“Unique Opportunity for the Triangle:” Business of Software Returns to Raleigh

The Business of Software (BoS) Conference returns for its second year in Raleigh and according to Founder and CEO Mark Littlewood, it’s staying in Raleigh. 

“I think us moving to Raleigh was a great, great move,” Littlewood said. “Not only are the people friendly and the food and weather are great, but the entrepreneurial ecosystem here is growing and is becoming one of the greater tech hubs in this country.”

The BoS Conference is a multi-day, single-track event for founders, entrepreneurs and emerging professionals in software companies from around the world. Littlewood says that attendees will hail not only from here in the Triangle, but also from Canada, South America, Australia and Europe. 

BoS will take place from Sept. 23-26 at the Martin Marietta Center in downtown Raleigh. We first previewed BoS when it initially set down in Raleigh last October; you can read that preview to learn more about the history of the conference and (roughly) what to expect. 

Similar to the previous year, BoS has partnered with Triangle-based entrepreneurial support organization CED (Center for Entrepreneurial Development) to give scholarships helping 12 Triangle-based startups to attend the conference. We have written about some of the selected startups, including: Givebacks (which was under a different name at the time of), Coworks, TRAKID, Sunlight and Acre.

Unlike other software conferences, BoS’s topics and events will not be on in-the-weeds subjects like coding or finances, but rather on advice and conversations from industry leaders about everything from marketing and leadership to mental health, plus everything in between. 

Even after coming out from a rough funding year and the rapid emergence of companies adopting AI, Littlewood said that this year’s conference will take these worries and refocus them into themes about how to use them to grow your company. 

“I think the overall theme for the conference is about alignment, focus and keeping a site of goals of a business,” Littlewood said. “That percolates through everything from the way that you set your organization up to the way it has structured its metrics and incentives that you use to keep people aligned and together. That obviously touches things like AI.”

And the speaker sessions and events reflect that realignment, as some will focus on what AI does to business models and why tech isn’t making us more productive. This year, BoS will host its first Triangle-based speaker, Angil Tate of Durham-based WillowTree, to speak on how to leverage failure to shape winning teams. 

Littlewood recognized that because of rough funding cycles and the sudden transitions into using AI, people are growing tired and becoming worried for the state of their jobs. He wondered—in the perspective of talking about framing the conference—how do you realign the business? How do you get people focused? How do you give them the breathing space to do the best work that they can?

By humanizing what people do and understanding what the real purpose of a business is, Littlewood believes that BoS can bring some fun and more of that breathing space into organizations.

And he’s such a believer in that, that if attendees felt that they didn’t get that experience, the BoS offers a no-quibble, money-back guarantee; if someone feels they didn’t get great value, they’ll get a refund.

“It is a conference that brings growth entrepreneurs, growth SaaS companies and growth software companies together from around the world,” Littlewood said. “And it’s a unique opportunity for the Triangle. It’s as much as you don’t get that opportunity without going to somewhere like San Francisco or Boston…I would love more Triangle people to be there and get engaged and involved.”