Events

Patterns Leadership Summit

2025 Location & Dates

  • New York, NY | May 22

  • Portland, OR | June 18

  • Boston, MA | July 17

  • San Francisco, CA | August 21

  • Seattle, WA | September 18

  • New York, NY | October 9

    Join the waitlist for Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Austin, Chicago, Miami, or Atlanta

apply for summit

Your sponsor & Host

Knapsack logo

Knapsack summits are one-day meet-ups for a small group of engineering, product, and design leaders who want to connect with and be inspired by peers and experts. Share challenges, develop relationships, and learn from the people whose work you admire in a shared safe space. Attendees will go home with the know-how to affect change and lead their teams towards achieving what used to feel impossible, a fresh perspective, new relationships, and actionable insights to make their efforts support other strategic imperatives, including:

Create a high-performing team culture

Attract, onboard, and retain top talent

Ensure teams are shipping consistent, accessible, on-brand products and features across complex product ecosystems

Improve collaboration across design, engineering, and product orgs working in different locations and timezones

Support company’s growth targets and metrics

Is the leadership summit for you?

Leadership summits are for engineering, product, and design leaders—not frontline managers or makers. With less than 30 spots available at each summit, everyone will be part of the conversation and everyone's voice will be heard.

How to attend

Leadership Summits are by application, nomination or direct invitation only and is intentionally limited less than 30 attendees. This event is carefully and exclusively curated for engineering, product, and design leaders. Once your application is approved, you’ll receive a confirmation email.

Now accepting applications

Registration details

Your attendance is of NO COST and includes catered snacks and happy hour.

You or your company will be responsible for accommodations and transportation costs.

What to expect

Designed to be a relaxed, fun, and vulnerable day of conversations, not a conference. Our intention is to create a safe space that's conducive to honest discussion and learning from our peers.

expert insights

Summit attendees are all experts in their field. You can expect to learn from and be inspired by EPD leaders with many years of leadership expertise.

authentic connections

Get to know other engineering, product, and design leaders. Create connections and community that will thrive well beyond your time at the summit.

Experiences to renew and refocus

Designed for relaxed networking, wine tasting and happy hour following a day of meaningful discussion promises an evening to unwind, socialize, and connect with fellow leaders.

Moderated workshops and discussions

Share challenges and co-create solutions with peers in workshops and discussions guided by thought leaders and seasoned experts.

Speakers

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Jaleh Afshar
Director of Design at Meta
All
Future
LinkedIn
Brian Dorsey
Director of Platform Product Management at Mastercard
All
Past
LinkedIn
Dana Lawson
CTO at Netlify
All
Future
LinkedIn
Scott Strubberg
Senior Product Leader at IBM
All
Future
LinkedIn
Nick Hahn
Senior Product Leader at BILL
All
Future
LinkedIn
Robin Cannon
Senior Director of Product at Knapsack
All
Future
LinkedIn

What previous attendees say

Sometimes it’s rare to just share a passion with strangers, but the caliber of the attendees was by far some of the best people I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with.

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TJ Pitre
Founder & CEO at Southleft

Wow—what an absolutely fantastic day at Patterns SF with Knapsack. The room was brimming with brilliance, and the warmth and generosity of this community never cease to amaze me.

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Carina Velasquez
VP at Wells Fargo

A chance to spend all day in a room with product leaders and trade stories?
Yes please!

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Dan Mall
Speaker and Author

sample agenda

30 minutes
Group arrival and introductions over coffee
90 minutes
Opening Panel: Unfiltered Realities of Scaling Digital Production
30 minutes
Lunch
45 minutes
Presentation with Expert Guest Speaker
60 minutes
Knapsack Presentation: The engine behind product that ships
90 minutes
Closing Workshop: Balancing Innovation and Scalability
60 minutes
Happy Hour

2025 Location & Dates

  • New York, NY | May 22

  • Portland, OR | June 18

  • Boston, MA | July 17

  • San Francisco, CA | August 21

  • Seattle, WA | September 18

  • New York, NY | October 9

    Join the waitlist for Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Austin, Chicago, Miami, or Atlanta

apply for summit
A woman standing holding a hat

Frequently asked questions

What can I expect?

This day is intentionally designed to provide an extended period of concentrated discussion, dialogue, and strategic thinking. Unlike a conference, attendees can expect to be fully engaged and involved in every aspect of the conversations.

What will I learn at the summit?

Attendees will come away with a fresh perspective, new relationships, and actionable insights to make their digital production efforts support other strategic imperatives, including:

  • Create a high-performing team culture
  • Attract, onboard, and retain top talent
  • Ensure teams are shipping consistent, accessible, on-brand products and features across complex product ecosystems
  • Improve collaboration across design, engineering, and product orgs working in different locations and timezones
  • Support company’s growth targets and metrics
When and where is it?

The leadership summits take place monthly in every major city in the US. On the application, you'll be able to specify which event you'd like to attend. If your city is not listed, reach out to us at hello@knapsack.cloud to request we come to you.

Are you able to accommodate guests with accessibility needs or dietary restrictions?

Yes. Once your application has been accepted, we will be in touch to confirm any accessibility needs or dietary restrictions.

Can I take work meetings during the summit?

If you aren’t able to be present for the entire time, we encourage you to leave that spot for someone who is invested in attending the full summit.

Can I invite other leaders from my company?

If you'd like to bring 1-2 additional executives (Director or VP-level and above) from your company, we are allowing this on a case-by-case basis. Reach out to hello@knapsack.cloud with your request.

Did we miss something?

Reach out to hello@knapsack.cloud for any other questions or concerns. We’d love to hear from you!

Still have questions?

Reach out to us to learn more about our events or platform.

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