwiSaaS