The Cloud Software Association’s plans for 2019
There’s a lot we want to do! What can we do together?
Before we all get together at our annual conference SaaS Connect coming up, I wanted to share our plans for the Cloud Software Association over 2019.
Our vision: build a market for SaaS distribution
Our industry relies heavily on direct sales and direct marketing today. But one day, the partnership leaders of the industry will find higher leverages routes to market.
Supporting the careers of partnership professionals is our day-to-day focus. As members of the association, we work on new services to make your job easier.
Why? Because it’s our job too! The board and the executive are all partnership execs like you.
Partnership professionals need 3 things
Your value of a partnership professional depends 3 core competencies:
- Your professional network. Who we know is often who we are.
- Your inside knowledge of the industry. Every deal is a risk; keeping up with what’s going on is critical.
- Your wide skill set. We need to know sales, marketing, product management, design, legal, finance, and commercials.
Everything we’re doing is to support one of these 3 areas so it’s much easier to be you, a powerful partnership professional.
What we’re continuing in 2019
- SaaS Connect, March 26-27. Our 9th annual conference by and for SaaS partnership leaders.
- Slack community. Our growing back room for partnership leaders.
- CSA meetups and cocktail parties. Local meetups and conference side parties for SaaS partnership leaders.
- Job board. We get that looking for work is hard in partnerships.
- Peer mentor program. Talk to experienced professional peers.
- Partnership knowledge base. Our collective know-how of doing cloud software partnerships.
- PR service. Our partner BLASTmedia creates PR opportunities for members.
What we’re adding in 2019
We’re already very busy, but there are definitely key priorities to add this year.
- Member directory. Expand and stabilize our mutual professional network by keeping track of who the partner people at each company.
- Market research. We trade on industry knowledge; we’d like to organize more of it for you.
Help with the CSA, build your network
The CSA has been a volunteer organization run by your fellow SaaS partnership executives for 10 years. Our longevity is a demonstration of how valuable our organization is in the busy lives of your fellow executives.
How can you help? Because the CSA knows thousands of people, the fastest way to build your professional network is to build this professional network.
- Promote SaaS Connect Need an easy ice breaker to meet anyone in the industry? Invite them to attend SaaS Connect.
- Organize a meetup in your city Build a strong local network.
- Build the peer mentor program Recruiting top leaders across the industry to mentor is a great way to meet them.
You’re interested, I know. Email me to volunteer. 🙂
Sustainability
Despite all appearances, the Cloud Software Association is not my full-time job. I am the CEO of AppBind, the easiest way for agencies and VARs to resell SaaS.
But to truly meet member needs, we need staff.
The CSA does have a staff of part-time contractors. We would like to expand our services by hiring more people, which means we must move to a member fee model.
We’ve been talking about that for a long time, but it will happen this year. We’ll make sure the transition will make sense for everyone.