Key insights and takeaways from MicroConf 2025 New Orleans

Executive overview

Rob Walling and Derek Reimer debrief MicroConf 2025 in New Orleans — 230 founder attendees, the highest-ever share (93%) with revenue, and a 50/50 split of new versus returning faces. Five main-stage talks covered positioning, copywriting, pricing, founder psychology, and LinkedIn outreach.

The best conference sessions deliver actionable frameworks founders can apply the same week — not just inspiration.

Attendee stats and event feel

• 230 founder attendees; ~265 total including guests — near pre-COVID peak of 300
• 93% had a product with revenue — highest figure ever recorded
• 28% reported more than $100K MRR (roughly one in four doing seven figures)
• 50/50 new-versus-returning split brings fresh energy without losing community feel
• New Orleans praised for nightlife balance; French Quarter proximity without being in it

Opening keynote: founder psychology (Sherry Walling)

• Framework: internal founder system — three internal roles: Entrepreneur, Leader, Artist
• Each role has distinct tendencies; founders benefit from identifying which dominates
• Attachment styles (from relationship psychology) apply to how founders relate to their businesses
• Key reminder: not everything difficult is an emergency — resonated strongly in the room
• Both ideas flagged as chapter-worthy material for future writing

Homepage positioning framework (Anthony Pierri)

• Pierri runs Fletch, a positioning consultancy — first-time MicroConf speaker
• Rated the number-one talk at the event; one of the best in recent years
• Delivered a concrete framework for H1/H2 homepage copy — simple enough to sketch in 10 minutes, deep enough for a multi-day leadership exercise
• Used relatable startup examples (e.g. Loom) rather than enterprise case studies
• Framework scales: quick solo pass → two-to-three hour deep dive → full team workshop

Copywriting with emotion (Leanna Patch)

• Talk title: "You Feelings" — six or seven techniques for emotionally resonant copy
• Covered tapping into frustration, pain, and skepticism with a refined touch
• Copywriting has a low barrier to act on: easy to open your H1 and start editing immediately
• Contrasted with pricing or positioning changes, which take weeks to think through and implement

Pricing frameworks (Marcos Rivera)

• Rivera runs pricing.io and authored Street Pricing; copies given to all attendees
• Presented five core SaaS pricing structures (e.g. core + add-ons, all-in-one, tiered, seat-based, metered) — a bounded taxonomy that simplifies decision-making
• Key insight: packaging complexity doesn't inevitably increase with business maturity — sometimes you're over-complicating
• Talk focused on internal strategy; deliberately avoided survey-based methods (e.g. Van Westendorp)
• Dense with heuristics around price point, TAM, and product scope

LinkedIn outreach for B2B SaaS (Colleen Schnettler)

• Ten-minute attendee talk; thesis: LinkedIn is the current high-engagement platform for B2B founders
• Many founders dismiss LinkedIn as self-promotional noise — Schnettler acknowledged this and argued engagement is real
• As Twitter/X fragments and other platforms fill with non-business content, LinkedIn offers a focused business audience
• Tactics covered: setting up a proper profile, managing the inbox, cold outreach approach
• MicroConf itself has shifted focus from YouTube to LinkedIn with positive early results

Format and feedback

• Excursions on afternoon of day one (swamp tour, food/French Quarter tour, beignet tour) — near-unanimous positive feedback; vastly preferred to extra talks
• Attendee feedback: some wanted more breakout sessions; venue acoustics (indoor reception) were a friction point
• Four main-stage speakers felt like "MicroConf light" in Malta — five is the current sweet spot
• Higher share of mature businesses (100K+ MRR) creates demand for stage-separated content tracks

Upcoming events

• MicroConf Growth Retreat — London, May 14–16, 2025 (40–60 founders, intimate format)
• MicroConf Europe — Istanbul, Turkey, September 28–30, 2025
• MicroConf Remote (sales-focused, online) — May 21, ~$50 ticket