S2E7 – How to build a community as a B2B SaaS? with Mike Rizzo

How to build a community as a B2B SaaS? In season one, episode eight of our podcast, we were privileged to host Alex Theuma, where we discussed how to create a community within a B2B SaaS. In this episode, we take the subject matter a notch higher as we host Mike Rizzo, the Founder & CEO of Marketingops and community-led Growth Advisor at Rev Brains.

We discuss the importance of having a thriving community as a B2B SaaS. Mike shares valuable, actionable tactics on How to build a community as a B2B SaaS. 

Establishing a thriving community within the realm of B2B SaaS demands more than just a product or service – it necessitates a strategic and holistic approach. Crafting a robust B2B SaaS community involves creating a space where industry professionals, clients, and stakeholders converge to exchange insights, best practices, and solutions. By fostering meaningful interactions through tailored content, engaging discussions, and collaborative initiatives, companies can forge lasting relationships, enhance customer loyalty, gather valuable feedback, and ultimately shape a community-driven ecosystem that adds substantial value to both their offerings and the industry at large.:

• What is community-led growth?
  • Community Led: Being intentional about continuous feedback from community members.
  • Different community types: User community, customer advisory board, influencers, etc.
  • Diversity in community needs is based on user types, personas, or roles.
• Starting a Community:
  • Begin with a hypothesis about a problem you want to solve.
  • Actively engage with the community to validate your hypothesis.
  • Emphasize the importance of talking to potential community members.
  • Community building as a form of user research at scale.
• Common Mistakes:
  • Lack of identity and intention for the community.
  • Balancing between being a part of the brand’s community or an independent initiative.
  • Engage experts or partners to support and add value to the community.
• Challenges and Solutions:
  • Challenge: Enforcing guidelines and addressing unwanted behavior.
  • Importance of protecting the community and maintaining its quality.
  • Solution: Clearly communicate and reinforce community guidelines regularly.

Framework Mentioned:

• CMX Spaces model for different community types (product, support, etc.).

Key Takeaways:

• Community-led means intentional feedback from constituents.
• A hypothesis-driven approach to building a community.
• Engagement with community members as a form of user research.
• Importance of clear community guidelines and identity.
• Partners and experts can contribute to community success.

Key Timecodes

• (0:29) Show and topic intro
• (1:30) Why you should listen to Mike Rizzo
• (2:17) What is community-led?
• (5:10) The importance of knowing your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)
• (6:31) What needs to be in place before starting community-led growth?
• (9:00) Common mistakes companies make while starting community-led growth?
• (13:09) The ideal community-building process
• (18:43) Challenges and obstacles experienced while building a community
• (22:37) The online vs Offline communities
• (27:54) How to grow to 10K MRR.
• (29:45) How to grow to 10M ARR

Meet the author

Joran Hofman

Back in 2020 I was an affiliate for 80+ SaaS tools and I was generating an average of 30k in organic visits each month with my site. Due to the issues I experienced with the current affiliate management software tools, it never resulted in the passive income I was hoping for. Many clunky affiliate management tools lost me probably more than $20,000+ in affiliate revenue. So I decided to build my own software with a high focus on the affiliates, as in the end, they generate more money for SaaS companies.