Too grown for the Spork Tech Stack?

By Salvatore (Sal) Salpietro

Chief Partnership Officer (CPO) at Fundraise Up

The spork. You know it. It's found a place in our world, our culture, and in your heart. You've used it, also. In fact, we have two or three in my home that my five-year-old daughter uses from time to time -- even if sometimes she requests a "real fork" to get the job done.

Eventually, we all grow out of the spork. We move on to real silverware. Sometimes it's a three-piece silverware place setting, sometimes you get the salad fork, soup spoon, and steak knife as well. Then you're really being fancy - using the right tool for the job each time.

You know where I'm going with this.

I've seen so many tech stacks for differing-sized businesses and organizations. At Fundraise Up, our tech stack from 1 year ago is wildly different from our tech stack today. And it's wildly different than what it will be 1 year from now. That's due to the rapid pace of growth of our company. As we grow, the tools we need to be efficient also need to become more complex.

What is consistently surprising though, shocking and at times saddening, is how many organizations I've worked with where the tech stack, the tools they're using to get the job done, doesn't evolve as the organization grows.

And the frustrations are neverending. From costs, functionality, ease-of-use, limited results, when the tools aren't right for the job, no one is happy.

The Spork Phase

The spork phase of your tech stack is when you scour the internet, Capterra, friends recommendations, all to find that one magical unicorn that does everything. And as far as you're concerned, you found it. One bill to pay. One support system to work with.

You've got one amazing tool that does it all:

  • Email Marketing

  • CRM

  • Social Media

  • eCommerce or Donation Forms

  • Invoicing

This is the spork. It's good for now. It's the jack-of-all-trades (i.e. mediocre-yet-sufficient at every turn). You're going to grow out of it. You should hope to grow out of it. When you grow out of it, it means you've been successful.

When you start complaining about limitations, user permissions, reporting capabilities, etc. you need to start the process of graduating from the spork. It's a good thing.

The 3-Piece Place Setting

When you're here, you're on your way to utopia. You now have a tool specifically for each thing you need to do. You're paying a bit more. You have a few different people to talk to if you've got a problem. But this is it - this is where you start seeing real value. Real performance. When you get here you will start finding tools that are a bit more prescriptive.

It might look something like this:

  • CRM (contacts, sales, etc.)

  • Marketing Software (email marketing, social media management, maybe CPC ad management, and a donation form or product purchase tool.)

  • Invoicing/Accounting

As you can see, each tool is more expert in what it does. These are now experts in their relative realms of existence. You have three bills to pay, but that's OK. You're getting better reporting. Better user permissions. Better performance and insight into your work.

All of this allows you to measure ROI more precisely.

The Fancy Silverware Set

If you get here, fuggedaboutit. You're at the top of your game. If you start realizing that there is an exact, specific, surgically-precise tool to get done a very specific thing amazingly, then you've matured. You fancy.

This is where you want to be: looking for tools that give you the best and most obsessive ROI on the components of your business that bring you revenue.

What does the Fancy Silverware Tech Stack look like?

Like this:

  • CRM (think Salesforce, Blackbaud, HubSpot, etc.)

  • Social Media Management Tool (think SproutSocial or HootSuite)

  • Email Marketing platform (think Campaign Monitor)

  • CPC Ad Management Software

  • Marketing Automation software sitting above all of this (Marketo, Adobe, etc.)

  • Revenue-enhancing eCommerce checkouts or donation systems (think Bolt.com or Fundraise Up)

With this kind of tech stack, you're really using the exact right tool for the exact specific job. Enjoy the ROI and insights. You'll need to hire a few people to help you manage all of it, and act on it.

Conclusion

Be self-aware. If you're ready to move on from the spork, please do. Too many organizations grumble and complain about their technology or under-performance. The tech isn't the problem. It's that you haven't yet realized that you're too big for that.

Grow up. Really. Like, in a nice and encouraging way. Grow up.

Anchor Marketing