B2B feels impossible

[guardianangelislove]

I’ve made a few posts here and on other subreddits recently, but I just feel like I’m getting nowhere. These are some of the major hurdles I am facing

• college student (I.e. little industry experience)
• little capital
• don’t have the time to build a team (studying abroad)
• first business (why would businesses trust a 20 yr old with almost no experience)
• I can hardly find any resources on how to start a B2B SaaS as a college student/ someone with little industry experience

I have an idea for a B2C, but I’m consistently told B2B is the way (and not to waste my time with B2C). I’m just lost and don’t know where to go.

I suppose what I am asking for is any form of guidance. If you have created B2B in the past, how did you do it? I understand it’s about finding a niche for a business and fulfilling that need, but how would I possibly know how to create the solutions without being a part of any industries? There is an invisible wall and it feels like B2C is my only choice.

I understand that this path requires you to learn on your own, but man, I just don’t know where to start.

Any sort of help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[danie1979]

@guardianangelislove Maybe not the advice you want to hear but go get a job in a startup. Learn about an industry you’re interested in on someone else’s dime and come back to the business later. There’s no rush.

You’ve spotted the problem yourself - no money, no experience, no credentials. It’s a fallacy to believe that you can just learn everything on the fly with enough determination.

 

[pacificdove]

@danie1979 As ex ceo of a software company, I approve of this.

 

[bo3]

@danie1979 how can I get a job in a startup, ?the market is saturated for freshers, and no one is hiring freshers, any advice on how I can get noticed and bag a job, would be appreciated.

 

[danie1979]

@bo3 If you're non-technical, join as user support or something like that. An entry level role - there's approximately 0% chance of you being hired as a PM or something that requires a degree of industry knowledge.

If you're technical, this is a bit harder but I'd suggest looking for roles as a solutions engineer or something engineering-adjacent. Obviously now isn't the best time to be an entry level dev but look beyond the title and at the experience.

 

[anylene]

@guardianangelislove B2B is a category, but don't view it like you're a Business selling to a Business.

You're one person selling to maybe 1-3 people. The business you're selling to may be 5,000 people, on sales call you'll rarely get more than say 5 people.

Of those, one person probably has decision making power, maybe two more have influence.

None of the barriers you mention are relevant, so long as you have something to offer the person who will get a pat on the back from their boss.

B2B is "easier" in the sense it's not their money, typically. Either they have a company credit card and under a certain amount they don't need any more layers of approval, or it's easy to figure out who the person is that has the budget allocated.

 

[daphna]

@guardianangelislove Hi, I think you're focued on hot buzzwords like B2B and SaaS. Instead, focus on learning the market, distributing/selling to clients.

 

[guardianangelislove]

@daphna Those are such broad topics though. I’m continuously given advice like this but to someone with little experience, it means nothing.

To be able to understand these topics, don’t I need to create a product -a SaaS- and learn the process?

 

[daphna]

@guardianangelislove You can just pre-sell stuff, like others do on Kickstarter. No need to make a perfect product, just try if people buy it.

 

[sdjonathan]

@guardianangelislove I've heard B2B is much easier then anything else. I'm simultaneously working on a D2C SaaS and a B2B agency. D2C says to be free/cheap for the people, B2B to be cheap in the business world of things but expensive on the person looking in side of things. To start I would say find your skills, reverse engineer them to fit a B2B modal, research, build, scale. I've only had experience in scaling communities however that also seems to be a challenge others have had a hard time with. We as entrepreneurs are faced with issues going in all directions.

 

[guardianangelislove]

@sdjonathan Can you give me an example? How would I research on an industry I have no experience in? What do you mean by reverse engineering my skills?

Thank you for the comment!

 

[bookworm79]

@sdjonathan I’d love to know more on how you build a community. For my product, I feel like it’d be both an attractor and moat.