Are SaaS owners open to "DaaS"?

[disciple777]

@nina723 If you ever do, hit me up!

 

[soufianyh]

@disciple777 I’m open to posts that are much shorter shameless plugs. The more of my time you waste by forcing me to read the post, the angrier I find myself.

 

[mansingh]

@disciple777 I have no problem with this model.

There are people that charge $10/hour on Upwork and people that charge $100/hr. If you're a pro, you'll figure out the project management.

People here that hire designers for $15 on Upwork are not your customers. So you need to find out who your customers are - i.e. "funded early-stage startups that have cash to spend".

Subscription is a payment detail, not your service. Most people that want to do service-as-a-service focus heavily on the subscription aspect (even though it's pretty close to retainer). You sell reliable, fast, good design - so sell that, not subscription.

Your website:

• You have no testimonials. Why should I trust you? People want to know if you're going to do stuff on time and be a professional. Convey that.
• Feels like you have too many different CTAs. You should have one. Probably: "Book a Call"
• Things like "streamlined workflow" don't mean anything. My laptop streamlines my workflow....
• There is no sales flow on the page
• Get rid of clutter - mostly no one cares about your tools, put it on a "How we work" page
• Lots of empty space on desktop
• Lack of capitalization makes it hard to read. Don't do that to me.
• I don't know why, but many of these services copycat the "pause or cancel anytime" language. Why are you telling me that in your hero? Am I going to want to cancel...? You're talking about me cancelling within seconds of us "meeting".
• I feel like your sections are cute rather than telling me what you sell
• Things like the "what are you designing?" CTA are just confusing to look at (this is not good design!):
  • the new design button has the wrong cursor when I hover
  • the "try it" looks like the same kind of button, but does nothing
  • the "questions" block looks like a form field, but no, I have to click the email address
  • this CTA by itself does not work the way that I, a rando from the internet, would expect it to work

 

[disciple777]

@mansingh Thanks so much, all great feedback to which I agree!

 

[zykiel]

@disciple777 This is not a new business model and I’m sure you’re well aware of DesignJoy.

 

[disciple777]

@zykiel It is a new model and I'm not saying I invented it, Design joy is actually my inspiration. The type of design I offer is more different and focused more on product design

 

[zykiel]

@disciple777 The challenge with product/UX design is that you typically need to be embedded. Freelancing and “fractional” design leadership seems to be more attractive to customers for this reason. If you look at Brett’s work, he’s mostly attracting customers seeking out marketing oriented work (eg landing pages). I’m not saying this won’t work, but there seem to be a heck of a lot of product designers attempting to create “DesignJoy but for product design” lately.

 

[playon]

@disciple777 I know someone who is offering a DaaS and is having good success. This model works well for bigger companies, not the little ants you are debating with here. Larger business is not going to go rooting around Upwork to find good designers.

Using a DaaS makes sense for these businesses because the subscription business model lets a department avoid having to go through a lengthy vendor procurement process or get into a conflict with a centralized design team that reports into corporate marketing etc.

also, they often need a team: project manager, art director, video...not just a couple of designers. Having access to a vetted team that has worked together for a while is an attractive proposition.

I have used Upwork for years and while there are good resources to be had for cheap, you have to kiss a lot of toads to find your prince or princess. Many scammers on there know how to game the system. Anyone working in a big company doesn't have the time to deal with all the flim flam to save a few bucks.

 

[disciple777]

@playon Thanks for the comment, you are actually right I have been a bit distracted on who's my target audience.

How's your friend approaching outreach? I've tried Linkedin and cold emailing with moderate success.
Had high hopes for outreaching to producthunt startups but a disappointment so far.

 

[playon]

@disciple777 That is what he is doing with a couple of sales people but not on product hunt. He is going after large corporations, the people there have never heard of product hunt. Companies with thousands of employees like Bang and Olafsen.

Startups are very price sensitive and also very fussy to work with - not a great target customer.

 

[disciple777]

@playon Sounds good, really appreciate your insight

 

[playon]

@disciple777 Here is a company that is offering DaaS, not the person I know, but gives you an example of how it can work. https://sketchdeck.com

 

[disciple777]

@playon Great, I see how it's different from my site! Thank you

 

[muwoni]

@disciple777 Dick as a Service?

 

[613jono]

@disciple777 I personally just use the plethora of AI generated graphic design tools along with Canva that are available and popping up daily.

 

[jasenismyname]

@disciple777 What's your MRR?