Leuven, 14 January 2020 – SaaStr is an online community of SaaS founders, executives, entrepreneurs, founded by Jason Lemkin. For my friends outside of software technology: SaaS stands for Software-as-a-Service, which is software that runs from the cloud mostly in your browser.

SaaStr puts Equality & Inclusion first in so many ways that other organizations and companies should take SaaStr as an example. I’ll highlight a few of my findings in this article, but I’m sure there’s a whole strategy set and I’m only scratching the surface here.

Equality and Inclusion First

And this is to be taken literally. Take saastr.com as in the screenshot above. The very first menu item brings you to INCLUSION. Inclusion first, from the very first moment you interact with SaaStr.

Targets and KPIs

SaaStr sets targets. And I’m sure there is someone at SaaStr who owns the target, as Jason Lemkin says, a metric without an owner is not met.

Actions to reach those targets

SaaStr organizes events, such as SaaStr Annual. Also here Diversity & Inclusion are core values. In fact, SaaStr Annual goes so far as to give away 1000+ free VIP passes for members of underrepresented groups. And it’s not just marketing! My female co-founder applied and got a free entry pass.

Speakers we all can relate to

An image tells more than a thousand words. Look at a selection of the speaker line-up.

Speaking inclusive language

This is a subtle one, but I love Jason Lemkin for this. We need more (male) leaders like this. Notice how Jason uses ‘she’ where most of us would use a ‘he’?

Spreading your mission

We can only change the world a small step at a time and SaaStr and Jason and team are doing a great job taking big steps! We should all take this as an example and build more inclusive work places and events. But it doesn’t stop in your company or organization. We should make a difference out there as well.

Thanks Jason and SaaStr for leading the way into a more inclusive (SaaS) world.