My 0–1 Stage: SaaSBOOMi & what I’ve learnt so far…
It was during one of the prep calls of SaaSBOOMi Build where people from the team had joined in — around 5 of us- to brief the speaker about the session. All of us started with a quick intro, and I went last. I took a couple of seconds and said,
“Hi! This is Tarun, a full-time fellow with SaaSBOOMi. I feel happy when I say this as I get to work with a team of selfless volunteers & founders who are much smarter than me, and I’m constantly learning. Our mission is to help build India as a SaaS Nation.”
It was a candid response and came out quite naturally. I think the intro from that day, summarizes my journey so far at SaaSBOOMi. My days begin and end with these founders, makers and their stories. They are the driving force for my consistent (and borderline obsessive) need to work, every single day.
How it all started:
SaaSBOOMi is an opportunity that I wasn’t expecting, and it came amid the crisis which the world has never witnessed before. When Avinash offered this opportunity, I knew this was going to be an exciting journey. To work with long-term people on a long-term goal.
Despite getting other notable offers, there was something about my previous experiences with SaaSBOOMi that made me take up this job, along with an important conversation I had with my mentor, Phani. I mentioned the conversation that I had with Avinash (and other offers). We discussed for 30 mins on my interests and priorities in life, and I asked him about his plans of resignation as it made my decision easy. He suggested I take up SaaSBOOMi and said not many people would get a chance to work with people like Avinash and the Founders behind SaaSBOOMi.
Here is the summary of Phani’s thoughts/advice:
1. You will be measured on the success of SaaSBOOMi as you are the first employee. If SaaSBOOMi is successful, you are successful. If It is a failure, you are a failure.
2. Forget everything for the first 6–12 months and live every second on making SaaSBOOMi successful. Make sure you build the foundation right! You have a long life left for all the fun you would want to have.
3. These are the people who are trusting you. So never take things to your head. Just get things done and learn while doing stuff than any other way.
4. Just follow what Avinash says blindly! He’s been contributing to the ecosystem all his life. Be highly capable, maintain the same wavelength and take ownership while working with the team.
Well! I go back to this list whenever I’m procrastinating and getting into my comfort zone!
The story behind my learnings till date:
It’s day 1! I started my day at 7 AM, and with a blank mind, I sent a text to Avinash after some time mentioning that ‘It’s my day one and I’m looking forward to this new innings’. Avinash responded with a beautiful warm message welcoming me. I had requested for a call to take stock. During the call, he said, “I will just keep giving feedback when and where required.” And yes, he meant it :) I have this problem of wanting to have chunks of work and completing them asap. Perhaps, the experience of working with the Government made me adopt that style. I was more of an ‘ideate, operate, execute and then leave it to the machinery type of person’. Like we say 0 to 1 stage in startups, once I felt we had the Product Market Fit for any initiative, I would move to some other exciting idea and the cycle repeats. But I learnt that I have to change that working style here. I should thank Avinash for being very patient, sweet and helping me here. In the first two weeks itself, I’d realised that I should maintain a suggestions doc. This doc was very helpful!
List of few valuable suggestions from Avinash:
1. Volunteering requires a different DNA, and not everyone can do that. It’s easy to get people in, but tough to make them leave. So be mindful of your engagement with people.
2. We need to balance things and disagree with each other, whenever needed.
3. Don’t be in a hurry. Slow down! Good things take time.
4. Sometimes, often actually, living with purpose will require you to “leave some money on the table”. Living with purpose isn’t about maximising profits, it’s about being of service. It’s about building great relationships.
5. We should clearly keep our biases separate and put some parameters so that people make it to the list based on merit and not by any of us recommending them.
6. You need to be patient and drive the culture before anyone else influences you. You should take your decision in terms of what will be good for SaaSBOOMi.
7. Volunteers are the backbone of SaaSBOOMi. Both of us should make sure they are comfortable and open to share.
8. We can post individual sessions’ feedback, NPS scores, or we can ignore the speaker names. We should be open enough to admit that we are not really great!!
“Culture isn’t static. It’s anything but a word reference that individuals alluded to when they need it. Culture lives in each discussion, email, eye contacts, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”
Somethings that I think I could do better:
1. SaaSBOOMi data sorting and its usage. I’m yet to set the processes and find the right solution for this.
2. Talking to the team and founders more often! Communicating more often would build compatibility.
3. My writing and communication skills! A lot to do here :)
4. I can definitely be more creative & productive. Should create more bandwidth for this.
5. Avoiding working in the late night and sleep on time :) My mom is the most worried about this habit, and I should try my best to fix it.
If you are someone who could relate to this and is interested in contributing to the ecosystem, let’s catch up over a zoom call! Looking forward to this exciting journey :)
Special thanks to Dhruti Kalavapudi who did take a look at this blog in spite of her busy schedule.
