Haven't you heard? SaaS Alliance is now hosting in-person meetups! Why should you care? Well, we know how important it is for folks just starting out in SaaS, or those looking to grow their org, to expand their network. In our premier meetup event in Bengaluru, our guests did just that, sharing actionable strategies and forging indispensable connections.
If you're interested in this exciting opportunity, register your interest here.
Want proof? Well, we sat down Raghav Shankar, an experienced SaaS sales professional, who hosted our Bengaluru meetup, to find out how the event went down. Spoiler alert: it was a huge success! But don't take it from us, read what Raghav had to say right here. 👇
A little bit about Raghav
"I’ve been working in customer-facing roles since 2015, starting at Zoho, then spending six years at Hiver, where I helped scale the company significantly. I also started my own B2B company and later moved back to a 9-to-5 role due to personal commitments. On the personal side, I’m a huge anime fan, love collectibles, and enjoy reading fiction."
Raghav's positive experience organizing the event
"Right from the initial time I started engaging with Emma till the day of the meetup and even post that, it's been a pretty great experience in terms of ease of working. SaaS Alliance has been great to work with. Emma has been a really great community partner for me to get the whole thing rolling. She was really supportive in putting the messages across, getting social media promos out, and staying in constant contact with me. She was open to having regular frequent calls, which helped ensure we had the right things for the agenda.
From SaaS Alliance as a community, what I really loved was the eagerness to help and the openness to collaborate on ideas that are a little out of the norm. The general creatives that go out on your website, LinkedIn, and the promos were pretty smooth. In terms of reactions from the audience, many people found SaaS Alliance to be a new and interesting community, particularly in the Indian, Bangalore scene. A lot of people showed interest in being early adopters and contributors to the community."
How many people showed up to the meetup and what was their occupation?
"We had about 12 folks that showed up in total. Among them, there were three B2C founders and people doing B2C businesses. Most of them were early-stage, trying to figure out GTM plans and understand how B2B does it. This led to solid cross-collaboration, with B2B companies sharing what worked for them and B2C companies offering ideas that could also apply to B2B. Most attendees were looking for mentorship and to learn from tried and tested methods."
By joining one of our meetups, you'll get to pick the brains of peers who encounter similar problems to what you're dealing with.
What do you think people were actually able to gain from the experience of the event?
"At the end of the conversations, people were exchanging phone numbers and planning smaller meetups. It created a lot of smaller micro connections, leading to more collaboration without needing a mediator to get the conversation going."
What do you think is the broader benefit of an event such as this?
"The major advantage of physical meetups is that you get FaceTime with whoever you want to speak with. In a virtual setting, expressing with text doesn’t facilitate real connections as much as in-person interactions do. Physical meetups allow attendees to talk in more detail, exchange contact information, and build deeper connections."
So there you have it! Our first meetup is in the books, and even just after one event, SaaS enthusiasts have established meaningful connections and managed to broaden their network. And the good news is, there's more to come! If you'd like to come along to our next event, you can express your interest right here!
