This got us thinking about how much company culture is performative vs deep-rooted and non-negotiable.
B. Pagels-Minor shared a talk at BoS Conference Online Fall 2021 on how people and organizations can be effective and positive allies for marginalized groups in companies, focusing on gender diverse communities.
B. shared an historical perspective, discussed some of their own personal experiences and offered some excellent ideas that would be both practical and useful for any organization that wants to create and maintain and welcoming, diverse and healthy work environment. While the talk focused on gender diversity, much of it is equally applicable to diversity more widely.
They also talked a little about their current role, in product as Games Launch Manager at Netflix where they were also a Global Lead for Netflix’s Black and Netflix’s Trans employee resource groups.
It was notable how excited B. was about working in an organization like Netflix, that has a well discussed culture and was so committed to supporting diverse groups of people in the organization.
Shortly after the conference, life changed for B. at Netflix.
At Business of Software we want to make a positive impact to you and your business and not a negative impact on the world, as we deliver the great, inspiring, conferences you have come to know and love.
When we moved our 2020 Europe Conference from in-person to online a lot of stuff happened very quickly. Once the event was over, I was faced with a mountain of unusable merch – T-shirts, bags, notebooks, and cups all had “2020” on them, equating to 1000 items. I was determined that they would not end up as landfill. I had no idea how we could reuse them, I just knew we absolutely had to.
April is riled by this. She discussed why she feels it is so bad.
“I started getting clients come to me, saying, what we want to do is a strategy session and I was like, I don’t do strategy. I do positioning, and they’re like, hey, yeah, it’s the same thing.” April Dunford
April blames consultants in Silicon Valley for propagating the myth that a story that works for VCs will work in a sales situation and for attracting employees into your company. Everything magically happens. “No! No! It’s not the same thing.”
How are vision, strategy, and positioning related?
Jobs to be Done is not new, but it is an underrated tool every level of every business can use to get better at understanding where others are coming from as the view your product/project.
On 8 June 2022, Business of Software are bringing you a one-day conf full of amazing JTBD insights, workshops, and talks from experts such as Bob Moesta, Claire Suellentrop, Nopadon Wongpakdee, and many more.
Once upon a time, back in the last millennium, there were two ways of financing a software company: you raised money from friends, family, fools and angels; or you pitched VCs for funding.
Building long term relationships with high-value SaaS and software leaders
At Business of Software conferences, we aim to make a real difference to the wonderful people and companies that make up our BoS Community. This isn’t something we can do all on our own though – it is thanks to the speakers, supporters, and attendees who come together to help each other grow and succeed.
We try to offer attendees a few things to remember the conference by and make sure that whatever we produce is worth keeping.
The t-shirts, notebooks, pens, books, bags, and more, everything we hand pick is designed to be taken home, kept, and used time and time again. We know that, in general, people value what they receive and we hate to think that things will be thrown away. Sadly, every year the landfill sites across the world get fuller and fuller.
This year at BoS Europe, we made some changes and we’ve been very encouraged by the feedback.
When you spend time and money on attending a conference you want to learn new ideas and see how they can be put to work in your business so that you can spend more time on what works and less time on what doesn’t.
Jobs to be Done (JTBD) is a tool to help you understand what your customers are trying to achieve and how you can help them with their goals. It helps you focus on what the customer really wants to achieve by hiring your product. Originally applied to product development, it is increasingly being used to great effect in sales, marketing. You cannot drive growth by only looking at one aspect of your business.
Have a look through some of our previous JTBD talks in this handy playlist.
Our next One-Day Online Business of Software Conf will open your eyes to how you can apply this approach effectively to product development, sales, and marketing.
Bob Moesta, Claire Suellentrop, Nopadon Wongpakdee, Rand Fishkin, Alan Klement, and more, will explain some theory but, more importantly, will show you how the theory hits the road with case studies, interactive sessions, and round table discussions.
Once you understand the difference JTBD can make to your approach and thinking, you will never turn back.
Online 8 Jun 2022
Getting Your Tickets
You can save over 50% if you bring your team or come to more than one event.
Bring a team of three for less than the cost of two – use code TEAM3.
Bring a team of six for less than the cost of three – use code TEAM6.
Although I’ve been with Business of Software for just over a year and being part of our online events, my experience at the Europe In-Person Conf felt like beginning a new job.
One thing I saw very quickly is that regardless if folks are supporting, attending, or speaking the networking that happens between the talks is very much focused on long term relationship building. I had heard that BoS was not a speed networking style conference, but to see it in person was another level. I think it is what divides us from other trade shows/conferences/large exhibition tech events: our community.
I felt welcomed with open arms and not once as though I wasn’t meant to be there.
On day one of Business of Software’s In-Person Europe Conference, Joe Leech mentioned he was part of the bum-bag brigade (fanny-pack fraternity for those in US) and some may have noticed I also had a handy satchel with me during the conference too.
So I thought you might be interested (and if you aren’t, well you’re already this far so just keep reading anyway) in what we considered to be BoS Conf essential enough to be on our person all day:
Driving home from Business of Software Europe In-Person on Tuesday evening a song came on the radio and the lyrics summed up my experience perfectly:
“Don’t change a thing, you are amazing”
Rex Orange County – AMAZING
Now I know what you’re thinking, “oh no Kirk is one of those ‘it’s a sign’ people”; I’m not, but – after 57 hours of being in BoS-mode and having not slept much as my head was buzzing with adrenaline – I may have become slightly emotional.
But enough of THAT!
Here are my top three moments and three things I learned from my first ever in-person BoS Conf :
If Tesla can score 103/100 on a test, what’s stopping you from achieving your seemingly impossible outcomes too?
In this online session, by BoS regular Bruce McCarthy, we walk through the cultures and practices of some well known organisations and help you think about how to tackle the big, scary challenges in your organisation with a few examples where the right vision, team, and plan have led to winning formulas.
When you start out on a route, you don’t only have to think about the destination, but also the different checkpoints along the way. Sometimes you also have to know when to take your foot off the gas.
With just three weeks to go till we see you in-person again, we have a handful of speakers to help whet your appetite. Next week we will be revealing our full schedule and speaker list with more info on all the talks you can look forward to.
We know that when you hear a founder story, you like to then pick their brains and ask questions to help steer you and your teams towards success (or away from failure). We also know you like to walk away with actionable tools that you can put in practise. Lucky for you, we have both of these and so much more…
