The Reasons We Created Slack? Community for SaaS and Software Professionals -
- An international orientation.
- Established professionals and companies (less students, and even early stage startups).
- Moderation by professionals.
- Less focus on the funding or venture capital rounds.
- A truly supportive group, without a smidgen of tolerance for disrespectful or unprofessional conduct.
This is true: Features such as a international business perspective and knowledgeable expert moderators (that's me!) are what we like to have on the online forums.
That post touched on what's included for members in particular in comparison to other groups that are online.
But you might still be asking yourself, "But what's in it to do ?"
Valid question, which I'll discuss it as the motivations (plural) that we've got for investing in this program may not be as simple as those who are the least shrewd among us assume.
As a business person yourself, you know how it is done. Businesses don't spend money on new software to help random businesspeople online; they use it for their individual company in some way.
Indeed, having a successful online community is an excellent method to increase the recognition of your brand and even bring in some prospects every once in awhile.
However, marketing isn't the only one of the main reasons why that we're in this. If you're a member or not, our first wish for members to be a part of the group, otherwise the community won't be successful in any way.
Our Guiding Principle is: Our Software as well as SaaS Community Must Be Good for You in Order for It to Succeed
This is pretty self explanatory however the main point is that if you do not find our community a useful and stimulating place to hang out then you'll never be hanging out in our community.
It's crucial for its continued success both for you and ours -- that we strive to make it a really amazing group to be part of.
(And If you think we might diverge from this in some way, or if you have ideas on how we can make it better, do inform us. We'll discuss that further down below.)
What Has to Gain From Hosting an online Community
There's got to be something to this else we wouldn't have to do this, would we?
Naturally. However, we would like our objectives to be clear.
We're going to outline what we'd like achieve with this endeavor.
Understanding What is Important to Your Business
A key point our Chief Executive David Nachman told me during one-on-one discussions about the goals and mission of our community is that the community provides an opportunity to lessen the nature of transactions in the relationship we have with customers and other companies, both software and SaaS companies.
It's a valid concern: We help facilitate literal transactions for online businesses, so it's easy for everyone to fall into the rut of having a well, transactional relationship.
We give you a service, you earn money, then continue with autopilot.
If we allow this to continue can hinder our ability to develop our B2B service to directly help the success of your firm as well as helping online businesses succeed is our top priority.
This is of course true for our existing clients, but this is also true for software companies that might be considering employing . If you're uncertain if is the right payments system or merchant of record (MOR) for your B2C and/or B2B SaaS business, we'd like to know what questions and concerns you have so we can consider that our consideration while we continue to build out our features and products.
To hear more about how David wants to get to know your company, watch his member interview video, that I conducted on behalf of a fellow member himself:
That's also why we expanded our vision for this community , to create an individual contributor, executive, entrepreneur and founder membership base -- because we know we can learn more about companies (and assist them in a better way) if we have an array of members.
Our goal to increase the level of personalization of relationships with businesses (and obviously, with those who find or are employed by them) is the reason the reason we interviews with our members. Besides improving how members can get to know their fellow members and get to know each other, it helps in getting to know the members and their business interests.
Building Customer Relationships
Understanding more about the business you run can help us to build a stronger relationship we have with you, whether or not.
However, our relationships with customers can be strengthened by granting members more access to members who work for us .
already offers a diverse friendly and prompt support for customers and their buyers as well as customer success managers for some of our customers with particularly large or complex businesses.
However, we are aware that most businesses can always increase the ways they assist customers, and enhance their relationship with customers.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, out of a hundred, making a ticket is the best way to get assistance. That helps our support team effectively route requests in accordance with the type and importance of the problem, and it helps us keep track of your support requirements as time passes.
(That last part also helps us gain a more comprehensive understanding of a company's requirements.)
It could be helpful to occasionally contact leaders in person particularly for those who have a specific company-related need that doesn't involve a technical question about our platform. There is a wide range of experts within our community and not only end-user technical support specialists.
Product managers, tax and payment specialists, customer operations pros, as well as the odd sales director or two might be in there and can answer related business questions. They could even be able to discuss what's coming from the's platform.
We want customers' experiences will be the kind of experiences that they'll tell their friends about and we believe that being more readily available can increase the chances. And if you're a customer that's not enjoying that sort of positive experience yet we have a community that is a channel where you can let us know that.
Yes, Leads
This is part of the article that we must be completely transparent.
Yes, we'd love it for our members that aren't currently an authorized merchant would join our service.
It's good news for them that that isn't our only goal for the community.
We also have goal of enhancing customer relations and learning all we can about SaaS and software business's needs:
- It's safe to say that the process of registering new customers is only one aspect of what we're trying to accomplish in this particular community. Moreover, we won't solicit anyone who hasn't expressed the desire to us in advance.
- Our chances are much higher of selling to new users if we're nailing the first two goals that we discussed above, which is why we're going to work much harder to reach them.
If community members see us taking care of customers and earnestly asking for feedback, they'll be significantly more interested in our role as a platform for commerce and merchant of record -- because they'll be able to observe the effort we've put into as well as the care we provide members directly.
If you've thought about previously it could be a good place to establish a relationship with us in a more informal way. Members of the community can interact with other customers, read conversations that take place among customers , and (remotely) meet those who run the business it is.
What Can You Expect From Joining This Community
But while it focused on some of the features of the GSL community however, it wasn't able to cover the actual benefits you gain when you join a community such as this one.
We have big plans regarding Global SaaS Leaders -- and we're constantly creating community -- here are some of the benefits we've already provided for software developers and SaaS founders, executives and entrepreneurs, as well as marketers, engineers, developers, and many more.
Network With Software Professionals Everywhere Over the World
It doesn't matter if you're a SaaS marketer trying to improve the SEO of your the region, or a people and culture director who's concerned about meetings and onboarding for international customers or even an SaaS founder looking for tips on selling into specific countries or regions, being able to connect with the people that an international community makes "going international" a lot easier.
We are represented by members from more than 50 countries in 17 time zones.
Discover New Markets You Would Like to Expand or Enter Within
One of the advantages of having a global network is the ability to get advice from it in the process of breaking into new markets.
It is possible to make a post in the community asking for people from certain countries to help you out and you may also contact me, the chief moderator. I can reach out to applicable members in your name.
It is also possible to keep the discussion in the forum for previous questions relevant to the SaaS market you're trying to grow into.
You can also watch our videos of members, which we're recording in a continuous manner with those who'd like to join in (like our previous example featuring CEO David Nachman).
One of the things we usually ask interviewees is "What's something people don't understand about selling software in your country?" The goal of the question is to assist you to understand the cultural as well as business differences which might affect how easy it is to offer software to customers in your country.
Learn From SaaS Company Leaders and Experts
Although our members are spread across various roles and seniority levels, there are several executive, SaaS founders, and department heads in Global SaaS Leaders who are willing to share their knowledge to other members.
Some members are software and SaaS founders who have multiple SaaS startups, some have been employed at internationally-known companies, and some are entrepreneurs who have shifted careers or industries and have many years of knowledge to provide recommendations.
Furthermore, multiple senior executives and managers are on hand, like our Chief Executive Officer as well as the global Tax Director as well as our Vice President of Global Customer Operations. They're in the community since they're willing to assist members however they can.
(For additional information details from Kurt about this issue take a look at his in-person presentation about SaaS pricing strategies That Work: How to Design the most optimal pricing model at SaaStr Europe earlier in 2022.)
We're happy to respond to questions like this, and we're delighted to offer a space where topics like these can be debated among world-class peers.
Position Yourself as an Expert
If you're already known for your work as a SaaS industry influencer or expert, great! We'd love to have you join the SaaS community as you increase your personal and professional reputation through sharing your knowledge.
If you're working on creating your own brand in the first place Participating in a professional forum is an excellent option to start. It doesn't mean that we have the status of SaaS founders to become experts in the fields we work in. active sharing of that expertise with others establishes each of us as being not just competent, but also likable and magnanimous -- and that's a great public image to cultivate.
Shape This Community as It Expands
We started this program and SaaS community in March 2022, and it's growing rapidly. However, because we'd like to make it the ideal space for people like you to practically "hang out" the space remains adaptable and is open to suggestions.
For example, a member last week suggested adding a channel for a specific kind of usage.
Then, we turned the request into a survey asking everyone to vote about the channels they'd prefer to have added to the Slack workspace:
So whether you'd like to vote quietly on community updates or confidently make suggestions of your own We're always open to suggestions!
If you're looking for specific forums, services supplier suggestions, LinkedIn and social media connectivity opportunities, a podcast Facebook group, online meetups, webinars and templates, or simply additional software or SaaS development hacks all over the world and beyond, let us know about it.
Share Your Thoughts
There are other options for members to express their opinion than only in relation to the group, however. One of the most recent requests we asked members to let us know which benchmarking statistics and metrics they'd prefer to see release.
Having these kinds of metrics can help software and SaaS companies develop strategies for increasing their revenue.
Since wants to provide relevant and helpful data to growing and successful software and SaaS businesses, we reached out to the public directly to inquire about benchmarking information we could be able to compile following:
Some of the responses included retention rates in a specific industry, MRR growth in a specific sector, failed payment metrics (unintentional churn), churn and conversion rates in various regions.
Note that this poll was open to all members, regardless of their customer situation.
Like we said earlier, understanding what is important to software and SaaS businesses is important to our goal of creating to create the Global SaaS Leaders community to serve as a place where you can share what you really need for your company to reach the highest level.
Use the Community to Learn More About (If You're Interested)
This poll was made public on the channel devoted to the community. This channel is so discussions about (as in contrast to more general business-related discussion) can be made available in the channel, and remain out of general feeds.
This is because we don't want customers -- particularly those that aren't customers to be enticed by the constant messages we're promoting . We've already mentioned, a software and SaaS community needs to be something which you are able to benefit from in order for it to succeed We believe that selling too much would create a negative impression and make it a place that it don't wish to be.
With that said, if you're not a customer however, you've been thinking about trying us out, then joining GSL is an excellent method to get more information about the company, by viewing customer interactions with our leaders, looking at the types of comments and questions customers have to say about the platform, and so on. The channel that is specifically for GSL is accessible to all members.
What if you do not have an passion for the channel ? Feel free to leave the -specific channel not read. There are many other activities to take part in in the community without seeing posts about a platform you have no interest in.
Join The Global SaaS Leaders Community
We're very proud of our Global SaaS Leaders community already and are proud to offer an international network and discussion area that includes features like live interviews, member intro videos, as well as a variety of expert opinions.
As continues to focus on building communities and our member base expands, we'll introduce more functions. We'd like to make more one-to-one networking connections start a podcast, organize more live events and integrate social media in the future.
However, if you sign up today, you can shape what the organization develops into, too.
To maintain a high standard of member service, I'm personally reviewing all applicants for new members and ensuring that there aren't automated systems that allow spammers or bots. So, submitting your LinkedIn link is vital. Thank you for being patient as I go through your application and don't hesitate to email us if you have any questions before applying!
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