#intros

Welcome.

It looks like a lot of writers in the SaaS domain prefer freelancing over in-house positions. I've seen the trend here as well as in LinkedIn. Why do you think that is?

SaaS in-house varies. When I did sales in Silicon Valley, I worked with the in-house content team on a few things but found it hard to break into the "clique" of marketing/content people who were Ivy's/Stanford/Berkeley and already well-established in their marketing careers. I would have gladly taken an in-house role there w/ equity comp. I've interviewed for a couple in-house positions since but didn't get the jobs (Zapier being one) and just kept going along the freelance route. In the end you do get more flexibility and aren't stuck writing about the same topic over and over. But honestly if Salesforce or a large SaaS company found me and gave me an attractive offer I would definitely take it. I just don't think there are THAT many in-house writing positions relative to the amount of writers out there. You need to be in the right network and the right city to land a good in-house position. At least that's my opinion.

There was another major SaaS company I discussed an in-house position with. They said starting salary would be around $85k in the Bay Area. Which means I'd essentially be homeless. LOL

Sheesh. I understand.

I've heard this point about the variety in topics being an advantage for freelancers. Certainly an advantage for generalists. But would specialists be able to thrive in the SaaS scene?

My question might be totally off the mark. The truth is I am not a SaaS/or even tech writer. What would be a good place to start in SaaS writing?

Specialists definitely thrive in SaaS. If you carve out deep domain expertise in either and industry or toolset it can work to your advantage. For example, you may decide to write content and know all the in's and out's of Human Resources. Then you could potentially work from companies like SuccessFactors, Entelo, PeopleSoft, etc that have cloud solutions for HCM. Or you might focus more broadly on a technology like Artificial Intelligence or Blockchain, where it applies to multiple industries. If you wanted to start in SaaS I'd definitely recommend reading up on the industry and learning the lingo, big players, etc. Go on Crunchbase often and see what kind of companies are being funded. Start writing for user generated sites (even Medium) to show companies that you actually know what you're talking about and try to have some kind of perspective on the industry. Like I said, many startups bring teams that they've previously worked with at companies that have already had a liquidity event. Not to mention their hiring pipeline from elite universities.

Also try and get some entry level articles under your belt via UpWork. No better way to learn an industry through experience and gaining recommendations from satisfied clients. You can then start leveraging that on your website/online profiles being like "Hey I know SaaS! Here's what I've written and what clients have said."

Also keep in mind that "SaaS" is extremely broad. It just means Software-as-Service which really refers to a business model than any specific technology. The software industry switched from selling versions of software to billing on a recurring basis because --well -- it's more profitable. As content marketers, our job is to bring more prospects into the pipeline that will eventually turn into subscribers. For businesses this can take anywhere from 6 months to 3-4 years. So the content is playing a long-term thought leadership game that addresses whatever specific industry and/or pain points that the software solution is uniquely positioned to solve. Anyways hope that all makes sense Sargi let me know if you have any other questions!