What 4 years in Software as a Service (SaaS) has taught me (so far)

Today February 17th, 2020 I celebrate my 4th year at Commercient a Saas company where I head up the marketing, partnership, and culture departments. Over the last four years not only has the company grown but so have I. This opportunity has allowed me to attend 2 dreamforces, lead global teams and so much more. I wanted to take the opportunity today to reflect on what I have learned so far.

Keep Learning

Growing up with a professor as a mother the love for learning was instilled in me very early on. I attended college and loved taking my classes and applying it to the business, however, I learned very quickly that wasn’t enough. I would be on calls and make lists longer than my arm of acronyms and terms to furiously google afterward. It also became apparent to me that I needed deeper knowledge of the technology we used, MarTech, Salesforce, whatever it was in order to keep up with the growing company I needed to be better at it, yesterday. 

I take time aside every day to take on certifications and to earn badges on trailhead (salesforces learning platform). Not because I have to, but so that I can stay sharp, be informed and really speak the language. 

Don’t be a roadblock

When I first joined the company we were a small scrappy 6 person company. If I wanted something changed, logo colors, website UX changes, blog articles written, all I would have to do is walk across the room and talk. As the company grew I got to a point of working 60 hour weeks and looking across the room thinking about scale. Scale in the Saas world is often overused and is often prescribed as the antidote that leads to growth. In this case however I had to learn how to stop and delegate as the company grew from 6 to 22, then to 40 then to 65. 

It took a long time for me to learn the best way to delegate, make myself but more importantly my team successful. Once I figured it out it made all the difference in the world. 

Culture is attitude and approach

Everyday problems, issues, successes, challenges, obstacles, milestones and life happens. Working in Saas has taught me it is how I react to these things as a leader that shapes the way the company culture works. Now I’m not so naive as to say it is solely up to me as I am not a founder or the only department head on staff, but as one of the first few employees I realize people look to me.  

My reaction to a call or to a VP announcement can set the tone of my team's work week, and perception. I choose everyday to smile, to be as genuine as possible, to always see the positive in a situation. No one that I know has a job that never faces negative situations. My take away from my experiences is that it does absolutely no good to reach with a negative attitude. My positivity shapes in some part the company culture.  

There is no room for ego in growth

I have to admit I am often guilty of being very proud of what I do and confident in my abilities. What I have learned is that it is absolutely impossible to know everything. I could not be more lucky to be surrounded by people in my teams that are all smarter than me in some way. I know from experience that there are people who are afraid to hire because they feel they might get replaced. The truth is far far from that, you have a job because the person that hired you saw that you were uniquely talented.   

Ego has no place in building, evaluating people and understanding how they work and their strengths are what scales.  

At a rapidly growing company you write your next job description 

I have been incredibly blessed by never having to explain to my boss what I do, why I need a promotion or apply to a higher job role. As Commercient has grown my next job role was always determined by how much I needed to step out of or into day to day and what the company needed next to grow.  

I get to do lots of things that I love everyday and I get to grow by doing things that I may not be as familiar with.

I have truly loved the 4 wonderful years of working at a rapidly growing Saas company. I can not wait to see where Commercient, my career, and my learning will take me. I want to be sure I thank all of the team members that I have had the joy of working with both current and past, each one of you have taught me valuable career, marketing and life lessons that I can assure you I will not soon forget. Without my amazing team I am just one person together we are something truly amazing, I hope my “TEDtalks” helped all of you in some way. I want to thank my bosses for taking a chance on a kid with zero experience. Lastly but not anywhere near least I want to thank my amazing wife for putting up with the highs, lows, travel, and crazy hours. 

I can’t wait to look back on this and see the growth I have made 4 years from now.