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Ask HN: Help Reassure SaaS Clients as Solo Founder

4 points by saas_q 8y ago

Hi HN, I'm a solo founder in the early stages of bootstrapping a SaaS company where my product, if adopted by a company, becomes a critical part of their daily workflow. Understandably, one of the most common push backs I get from potential customers is "what happens when you get hit by a bus". So far I don't have a great answer for them and I'd love to hear how others have overcome this sales hurdle. Obviously finding a co-founder or getting to the point where I can hire someone else is ideal, but neither of those look likely to happen in the near future. I can also offer to give them access to the AWS account their service is hosted under, but these clients generally don't have tech saavy employees and so I'm not sure how useful that would be to them (of course they can hire someone to help, but that might take them days or weeks). I'll be extremely grateful for any ideas or advice anyone can give me.

mindcrime 8y ago
I'm in a similar situation, and it occurs to me that this is a good question. For our thing, part of the answer is that the code itself is all Open Source, which partly mitigates the "bus factor" risk, in that they could always pay somebody else to stand up an environment running the system, or do it themselves. If you don't want to make things OSS, you could engage with a 3rd party "code escrow" firm that would maintain the code securely and only release it to the customer in defined circumstances (eg, if you die, or the company closes down, etc.) One other might be partnering with a VAR outfit or an outsourced help-desk/support firm to provide services and support that are independent of your physical presence.
- saas_q 8y ago
  > part of the answer is that the code itself is all Open Source I'm actually fortunate to be in the same situation. Someone suggested keeping an up to date Docker or VM image including their data that the client can download and self-host if need be. Seems worth investigating.
  - new_guy 8y ago
    If you give them access to your code what's to stop them kicking you to the curb and taking it for themselves? Free code and no need to pay you. The fact that you're a sole founder should be zero issue with clients, frankly it's none of their concern at all how your company is structured. The fact that they think it is their concern leads me to believe your presenting yourself as a one man band as opposed to a professional company which is something you can control.
    - mindcrime 8y ago
      I mean, I would not necessarily argue that one must volunteer that they are a one person shop. But if, for the sake of argument, a prospect flat out asks, what are you going to do? Lie? Personally I would not, as I think dishonesty of that sort (or really of any sort) is a bad basis for any kind of business relationship. OTOH, if you do own up to being a one person (or otherwise very small) shop, you also have the opportunity to "own it" and turn that to your advantage. Point out how "With IBM or Amazon, you are not going to get the CEO's personal cell-phone number so you can call him/her at 3:00 am if shit goes sideways... with us, you will have that." You can probably use your imagination to figure out other ways to promote the advantages of working with a smaller company, especially if you can paint your competition as a nameless, faceless, bureaucratic, Kafkaesque, corporate behemoth.
    - saas_q 8y ago
      > If you give them access to your code what's to stop them kicking you to the curb and taking it for themselves? Free code and no need to pay you. The code is already OS. They are paying me for convenience (don't have to self host) and my expertise. > The fact that you're a sole founder should be zero issue with clients, frankly it's none of their concern at all how your company is structured. I think you're very wrong about this. I think my customers are correct to be wary about trusting a key part of their business to a single founder just due to the bus factor problem. > The fact that they think it is their concern leads me to believe your presenting yourself as a one man band as opposed to a professional company which is something you can control. As mindcrime says, I'm obviously not going to lie about it. It's also pretty obvious I am extremely small compared to my competitors given the very niche market I'm part of.
- mtmail 8y ago
  We have relevant code in escrow for an enterprise client. They paid for it. Apart from the paperwork it's a synced git repository.

4 points by saas_q 8y ago

mindcrime 8y ago

I'm in a similar situation, and it occurs to me that this is a good question. For our thing, part of the answer is that the code itself is all Open Source, which partly mitigates the "bus factor" risk, in that they could always pay somebody else to stand up an environment running the system, or do it themselves. If you don't want to make things OSS, you could engage with a 3rd party "code escrow" firm that would maintain the code securely and only release it to the customer in defined circumstances (eg, if you die, or the company closes down, etc.) One other might be partnering with a VAR outfit or an outsourced help-desk/support firm to provide services and support that are independent of your physical presence.

saas_q 8y ago
> part of the answer is that the code itself is all Open Source I'm actually fortunate to be in the same situation. Someone suggested keeping an up to date Docker or VM image including their data that the client can download and self-host if need be. Seems worth investigating.
- new_guy 8y ago
  If you give them access to your code what's to stop them kicking you to the curb and taking it for themselves? Free code and no need to pay you. The fact that you're a sole founder should be zero issue with clients, frankly it's none of their concern at all how your company is structured. The fact that they think it is their concern leads me to believe your presenting yourself as a one man band as opposed to a professional company which is something you can control.
  - mindcrime 8y ago
    I mean, I would not necessarily argue that one must volunteer that they are a one person shop. But if, for the sake of argument, a prospect flat out asks, what are you going to do? Lie? Personally I would not, as I think dishonesty of that sort (or really of any sort) is a bad basis for any kind of business relationship. OTOH, if you do own up to being a one person (or otherwise very small) shop, you also have the opportunity to "own it" and turn that to your advantage. Point out how "With IBM or Amazon, you are not going to get the CEO's personal cell-phone number so you can call him/her at 3:00 am if shit goes sideways... with us, you will have that." You can probably use your imagination to figure out other ways to promote the advantages of working with a smaller company, especially if you can paint your competition as a nameless, faceless, bureaucratic, Kafkaesque, corporate behemoth.
  - saas_q 8y ago
    > If you give them access to your code what's to stop them kicking you to the curb and taking it for themselves? Free code and no need to pay you. The code is already OS. They are paying me for convenience (don't have to self host) and my expertise. > The fact that you're a sole founder should be zero issue with clients, frankly it's none of their concern at all how your company is structured. I think you're very wrong about this. I think my customers are correct to be wary about trusting a key part of their business to a single founder just due to the bus factor problem. > The fact that they think it is their concern leads me to believe your presenting yourself as a one man band as opposed to a professional company which is something you can control. As mindcrime says, I'm obviously not going to lie about it. It's also pretty obvious I am extremely small compared to my competitors given the very niche market I'm part of.
mtmail 8y ago
We have relevant code in escrow for an enterprise client. They paid for it. Apart from the paperwork it's a synced git repository.