S1E8 - How To Grow A Network To Kickstart Growth With Alexander Theuma

How can you build a network help to grow your B2B SaaS?

In today's episode, we host Alexander Theuma, the founder of Saastock, whose sole responsibility is to grow a network community in SaaS by organizing conferences that bring different people with different roles in the business. Over the last eight years, Alexander has proved himself to be an effective community organizer devoted to strong networks, community, content, building audiences, and events. He has also engaged with thousands of SaaS founders and gained actionable experience in building a conference business and how to scale it. From this episode, Alexander reveals that he niched into B2B Saas as he fell in love by design through undertaking sales for other people. The gap in the SaaS market inspired him to start a blog for the vendor-neutral community, where he sought experts to give their insight in his podcast. He takes pleasure in helping and serving the SaaS community by sharing the stories of those who have experienced the challenges of growing their recurring revenue business. What is the difference between a Network and a community? - Alexander explains that networks are born from a community. In his experience, his community came first through meetups with a small group of contributors to his blog. He was able to help the community build and grow. After that, he built a network by connecting with people from the community events and the audience of his podcast. Community building provided him with a product that he could offer to the community. Building a network is more self-rewarding because it enables you to grow a targeted contact list in the industry to grow your network.  What are the most effective ways of Building a good network, and why is it important? - our guest expert shares that a strong network enables you to reach relevant people for introduction, advice, and feedback. Founders that build or have a network have a competitive advantage over their competition. Those who never act towards building a network always remain a step behind in their growth. Some of the most effective network-building strategies include running a podcast, doing meetups, organizing events, and reaching out. When building a network, founders find themselves making mistakes. Our guest expert shares some common mistakes made. Alexander cautions against seeking too much too soon before building and maintaining relationships and delivering value. It is crucial to approach building a network as a long-term endeavor instead of a quick fix.  Key Timecodes

• (0:30) Introduction to today’s topic and guest expert
• (1:48) Why you need to listen to Alexander
• (03:56) What interests him most about B2B SaaS
• (07:48) Network versus community
• (10:40) Building a good network and its importance.
• (12:50) Common mistakes for founders building a network
• (15:20) Challenges and successes in building a community for SaaStock
• (22:26) Best practice process for growing a community
• (24:25) Role of affiliate marketing in building their networking
• (27:51) Advice to SaaS founders with growing networks
• (29:57) Advice to SaaS founders with 1 million ARR
• (32:40) Alexander’s contact information