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Would you recommend launching a new saas product in demo mode first, to gauge interest? For example, allow users to create a free account that works for two we

Would you recommend launching a new saas product in demo mode first, to gauge interest? For example, allow users to create a free account that works for two weeks to a month? Then hook in a way to get people's money after you have received enough feedback in the form of "Can I please throw money at you to purchase this product"? I think one major hang up for first-timers is crossing that threshold of taking money, because now you have liability. Which includes dealing with support issues (will customers be satisfied with 24 - 48 hour turnaround time, will they be OK with web/email support only because you have a day job?), and also you need to deal with fraud and other legal issues.

madamelic 8y ago
>Would you recommend launching a new saas product in demo mode first, to gauge interest? If you think that would work. I have tried it before, people did use it but they never bought. You bring up that issue later in your post though. :) People are cheap. I never really dug into this idea further because I was cautioned by others that "Free SaaS" and "Paid SaaS" are different people. You even bring up the issue of support around "Free SaaS" people. That crowd I think generally thinks "Free SaaS" == "VC". In my experience, as long as you get back to people within 12 - 24 hours, they don't mind. I go on walks during my day job and respond to support emails. ;) >I think one major hang up for first-timers is crossing that threshold of taking money, because now you have liability. Definitely! That's still kind of a hang-up for me. I feel kind of bad asking for money for something I built. It is slowly going away though the more that I do it though. I think this is a common thing though. >also you need to deal with fraud and other legal issues. I guess that depends on what you're building. Stripe, for the most part, handles the fraud and legal stuff. While we are talking about Stripe, I would recommend against Stripe Atlas. It is too much if you aren't going VC. An LLC (provided you're from the US), if even that, is enough. --- Honestly, you should just try out all these hypothesis and apply what you learn. That's what I've been doing. Try something new, apply, try something new, repeat. It's the best you can do in my opinion. Reading books + blogs is great, I totally still do it, but beware analysis paralysis. ;)

madamelic 8y ago

>Would you recommend launching a new saas product in demo mode first, to gauge interest? If you think that would work. I have tried it before, people did use it but they never bought. You bring up that issue later in your post though. :) People are cheap. I never really dug into this idea further because I was cautioned by others that "Free SaaS" and "Paid SaaS" are different people. You even bring up the issue of support around "Free SaaS" people. That crowd I think generally thinks "Free SaaS" == "VC". In my experience, as long as you get back to people within 12 - 24 hours, they don't mind. I go on walks during my day job and respond to support emails. ;) >I think one major hang up for first-timers is crossing that threshold of taking money, because now you have liability. Definitely! That's still kind of a hang-up for me. I feel kind of bad asking for money for something I built. It is slowly going away though the more that I do it though. I think this is a common thing though. >also you need to deal with fraud and other legal issues. I guess that depends on what you're building. Stripe, for the most part, handles the fraud and legal stuff. While we are talking about Stripe, I would recommend against Stripe Atlas. It is too much if you aren't going VC. An LLC (provided you're from the US), if even that, is enough. --- Honestly, you should just try out all these hypothesis and apply what you learn. That's what I've been doing. Try something new, apply, try something new, repeat. It's the best you can do in my opinion. Reading books + blogs is great, I totally still do it, but beware analysis paralysis. ;)