This is our 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.
& Experts
Sessions
Tracks
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).
The 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.
The full line-up of 35+ speakers drops 15 July, and waitlist members see each name first.
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.
Five 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.
The full agenda drops in August.
1
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.
2
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.
3
Find Your People
Networking, but better. Guided sessions designed to help you find your people and a genuine, lasting community of peers.
4
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.
5
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.
Tickets
Get your ticket.
Your pass gets you every session on the day, 12 months of on-demand replay to revisit any session, the event workbook, and a guided networking track built to grow a peer community that outlasts 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 released in stages, and the price steps up as each release sells out, so the earlier you book, the less you pay for the same day.
Most attendee's choose to use their L&D budget for their ticket, and Startup People Summit is easily expensed.
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.
Stay in the know
Sign up and we'll keep you posted on important event updates, speaker announcements, agenda drops, ticket releases, and more.
