I owe the Indian tech ecosystem more than I can measure.
In January 2019, I attended the very first SaaSBoomi Annual. I’d been a founder for six years by then, building an ed-tech company for the Indian market, but I was new to the SaaS world that built products from India and served the global market. I walked into a room full of people who were further ahead and willing to share everything they knew. No gatekeeping, no hierarchy, just builders helping builders. That event changed how I thought about community, about generosity, and about what’s possible when people show up for each other.
A lot of what I’ve learned about building products, finding customers, and thinking clearly about business has come from this ecosystem. India’s tech ecosystem didn’t build itself. Right from the early NASSCOM days, through iSPIRT, Product Nation, and SaaSBoomi, smart, kind souls have been doing the hard, difficult work to make it what it is today. Communities, conferences, open conversations, warm introductions from people who had no reason to help. None of it was inevitable. Generation after generation of builders chose to show up and build it, so the next generation could stand on something real. I used to hear lores about this kind of pay-it-forward culture existing in Silicon Valley. It exists right here in India, has kinda always existed, practiced to the same degree, by people who care just as deeply. AIBoomi ecosystem embodies this best in India now.
I’ve immensely benefited from all of it. I’ve always meant to contribute back, but never got around to it. I felt it was time to do it.
I reached out to Avinash and Keerthi and told them I wanted to volunteer for the SaaSBoomi ecosystem. They said they needed help organizing AIBoomi Annual ’26. That’s how we got started. It turned out to be the largest event I’ve ever volunteered for, and one of the most meaningful things I’ve done.
I’m grateful to Avinash, Keerthi, and the entire AIBoomi team for saying yes and letting me in. They gave me a chance to contribute to something I’d only ever benefited from.
How I Got In
The first thing I did was read the SaaSBoomi Volunteer Code. Then I did an assignment to become part of the volunteer network. No shortcuts, just a process.
I started working with the sponsorship team assisting Keerthi. What struck me immediately was how protective the pitch was of the founder ecosystem. There were no booths. No sales presentations on stage. Sponsors weren’t buying eyeballs. They were earning trust by supporting something founders already believe in and engaging them by delivering value. There was a lot of clarity that sponsorships wouldn’t be done in a transactional way. That’s what a pay-it-forward culture looks like when it compounds over years.
The Machine You Don’t See
Most people experience a conference as a finished product. You walk in, get your badge, sit in sessions, network over coffee, and walk out thinking “wow, that was well organized.”
You don’t see the Thursday 7 PM calls that started 4 months back. You don’t see twenty-five people coordinating on many Whatsapp groups across sponsorship, marketing, design, logistics, and curation, all on top of their day jobs.
The organising committee was called Ground Zero. About 25 volunteers owned different tracks: sponsorship, marketing, registrations, speaker experience, swag, the event app, roundtables, design, and more. Every one of them is a founder or operator with demanding day jobs. They showed up because the ecosystem gave them something, and this was how they gave it back.
They were all serious about the work, never too serious about themselves. No egos, no titles pulling rank. Just people who cared about getting it right, and having a lot of fun in the process.
I’d always heard that SaaSBoomi’s pay-it-forward culture was real. But hearing about it and experiencing it from the inside are different things. When a culture like that is set from the top with genuine integrity, carefully maintained and never compromised, it shows up in how every volunteer operates. I saw it in every conversation, every decision, every small moment where someone chose to do the right thing when nobody was watching.
When the event finally happened, four months of WhatsApp coordination turned into three seamless days across few halls. And then it was over. The volunteer party that night felt like the kind of celebration you only get when everyone in the room knows exactly what it took to get there.
The Last Annual
A few weeks after the Annual, on April 13, Avinash shared a blog: “Goodbye Annual. It’s Time for a New Journey.“
AIBoomi Annual ’26 was the last one in this format. After reflection, the team has decided to move toward more bootcamps, deep immersive experiences, and honest roundtables. The large-scale annual conference is done, for now.
I happened to volunteer for the final edition. It was fun to have seen the inside of a machine that took years to build, and to have contributed a small part in the final edition.
Just Volunteer!
I went in wanting to give back. I came out with relationships, perspectives, and an experience I wouldn’t trade. The work was real. The people were extraordinary. The quiet satisfaction of knowing you helped build something that 700 founders experienced is worth more than any conference badge.
Volunteering for something like this is just worth doing. Not because you owe someone. Not because it looks good. Because the work is meaningful, the people are remarkable, and you come out of it a little different than you went in.
There are plenty of tech events out there. What makes the SaaSBoomi ecosystem different is the sheer number of people who show up and give selflessly. Someone before you shared a playbook at a conference like this. Someone else implemented it and built a company. That company hired people, created products, and grew the ecosystem you now operate in. Volunteering is how you make sure that chain doesn’t break.
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*VIP = Volunteer In Person
