Episode 36: BLOC Party with Sarah Bedrick, Chris LoDolce, and Lindsay Thibeault

In this episode I talk to the founders of the Hubspot Academy, Sarah, Chris, and Lindsay about what it's like standing up a customer education academy, difficulties they faced, and fond memories they made. You are NOT going to want to miss the very first (but not the last) BLOC party episode!

Sarah Bedrick is an advisor for software companies looking to build and scale their Academy education initiatives. Sarah founded and grew the HubSpot Academy team from 2012 to 2017, and after that cofounded the fast-growing HR software company Compt. In her free time, Sarah is a personal and career coach, and enjoys exploring her new home in St Petersburg, Florida and living life through the eyes of her toddler.

Chris LoDolce spends his time professionally advising Customer Education/Academy Leaders of B2B SaaS Software companies on how to build and scale their educational content initiatives to drive top and bottom line growth. Chris was a founding member of HubSpot Academy in 2012 and in 2019-2020 as the Director lead the team to scale HubSpot Academy across the globe in six languages. Over 1 million people learned from HubSpot Academy between the time Chris helped found the team to when he left in the fall of 2020. 

Lindsay Thibeault is an advisor for SaaS businesses who are growing their education and training programs. Lindsay has been driving interactive marketing and brand strategy at global companies for over 12 years. She joined HubSpot in 2013 and for seven years was responsible for building HubSpot Academy's operations and content processes. She specializes in building communities that generate leads and retains customers through compelling and educational content. Lindsay has taught tens of thousands of marketers how to build scalable content creation, website optimization, and reporting strategies for their organizations.

If you want to work with Sarah, Chris, and Lindsay, you can contact them here: https://www.saasacademyadvisors.com/

Sarah, Chris, and Lindsay's suggestions for where to begin with customer education:

Simon Sinek's How Great Leaders Inspire Action (https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en)Brian Solis (https://www.briansolis.com/category/articles/)Julie Dirksen's Design for How People Learn (https://usablelearning.com/the-book/)Cammy Bean's The Accidental Instructional Designer (https://www.td.org/books/the-accidental-instructional-designer)