Attending and Volunteering for SaaSboomi 2020
Every SaaSboomi continues to generate a sense of awe on many aspects — the openness in sharing success stories, knowing that there may be some in the audience who may be building a competing business, the frankness in sharing war stories, for the sole purpose that you don’t face those battles and lastly, the camaraderie between everyone, whether you are a volunteer or a founder of a billion-dollar company. I had earlier shared in a conversation with Sairam Krishnan about my past experiences with SaaSboomi.
The mission is driven by the dream of making India, a nation of product companies, to encourage entrepreneurs to take the plunge, giving them the confidence that they would not be alone.
I remember attending the first such event when it used to be called SaaSx, I had not started up, I was hoping to, hearing stories from Girish, Suresh, Krish and others gave me the feeling that it has been done, done from here ( India) and that gave a sense of confidence and comfort.
Over the years, I have attended SaaSboomi and I have also charted the journey of how our company (Fyle) has grown, we learned somethings the hard way and over the years, we also learned from the journey of other founders. As a founder, you cannot get a more powerful, dedicated set of people that you can seek advice from, that’s the spirit of paying it forward that drives SaaSboomi.
The standout moment for me at SaaSboomi this year was when Girish said, someone, has to go and learn how to take companies from 100 million to 1 billion in revenue and come back to teach others.
Over the years, there is one more thing that struck me again and again, it was the fact that everything just worked like clockwork. It’s a mighty feat considering the fact that even when putting together an event with much smaller scales, there are so many things that go out of place. There was no event management company managing the things, there was no company that was doing everything necessary for ensuring that the event becomes successful. I wanted a small peek into how this happens, and when Avinash Raghava asked me if I could volunteer to help with logistics, I jumped in.
What I realized was that there is implicit trust in getting something done, you are answerable to the highest standard that you hold to, not to anyone else, you only care about getting the job done, without the fear of being called out when things go wrong. There were several things that I could have done better, but not once did anyone mention what those could be. There are many ways in which we could have handled things in a better way, but what you heard was praise and what you felt was a sense of accomplishment and belonging.
Another lesson I learned was, it’s never too late, nor too early to start paying it forward. Every small thing matters. I always used to think that, once my company hits these numbers, I would like to share all my lessons and war stories, what I have come to realize, is that the best time is when you decide to pay it forward and one can do that in many ways.
The three things that I would love for people to take away from my story.
- Never too late to volunteer, all you need to do is ask, how can I help.
- SaaSboomi is not just an annual event, it’s a movement to which each and every one of us can give to make it stronger
- As entrepreneurs, we fight a lonely battle, SaaSboomi’s mission is to not make you feel that way.
I’d like to leave you with something that I and everyone who volunteered, treasure.
