
Beginner Maps
By Nityesh & Piyush
If you are in your 20s and you have been through school and college, chances are you don't love what you do for a living. But you want to change that.
Problem is everyone around you is on the same boat. They are busy climbing the career ladder of a career they secretly hate.
What you'll hear are stories of successful professionals who have made scary career pivots.

Beginner MapsSep 08, 2022

How Madi went from being a software developer to the head of community at Contra
Madi Pignetti is the Head of Community at Contra - a commission-free freelancer marketplace. But she was a software developer before this. In this episode she shares how she made the pivot and what her work today looks like. Show notes: 00:00 Teaser 01:50 What is her work as the Head of Community at Contra 07:30 Measuring the contribution of community towards the Contra business 12:43 Personalities more suited for a community manager role 17:19 How experience as a developer makes her more empathetic in her current role 25:30 Routine roulette 29:40 How she stayed optimistic after quitting her full time developer role and not knowing what to do next 37:00 From an ambassador to landing a full time role at Contra 46:09 Resources for people getting into community 49:48 One action item to get the ball rolling --- --- --- Links and Resources: Madi's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/madi-pignetti/ Contra - https://contra.com/?userType=independent Building Brand Communities - https://amzn.eu/d/dblwmNS The Art of Gathering - https://www.priyaparker.com/book-art-of-gathering SuperHi - https://www.superhi.com/ Community Club - https://www.community.club/ --- --- --- Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to http://beginnermaps.com/ to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Amanda is leading Rails developer community with her events, marketing and education experience
Amanda has been led by what she found interesting throughout her career. So she completed a 6-month coding bootcamp last year, after having spent 20 years in events and marketing.
In a recent career pivot, she joined the Rails Foundation - a non-profit dedicated to supporting the Ruby on Rails ecosystem, as the Executive Director.
What is Ruby on Rails? It is a web development framework that has been used to create tools like Shopify, GitHub, Basecamp, Twitch, Airbnb, Twitter and thousands of other apps that millions of people use every day.
In this episode, we talk about her journey and how she got here - 00:00 Teaser 02:01 Rails Foundation: what and why 07:41 What does the executive director of a non-profit do? 14:43 Difference between working for a non-profit vs a for-profit 21:27 How a curiosity to learn a new thing got Amanda the role of Executive Director at Rails Foundation 25:51 Routine roulette: A typical week for Amanda 31:40 Big things about producing an in-person event 35:38 Getting speakers for an event 37:37 Making networking in events easy 39:05 How Amanda got into events 41:23 What not to do when organising a conference 43:22 Key to generating serendipity in your career 48:37 Advice for people building a community for developers 51:44 Applying for 10 jobs vs focussing on that 1 job you really want 55:14 One action item for listeners --- --- --- Links and Resources: Amanda's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandabrookeperino/ Rails Foundation - https://rubyonrails.org/foundation --- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Marcie grew her career in building communities for startups
Marcie Walker is the Head of Community Engagement at Gatheround - a startup building a fun, new online events platform that makes virtual events actually fun.
In this episode, Marcie shares all the lessons she has learnt in building herself a career in community building.
Some things we talk about:
00:00 Teaser 04:50 How work in community is dependent more on what the community needs rather than your title 13:32 Virtual vs In-person events 16:59 What Marcie is working on now 23:21 How flywheel marketing can justify RoI on your community efforts 28:50 Routine Roulette 33:11 Getting the job at Gatheround by writing her own job description 46:08 Advice for 20 year olds 01:04:58 Resources for community building 01:06:50 One action item for listeners--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Gatheround - https://gatheround.com/community
Community Club - https://www.community.club/
Noele Flowers - https://www.linkedin.com/in/noeleflowers/
Sarah Greisdorf - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahgreisdorf/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter. We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format. So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The highs and lows of building your consulting business with Jenny
Jenny Weigle is a strategic consultant who has worked with some well-name brands like Airbnb, Google, Sephora, Visa and many many more such household names - and helped them build their online communities.
She has been building communities for more than 10 yrs and has helped more than 100 brands in this time.
So, if you are a consultant or someone who wants to become a consultant, Jenny is a perfect role model.
In this episode we discuss:
00:00 The highs and lows of building your consulting business with Jenny 02:44 Discovering a natural community builder instinct 09:47 What does she do as a community strategist 13:48 FAQs about life as a community consultant 15:28 Highs and lows that come with your own consulting business 19:27 Routine Roulette 24:08 Doing a social media marketing internship in 2007 29:12 Lessons learnt form a failed attempt at consulting 32:14 Social media management Vs Community management 39:54 Starting a consulting business for the 2nd time 47:30 Getting clients and marketing 59:06 Working through the imposter syndrome
--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Jenny’s website - https://www.jenny.community/
Momentum Consulting Course - https://www.consultingsuccess.com/momentum-consulting-course
Community Consultants Collective - https://www.communityconsultants.life/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Ben got his dream job at Notion by building side projects
Ben Lang is the Head of Community at Notion. He attributes almost all of the opportunities that have come his way to the side projects he has built out of passion.
Believe it or not, The International Hummus Day is his creation.
And so, in this episode we talk about:
00:00 Teaser
01:43 Power of side projects to open up opportunities
16:42 Decentralised approach towards the Notion community and why it may not be the best approach for others
22:24 Community building lessons learnt at Notion
28:57 How to start with angel investing
--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Ben Lang - https://benlang.me/
International Hummus Day - https://hummusday.com/
Giving away your legos - https://review.firstround.com/give-away-your-legos-and-other-commandments-for-scaling-startups
The All-In Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/2IqXAVFR4e0Bmyjsdc8QzF?si=b3996ae0fcc44f27
How I Built This - https://open.spotify.com/show/6E709HRH7XaiZrMfgtNCun?si=6bdf9240fa424495
The Knowledge Project - https://open.spotify.com/show/1VyK52NSZHaDKeMJzT4TSM?si=a23837c2373d4105
The Tim Ferriss Show - https://tim.blog/podcast/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How to build a career that makes your heart sing with Casie
Casie Tennin is a Community Builder and a Certified Life Coach.
As a Community Builder, she has built communities for fast-growing startups like Masterclass and TaskHuman. As a Professional Life Coach, she helps individuals make scary pivots in their professional and personal lives.
“We spend so much of our lives not being in touch and in tune to what our heart wants, but to what society tells us to do,” says Casie.
So we asked her how to not spend our lives that way. And she give us an action item. Don’t forget to grab it at the end of the episode.
In this episode we also talk about:
00:00 How to build a career that makes your heart sing with Casie
03:42 Doing what makes your heart sing
13:24 What is coaching and how can it help you in your career
22:56 A teacher in Spain to CMGR at Masterclass
32:38 Networking with leaders at your dream company
39:08 Tactic for connecting the dots from your past
43:01 Is there even a need to go to college?
47:24 Dealing with being laid off and still deciding to be a digital nomad
53:35 A three-part strategy to make your job application stand out
57:48 Active listening
01:03:38 Top 3 resources to break into the community industry
01:07:09 One action item for the listener to break into their dream role
--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
A Wandering Casiedilla - https://awanderingcasiedilla.com/
Coaching With Casie (web) - https://www.coachingwithcasie.com/
Coaching With Casie (mail) - coachingwithcasie@gmail.com
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss - https://amzn.eu/d/1wOM305
Buzzing Communities by Richard Millington - https://amzn.eu/d/gJh7NKb
CMX - https://cmxhub.com/
Otta - https://otta.com/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Rahul went from 30% to 80% conversion rate for his community membership business
Rahul Desai is the General Manager of the Chief of Staff Network - a community membership for Chiefs of Staff to network and learn from their peers in the industry.
He the person responsible for making this business profitable while delivering a great member experience. In the 6 months he has been in this role, he has already lead the team to take the conversion rate of interested applicants from 30% to 80%.
So if you are managing, building or planning to build a community membership business, you should continue listening.
We talk about -
00:00 Teaser
03:12 A peer support group for Chiefs of Staff
10:35 4-tiers of spend on communities
14:47 Getting member close rate from 30% of interested applicants to 80%
21:44 Nailing sales interviews by being process oriented
28:39 Need for laser focus as General Manager @ Chief of Staff Network
37:04 Routine Roulette
44:27 Selling Upslope as a solo-founder to get to his current job
52:28 How Rahul thrives as an introvert
56:03 Servant leadership
01:01:46 Building out the generalist side
01:06:19 Advice for 20 yo
--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Chief of Staff Network - http://chiefofstaff.network/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=click&utm_campaign=beginnermaps
Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/
Amp It Up - https://ampitupbook.com/
Stolen Focus - https://stolenfocusbook.com/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hour every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Dealing with community layoffs, Community Operations 101 with Tiffany Oda
If you have wondered about a career in community operations, this episode should help you understand what it is, how Tiffany broke into it and how you can too. Tiffany Oda is the COO of Talkbase - a young startup that is building the community CRM for startups.
In this episode we talk about:
00:00 Dealing with community layoffs, Community Operations 101 with Tiffany Oda
06:49 Dealing with layoffs
18:44 What Tiffany is up to at different times of the week
25:18 What is Community Ops
39:12 Quickest way into Community Ops
46:13 Learning resources for Community ops
53:44 What should a 20-yr old with no experience do
57:46 Getting a mentor who is invested in you
01:01:29 Building your personal brand
--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
The CommOps Gal (Tiffany’s Blog) - http://www.thecommopsgal.com/ Community OPServations - https://tiffeoda.wixsite.com/commopsgal/community-opservations Talkbase (Community CRM for startups) - https://talkbase.io/ Community Club - https://www.community.club/ CMX Community - https://cmxhub.com/community/ Talkbase Friends - https://talkbase.io/community Cassie Mayes - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassiemayes/ Jamie Langskov - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamielangskov/ Andrew Claremont - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andymci/ Erica Kuhl - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericakuhl/ Brian Oblinger - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianoblinger/--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How being product-led has helped Murtaza build a passionate community for Heartbeat
Murtaza Bambot is the cofounder and CEO of Heartbeat - an awesome platform for building online communities. It combines the powers of Slack, Notion, Luma, Meetsy, Zoom and other platforms that community builders often need to stitch to get a functioning community.
In this episode we talk about:
00:00 How Murtaza keeps it together when times are difficult
03:40 Favourite communities on Heartbeat
09:34 Heartbeat's community Hearth - how it started and how it helps them
19:47 How Murtaza thinks about hiring as an early stage founder
28:11 Day to day work as co-founder at Heartbeat
36:24 How Murtaza learnt to code even after failing coding classes in college
39:46 Why Murtaza quit building to focus on selling
43:55 How to nail down sales as an introvert
49:53 Homeless but keeping it all together by being mission oriented
58:54 Building your (interconnected) network
01:05:29 Doubling down on what works
--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Heartbeat - https://www.heartbeat.chat/ TOGKnowledge - https://www.joeedelman.com/togknowledge-community The Cat and Dog Coexistence Club - https://www.praiseworthypets.com/ Founding Sales - https://www.foundingsales.com/--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Taking paycuts to move forward, validating your startup idea, what a founder values in an employee
Jakob is the cofounder and CEO of Butter - a startup that is bravely going against the video conferencing incumbents like Zoom and Google Meet by building a fun, interactive and delightful video conferencing tool.
In this episode:
00:00 Looking at salary as points in the game of life does not make sense
01:50 How Jakob's career plan did not work out
08:35 Risk and reward early in your career
14:21 The fundamental step/skill to build a product-based startup
19:21 Deciding when to shut shop
26:43 Camaraderie with Co-founders: Building 2 companies without ever being in the same room
29:57 Why is Jakob all in on Butter
42:14 Product-led vs Community-led
45:57 What a founder values in an employee
--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Butter - https://www.butter.us/
The Mom Test - https://www.momtestbook.com/
Startup School - https://www.startupschool.org/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

From the US Marine Corps to community-led sales at a top startup - How Ben Regier did it
Ben Regier’s career is unique. Previously, he has served in the US Marine Corps and has been a store manager at Starbucks. Now, he is pioneering community-led sales as the Community Development Representative at Commsor.
In this episode we talk about -
00:00 The client that will buy only from Ben 09:17 One thing you absolutely need to do in a community-led sales role 11:56 How to handle NOs 15:15 Most difficult part of his job 16:53 Lessons carried over from service in the US Marine Corps 24:27 Hard lessons learnt as a Starbucks Store Manager 28:19 Getting his first remote job 41:24 Future of community-led sales 48:48 What veterans need to know about entering the sales 53:45 Rapid fire round--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Ben’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/benregier/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Sofia started a non-profit community along with her career in venture capital
Sophia Haq is the founder and CEO at Muslim Women Professionals (abbreviated MWP) - a non-profit that promotes the empowerment of Muslim women globally. Here, she is building a community where diverse women can embrace their Muslim identity and build professional skills through mentorship, networking, and guidance.
That's not all. She's also the Senior Program Manager at XRC Labs - venture capital firm and accelerator. Here she builds curriculum, spearheads community development, maintains relationships with the portfolio companies, and many other things.
So, you can see how Sophia lives and breathes community.
We talk about:
00:00 How Sofia's childhood experiences affect her knack for community building 08:16 Running a Non-profit vs Running a For-profit 13:38 What gets her going when work gets exhausting 25:58 How do you start a non-profit 27:43 Getting a role at XRC by abandoning 10-year plan 35:27 How to get mentors when you have nothing to give in return 39:59 Day-to-day job as Senior Program Manager @ XRC 43:31 Biggest challenge working at XRC 53:09 Rapid fire round--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Sofia’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofiahaq/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Derrick fixed the problem of a non-energizing work life by moving into community
Derrick is the community manager at Thrive TRM. He pivoted into the community industry in 2022 after 11 YEARS of experience in the sales industry.
Chapters:
Thinking about what brings you the most joy How he found out about community and got his 1st gig Shooting your shot Getting real with C School projects Process vs Goals Mindset Adding points to the scoreboard Rapid fire round--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Derrick’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-chiu/
Generalist World - https://www.generalist.world/
Cirkel - https://cirkel.co/
Rosieland - https://rosie.land/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How following his curiosity in public helped Sharath unlock new opportunities
Sharath Kuruganty has worked with some iconic community led companies like Product Hunt, OnDeck and currently Threado, where he is the Head of Community.
A fun fact - Threado’s co-founder, Pramod Rao was guest no. 2 on this show. So this conversation has been a long time coming. What made it happen this time is Sharath's recent win where he sold his side project Shoutout to a UK based product studio. He started building this project about two years ago and reached $30k ARR with it.
In this episode:
Creating Shoutout How to approach selling when you are not a salesperson Building in public aka Power of the internet Moving to the US Working with Naval Ravikant How to pay bills while working on side projects Rapid fire round--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Sharath’s website 👉 https://5harath.com/
Sharath’s Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/5harath
Shoutout 👉 https://shoutout.io/shoutout-new/
The Angel Philosopher 👉 https://theangelphilosopher.com/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Bri got clientele for 1.5 years in 90 days
Bri Leever is the founder of Ember Consulting where she helps companies as their Brand Community Strategist working to create a community out of their superfans.
In this episode:
0:00 Teaser 9:02 How Bri got clientele for 1.5 years in 90 days 17:30 A repeatable playbook for you to get your 1st client 28:42 How can you use a community to acquire more customers for your business 32:09 On the diversification of income 43:34 Pricing clients 55:54 Rapid fire round--- --- ---
Links and Resources:
Bri’s LinkedIn 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannaleever/
Groove (co-working app for solopreneurs) 👉 https://www.groove.ooo/
Designing Your Life (book) 👉 https://amzn.eu/d/46mBTbe
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Shre geared off the established path by building community and consulting
Shre is the fractional Head of Community for Lenny Rachitsky’s paid community of 10,000+ product-minded people - one of the most popular paid online communities.
But that’s not it. He has pivoted away from lucrative careers in management consulting and at big companies in his pursuit for more meaningful work. Today, he is a consultant and describes himself as Dobby - a slave elf from the Harry Potter world who freed himself.
In this episode:
2:50: Why he has “only taken paycuts” 10:10: Does he compare himself with his peers from college? 13:42: Why quitting a job shouldn’t be too scary in your 20s 18:35: How Shre realised it was time to move on from his big startup idea 26:15: How he went from member to Community Manager at Lenny’s community 40:00: Being “Dobby” 41:20: How he pitches himself to new clients 46:30: How he finds opportunities that have not been posted publicly 51:22: Rapid-fire round--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How a side project helped Gaby find her passion and first job in community
Gabrielle Leith is the Community Manager at Grapevine.
She has a really interesting career path going from working in films at Toronto Film Festival to getting her first community role using a side project she started - Supper Club Cinema.
In this episode -
4:50: How she started a side project in community building
16:55: Getting her first job before she even knew about community management
19:17: Why side projects are a great way to discover your passion
25:30: How she found her latest role at Grapevine through CMX Slack
30:30: Why feeling personally connected to the mission of the community makes your job easier
34:50: Working as the solo CM in a 40,000 member community
40:52: Pros and cons of working at an energising role in a startup
48:41: Is CMX a scam?
55:00: Rapid-fire round
— — —
Teaser of Gaby’s side project, Supper Club Cinema: https://youtu.be/iUs0E11X9R8
Connect with Gabrielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielleleith/
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Mac Reddin started Commsor, Community Club and the community-led movement
Mac is the founder/CEO of Commsor and Community club - 2 names that everyone in the community industry is familiar with. He is an entrepreneur, a visionary and the originator of the community-led movement.
Commsor provides software, strategic services and education to help companies unlock the power of community-led growth. Every guest that we’ve talked to has attributed getting help from their "Community Club" community when they were starting out in the industry.
In this episode:
(01:21) - The stupid little hackathon idea called “Commsponsor” (08:52) - Starting Community Club before even having a LinkedIn account (17:21) - 9 months, 50 investor meetings to raise the pre-seed round (22:00) - Was he bullish about the community-led vision in the early Commsor days? (25:30) - How running a Minecraft server prepared him for building the Community Club community (35:45) - Why a 4000-member community is Commsor’s most important asset (40:30) - How you should sell to your community without turning members off (44:00) - One of the biggest mistakes businesses made in the last 2 decades (48:07) - What leverage can a single community manager have? (52:30) - Which community does Mac most enjoy as a member--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

From construction industry to the Community industry: Erin’s story of grit and optimism
Erin O’Neill might be the first community professional who planned her transition into community management.
Almost everyone you’ll meet in the community industry, has accidentally fallen into their first community job. But not Erin.
She decided that she wanted to switch her careers, discovered community management and succeeded in moving into it! Today, she is the Head of Community at RevOps Co-op.
In this episode:
(1:52) - What motivated Erin to switch her career
(6:00) - What fascinated her about community management
(9:10) - How she revamped her Linkedin and connected with 40+ professionals
(18:03) - Raising kids, making dinner and going for walks while doing a full-time job
(22:51) - Managing a community of practice you know nothing about
(24:21) - Asking for mentorship from strangers
(28:30) - Chaos of working at startups
(37:44) - How to take advantage of a community of practice as a member
(42:37) - What’s next for Erin?
(45:11) - Rapid-fire!
You can connect with Erin on her LinkedIn.
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Prashant raised $1.5M on just a story with 3 characters
Prashant Mahajan is the founder and CEO of Zeda.io - a startup that’s building a super app for product teams. Previously, he had been a rockstar Product Manager at multiple high growth startups where he’s built products that have touched the lives of millions of people.
What’s interesting about him is how generous he is with his time. He often spends his time writing posts on LinkedIn or Twitter, doing podcast appearances and giving webinars to talk about his journey being a founder and previously, being a PM without a traditional MBA degree.
In this episode we dive into:
(1:30) - Why he spends time mentoring strangers (4:40) - Why you should or should not do an MBA (8:53) - One mistake Prashant did when managing employees (11:16) - Raising $1.5M on just a story with 3 characters (12:56) - How to validate your idea and why it’s not important? (16:49) - Moving from a builder’s mindset to a marketer’s mindset (18:45) - Books that have taught him about thinking from first principles (21:49) - Writing when you have something to say (23:41) - Rapid-fire!--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How a non-traditional career path led Taylor to building communities at AltMBA and Groove
Taylor Harrington is the Head of Community at Groove - a support community for people who work for or by themselves. All over the world, people use Groove’s mobile app to instantly connect and conquer their to-dos alongside each other.
Taylor is an extrovert, through and through. She loves bringing people together. She loves building workshops, facilitating events, mentorship programs and more. Right out college, she started her career building powerful learning experiences with Seth Godin at AltMBA - the company that pioneered cohort based courses even before Zoom had the breakout features.
In this episode:
(1:29) - How Taylor identified her mission of creating the opposite of loneliness in the world
(9:24) - Why she started following a non-traditional career path
(11:10) - How she started working with Seth Godin right out of college
(14:43) - How to make your online events better than IRL events
(21:58) - What she learnt working with Seth
(25:08) - Why Taylor joined a startup in another continent as their first employee
(38:21) - What her work as Head of Community looks like
(42:09) - Taylor’s secret sauce for creating a great gathering
(52:59) - AMA!
--- --- ---
Here are links to some people and resources that Taylor spoke about:
The Ground Truth workshop by Dana Ray The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan Priya Parker’s guide on running better hybrid events Seth Godin’s blog Partiful - the gathering creating app Nick Gray’s book on the 2-hour Cocktail Party Finally, Groove is an extraordinary, free app for solo workers from all over the world to instantly connect and conquer their to-dos alongside each other. You can use this link to start using Groove right now.--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Rae’s first community role at a tech startup allows her to be a “the” instead of an “a”
Rae is the Head of Community at Topknot - a startup that provides an online personal development club that helps millennial women and non-binary individuals move forward in their personal development and growth journey.
What I find super interesting about her is that this is not only her first official community role, but also her first role in a tech startup! She is coming to the community space after a long and varied professional background spanning non-profit management to business consulting.
In this episode, we dive into:
How a serendipitous conversation with a cofounder made her join Topknot as their first employee and the Head of Community What Topknot does and who it’s for Being an “a” at your job vs. being a “the” What does her work at Topknot currently look like Being a coloring book artist who is given a blank page Moving from a “Ready, aim, fire” mindset to “Ready, fire, aim” What it means to fail forward How being intentional helps her in networking with community builders Resources that helped Rae as a new community professional A 4-question Rapid-fire Round!--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Max Pete got into community management by helping communities he was already a part of
Max is the Community and Customer Support Lead at SuperHi - a startup that teaches people code, design and project management skills.
What's most interesting about Max is that if you visit his personal LinkedIn, you’ll find that the experience section is a smorgasbord of careers. He has done everything from project management, website design, business coaching, freelancing and community management.
In this episode, we dive into:
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Pramod's journey from working at a high-growth startup to building one
Pramod is the cofounder and CEO of Threado where he is building the "Command Center" for community builders. Threado gives community builders superpowers by allowing them to get actionable insights, automations and workflows to manage their communities.
Before Threado, Pramod was the VP of Marketing at Zomato - India’s largest food delivery and restaurant discovery company. He joined them as their 13th employee and went on to build and lead their Marketing team for more than 8 yrs.
And then in 2019, he quit to start his own high-growth startup.
In this episode, we dive into:
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

How Kyle Hagge went from working as a high school coach to Lead Community Manager at Morning Brew
Kyle is the Lead Community Manager at Morning Brew - one of the world's fastest-growing business media companies that was recently valued at more than $75M. Kyle helped them in launching their first ever paid product: a cohort-based career and skills accelerator.
What's remarkable about Kyle's story is how he got here. Before working as Lead Community Manager at the Morning Brew community, he had been a podcast producer, an entrepreneur, a high school coach amongst other seemingly unrelated careers.
In this episode we dive into:
--- --- ---
Thanks for listening! If you have come this far you’ll love other episodes. But you probably don’t have 1 hr every week to listen to all the episodes. That’s why you should sign up for our newsletter.
We recently started it to share the key insights from these conversations in a more digestible, readable format.
So go to beginnermaps.com to sign up for our weekly newsletter.