Building a raving community of fans.

Learn from Charlie and Compa.

The suite v niche discussion in HR tech is likely to rage on for as long as there is a software industry. One of the capabilities that is highly contested is compensation. Most suites have something, yet there is also a thriving niche segment.

As a niche vendor, how do you beat off the “suite is okay” argument, typically from IT or procurement, and the massive marketing force of the suites themselves? Part of it is building a better product, obviously. But that isn’t enough.

You make your users so engaged that changing out your product for the suite would cause a rebellion.

When you can bind users from multiple companies together, something special happens. Your product becomes more than lines of code, it becomes a career enabler and a community with a sense of belonging. When it helps your users to grow professionally it is gold. Deep referenceability makes sales growth almost inevitable. You tap the collective wisdom to make the product even better.

I’ve had the pleasure of watching Charlie at Compa build their compensation community blog post by blog post, webinar by webinar, event by event. He doesn’t push product, he shares competence, and provides a place for compensation leaders to do the same. The compa event, Compalluminati , brings the leaders of compensation together to share and learn.

It is the constant focus throughout the year that builds this. Check out the substack he publishes. For example, this post on California compensation. Data driven, valuable insights, leveraging his product without unnecessarily pitching it.

I really like how Charlie visualises and describes the purpose of the community.

“Compa is a compensation intelligence company — fundamentally, we aim to answer the question of “what’s happening in the market right now?” in part through our data products, and the rest through community.”

Charlie, thanks for the masterclass in building a community around your product and expertise. We remain thrilled to be an investor, and wish you an excellent conference.

You can’t fake this. You need to work at it. Bit by bit, day by day. Consistently, sharing generously. And one day, you look around and you have the best companies in the world telling their peers that you are where it is at.

As I usually do, I’ll end with a song.

Over the years Radiohead has built a remarkable fan base. We all keep hoping for a album, but in the meantime, here’s a one my favourites from a while back.