High Leverage Product Evangelism

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses how to build an effective evangelism program for a SaaS company, drawing on the author's experience at Amplitude. It covers key aspects such as:

• Mapping internal expertise across different levels and domains
• The interconnected nature of community, content, and education/coaching
• Taking a portfolio approach to evangelism rather than relying on a single individual
• Hiring a community specialist as a key first step

🙋 Q&A

[01] Mapping Internal Expertise

1. What are the different levels of expertise the article discusses? The article outlines 4 levels of expertise:

• Level 1 and 2: Prevalent internally, but need to be amplified
• Level 3: Strong expertise, but limited capacity (e.g. conference speakers)
• Level 4: Less prevalent, on the border of what the company needs day-to-day

2. How does the article recommend mapping areas of expertise? The article suggests mapping expertise across:

• "Amplitude agnostic" skills and practices
• A "middle layer" product analytics workflow view
• What the product actually does

This helps identify what is more/less influenceable by the company.

3. Why is it important to map different knowledge domains? Mapping knowledge domains is important because an expert in one area may not be an expert in explaining that to different personas, industries, or stages of the customer journey. Siloing knowledge is dangerous.

[02] Community, Content, and Education

1. What are the three key pillars of an evangelism program according to the article? The article states that evangelism is about three things:

1. Community
2. Content
3. Education / Helping / Coaching

2. How are these three pillars interconnected? The article emphasizes that these three pillars are deeply intertwined and cannot be separated. For example:

• The content team is in the evangelism and advocacy business
• Evangelists need to re-integrate their content back into the overall content strategy
• Education, helping, and coaching are all part of the evangelism effort

3. Why is taking an integrated approach important? The article cautions against siloing these efforts, as that will lead to a fragile and limiting situation. An integrated, multi-faceted approach is essential.

[03] Building the Evangelism Team

1. What is the key first hire the article recommends? The article states that the first key hire should be a community specialist with a background in interacting with influencers, subject matter experts, and content producers.

2. Why does the article recommend against relying on a single "all-in-one" evangelist? The article argues that putting all your eggs in one basket with a single evangelist is unsustainable and limiting. Instead, the goal should be to create an ecosystem of individuals with complementary skills and interests.

3. What are the different "shapes" of individuals the article suggests building a team around? The article mentions "I-shaped", "T-shaped", and "W-shaped" individuals, whose skills and interests complement each other and align with business objectives.