Beginner Maps

Madi Pignetti is the Head of Community at Contra - a commission-free freelancer marketplace. But she was a software developer before this. In this episode she shares how she made the pivot and what her work today looks like. Show notes: 00:00 Teaser 01:50 What is her work as the Head of Community at Contra 07:30 Measuring the contribution of community towards the Contra business 12:43 Personalities more suited for a community manager role 17:19 How experience as a developer makes her more empathetic in her current role 25:30 Routine roulette 29:40 How she stayed optimistic after quitting her full time developer role and not knowing what to do next 37:00 From an ambassador to landing a full time role at Contra 46:09 Resources for people getting into community 49:48 One action item to get the ball rolling --- --- --- Links and Resources: Madi's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/madi-pignetti/ Contra - https://contra.com/?userType=independent Building Brand Communities - https://amzn.eu/d/dblwmNS The Art of Gathering - https://www.priyaparker.com/book-art-of-gathering SuperHi - https://www.superhi.com/ Community Club - https://www.community.club/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to http://beginnermaps.com/ to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Amanda has been led by what she found interesting throughout her career. So she completed a 6-month coding bootcamp last year, after having spent 20 years in events and marketing. In a recent career pivot, she joined the Rails Foundation - a non-profit dedicated to supporting the Ruby on Rails ecosystem, as the Executive Director. What is Ruby on Rails? It is a web development framework that has been used to create tools like Shopify, GitHub, Basecamp, Twitch, Airbnb, Twitter and thousands of other apps that millions of people use every day. In this episode, we talk about her journey and how she got here - 00:00 Teaser 02:01 Rails Foundation: what and why 07:41 What does the executive director of a non-profit do? 14:43 Difference between working for a non-profit vs a for-profit 21:27 How a curiosity to learn a new thing got Amanda the role of Executive Director at Rails Foundation 25:51 Routine roulette: A typical week for Amanda 31:40 Big things about producing an in-person event 35:38 Getting speakers for an event 37:37 Making networking in events easy 39:05 How Amanda got into events 41:23 What not to do when organising a conference 43:22 Key to generating serendipity in your career 48:37 Advice for people building a community for developers 51:44 Applying for 10 jobs vs focussing on that 1 job you really want 55:14 One action item for listeners --- --- --- Links and Resources: Amanda's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandabrookeperino/ Rails Foundation - https://rubyonrails.org/foundation --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Marcie Walker is the Head of Community Engagement at Gatheround - a startup building a fun, new online events platform that makes virtual events actually fun. In this episode, Marcie shares all the lessons she has learnt in building herself a career in community building. Some things we talk about: 00:00 Teaser 04:50 How work in community is dependent more on what the community needs rather than your title 13:32 Virtual vs In-person events 16:59 What Marcie is working on now 23:21 How flywheel marketing can justify RoI on your community efforts 28:50 Routine Roulette 33:11 Getting the job at Gatheround by writing her own job description 46:08 Advice for 20 year olds 01:04:58 Resources for community building 01:06:50 One action item for listeners --- --- --- Links and Resources: Gatheround - https://gatheround.com/community Community Club - https://www.community.club/ Noele Flowers - https://www.linkedin.com/in/noeleflowers/ Sarah Greisdorf - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahgreisdorf/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Jenny Weigle is a strategic consultant who has worked with some well-name brands like Airbnb, Google, Sephora, Visa and many many more such household names - and helped them build their online communities. She has been building communities for more than 10 yrs and has helped more than 100 brands in this time. So, if you are a consultant or someone who wants to become a consultant, Jenny is a perfect role model. In this episode we discuss: 00:00 The highs and lows of building your consulting business with Jenny 02:44 Discovering a natural community builder instinct 09:47 What does she do as a community strategist 13:48 FAQs about life as a community consultant 15:28 Highs and lows that come with your own consulting business 19:27 Routine Roulette 24:08 Doing a social media marketing internship in 2007 29:12 Lessons learnt form a failed attempt at consulting 32:14 Social media management Vs Community management 39:54 Starting a consulting business for the 2nd time 47:30 Getting clients and marketing 59:06 Working through the imposter syndrome --- --- --- Links and Resources: Jenny’s website - https://www.jenny.community/ Momentum Consulting Course - https://www.consultingsuccess.com/momentum-consulting-course Community Consultants Collective - https://www.communityconsultants.life/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Ben Lang is the Head of Community at Notion. He attributes almost all of the opportunities that have come his way to the side projects he has built out of passion. Believe it or not, The International Hummus Day is his creation. And so, in this episode we talk about: 00:00 Teaser 01:43 Power of side projects to open up opportunities 16:42 Decentralised approach towards the Notion community and why it may not be the best approach for others 22:24 Community building lessons learnt at Notion 28:57 How to start with angel investing --- --- --- Links and Resources: Ben Lang - https://benlang.me/ International Hummus Day - https://hummusday.com/ Giving away your legos - https://review.firstround.com/give-away-your-legos-and-other-commandments-for-scaling-startups The All-In Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/2IqXAVFR4e0Bmyjsdc8QzF?si=b3996ae0fcc44f27 How I Built This - https://open.spotify.com/show/6E709HRH7XaiZrMfgtNCun?si=6bdf9240fa424495 The Knowledge Project - https://open.spotify.com/show/1VyK52NSZHaDKeMJzT4TSM?si=a23837c2373d4105 The Tim Ferriss Show - https://tim.blog/podcast/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Casie Tennin is a Community Builder and a Certified Life Coach. As a Community Builder, she has built communities for fast-growing startups like Masterclass and TaskHuman. As a Professional Life Coach, she helps individuals make scary pivots in their professional and personal lives. “We spend so much of our lives not being in touch and in tune to what our heart wants, but to what society tells us to do,” says Casie. So we asked her how to not spend our lives that way. And she give us an action item. Don’t forget to grab it at the end of the episode. In this episode we also talk about: 00:00 How to build a career that makes your heart sing with Casie 03:42 Doing what makes your heart sing 13:24 What is coaching and how can it help you in your career 22:56 A teacher in Spain to CMGR at Masterclass 32:38 Networking with leaders at your dream company 39:08 Tactic for connecting the dots from your past 43:01 Is there even a need to go to college? 47:24 Dealing with being laid off and still deciding to be a digital nomad 53:35 A three-part strategy to make your job application stand out 57:48 Active listening 01:03:38 Top 3 resources to break into the community industry 01:07:09 One action item for the listener to break into their dream role --- --- --- Links and Resources: A Wandering Casiedilla - https://awanderingcasiedilla.com/ Coaching With Casie (web) - https://www.coachingwithcasie.com/ Coaching With Casie (mail) - coachingwithcasie@gmail.com Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss - https://amzn.eu/d/1wOM305 Buzzing Communities by Richard Millington - https://amzn.eu/d/gJh7NKb CMX - https://cmxhub.com/ Otta - https://otta.com/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Rahul Desai is the General Manager of the Chief of Staff Network - a community membership for Chiefs of Staff to network and learn from their peers in the industry. He the person responsible for making this business profitable while delivering a great member experience. In the 6 months he has been in this role, he has already lead the team to take the conversion rate of interested applicants from 30% to 80%. So if you are managing, building or planning to build a community membership business, you should continue listening. We talk about - 00:00 Teaser 03:12 A peer support group for Chiefs of Staff 10:35 4-tiers of spend on communities 14:47 Getting member close rate from 30% of interested applicants to 80% 21:44 Nailing sales interviews by being process oriented 28:39 Need for laser focus as General Manager @ Chief of Staff Network 37:04 Routine Roulette 44:27 Selling Upslope as a solo-founder to get to his current job 52:28 How Rahul thrives as an introvert 56:03 Servant leadership 01:01:46 Building out the generalist side 01:06:19 Advice for 20 yo --- --- --- Links and Resources: Chief of Staff Network - http://chiefofstaff.network/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=click&utm_campaign=beginnermaps Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/ Amp It Up - https://ampitupbook.com/ Stolen Focus - https://stolenfocusbook.com/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hour every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

If you have wondered about a career in community operations, this episode should help you understand what it is, how Tiffany broke into it and how you can too. Tiffany Oda is the COO of Talkbase - a young startup that is building the community CRM for startups. In this episode we talk about: 00:00 Dealing with community layoffs, Community Operations 101 with Tiffany Oda 06:49 Dealing with layoffs 18:44 What Tiffany is up to at different times of the week 25:18 What is Community Ops 39:12 Quickest way into Community Ops 46:13 Learning resources for Community ops 53:44 What should a 20-yr old with no experience do 57:46 Getting a mentor who is invested in you 01:01:29 Building your personal brand --- --- --- Links and Resources: The CommOps Gal (Tiffany’s Blog) - http://www.thecommopsgal.com/ Community OPServations - https://tiffeoda.wixsite.com/commopsgal/community-opservations Talkbase (Community CRM for startups) - https://talkbase.io/ Community Club - https://www.community.club/ CMX Community - https://cmxhub.com/community/ Talkbase Friends - https://talkbase.io/community Cassie Mayes - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassiemayes/ Jamie Langskov - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamielangskov/ Andrew Claremont - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andymci/ Erica Kuhl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericakuhl/ Brian Oblinger - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianoblinger/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Murtaza Bambot is the cofounder and CEO of Heartbeat - an awesome platform for building online communities. It combines the powers of Slack, Notion, Luma, Meetsy, Zoom and other platforms that community builders often need to stitch to get a functioning community. In this episode we talk about: 00:00 How Murtaza keeps it together when times are difficult 03:40 Favourite communities on Heartbeat 09:34 Heartbeat's community Hearth - how it started and how it helps them 19:47 How Murtaza thinks about hiring as an early stage founder 28:11 Day to day work as co-founder at Heartbeat 36:24 How Murtaza learnt to code even after failing coding classes in college 39:46 Why Murtaza quit building to focus on selling 43:55 How to nail down sales as an introvert 49:53 Homeless but keeping it all together by being mission oriented 58:54 Building your (interconnected) network 01:05:29 Doubling down on what works --- --- --- Links and Resources: Heartbeat - https://www.heartbeat.chat/ TOGKnowledge - https://www.joeedelman.com/togknowledge-community The Cat and Dog Coexistence Club - https://www.praiseworthypets.com/ Founding Sales - https://www.foundingsales.com/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Jakob is the cofounder and CEO of Butter - a startup that is bravely going against the video conferencing incumbents like Zoom and Google Meet by building a fun, interactive and delightful video conferencing tool. In this episode: 00:00 Looking at salary as points in the game of life does not make sense 01:50 How Jakob's career plan did not work out 08:35 Risk and reward early in your career 14:21 The fundamental step/skill to build a product-based startup 19:21 Deciding when to shut shop 26:43 Camaraderie with Co-founders: Building 2 companies without ever being in the same room 29:57 Why is Jakob all in on Butter 42:14 Product-led vs Community-led 45:57 What a founder values in an employee --- --- ---  Links and Resources:   Butter - https://www.butter.us/ The Mom Test - https://www.momtestbook.com/ Startup School - https://www.startupschool.org/ --- --- ---  Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.