3 ms·

Ask HN: Finding initial customers and validating need – online meal ordering

7 points by blakeloverain 11y ago

I'm working on a prototype for a SaaS-based online ordering system for prepared meal services, and I need suggestions on how to find the customers (independent chefs). The service would be something they plug-in to their existing site. The ideal customer would be an independent chef who provides a variety of services, a bit of personal chef, a bit catering, etc - but not successful enough in any one aspect that they are F/T in such. Someone who probably already has a web page on their site saying they're available for meal delivery but don't have a shopping cart to take orders. My service would take a much more immersive/interactive experience to set it apart from a traditional shopping carts. Independent cafes who are interested in providing prepared meals to their customer base would also be good candidates (though they may need the idea planted in their minds first). The problem is that google is probably not the best way to find these prospects. Out of 100 services I browsed in several cities via various keywords, I may have found 5 worth contacting. I'm concerned this is such a niche that I won't be able to find a large list easily. But maybe they'd be better qualified/more likely interested anyway. I'd be open to suggestions on how to find them and either reach out or attract. I don't need thousands of prospects/signups - I just need 10 serious/passionate individuals to start (and get something built, tested, with feedback, maybe some word of mouth too), and ideally a way to get between 10-25 each month. If cold contacting works best, I don't mind sticking to that, but I need a better way than google. Maybe some sort of industry related social forums or blogs. I plan on offering multiple pricing options to see whether they prefer a fixed 3% of each order or prefer a flat $30 or $50/mo with limitations. I've made assumptions of how many orders they'd be taking and average order size to guesstimate the 10-25 customers a month.

blakeloverain 11y ago
One thing I'm wondering is whether it might be appropriate (and successful) to simply ask small independent cafes (those who could benefit from more business) whether they want to expand into offering prepared meals. Or would I get shot down 10/10? Would they want to focus more of their business on such, or do they want to stick to those dining in? Would they want an online ordering system when people could just call or come in? That's something I'm not entirely confident in. As of right now I don't have much of a value statement that could make it obvious. The "pain" of having people call/email/come in or the "convenience" of online ordering might not be distinct/contrasting enough.
- tixocloud 11y ago
  The best way to know is to ask them. Not sure how many HN'ers are cafe owners, so it's best to go around to your local neighbourhood and start asking them right up. But first, I would start with coming up with the value statement and validating that with your target customer. Think about the value you're offering them by having them go into prepared meals. To me it sounds like your value is about opening an additional revenue stream. Then think about what independent cafe owners will have to go through to adopt prepared meals as part of their service. When you have your thoughts, have a chat with them to validate your assumptions. From my personal experience, my challenge (and it might be yours too), was that there is no such thing as "small retailers" target segment. At the beginning, I went after retailers and found all kinds of even smaller segments to drill down to. There are shoe retailers, restaurants, pharmacies, fashion retailers, etc. And each of these smaller retailers all had different wants and needs, which makes software development complicated as hell.
  - blakeloverain 11y ago
    How would I validate the target customer without them insisting on seeing a website? Is it reasonable to develop a concept page they can view the gist of things and then reaffirm that they want to learn more, see a demo, try it out, etc? The tricky part that I experienced with my last startup attempt was that one prospect was very eager to start using something before I could validate others. I stupidly spent 3 months on developing an initial version only to realize after the fact that I was going after a tough market. How do I stall them without rejecting them forever? I could develop a very basic MVP (based on my assumptions/their feedback from the concept page) in approximately 2 weeks - so I'm imagining that it might be appropriate to suggest I contact them when something is ready. After all, I came to them, not them to me - so they can wait, right? How many moderately interested prospects are enough before I work on an MVP? How will I know that the market will scale - ie I didn't just find a fluke set of eager prospects? I was going to contact places via Facebook initially (so I can somewhat gauge their business size based upon the # of fans) and simply ask if anyone's asked about prepared meal services and if they've would consider using an online ordering system. Might it be worth at this point saying that I'm merely doing research (and need to get enough validation before I work on it further)? Would it be reasonable that those who actually DO validate my hypothesis would consider being customers? I'm a bit vague on the value statement (my hypotheses on the convenience may be overrated) so how do I go about developing a better value statement, based on interviewing people in the industry? It could be that customers ordering extra takeout is good enough for most places and want the instant gratification of picking up same day. Prepared meal services is a bit different model as people usually order 3-4 days in advance and only pick up once a week (unlike takeout orders). The advantage to the business is they can take a list of orders and prepare the food in batches more efficiently (efficiency/prep is key for any food service business) and that they'd have subscriptions (meal plans) which would bring in residual income from those committed to ordering. Should I search for similar businesses who already HAVE this type of service (whether online or offline ordering) and ask what they gained from it and what their overall experience has been like (ie positive/mixed) and ultimately what they've learned and would recommend to any places looking to add this service.
iamflimflam1 11y ago
> Independent cafes who are interested in providing prepared meals to their customer base would also be good candidates (though they may need the idea planted in their minds first). Why not go around your local area and talk to the cafes and see if there is any interest?
blakeloverain 11y ago
I've contacted several prospective customers and have a few positive responses, that there is potential market for my service. I'm not sure if I can learn any more from people without actually having a (paying) MVP to work with. I'd imagine that at some point, especially when there are two tiers of users (chefs and customers), that the only real definitive experiment is to create something worth trying out. Obviously at first I can just work with a teaser/concept page and see if enough sign up. Since I'm aiming for a broad market (any food establishment who wants to offer prepared meal services), finding an approach to get a rush of traffic (via PR, bloggers, buzz, etc) seems to make the most sense. Having analytics seems to make sense at that point. I don't think asking theoretical questions to restaurants will get me anything more. I'm imagining that once I reach a point in the size of the list that I would then work on the MVP.

7 points by blakeloverain 11y ago

blakeloverain 11y ago

One thing I'm wondering is whether it might be appropriate (and successful) to simply ask small independent cafes (those who could benefit from more business) whether they want to expand into offering prepared meals. Or would I get shot down 10/10? Would they want to focus more of their business on such, or do they want to stick to those dining in? Would they want an online ordering system when people could just call or come in? That's something I'm not entirely confident in. As of right now I don't have much of a value statement that could make it obvious. The "pain" of having people call/email/come in or the "convenience" of online ordering might not be distinct/contrasting enough.

tixocloud 11y ago
The best way to know is to ask them. Not sure how many HN'ers are cafe owners, so it's best to go around to your local neighbourhood and start asking them right up. But first, I would start with coming up with the value statement and validating that with your target customer. Think about the value you're offering them by having them go into prepared meals. To me it sounds like your value is about opening an additional revenue stream. Then think about what independent cafe owners will have to go through to adopt prepared meals as part of their service. When you have your thoughts, have a chat with them to validate your assumptions. From my personal experience, my challenge (and it might be yours too), was that there is no such thing as "small retailers" target segment. At the beginning, I went after retailers and found all kinds of even smaller segments to drill down to. There are shoe retailers, restaurants, pharmacies, fashion retailers, etc. And each of these smaller retailers all had different wants and needs, which makes software development complicated as hell.
- blakeloverain 11y ago
  How would I validate the target customer without them insisting on seeing a website? Is it reasonable to develop a concept page they can view the gist of things and then reaffirm that they want to learn more, see a demo, try it out, etc? The tricky part that I experienced with my last startup attempt was that one prospect was very eager to start using something before I could validate others. I stupidly spent 3 months on developing an initial version only to realize after the fact that I was going after a tough market. How do I stall them without rejecting them forever? I could develop a very basic MVP (based on my assumptions/their feedback from the concept page) in approximately 2 weeks - so I'm imagining that it might be appropriate to suggest I contact them when something is ready. After all, I came to them, not them to me - so they can wait, right? How many moderately interested prospects are enough before I work on an MVP? How will I know that the market will scale - ie I didn't just find a fluke set of eager prospects? I was going to contact places via Facebook initially (so I can somewhat gauge their business size based upon the # of fans) and simply ask if anyone's asked about prepared meal services and if they've would consider using an online ordering system. Might it be worth at this point saying that I'm merely doing research (and need to get enough validation before I work on it further)? Would it be reasonable that those who actually DO validate my hypothesis would consider being customers? I'm a bit vague on the value statement (my hypotheses on the convenience may be overrated) so how do I go about developing a better value statement, based on interviewing people in the industry? It could be that customers ordering extra takeout is good enough for most places and want the instant gratification of picking up same day. Prepared meal services is a bit different model as people usually order 3-4 days in advance and only pick up once a week (unlike takeout orders). The advantage to the business is they can take a list of orders and prepare the food in batches more efficiently (efficiency/prep is key for any food service business) and that they'd have subscriptions (meal plans) which would bring in residual income from those committed to ordering. Should I search for similar businesses who already HAVE this type of service (whether online or offline ordering) and ask what they gained from it and what their overall experience has been like (ie positive/mixed) and ultimately what they've learned and would recommend to any places looking to add this service.

iamflimflam1 11y ago

> Independent cafes who are interested in providing prepared meals to their customer base would also be good candidates (though they may need the idea planted in their minds first). Why not go around your local area and talk to the cafes and see if there is any interest?

blakeloverain 11y ago

I've contacted several prospective customers and have a few positive responses, that there is potential market for my service. I'm not sure if I can learn any more from people without actually having a (paying) MVP to work with. I'd imagine that at some point, especially when there are two tiers of users (chefs and customers), that the only real definitive experiment is to create something worth trying out. Obviously at first I can just work with a teaser/concept page and see if enough sign up. Since I'm aiming for a broad market (any food establishment who wants to offer prepared meal services), finding an approach to get a rush of traffic (via PR, bloggers, buzz, etc) seems to make the most sense. Having analytics seems to make sense at that point. I don't think asking theoretical questions to restaurants will get me anything more. I'm imagining that once I reach a point in the size of the list that I would then work on the MVP.