How Community-Led Marketing Drives B2B SaaS Growth

In this video, Alex Gluz, founder of T.A. Monroe, a B2B digital marketing agency, is joined by Derek Weeks, CMO of Katalon, who built a 100,000+ member DevOps community that generated 40,000 annual conference attendees with just 2.5 part-time staff.

Derek breaks down the counterintuitive playbook: no vendors, no pitches, no budget. Just pure value that turned community members into inevitable customers.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲:

The 90-day sprint: Exact steps from idea to 13,000 members (no paid acquisition)
"$0 to 100K": How free + helpful beats million-dollar marketing budgets
The 95/5 buyer truth: Why traditional marketing misses 95% of future revenue
Community ROI exposed: 180 content pieces, 24 hours, 2.5 people (the math that changes everything)
The "helpful not salesy" framework that gets you on every buyer's shortlist
Data advantage: Transform 100K community members into unbeatable market intelligence
Budget reality: Why 5% investment returns 10x more than traditional channels
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𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗸 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻:

LinkedIn:   / derekeweeks  
Website: https://katalon.com/
Where to find Alex Gluz and T.A. Monroe:
LinkedIn:   / alexgluz  
Website: https://tamonroe.com/
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𝗪𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿:

00:55 - Meet Derek Weeks, CMO of Katalon
02:11 - Building a community of 100,000+ professionals
03:05 - All Day DevOps community beginning
04:05 - The problem with traditional conferences
05:01 - Going radical: 15-hour online conference
05:29 - 90 days from idea to execution
05:54 - Launch results: 13,000 members immediately
07:40 - How community, brand, and product intersect
08:53 - Understanding the 95/5 buyer dynamic
10:35 - CMO Coffee Talk: Building trust without selling
11:45 - Mining community data for competitive advantage
13:29 - Real budget talk: 5-10% of marketing spend
14:30 - Team size shock: 2.5 part-time people
15:50 - The content multiplication effect
17:18 - Impact on customer acquisition costs
19:46 - Hard truths about event ROI
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