Jana Schellong @beams. Building a meta layer of SaaS products

saas.unbound is a podcast for and about founders who are working on scaling inspiring products that people love brought to you by https://saas.group/ .

I’m your host Anna Nadeina, Head of Growth for saas.group. In this episode #9, we are talking with Jana Schellong, the founder of Beams ( https://usebeams.com/ ), a meta layer of SaaS products that help you navigate your workday with more focus and less stress. Jana talks about their vision to create a more mindful integration into the workplace, the importance of communication with users, the Product Hunt launch, and aligning company culture with personal beliefs.

0:00:07) – Software Solution for Workplace Distraction 

Jana Schellong, a product manager-turned-co-founder, and her co-founder Mihri found a common goal in creating a tool that helps people have better work days. We discuss the story behind the success of Beams and how they went from their previous roles to launching their new product. We learn how the idea for Beams came about and the idea behind the “meta layer of Saas products”. They opened a waitlist in December of last year to get user feedback to develop the product further.

(0:14:06) – Iterative Product Development and User Feedback 

Jana Schellong details how she and her co-founder created a tool to help people have better work days. They began the process by talking to product and tech team members, developers, designers, PMs, and volunteers to understand their workflows and the challenges they faced. Through the process of testing hypotheses and concepts, they developed a menu bar feature to show the current and upcoming meetings. Their product also includes a focus mode to snooze notifications and remind people to take breaks, as well as Slack integrations to indicate when someone is available or unavailable. They found that users were willing to give their feedback and be part of creating the product.

(0:20:22) – Product-Led Growth and Angel Investing 

Jana Schellong and her co-founder Mihri used product-led growth to increase their user base from 10 alpha testers to 700. They employed a wait list with a survey to understand who their users are and what they’re trying to get out of the product. Their product is the driver for user acquisition and retention and they’re leveraging product and tech communities, content creation, and niche channels like Twitch streaming to create more exposure for their product. Their angel investors also contributed to their growth.