It’s Not Just the Destination; It’s About the Ride! | Why I Joined Forecast

Photo of Melanie Lawn, Forecast's Chief Customer Officer

I'm currently hiring lots of Customer Success professionals and one question all potential team members ask me is: “What first got you interested in Forecast, what made you join?”

It’s simple… I’m excited by what we are building and aiming to achieve. I’m genuinely thrilled to be part of the Forecast journey, and I can’t wait to look back in 4-5 years and think: “Yep - we nailed it, we set ourselves the goal of building a great SaaS business. and we achieved it!”

Whether that’s a successful IPO or acquisition - who knows? But what I do know is that I love being part of the ride. I love helping and supporting a CS team to play a critical role in the company’s success. SaaS startups are not for the faint-hearted, however a company like Forecast offers people a huge opportunity to learn from experienced people, whilst getting involved in multiple areas of the business. Plus daily job satisfaction in terms of seeing your hard work and commitment pay off. 

During the Forecast interview process, my stand-out observation was the positivity of those I met and their total confidence that, “Yes - we have a great product, yes - we have awesome customers and yes - we have a super team of people”. I mean who wouldn’t want to join a company like this, right? 

Personally, the most attractive opportunity for me was to join Forecast and build a world-class CS Team - using all my previous success, knowledge and skill. I knew I would be trusted ‘to do my job’, whilst growing and developing those that work in the CS Team. As a CCO, the pleasure I get from watching team members build confidence, skill, knowledge and success is immense. I'll happily do it over and over again.

Sure, I could have stayed working for a large SaaS (14,000 person) company, where it was comfortable on all fronts. Instead, I chose to jump back into the Startup world I love, which commands hard work and delivers great reward. Startup businesses require bags of energy, resilience, compromise, creativity and commitment. On the flip side, they deliver the best job satisfaction and huge personal growth - not to mention the chance to make great, life-long, friends. It’s fair to say Forecast strikes a good balance of hard work and fun…. Just ask me about ‘Oomph Fest!’

Forecast has a practical, genuine set of values that we all work towards. These aren’t values that get painted on a wall and forgotten; these values resonate in our daily processes and work environment. For example: “Bring the Oomph” (my favorite value) - boy, oh boy… I wake up every day and try to demonstrate “Oomph”, whether that is recruiting the best, most talented candidates or, when I am ensuring our customers are receiving a top-notch implementation experience. If you don’t have “Oomph” you shouldn’t be at Forecast.

As I’m approaching the end of my first three months, I'm still as excited about being at Forecast as I was on my first day. The company vision is clear, our path to success is realistic (and ready for the taking) and I’ve got heaps to achieve on the CS front. This year the Customer Success team will focus on team growth globally, ensuring greater customer satisfaction and laying solid foundations to enable future scaling. However, most of all we’ll have fun and continue to ‘Care with Candor’ (another one of our values) as we work together!

If you're looking for a role that rewards commitment and creativity, and encourages you to bring "oomph" to your work every day, Forecast's Customer Success team might be the right place for you! Check out our open positions, and if you see anything that excites you, get in touch.

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