4 ms·

Ask HN: Sales advice for a bootstrapping founder needed

11 points by soneca 8y ago

I am a solo founder bootstrapping (as a side-project) a SaaS web app for team managers at mid-sized companies. It is a note-taking app exclusively for 1:1 meetings [0]. It allows to better register meeting notes, long-term goals and short-term commitments (the last two are shareable with the team members for better accountability). I have a fundamental doubt in my sales strategy: should I target the individual managers that would use my product themselves or should I target HR executives that could buy my product and implement it to all managers at the company at once? I am at a very early stage, with 2 paying customers that hired it themselves for individual use; and 5 colleagues at my day-job employer on a free-trial before I try to sell it to our HR director for the whole company. The pros for individual managers: shorter sales cycles; direct feedback on the product; easier to find the contacts; more people to contact (guessing here). The pros for HR executives: more revenue per sale; if successful - I assume - more retention. [0] https://www.oneonemeeting.com

mchannon 8y ago
Snap up oneononemeeting.com and redirect it (or redirect your current to that one). I couldn't get your name right and I'd probably be typical. Firm up the pricing a little better. I get that "enterprise" would want to negotiate a deal, but nothing gives a prospective customer the middle finger like "call for price". If you know what your product is worth, tell me. Anchor with an overpriced/not-much-nicer top selection, because that'll draw people to your ideal mid offering and away from the free. To answer your doubt, make both pricing options.
- soneca 8y ago
  Snapping oneononemeeting.com will be hard I think. I am considering renaming my project. My main driver for that name was SEO, but today I do not consider SEO my major growth channel anymore. I give the price for individual accounts, I will just reuse that price with a "per user" for enterprise and disclaim that are possible discounts for large accounts. Thanks for your comments!
  - mchannon 8y ago
    For the record, oneononemeeting.com is still available, and probably only another $10.98 on namecheap. Forget SEO, try word of mouth. When 99% of people hear about your website and mistype it in, they'll fail to convert into paying customers. This doesn't just apply to you, but it always amazes me how hard people will work to justify tanking their own marketing effort.
    - soneca 8y ago
      Nice! It wasn't available when I first registered it (a year ago). At least I think it wasn't, as it was my first choice, as it is exactly the term that people search. Already bought it cheap on Namecheap :) Thanks a lot for taking the time to research it after my reply!
      - matt_the_bass 8y ago
        I’d also suggest buying similar names like 1on1meeting.com, etc. I have no idea if that specific url is available. But buying related urls is helpful for people that forget how to spell the original (especially if they hear the name from a friend orally)
rsweeney21 8y ago
I bootstrapped my current company to several million in revenue. Both are valid strategies, but require very different skills and tactics. If you have another source of income right now, I would implement a product driven growth strategy [0]. Give your product away for free for individuals. You'll remove all barriers to adoption and be able to grow your user base quickly. If your product is valuable, your product will grow virally inside a company as managers see other managers using it. Once you have a few managers at Company X using your product, that's when you call up the HR department and offer them a paid company subscription for features like teams/user management, single sign on, sharing one on one results up the chain, whatever. Your users at the company become your champions. You can also provide an upgrade path in app if companies decide they want access to those features before you realize it. Use a tool like Intercom to track how many users you have within a company. It will delay revenue for a while, but give you a chance to refine the product from user feedback. It's also a much more scalable sales/marketing strategy for solo founders. [0] https://expand.openviewpartners.com/your-product-is-your-go-to-market-strategy-heres-why-b1881c0c521 https://expand.openviewpartners.com/your-product-is-your-go-... https://mattermark.com/product-led-approach-sales/ https://mattermark.com/product-led-approach-sales/
- soneca 8y ago
  Wow, that's gold, thanks a lot!! I have thought about this "individual managers as user/champions in company" before, but the path was not very clear in my head. Thanks for laying it out for me. I do have a day-job, so this is a totally valid strategy for me.
- rajacombinator 8y ago
  Great post. Any other recommending reading on sales/marketing strategies?
cvolzer3 8y ago
Target the end users with cheap/free/trials to gain significant traction then make your pitch to executives. By then, you already have all the evidence you need to make the sell.
jakequist 8y ago
I think @rsweeney nailed it. Your product is one that _should_ sell itself. You only needs a complicated sales cycle if you're selling deep infrastructure or where high degrees of trust are required. But in your case, users can look at your website and immediately determine if they need your product and how much they're willing to trust you. Re: your product --- It looks super cool. It's not something I need at this point in my career, but maybe down the road. Good luck!
- soneca 8y ago
  thanks!
realty_geek 8y ago
Something like this? https://amazemeet.com/ https://amazemeet.com/

11 points by soneca 8y ago

mchannon 8y ago

Snap up oneononemeeting.com and redirect it (or redirect your current to that one). I couldn't get your name right and I'd probably be typical. Firm up the pricing a little better. I get that "enterprise" would want to negotiate a deal, but nothing gives a prospective customer the middle finger like "call for price". If you know what your product is worth, tell me. Anchor with an overpriced/not-much-nicer top selection, because that'll draw people to your ideal mid offering and away from the free. To answer your doubt, make both pricing options.

soneca 8y ago
Snapping oneononemeeting.com will be hard I think. I am considering renaming my project. My main driver for that name was SEO, but today I do not consider SEO my major growth channel anymore. I give the price for individual accounts, I will just reuse that price with a "per user" for enterprise and disclaim that are possible discounts for large accounts. Thanks for your comments!
- mchannon 8y ago
  For the record, oneononemeeting.com is still available, and probably only another $10.98 on namecheap. Forget SEO, try word of mouth. When 99% of people hear about your website and mistype it in, they'll fail to convert into paying customers. This doesn't just apply to you, but it always amazes me how hard people will work to justify tanking their own marketing effort.
  - soneca 8y ago
    Nice! It wasn't available when I first registered it (a year ago). At least I think it wasn't, as it was my first choice, as it is exactly the term that people search. Already bought it cheap on Namecheap :) Thanks a lot for taking the time to research it after my reply!
    - matt_the_bass 8y ago
      I’d also suggest buying similar names like 1on1meeting.com, etc. I have no idea if that specific url is available. But buying related urls is helpful for people that forget how to spell the original (especially if they hear the name from a friend orally)

rsweeney21 8y ago

I bootstrapped my current company to several million in revenue. Both are valid strategies, but require very different skills and tactics. If you have another source of income right now, I would implement a product driven growth strategy [0]. Give your product away for free for individuals. You'll remove all barriers to adoption and be able to grow your user base quickly. If your product is valuable, your product will grow virally inside a company as managers see other managers using it. Once you have a few managers at Company X using your product, that's when you call up the HR department and offer them a paid company subscription for features like teams/user management, single sign on, sharing one on one results up the chain, whatever. Your users at the company become your champions. You can also provide an upgrade path in app if companies decide they want access to those features before you realize it. Use a tool like Intercom to track how many users you have within a company. It will delay revenue for a while, but give you a chance to refine the product from user feedback. It's also a much more scalable sales/marketing strategy for solo founders. [0] https://expand.openviewpartners.com/your-product-is-your-go-to-market-strategy-heres-why-b1881c0c521 https://expand.openviewpartners.com/your-product-is-your-go-... https://mattermark.com/product-led-approach-sales/ https://mattermark.com/product-led-approach-sales/

soneca 8y ago
Wow, that's gold, thanks a lot!! I have thought about this "individual managers as user/champions in company" before, but the path was not very clear in my head. Thanks for laying it out for me. I do have a day-job, so this is a totally valid strategy for me.
rajacombinator 8y ago
Great post. Any other recommending reading on sales/marketing strategies?

cvolzer3 8y ago

Target the end users with cheap/free/trials to gain significant traction then make your pitch to executives. By then, you already have all the evidence you need to make the sell.

jakequist 8y ago

I think @rsweeney nailed it. Your product is one that _should_ sell itself. You only needs a complicated sales cycle if you're selling deep infrastructure or where high degrees of trust are required. But in your case, users can look at your website and immediately determine if they need your product and how much they're willing to trust you. Re: your product --- It looks super cool. It's not something I need at this point in my career, but maybe down the road. Good luck!

soneca 8y ago
thanks!

realty_geek 8y ago

Something like this? https://amazemeet.com/ https://amazemeet.com/