Is SaaStanak really worth going to?
Honestly? Maybe not. If you go there only to collect LinkedIn connections, take photos, and say you “networked.” But if you go there with the right mindset, it can change the direction of your next 12 months.
Two years ago, SaaStanak in Zagreb was my first big SaaS event. I went there not knowing exactly what to expect. I came back with new connections, new energy, and one very clear thought: I need to show up more. More events. More conversations. More visibility. More people who think bigger than the environment around me.
Then came the second year. Again, I met great people. Again, I came back with more than notes from sessions. But this time, one conversation stayed with me, it inspired me to start the Leaders of Growth Podcast. And because of that decision, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with operators, founders, and leaders who shared openly their struggles and biggest lessons, so anyone can learn instead of making the same mistakes.
That same energy later pushed me to start something else: a closed mastermind group with clients and people I truly value. A space where we don’t pretend everything is perfect. We share what works. What doesn’t work. Where we are stuck. Where we need to think bigger.
SmartClick was a sponsor. I was a speaker. And I had the chance to speak about a topic I strongly believe every B2B SaaS company needs to understand: “Your pipeline is lying to you: AI search doesn’t know you exist.”
Your website can look good. Your content can exist. Your sales team can be active. Your CRM can show “pipeline.” But if AI search does not understand who you are, what you do, who you serve, and why you matter, then you are invisible in a channel that is already changing how buyers research.
Sharing that message on the SaaStanak GTM stage was a big moment for me. I was honored to share the stage with strong operators and real voices from across the European SaaS ecosystem.
1 Nathan Latka
Content without distribution is just noise.
A full practical playbook on how to grow your personal brand with AI. Not theory — a real system. And a reminder that distribution is where most people underinvest.
2 Wes Bush
How do we deliver value in the first 60 seconds?
Not after 3 calls. Not after a long onboarding. In the first 60 seconds. What is the first moment where the prospect says: “Ok, this is relevant for me”? Every SaaS and service business should answer this.
3 Bruna de Guimarães
What do people say about you when you are not in the room?
Not the comfortable mirror — the real one. Because leadership is not what you say about yourself. It is what people experience when they work with you.
4 Chris Cunningham from ClickUp
Burn your boats and go all in.
One sentence I needed to hear. Very often we say we want big results, but we still keep too many safety options open. We play safe. We hedge. We overthink. And that is exactly what stops us from getting the best out of ourselves.
5 Nick from HeyReach
Hire super senior people and enable them.
A sentence I will keep repeating to myself. The next level of SmartClick will not come from me doing more. It will come from building the right team, giving ownership, and letting strong people lead.
The best part of the event was not only what happened on stage. There were 40+ people from Macedonia supporting the whole ecosystem. When you see people from your country showing up, learning, connecting, and representing the region at a higher level, you understand that something real is being built. A big thank you to StartUp Club Skopje for constantly pushing and supporting the community.
I also managed to agree 7 podcast episodes with respected names in the industry, including Chris Cunningham from ClickUp, Wes Bush from ProductLed, Andrew Davies from Paddle, and Abdul Mukati from Masterinbox.com.
And I met many familiar faces again, people who were new contacts the first time, familiar faces the second time, and are now starting to feel like a real community.
So, is SaaStanak worth going to? For me, the answer is clear. Yes. But not if you go there passively.
Go there to meet people. Go there to start conversations. Go there to think bigger. Go there to create opportunities. Go there to support the ecosystem. Go there to come back with momentum, not just memories.
One conversation can start a podcast, run a mastermind group, make a cooperation, inspire a new business idea. One event can start a new chapter.
A huge thank you to our team, especially to Branko Ilishev and Davor Karafiloski, for showing up and supporting me during my session. And to the entire SaaStanak organizing team for creating something that doesn’t feel like a normal conference. It feels like a place where the European SaaS ecosystem gets stronger every year.
See you on the next one.
Behind every event we attend, there’s a spark. A conversation that shifts perspective. A story that sticks. These are the ones worth revisiting.
Not another panel. A reality check. There’s a pattern I keep seeing across B2B SaaS companies. Marketing drives traffic.Sales drives conversations.Tools promise intent. And yet… deals still take too long to close. Not because teams are not working hard.But because they are not working from the same signal. That is what made SaaStanak #5 different.
A Night That Reminded Me Why I Believe in Our Business Community There are events you attend because they are on your calendar, and then there are those that leave a mark. The Business Leader Awards Gala falls into the second category for me. What happened that night was more than a celebration of success.
A day that reminded me where everything started There are events you attend because they’re on your calendar. And then there are events you attend because they feel personal. The Third International Freelance Conference, organised by the Impact Foundation, was the second kind. I didn’t go just as a speaker or guest. I went as