If your company sells drills, your customers are buying holes. If the customer is using the holes to hang up picture frames then they’re buying the ability to be reminded of a happy memory. Putting up shelves? They’re buying storage space. You’ve probably come across this kind of statement before and for many of us it feel intuitively true.
You’re still selling “a drill”. But when you know what job the customer wants to get done with that drill you can pitch it better.
This is the principle behind the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) theory and it has proven useful in all kinds of core business activities, and especially in sales and product management. It’s not so hard to see why. If you know what “job” your customer is “hiring” your product for it becomes much easier to prioritise building the right set of features or which ones to focus on in a sales demo.
Uncovering what jobs your prospects and customers are really trying to get done takes some skill. That’s where our experts Bob Moesta and Nopadon Wongpakdee come in with two new masterclasses.
Joel Spolsky, founder of FogCreek, Trello, Stack Overflow, HASH – and, with Neil Davidson, one of the original movers behind a thing called Business of Software Conference, announced that Stack Overflow has been acquired by Prosus, a European private equity firm that is the largest shareholder in Tencent, for $1.8 billion.
Most BoS supporters tend to be relatively large companies. Where by “relatively large” we mean more than two people.
Not so for Software Promotions. One of the things that sets them apart, and proudly so, is that they’re only two people — and they have no plans on ever changing that.
They believe this what has kept many of their clients with them for years.
Jason VandeBoom will be speaking at BoS Conf Spring.Online 26-27 April on the topic: Inflection Points on a Journey from Side Hustle to 1,000 People.
Jason is the founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign. He went against a lot of traditional advice for startups: staying in your lane; not going after big companies as your first customers; treating customer support as a cost centre…
Those unorthodox decisions have been key to the growth of ActiveCampaign.
IQ Capital invests £0.5-10m at Seed and Series A in disruptive UK-based tech companies capable of dominating global markets.
This year we’re excited to welcome them as BoS Conf Online supporters and, of course, as conference participants themselves. Naturally this means that attending BoS Conf Spring in April is a great way of getting to know some of the UK’s leading tech VCs.
Rich is a seasoned executive and serial entrepreneur – he has been the ‘product guy’ (as CEO/VP Product) at six startups. With deep technical roots in B2B infrastructure, SaaS and consumer online, Rich combines ‘what-we-can-build’ with ‘what-markets-want’.
In his breakout discussion he will help you solve your gnarliest product problems through an open and engaging Q&A approach.
BoS regulars will be familiar with Balsamiq and their CEO Peldi. In fact, for most of us, it would be a surprise not to see him at a BoS event.
We’re therefore delighted to announce that Balsamiq are once again supporting BoS in 2021 because Balsamiq and Peldi embody our values and what we believe make software companies great: a unique founder story, a successful product, and a willingness to share and give back to the community.
Tim Burgess will be leading a Breakout discussion at BoS Conf Spring.Online 26-27 April on the topic: “Hiring Challenges Across Territories.”
Pandemics aside, operating remotely comes with a lot of benefits for both employer and employee. A big one for entrepreneurs, is getting access to a broader pool of talent than what might be readily available on the home ground.
But making it work in practice can be challenging. When does it make sense to incorporate in different jurisdictions vs using contractor agreements? What are the tax implications? How do you deal with cultural and legal differences between regions?
In 2016 Rob Castaneda, CEO of ServiceRocket, spoke about the three mistakes he made that almost killed his company. Rob never took funding and built ServiceRocket from his bedroom in Sydney to an operation in four countries employing over 200 people.
ServiceRocket is now joining many other companies in supporting this year’s Business of Software Spring Conference.
Business of Software is a paid conference with limited sponsorship. We focus on delivering value to our customers – the attendees. We know this means not everyone who would like to can afford the cost of attendance.
Asia Orangio will be leading a breakout session at BoS Conf Spring.Online 26-27 April on the topic: “How Founders Can Get Better at Marketing.”
If the open Q&A session we had with Asia a few weeks ago is anything to by (it is) then you won’t want to miss this session.
As founder and CEO of DemandMaven Asia helps CEOs and founders make sense of marketing and focus on things that count and she now also serves on the board of directors for Moz.
Breakout Sessions are your chance to share ideas and challenges about things that matter to you in a smaller group – with experts in their field and, of course, speakers.
They’re often described as the most valuable part of the event. Not only do you get to dig into something important, you spend time with a group of smart people with the same interests as you.
While some breakout sessions are set up, you can also suggest a topic for discussion.
You’ll be able to move from the main sessions into the room you choose on the day though if you have a question, we strongly encourage to submit in advance.
Sahil Lavingia will be speaking at BoS Conf Spring.Online 26-27 April on the topic: “The Pros and Cons of Setting Your Own Goals as an Entrepreneur.”
Venture-backed or independent? That’s a question many founders and entrepreneurs have to answer when they start a software company. (And a highly charged topic for many.)
Sahil is one of the few entrepreneurs who’s gone down both paths, with the same company. After taking angel and venture funding for his company he radically rethought the goals and purpose of his company and pivoted back to an independent business.
We’re therefore delighted to welcome Sahil, founder and CEO of Gumroad, as a first-time BoS speaker to share his unique experiences with us.
BoS regulars will know that James Avery recently renamed Adzerk as Kevel, raised $11 million to grow the company, and had a very frank and enlightening conversation with Mark.
Gareth Marlow will be leading a breakout session at BoS Conf Spring.Online 26-27 April on the topic: “Entrepreneurs Anonymous: Scaling a Tech Business is Hard.”
If you’ve ever worked with someone you didn’t trust, you will know how hard it can be to get even simple things done. Let alone taking big decisions.
Even harder is trying to deal with that alone.
In his session, Gareth will create a safe and welcoming space where entrepreneurs can work through difficult problems with peers who are attempting to navigate similar issues.
Stefano Mastrogiacomo will be leading a breakout session at BoS Conf Spring.Online 26-27 April on the topic: “Tips and Tricks for Using Digital Tools for Better Teamwork.”
Effective in-person, or remote, teamwork rarely just happens. It often requires work, effort, and deliberate focus.
You’ll know this if you’ve ever tried to solve or improve teamwork issues by trying a new tool. Be it a “whiteboard and stickies” or a “Slack and Google doc” situation, teamwork tools require process and skill.
Everything about remote working you need to know from the Co-Founder of Wildbit and the founder of Balsamiq
Streaming direct from the USA and Italy, two titans of remote working spoke at BoS Online Europe back in 2020.
Even fully remote companies who have been doing asynchronized work for decades have had to change their ways of working when the pandemic hit. In this talk, Peldi and Natalie discuss the aspects of remote worklife that are different now for working at home in result of Covid-19 including productivity, schedules, prioritisation, focus, and much more.
Alison Coward will be leading an interactive breakout session at BoS Conf Spring.Online 26-27 April on the topic: “Running Better Remote Meetings.”
At the heart of most teams lies The Team Meeting. It’s where issues are raised, decisions are taken, and plans are made. In a remote environment, its often also the only place where people see each other and catch up.
As building a high-performing, resilient, and adaptive team has never been more important, you’ll want to make sure your remote team meetings are setting you up for success.
