Last week, we hosted our second annual Portfolio Retreat in Tuusula, Finland, bringing together over 30 people from 17 portfolio companies. Held at a charming countryside estate, Krapi, with historic farm buildings, the two-day event created an environment where CEOs, CTOs, and product and go-to-market leaders could connect, share experiences, and learn from each other.

Unlike typical industry conferences with external keynote speakers, our portfolio retreats focus exclusively on peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. As one founder noted, “It’s so rare to be in a situation where you can dive so deep into building a company with people who know exactly what you’re going through.”

The event kicked off with Vendep Capital’s General Partner Sakari Pihlava delivering a State of SaaS presentation that addressed current market challenges, particularly around fundraising. Companies that are currently raising capital or has just raised a round shared their fresh experiences from the field, including detailed investor conversation volumes, and how they’ve had to adapt their narratives throughout the fundraising process. Reflecting on similar discussions from last year’s portfolio retreat, it was evident how drastically the fundraising landscape has changed, largely due to investors’ extreme focus on AI.

Besides the fundraising climate check, the first day included demos of AI implementations in everyone’s products, discussions on packaging and pricing strategies, an exit story, and practical lessons from US market expansion.

After the first day’s sessions, attendees participated in various activities to refresh their minds – pilates class, walking, or easy running around the area, with many visiting the nearby historical Aleksis Kivi Memorial Cottage. The evening featured a traditional smoke sauna and cold plunging experience, followed by a relaxed dinner and drinks. These informal moments proved particularly valuable, allowing for serendipitous conversations and connections that complemented the more structured sessions during the day.

Day two was structured around smaller breakout discussions covering essential topics like leadership, go-to-market strategies, technical challenges, product development, internal efficiency, and company culture. All our portfolio companies operate in the B2B SaaS space and, while they serve different markets, they face many of the same challenges – making it possible to have deep, focused discussions across a range of topics.

A recurring topic throughout the retreat was how companies are approaching AI implementation. Most teams had already adopted AI tools internally, particularly in engineering where solutions like Copilot and Cursor were improving code quality, documentation, and test automation. One founder described their strategic approach simply: “If I had to kill my own business with AI, how would I do it?” This mindset of proactive disruption was evident across many discussions, with companies not just enhancing existing processes but rethinking fundamental product experiences.

Many portfolio companies are also navigating the transition from early-stage startups to scaling organizations. “We hired for skill. Now we hire for energy,” noted one founder during these discussions.

For the Vendep Capital team, the retreat reinforced the value of building a supportive community among portfolio companies. We organize this event purely to give founders a platform to learn from each other and enable connections between them. To feel a bit less lonely in their roles that often include making tough calls.

While tools and technologies evolve rapidly, the fundamental challenges of building successful B2B SaaS companies remain consistent: staying close to customers, scaling efficiently, and building enduring businesses. The Vendep portfolio community provides founders with valuable peers who understand these challenges firsthand.

As the portfolio continues to grow, we look forward to expanding this community and building on the success of this year’s event. A big thank you to everyone that was part of making it such a success!