3 September 2026
﹡
Online
Attended by People leaders and founders from across APAC's fastest-growing startups.
Tickets
One pass. A whole year of SPS.
Get yours before the next price increase!
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Your pass gets you more than just one day. You get the full live experience, 12 months of on-demand replay, your event workbook, and guided networking designed to help you build a peer community that lasts well beyond the day.
Bringing your whole team? A company pass covers everyone in your startup for one flat fee, with 12 months replay included. The smartest People team investment of the year at a fraction of individual ticket cost.
Can't join live due to a full schedule or a different timezone? A replay pass gets you the full session library after the event which means every session and every speaker is yours to watch at a time that suits you. It's not the same as being in the room, but it means you won't miss a thing.
Tickets are dropping in stages, and the price steps up as each release sells out, so the earlier you get in, the less you pay for the same day.
Need a little flexibility? BNPL options are available at checkout.
Most attendee's choose to use their L&D budget for their ticket, and Startup People Summit is easily expensed. Here's a template to help you make the case to your boss.
This is your room.
There is no peer down the hall to grab five minutes with and ask: am I reading this situation right, or is everyone's founder like this? You spend the year recruiting, advising, advocating, and absorbing. You make the workplace better for everyone in the building. Most days, you do that alone.
Startup People Summit exists for you.
This isn't another HR conference. It's a working session for People leaders building and scaling People strategy in real time, often from scratch, often without a playbook that fits the size and shape of the business they're in. The frameworks that circulate in other conferences were built for teams of thousands, inside companies with specialised teams, an L&D budget, and a VP of Everything. That's a different job. The job in an enterprise looks nothing like the job in a startup or scale-up, and we're done pretending otherwise.
On 3 September 2026, you get a full day that belongs to you. 30 sessions, every session recorded for you to replay that insight over and over again.
Brain buffers between sessions, so the insight has time to land.
An event workbook that travels with you into every session, so you leave with something you can act on.
A dedicated networking track, built with intention, so the people you meet become the network you grow. Filled with peers who get it.
Startup People Summit 2025 was the first year. This year we go deeper.
35+
Speakers
& Experts
& Experts
30
Practical
Sessions
Sessions
5
Curated
Tracks
Tracks
All in one epic day built for APACs People people
Our Promise
A sharper, more intentional summit.
SPS 2026 has been intentionally redesigned to deliver deeper engagement, stronger thinking, and lasting value. Every decision we've made has been guided by one question: Will this create more value for our attendees?
Every part of the day is designed to respect your time and move your thinking, capability, and network forward.
Meaningful Connections
Facilitated conversations designed to help you build a trusted network of peers you can lean on long after the summit.
Better Sessions
Practical sessions built for depth, relevance, and immediate application.
Intentional Learning
A carefully designed experience that helps ideas stick and turn into action.
Speakers
Every speaker at SPS has actually built or scaled a People function inside a startup (or been a part of it).
See Them Live—Get Your PassThe people on stage have done the job. They've made the hard calls without and come out the other side with something worth sharing. Nothing theoretical, and no corporate playbooks dressed up for a startup audience.
Jessica Zwaan (Leapsome) opens the day on running People like a product. She is the author of Built for People and Purpose & Work. Johannes Sundlo closes it from Stockholm, on AI and where the People function goes next. In between: Michael Batko (ex-Startmate CEO), Chloe Sesta-Jacobs (Deputy), Paul Stovell & Orli Remez (Octopus Deploy), and more than 30 others confirmed.
2026 Schedule
Designed for deeper learning.
Unlock Every SessionFive tracks, intentionally designed so you can move between them freely. Every session starts and finishes together. Built-in brain buffers give ideas time to land. An event workbook travels with you through every session, so you leave with actions, not just notes. And a dedicated networking track helps you find the people who'll still be in your corner long after the summit ends.
🔁 Synchronised Sessions: Move between tracks without missing key moments.
🧠 Brain Buffers: Space to reflect, recharge, and let ideas land.
📖 Event Workbook: Turn insights into actions you can take back to work.
🫶 Guided Networking: Build a lasting network of People peers who get it.
Need help choosing which sessions to watch?
PLAN YOUR DAYSwipe to explore the agenda
TRACKS
AI-Native Playbook
AI just made every People leader a builder, but speed without direction is just noise. Learn how the sharpest People teams turn AI fluency into better judgement and smarter tools that actually solve the problem.
Talent Systems
The best people never answer a job ad. Learn how the best startups attract exceptional talent, hire for real capabilities (over credentials), and build the relationships that win them before the role exists.
Find Your People
Networking, but better. Guided sessions designed to help you find your people and a genuine, lasting community of peers.
Built From Scratch
Most People functions are built by someone working it out as they go. Learn how founding People leaders design from first principles, earn founder trust, and build engaged cultures that scale from one to many.
Wielding Influence
A People leader's influence no longer stops at the function. Learn how the best are rewriting the CEO–CPO partnership, building genuine personal brands, and challenging management norms.
08:00
Lobby opens
08:45
09:00
People Ops as a Product: The Low Down
with Jessica Zwaan
A foundational session unpacking the methodology Jessica developed in her book Built for People. The premise: your employee experience is a product that team members subscribe to, and like any subscription, it can be cancelled at any time.
Opening Keynote
09:45
Brain Buffer
10:00
10:45
Brain Buffer
11:00
11:45
Brain Buffer
12:00
12:45
Brain Buffer
13:00
Lunch
13:30
14:15
Brain Buffer
14:30
15:15
Brain Buffer
15:30
Stop Calling It a Pilot: The Most Expensive Word in AI Adoption
with Johannes Sundlo
The gap isn’t AI adoption. It’s work redesign. This keynote busts five myths holding teams back and shows what it takes to move from experimenting with AI to actually changing how work gets done.
Closing Keynote
16:15
Brain Buffer
16:30
Event Wrap-up
with Matt McFarlane
17:30
Lobby closes
Sponsors
The brands behind Startup People Summit.
SPS 2026 is powered by the companies People leaders actually work with. They're the platforms your team runs on, and the people building what comes next for our function. Get to know them.
Platinum Partners
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
FAQS
Everything else you need to know.
What does the day actually look like?
SPS is a full day, virtual event, running from 8:30 to 5:00pm AEST on Thursday 3 September 2026. Five curated tracks running across the day, with sessions that start and finish at the same time so you never have to miss the beginning of one session to catch the end of another. Brain buffers built into the schedule so the insight has time to land. Guided networking sessions designed to help you find your people and grow your network. Real-time Q&As with every speaker. And a workbook so you arrive with a plan that embeds these lessons, not just good intentions.
Who is speaking?
Jessica Zwaan (author of Built for People and Purpose & Work) opens the day on running People like a product. Johannes Sundlo (frmly Spotify) closes it on AI and the future of HR. Also confirmed: Michael Batko (ex-Startmate CEO), Chloe Sesta-Jacobs (Deputy), Paul Stovell (Octopus Deploy), and more. Check out the full speaker lineup here and the full agenda here.
What's included with a ticket?
One massive day. 30 sessions. Practical frameworks, genuine connections, an event workbook, and access to every recording from the day. Compare that to what you'd pay for a single coaching session, a course, or a generic industry conference. The value is real.
Can I expense this as L&D?
Most attendees do! We've even put together a ready-to-send email template to help you make the case to your boss. Individual and company passes available. Our ticketing platform, Luma also makes it really easy to grab your receipt for finance.
How is SPS different from other People and HR events?
Most HR events were built for large enterprise organisations that don't reflect the environment we work in. SPS is built specifically for the startup and scale-up context, anchored in APAC, and every speaker has built or scaled a People function inside a startup. Every session was designed to give you something you can take back and apply yourself — selected because it addresses a real challenge that startup People teams are navigating right now.
Can I watch back if I miss a session?
Yes. Every session will be recorded and every live ticket includes 12 months of replay access, so you can watch anything you miss at your own pace. If you can't make the day and just want the recordings, Replay-only tickets are available as a separate purchase.
Is this for me if I'm a founder, or not in a startup?
If you work in a business, and that business has people, then the content will be relevant to you. Many of our 2025 attendees came from outside the traditional startup world and found it just as valuable. The content is built for People leaders inside scaling startups, because the pressures and decisions in that environment are genuinely different. If the problems on the agenda are your problems, you'll get real value from the day.
What do I need on the day?
A laptop or desktop device, a good internet connection, your workbook (open), water, comfortable clothes, and a blocked calendar. We recommend putting on an out of office and giving yourself the full day. You've invested in it, so you should get everything out of it. Your ticket and joining link will be shared ahead of the event day.
Stay in the know
Sign up and we'll keep you posted on important event updates, speaker announcements, agenda drops, ticket releases, and more.
