Last week, I hosted 25 SaaS CEOs at our first Practical Founders Summit, which lasted two days in Phoenix.
It was awesome to meet in person with Practical Founders Peer Groups members after meeting monthly on Zoom to work on their businesses for the last year.
In-person time with people you care about is still important.
It is just as important to build deeper relationships with trusted peers who are experiencing similar things at the same time.
This event wasn’t about delivering more content that you can get in books, blogs, podcasts, and other events. We can already get that.
It was about building relationships and creating more CONTEXT for our decisions.
- What works for me, in my situation, in my industry, for what I’m trying to create? Everyone is different.
- Seeing the many ways founders are growing their businesses–and themselves.
- Getting insights from folks who get to know you, your specific vision, your market, and your stage. That makes all the difference.
Everyone shared their visions, traded tactical tips, and made deep connections. There were also lots of talks about their families and their crazy personal passions.
These founders are amazing entrepreneurs and leaders who are changing their industries. They are all Practical Founders building valuable software companies without big outside funding.
The combined value of all the companies at the Summit is around $500 million, estimated at very practical multiples of revenue.
That will grow as their companies grow, and they may sell their businesses for a big founder prize someday. Many founders own 100% of their very large SaaS companies. They can do what works for them.
These are very special people doing really hard things.
They are doing it in their own ways and at their own pace, with different visions of success. You get to do that if you don’t take on big investors.
I’m honored to work with these founders in our monthly peer group meetings, 1-1, and as host of our annual event. I know each of them very well, but they are meeting founders in other groups for the first time.
- Thanks to our two speakers, Vincent Serpico and peer group member Josh Turley, who shared very thought-provoking talks that created a ton of discussion.
- Thanks to Practical Founders sponsors Vik Thapar of Cypress Growth Capital and Matt Watson of Full Scale. These great entrepreneurs shared their front-line experience with fellow founders.
- Thanks to Donna Hacker on my team for helping to create a four-star event for these special people!
Check out the Practical Founders Peer Groups, the weekly Practical Founders Podcast, and my weekly blog at
May you live in practical times.
#practicalfounders
