How to get started with SaaS

[z_alan_bridges]

I see a lot of people wanting to start a SaaS business and I keep repeating myself. So consolidating all my thoughts in 1 thread.

Background: 4x founder. 1st one was best value- company failed and I came out so much wiser. Current is breeze.ai

$1000 and 4-6 weeks to save you a lot of heartache. May be longer for enterprise solutions.

1. Interview users/buyers

Even if you know problem - talk to atleast 5 (ideally 10+) diverse potential users to validate problem. Target diverse users/companies. Not just your buddies/colleagues/friends. Use design thinking. Ask for 30m slots.

1. 1st go/no go decision. Be brutally honest.
   

You validate problem, buyer pricing, gtm options.

A) Get market/competitor data with secondary research (online)

B) Validate user needs from interviews to ur concept & assumptions.

C) From interviews identify any insights on pricing, buying process, friction in go to market.

1. Build a quick MVP/demo:

Make a list of essential features from your ideas, user needs, competitors. Prioritise to cover v1 only.

Build a demo/proto/mvp. My go to figma. Easy, cheap. $1000

Will help you crystallise your ideas / features.

1. Feedback on demo:

Take demo to 10 users. Validate problem still exists and ur solution hits the mark.

Go back to few previously interviewed.

I prefer doing demos and seeing reaction. Don’t share links. You control the narrative.

Get feedback on value of any competitors features.

Sign up a few for early release.

1. 2nd go/no go decision:
   

So you are 4-6 weeks in and by now have a stronger emotional bond to your idea.

Be brutally honest to make go/no-go decision.

A) do at least 50% of users see value in demo
B) Does problem continue to exist
C) Is demo in the right direction. List of potential changes in features/UX etc. any new requirements.
D) is it still worth building this over next 2,3,5 years.

You will be so much wiser and smarter.

 

[sarahwilla]

@z_alan_bridges For 2 (b), send cold emails to a few potential users or Linkedin DMs to setup a meeting and talk with them. Very crucial step as it will give you early red flags before you even write the first line of code.

 

[natsu]

@z_alan_bridges Went through the website and if I was interested in this type of product I don't think I would go with it. Doesn't look very reputable and there are bugs everywhere. When I tried to add my own photo the result was also awful.

 

[%ED%8F%B4%EB%9D%BC%EA%B9%80]

@z_alan_bridges Great post! How do you recommend recruiting users for the interview if they aren't your buddies?

I feel like very few people who don’t know you would like to have an interview.

What was you experience with this?

 

[z_alan_bridges]

@%ED%8F%B4%EB%9D%BC%EA%B9%80 Valid point. I also think it’s a good wake up call for would be entrepreneurs - you need to be able to engage and sell in the early days. You have to get out of your comfort zone and talk to real users.

1. My 1st step is always ask your network. People love to help so ask friends, family and colleagues for intros. Dig into your network to find right people.
2. Forums like Reddit are great to find people who are always ready to participate and help. Try hacker rank etc.
3. Extended network on LinkedIn. Search LI for people/company/roles. Ideally 1,2 connections away
4. Cold out reach - actually quite automated LI and email. We use Apollo for email.
5. Paid interviews/surveys: we did this for a another idea. Expensive but for the space it was worth it. We interview sr people from large organisations which we had no connects with. Only recommend for a high value 6 figure sale product.

I don’t like too much cold out reach as it takes time in early days and like to find people in my network as it helps get me in front of right people.

 

[%ED%8F%B4%EB%9D%BC%EA%B9%80]

@z_alan_bridges Thank you for such detailed response!

Do you have any cold outreach templates that you can share?

 

[sunnybasa]

@z_alan_bridges After reading all this, and also after developing two SaaS apps, I started wondering why not make an app for idea validation, which can automate many of the processes in one app. Starting from the idea bank to validation, to development of demo versions, and then have a lesson learnt register for future use. Target audience to be entrepreneur. Does this make sense?

 

[z_alan_bridges]

@sunnybasa Lots of sense. I have been playing around with sometime like this. Happy to collaborate.

 

[sunnybasa]

@z_alan_bridges

Lots of sense. I have been playing around with sometime like this. Happy to collaborate.

Please DM to explore further

 

[tannerking1]

@sunnybasa I don’t have an app but rather an agency that only specializes in idea validation. (heyy.studio) I think we all see the same problems over and over for first time founders especially.

 

[sunnybasa]

@tannerking1 Visited their website. What did you get in that price?

 

[jrfhopps]

@sunnybasa Can I dm you? I think I got an interesting idea for an AI powered SaaS after a deep market research.

 

[sunnybasa]

@jrfhopps Please feel free.

 

[jrfhopps]

@sunnybasa Just dmed, thank you

 

[silverwings6154]

@z_alan_bridges All great points but it's also important to watch out for alternative solutions targeting your niche for the problems you are solving (probably covered in 2A). If people have a workaround for a problem that's less expensive, they'll not pay for a new solution in most cases.

Foer context, I'm building microsaasdb- a database of 1700+ early saas making money and I can't emphasize it enough that if you have built a great tool to solve a problem which is very similar to an existing tool, you will soon end up with 0 paying user and no clear way to differentiate the product.

In microsaasdb most categories have multiple products but they have their unique ways to cater to a specific segment of the market. If I can be bold enough to say this, finding a niche is more important than a validated idea to start a business. Saying this based on experience.

 

[z_alan_bridges]

@silverwings6154 Awesome insight. Switching cost is so important. Better mouse trap rarely moves people. So value should be immense or in current environment switch cost = 0 and some big savings on top

 

[jrfhopps]

@silverwings6154 Can I dm you? I think I got an interesting idea for an AI powered SaaS after a deep market research. My Discord id: Vector#4461

 

[silverwings6154]

@jrfhopps sure, DM me

 

[jrfhopps]

@silverwings6154 Thanks, just dmed you.

 

[smiddy10]

@z_alan_bridges I tried the demo, honestly, it sucks. The image doesn't make sense, and you can't even modify it? You might want to take a look at something like https://flair.ai for some inspiration.