The Saas Academy Series: The Road to Cloud Acceleration. Brussels, September 10, 2014.

1. Or what do fishermen, fish and
cloud providers have in common.
Philippe Creytens
SaaS Academy Series - September 10, 2014
http://goo.gl/FQwCPA

2. In search of answers to 4 simple questions
but answers are not always that simple!

3. 4 simple questions
What is cloud DNA?
How to transform?
How to attract the right people?
How to compensate them?

4. SaaS offers...
vast new opportunities but also global competition

5. Cloud is transformation… in a radical way

6. SaaS radically changes your...
Business model, development model, infrastructure, HR and a
lot more!

7. SaaS radically changes your...
Corporate culture at the smallest level

8. Change is hard...

9. IT companies and Pavlov
“Let’s keep doing what were doing, as we’ve been doing it.”

10. And culture, in the broadest sense
matters...
Typical Dutch CxO
“Are my competitors using
this cloud thing?”
“No, it is a new phenomena.”
“Then I want this asap”

11. And culture, in the broadest sense
matters...
Typical Belgian CxO
“Are my competitors using
this cloud thing?”
“No, it is a new phenomena.”
“Then I’ll wait till they all do.”

12. How do I start?

13. Blank canvas approach or transformation?
A skunkworks is a group of people who, in order to achieve unusual
results, work on a project in a way that is outside the usual rules.

14. Problems you will run into
Transformation
Re-inventing job profiles
and re-training employees
Saying goodbye to some...
Skunkworks/M&A
Finding the “right”
people
Keeping the “right”
people

15. Start with the why (not with the what)
“I imagine a world where people wake up every day inspired to go to work and return
home at the end of the day feeling fulfilled by the work they do, feeling that they have
contributed to something greater than themselves.” Simon Sinek

16. Start with the why (not with the what)
Outside in / Conventional Inside out in / Remarkable
The Golden Circle according to Simon Sinek
Why? = The Purpose
What is your cause? What are your
values?
How? = The Process
The specific actions to realize the Why
What?
What do you do? The result of Why. The
proof

17. So why “why”?

18. War for talent
Millenials have other values: purpose, work/life
balance, challenges, ...

19. War for talent
Millenials have other values: purpose, work/life
balance, challenges, ...

20. War for talent
Millenials have other values: purpose, work/life
balance, challenges, ...

21. War for talent
de Morgen 01/09/2014

22. Fish where the fish are...

23. Two main streams are visible
(pun intended)
Kill ‘em with (obvious)
perks…
Google, Yahoo, ...

24. Two main streams are visible
(pun intended)
Distributed teams with attention to work/life:
37signals (Rails) with 6 months 4-day work week
Automattic (Wordpress)

25. WETCO, traits for hiring...
W is for Warmth: Simple human kindness.
E is for Empathy: The ability to sense what another person is
feeling.
T is for Teamwork: An inclination toward ‘‘Let’s work together to
make this happen’’ and against ‘‘I’d rather do it all myself.’’
C is for Conscientiousness: Detail orientation, including an ability
and willingness to follow through to completion.
O is for Optimism: The ability to bounce back and to not
internalize challenges. Optimism is a necessity in customer-facing
positions.

26. Importance of “fit”
Many successful SaaS providers train and evaluate for “cultural
fit”.
The Offer
Zappos (now Amazon) offers $2,000 for people to quit during
training. Only 2-3% do take the offer.
Identifies the misfits early—at a cost of just one-week's salary and
$2,000 compared to what later?

27. Rethinking a lot of things...
Tooling, management style, process, compensation,
communication, etc, without strict manuals to follow...

28. Closing thoughts, or The Art of War
(Sun Tszu)
“Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred
battles without disaster.”

29. Some food for thought (and reading)
http://scottberkun.com/yearwithoutpants/

30. Some food for thought (and reading)
http://www.slideshare.net/prezly/visual-guide-to-selling-software-as-a-service-by-prezly
99 slides

31. Philippe Creytens
google.com/+PhilippeCreytens
@pcreytens
pc@kumondo.com