New market strategies, new operating models and new inspiration

Thursday 15 October, 2026 | 9:00am - 1:30pm
124 Halsey Street, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland

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Connect and learn with your community

  • Understand your strategic options

    New market strategies in wild times: New moats + 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 (sales/mktg, product/eng, people/ops) and what you should be pushing into tomorrow

About

SaaS is Changing – Are You Ready?

These are wild times for SaaS. Risk is up, change is accelerating — but for NZ SaaS, the opportunities are bigger than ever.

SaaSpocalypse Now Auckland brings together 150 SaaS leaders for a half-day of practical learning, peer connection, and honest conversation about what it takes to win in the next era.

Walk away with:

  • a shared understanding of what’s changing (and what’s not) in SaaS right now

  • a practical sense-check of ‘good vs great vs late’ for your function

  • real examples from peers on how AI is being used today — and what’s coming

  • better-than-usual connections: people at your stage, or just beyond

  • a plan of action you can take back to your team.

Agenda

Your morning of practical SaaS learning

9:00am Welcome
9:05am New market strategies + New operating models + New capital environment
Serge van Dam (Investor / Director, Re-Leased, Cogo and Tapi) & David Clearwater (Executive Director, KiwiSaaS)
  • Market strategy in wild times: new moats + durable advantages
  • Operating models: teams, tools, and ways of working for the next chapter
  • Valuations, capital, M&A: the investor lens on SaaS
10:15am Morning tea
10:30am Marketing – Charlie Marsh (Senior Customer & Sales Leader | Growth Strategist)
  • How is AI working for marketing teams?
  • Who does what, and what's working?
10:45am Sales – Serge van Dam (Investor / Director (Re-Leased, Cogo and Tapi)
  • What is the state of AI-assisted selling?
  • Who does what, and what's working?
11:00am Product – Tasneem Gould (Director of Product, Caterpillar Trimble)
  • How are product/engineering teams changing?
  • Roles, processes & culture
11:15am Engineering – Simon Young (Chief Technology Officer, Serko)
  • How far along are we on agentic development?
  • Learnings on accelerators and risks
11:45am Operations – David Clearwater (Executive Director, KiwiSaaS)

  • How are we going operationalising AI across our teams?
  • What's working and why?
12:00pm People – Jenae Turner (Head of People, Ideally)
  • Structure, culture + leadership
  • What teams are thriving and why?
12:15–1:30pm Lunch and networking

Meet our speakers

Who’s coming

Meet people from

Venue

Where It All Happens

Pipiri Lane

Where:

124 Halsey Street, Wynyard Quarter, Auckland

When:

Thursday 15 October 2026 | 9.00am – 1.30pm

SaaSpocalypse Now Auckland takes over 124 Halsey Street in Wynyard Quarter for a focused half-day of learning, connection, and energy.

Right in the heart of Auckland’s innovation precinct, it’s a fitting place to bring the SaaS community together to understand the shift, compare notes with peers, and leave with clearer next actions.

Our sponsors

Secure your spot!
$75 per ticket

Ticket price excludes GST and booking fees.