Meet Jason
Hi everyone, I’m Jason, the CEO of the Brilliant Directories platform. Brilliant Directories is a leading platform in the SaaS industry, dedicated to helping individuals and businesses transform their website ideas into profitable ventures. With over 10 years of experience, we’ve empowered tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, businesses, and organizations to build and manage successful membership and directory websites.
Can you provide a brief overview of Brilliant Directories and its core offerings?
Brilliant Directories is a turnkey platform that enables users to effortlessly create and monetize membership and directory websites. Our monetization tools include membership subscriptions, gated content and paywalls, selling digital products and services, and selling referral leads to business directory members.
Additionally, the platform replaces email solutions such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact with built-in emailing functionality. With thousands of built-in features, our platform supports an unlimited range of use cases and website types, making it a versatile solution for turning your website ideas into profitable businesses.
What inspired the creation of Brilliant Directories and who is your target audience?
While WordPress excels at blogging, it can become cumbersome when transforming it into a membership site or business directory. Managing multiple plugins, themes, and software updates can detract from growing your community.
We created Brilliant Directories as a dedicated platform specifically for membership sites and business directories, eliminating the need for plugins, alternative themes, and complex hosting or emailing setups. Our turnkey solution handles everything from member management to user-generated content, making it ideal for sites that thrive on community engagement and content creation. In essence, Brilliant Directories is the Shopify for membership sites.
What are the key factors that differentiate Brilliant Directories from other membership website platforms?
Our BD Community is a cornerstone of our success. With tens of thousands of users, the BD community helps shape the platform with new features and suggestions, ensuring that Brilliant Directories remains the most powerful membership and directory website platform on the market. We deeply value our community.
Additionally, we stand out with our user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and powerful monetization features. With over 10 years of experience, we offer settings, add-ons, features, and tools to support almost any model and objective users might have, without the need for third-party tools or additional development costs. Our platform supports up to 100,000 members by default – more than most competitors – and includes a Lifetime Website Plan with lifetime hosting and access to our dedicated support team.
What are the most common challenges your users face, and how does Brilliant Directories help them overcome these?
Setting up and customizing a website can be daunting, especially when it comes to monetization. That’s why we provide Quick Setup guide videos, bi-weekly live webinars, and a comprehensive support center. We offer detailed documentation and direct access to our support team, ensuring users have all the resources they need to overcome challenges and maximize their site’s earning potential.
How customizable is the Brilliant Directories platform and what integrations does it offer?
Our platform is highly customizable, offering a range of templates and design options. Users have full access to their website’s front-end source code, MySQL database, and cPanel. We support integrations with popular payment gateways, CRM systems, and marketing tools, enabling users to create a seamless and professional operation that can easily be monetized.
What trends are you currently seeing in the SaaS industry, particularly in the membership and subscription space?
We’re seeing a trend where people want to launch multiple ideas simultaneously instead of putting all their eggs in one basket. Testing multiple markets quickly and leaning into the ones that respond best is an excellent way to growth hack your ideas.
Additionally, established organizations are growing tired of high monthly fees in the hundreds just to keep simple ideas online. We’re committed to offering the best value for users while balancing our ability to provide ongoing support and updates that our community has come to expect.
What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own SaaS company?
Start sooner rather than later. Build your project in public and foster a community around your idea. Building in public means sharing your journey, collecting feedback, and creating transparency with your audience. Focus on collecting emails and building your lists from day one – you can start doing that today, even with a “coming soon” landing page. This approach not only validates your idea but also creates a community of early adopters who are invested in your success.
What role does AI and machine learning play in the future of membership platforms?
AI and machine learning are game changers for membership platforms. They enable AI-generated content like articles and member bios, boosting SEO, attracting users, and keeping members engaged. AI also enhances customer support, making it easier for users to get help and improving the overall experience. These technologies help our users succeed, which in turn drives our own success.
Did you enjoy our interview? Do you have anything to say to our community?
Absolutely, I enjoyed it! To our community, thank you for your interest in Brilliant Directories. We’re here to support your journey in building successful membership and directory websites, and we’re excited to see what you create. Whether you’re launching a niche directory, an online community, or a professional association, Brilliant Directories offers the tools and support to turn your ideas into profitable realities.
