It’s important to remember that the Svalbard archipelago is the most geopolitically secure place in the world.

Here in Svalbard, in a large steel vault located 200 meters below thick permafrost and reaching another 300 meters into the side of a mountain is a vault further secured with concrete walls and a steel gate.

This vault sits inside an abandoned coal mine and is built to survive decades of power failures, damage from EMP weapons, and a couple of nuclear strikes.

Buried in this vault are the following seemingly random assortment of objects:

1. Manuscripts from the Vatican Library

2. Artifacts of Brazilian soccer history

3. A few Rembrandts and Munches

4. 21 TBs of GitHub code captured on film (including the source codes for Android and Bitcoin.)

There’s a reason this vault is buried in the most geopolitically secure place in the world, despite the fact that the abandoned coal mine in which it is housed is immune to even mankind’s deadliest weapons: and that is because this is the human race’s best attempt at a Time Capsule/Doomsday Vault.

The Arctic World Archive in Svalbard guards mankind’s most valuable assets - for posterity.

On September 6, the Cloud meets at the San Mateo County event center for SaaStr Annual.

Although no Svalbard, San Mateo is home to the flagship gathering of the world’s largest community for SaaS executives, founders, and entrepreneurs. And this is as good an occasion as any to make an attempt at preserving the Cloud’s most valuable artifacts and stories for posterity.

And so on September 6 - at the end of day 1 of SaaStr Annual, we’re burying a Time Capsule in San Mateo, containing what we think are artifacts that are worthy of preservation from the world of the cloud and SaaS.

From the hundreds of submissions that we’ve received so far, here are some of our top picks.

1\ "True Random": Cloudflare's (Lavarand’s) wall of lava lamps.

To produce the unpredictable, chaotic data necessary for strong encryption, a computer must have a source of random data. More than 20% of the internet uses Cloudflare for web security. That means that more than 20% of the internet's security counts on the "lava" in Cloudflare's wall of lava lamps never taking the same shape twice.

2\ “Wall of Money”:  Shredded paper, wooden frame.

Currently on display at the ProfitWell offices in Salt Lake City. It represents the amount of money an average subscription company loses per month due to poor retention. (Hint: It's a lot)

3\ “The highest level of customer advocacy”: A mystery exhibit from 6sense, representing the power of personalization

A masterclass in designing a customer advocacy program and a shining (pun intended) example of personalization done right.

4\ “Blend: A reminder of purpose”: A great wooden map of the U.S. that hangs on the walls of the Blend offices.

The map lights up live against the location of a loan processed through Blend. A story of how SaaS conquered the mortgage industry and is today expanding into even more consumer banking areas.

5\ “RIP Paper Checks: 1762-2010”: An old lockbox that AP B2B managers used daily to store physical checks for balancing their checkbooks.

Picture it: Chasing down the CEO for their signature. Then, sending B2B checks through something like the Pony Express, which historically were stowed in a metal archaic lockbox - like this one here. Then tracking their delivery, cashing, and reconciling payments with a bank statement. That is if the horses weren’t raided or ambushed along the way.

(to be continued…)

Discover these and other exhibits live at the Time Capsule afterparty we’re hosting along with Paddle and Common Room on September 6 (that’s next Wednesday) at Ballroom A in Pinstripes, San Mateo.

Secure my spot