What is a SaaS academy?

Quick, think of your favorite SaaS company. Now go to their website and click on “Resources.” If the company is large enough, they almost certainly have an associated “Academy” or “University”. For example…

1. Hubspot Academy
2. Hootsuite Academy
3. Trade Desk Edge Academy

Large SaaS companies spend a significant portion of their budget on these online “academies”. This article, for example, highlights the incredible growth of the Hubspot Academy. Initially launched in 2012, by 2016 Hubspot Academy was supported by a full-time team of more than a dozen and awarded over 8,000 certifications a year.

But what exactly is a SaaS Academy?

SaaS companies aren’t selling software. They aren’t selling technology. They are selling capabilities. Let’s take one of my favorite SaaS companies: Measured. The Measured Intelligence Suite of software is powerful, robust technology. But if you go to the Measured website, the first thing the company describes is not its technology. Instead, they focus on the following three capabilities…

1. Increase media efficiency 
2. Manage your marketing data
3. Grow your business

Technology is critical. But technology alone doesn’t change behavior. Technology + Learning does. And the learning comes from the SaaS Academy.

Before the SaaS Academy, most Resources pages included a host of content, including blogs, webinars, white papers, customer testimonials, and more. Resources pages were like libraries. You could find what you needed, but the customer had to know the answer to two crucial questions: a) where should I start, and b) why should I keep going?

If you’re a SaaS company wondering why your Resources page doesn’t see more visitors, it is because learners can’t answer those two questions.

By comparison, each course within the SaaS Academy has a clear starting point, quizzes to test your knowledge, and a way to track your progress. When you finish a course, you know exactly what you’ve learned and you often get a certificate you can post on LinkedIn. Contact us at learning@allarium.com to learn more.