SaaSBoomi Volunteer Code
SaaSBoomi is a ‘Pay it forward’ community by SaaS founders for SaaS founders. We make knowledge and connections accessible to startups across stages.
You could find more about the SaaSBoomi Way in our story here.
As the organisation grows in its reach and impact, we need forethought on how we would conduct ourselves as volunteers who shape the various initiatives of SaaSBoomi.
There are some core values and then there are situational focus areas that come up as a reaction to specific situations, which then get assimilated into our core values.
Core Values
We pay it forward
We are held together by our mission to make India a formidable SaaS Nation. To get there, we need to be enablers. We volunteer to give and enable without keeping our personal benefits at the centre of it all. We keep our guards up against one-upmanship, hoarding, and we take our gains with utmost propriety
We self-govern
Our only incentive is seeing software product companies succeed. With no direct, personal rewards, the motivations have to be intrinsic. We take up what we can deliver and make sure to do it, without having to be managed
We bring our best game
It’s a privilege to work on a lofty mission that is net positive to the society and the economy. So we bring the best of our abilities. We don’t hesitate to nudge, offer help to fellow volunteers so that they stay on top of their game
We strive for balance
Some things are best left unchanged, best managed by someone peerless and yet some things need fresh perspectives, new faces, and new approaches. In everything we do, we pause, deliberate, and decide if the balance we have struck serves the startups the best now and in the near future
We keep the house clean
We all know the upside of being well-connected. With the reach comes overlap of our personal interests and what is appropriate for the community. Sometimes the overlap produces a positive-sum outcome and other times it leads to conflicts. We each declare overlap of interests in everything we do, in the right forum and proceed based on consensus
Non-exhaustive set of examples of how the core beliefs manifest in practice
We pay it forward
Setting a good example: We exist to serve SaaS founders. So the answer is always ‘yes’ for all reasonable know-how/connections they need in their journey. We proactively conduct roundtables, socials, and events that foster giving.
Setting a bad example: Gatekeeping between givers and takers. Tendencies towards hoarding knowledge, access (that came through the givers, in the first place), and using them to wield power. Lack of commitment to fulfilling the volunteering duties taken up. Expecting mileage for the volunteering done, in the form of visibility to their brand. Note that we may work with partners from outside the SaaS world from time to time who are not obliged to pay it forward for our mission. Only in such cases do we decide on visibility for them, and that too on a conservative basis.
We self-govern
Setting a good example: Being honest about the progress of an initiative; Being open to ideas and help from other volunteers; Being easy to collaborate with. Being on time.
Setting a bad example: Going incommunicado; Not managing time and not setting right expectations, necessitating someone else to hold the bag for us. Not taking constructive feedback in stride.
We bring our best game
Setting a good example: Putting effort to deliver high quality content in round tables. Being a servant leader when organizing events.
Setting a bad example: Winging it and coming unprepared. Delegating downwards within one’s organization or to other volunteers while still being the owner on paper.
We strive for balance
Setting a good example: Being thoughtful about representation. For example, it is hard to optimize for regional representation when it comes to bringing scale lessons from $50M+ startups. But it is thoughtful to bring speakers of diverse backgrounds to the audience, so that everyone can see one of them doing it right and take inspiration from that.
Setting a bad example: Compromising on the outcome for our audience just to check the box on a certain form of inclusivity.
We keep the house clean
Setting a good example: Being mindful of potential “conflict of interest” challenges that might come up in the way you envisage owning and running a SaaSBoomi program. Bringing them up with the SaaSBoomi team during the program design phase, and leading the effort to enforce adequate guardrails to protect the integrity of the program while staying true to its objective. Don’t decide if you are in a conflict situation or not, because our own involvement clouds our judgement. Defer to the appropriate team to decide. Accept that sometimes ‘propriety in action’ takes precedence over ‘promise of a benefit to all.’
Setting a bad example: Using your position of power and responsibility as a volunteer to provide backdoor entry to friends and investee companies who can benefit from being at a SaaSBoomi program, not based on merit.
