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I think the hardest part about a SaaS Product is to get people interested in the first place right? If a Server goes offline when noone was using it in years,

I think the hardest part about a SaaS Product is to get people interested in the first place right? If a Server goes offline when noone was using it in years, is it really offline?` So I guess it comes down to: if you are innovative nobody knows you exists at first And if you are not, there is always competition to squash

maccard 4y ago
You should have a customer ready to pay you before you write a line of code. Preferably multiple customers. If you can sell to your target market without a product you can sell to them with one!
- jhoelzel 4y ago
  isnt that called being an Agency? I mean writing code for single customer that is ready to pay? How many SaaS out there can actually bootstrap on 1 let alone 100 customers? On the other side I have heard the "we built x for y but y didnt end up buying" quite a lot of times.
  - maccard 4y ago
    > isnt that called being an Agency? I don't think agency is the right term. You're not writing code _for a single customer_, you're not writing code _until you've verified a single customer will pay for it_. I wouldn't expect an agency to contact me and say "hey we have this solution to a problem we think you have, and we'll charge you $99/month for it", I would expect them to say "sure we can build it if you tell us what you want" > How many SaaS out there can actually bootstrap on 1 let alone 100 customers? Probably more than can bootstrap on 0. The reason for this advice is to find out as early on as possible whether people will pay you for it. If no-one will pay you for it, you should ask yourself why. If one person will pay you for it, there's probably more people out there that will also pay you for it. > I mean writing code for single customer that is ready to pay? Coming back to this question for a moment, the code is not the focus if you're trying to run a SAAS, the product is. And unless you see it as product first, you're going to have a hard time selling it.
    - jhoelzel 4y ago
      no sure I agree with you there, but imho the assumption to find 60 customers quickly is much more important than getting the first one. Some of your frientrepreneurs might jump in early too and now you habe 20 customers for 99$. Which means you now run at 2k ARR and at least dont work for free. But it doesnt meant that the jump from 20 to 60 is not going to be painfull. Sales and Marketing literally offer to that bridge for you and having someone actually do call 100 people and collect their opinions or having someone else actually making sure that google does not rank you as a supermarket online is super important very early on.
- hobo_mark 4y ago
  I wonder if you can shortcircuit that when the first customer ready to pay is yourself. If I go through the trouble of building something it is because I really need it for me in the first place (and it does not already exist).
  - maccard 4y ago
    Yeah I think that's a totally valid approach, but it's important to consider "would I pay for this?", as the answer to that is not always the same as "would I build it?"

maccard 4y ago

You should have a customer ready to pay you before you write a line of code. Preferably multiple customers. If you can sell to your target market without a product you can sell to them with one!

jhoelzel 4y ago
isnt that called being an Agency? I mean writing code for single customer that is ready to pay? How many SaaS out there can actually bootstrap on 1 let alone 100 customers? On the other side I have heard the "we built x for y but y didnt end up buying" quite a lot of times.
- maccard 4y ago
  > isnt that called being an Agency? I don't think agency is the right term. You're not writing code _for a single customer_, you're not writing code _until you've verified a single customer will pay for it_. I wouldn't expect an agency to contact me and say "hey we have this solution to a problem we think you have, and we'll charge you $99/month for it", I would expect them to say "sure we can build it if you tell us what you want" > How many SaaS out there can actually bootstrap on 1 let alone 100 customers? Probably more than can bootstrap on 0. The reason for this advice is to find out as early on as possible whether people will pay you for it. If no-one will pay you for it, you should ask yourself why. If one person will pay you for it, there's probably more people out there that will also pay you for it. > I mean writing code for single customer that is ready to pay? Coming back to this question for a moment, the code is not the focus if you're trying to run a SAAS, the product is. And unless you see it as product first, you're going to have a hard time selling it.
  - jhoelzel 4y ago
    no sure I agree with you there, but imho the assumption to find 60 customers quickly is much more important than getting the first one. Some of your frientrepreneurs might jump in early too and now you habe 20 customers for 99$. Which means you now run at 2k ARR and at least dont work for free. But it doesnt meant that the jump from 20 to 60 is not going to be painfull. Sales and Marketing literally offer to that bridge for you and having someone actually do call 100 people and collect their opinions or having someone else actually making sure that google does not rank you as a supermarket online is super important very early on.
hobo_mark 4y ago
I wonder if you can shortcircuit that when the first customer ready to pay is yourself. If I go through the trouble of building something it is because I really need it for me in the first place (and it does not already exist).
- maccard 4y ago
  Yeah I think that's a totally valid approach, but it's important to consider "would I pay for this?", as the answer to that is not always the same as "would I build it?"