More evidence that networks are key to your success…
If you are reading this newsletter and haven’t attended a SaaSy course, I would be surprised (come on on in, the water is warm) and therefore I am inspired to share a story born of the SaaSy community that perhaps may inspire you to think about how you invest in and connect with your network.
This week we are excited to announce our Partner Manager Accelerator program, which is birthed in partnership with Partner Hacker. Now, if you are (or work with) a Partner/Channel manager, then this in itself might be of direct interest, but the point I am seeking to illustrate comes from the origin of this relationship, which began in 2016. At that time I was advising Jared Fuller, CEO and Founder or Partner Hacker. Jared was VP of Sales at PandaDoc, (which in 2022 announces a Series C that has in firmly in the Unicorn club) and from that time, Jared went to Drift, where he built the partner program, representing a SIGNIFICANT percentage of revenue.
I now consider Jared a good friend and someone who I find teaches me something every time we connect – He is curious and open-minded, and does a very good job of leveraging his network. With that in mind, over the years I have introduced Jared as an advisor to SaaSy alumni and have connected him to people with decades of partnership experience in support of his previous role at Drift. Now, as he launches Partner Hacker in full steam, I see his list of podcast guests reflecting his investment in his network – An incredibly impressive roll of industry icons who are sharing best practices and tech lore that would be otherwise unreachable but for Jared’s focus on developing relationships with reciprocal value.
To finalize the point on the value of investing in relationships – Our highly respected leader for the Partner Accelerator Program is Lisa Thoman Lawson, who was introduced to me in Jan of 2019, by Travis Bryant, who is (like me) a Salesforce alum… He was introduced to me by another Salesforce alum in 2013 (3 years after I had left).
In summary:
– I met a guy called Travis, who introduce me to Lisa. (Courtesy of a guy I met at Salesforce in 2007)
– Lisa worked with Travis at Optimizely and stayed in touch.
– I met Jared in 2016 and we stayed in touch.
– In 2022 the Partner Hacker <> SaaSy partnership is born… Boom.
What does this mean to you? Invest in your relationships for the long-term and be generous with your time and connections. Arguably, the highest predictor of your success will be the strength of your network and at SaaSy, we will never be the largest community, because we aspire to be the most valuable one to you.
Another SaaSy alum doing incredible things
On the subject of impressive SaaSy alums – Last year’s SaaSy ‘Impact Award’ winner, Tito Bohrt just announced that in addition to his highly successful business at altisales.com, that he is launching a SaaS product and a venture firm. If you want to be inspired by a determined vision, check out how this leader in the field of Sales Development is innovating in his space – Linkedin post here.
Have a great week and as always, keep it SaaSy.
