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can you please write about this? I'm a 20-something looking to create a SaaS for Enterprise customers, and I'm constantly coming up dry. There's a lot of litera

can you please write about this? I'm a 20-something looking to create a SaaS for Enterprise customers, and I'm constantly coming up dry. There's a lot of literature revolving around 20 bucks/month for a simple web app but pretty much lost and overwhelmed by the technical language behind most Enterprisey websites and the sheer number of features that seem dumped into a product which confuses the software engineering inside of me. I've begun researching Oracle Partnership and Salesforce, but even then, I am just lost as to how I can acquire my first enterprise customer because I don't know what they want and what they are looking for. I understand that enterprise sale cycles is long and I've posted numerous questions about hacking my way into this space with little response.

gregpilling 13y ago
Have you read patio11's stuff? http://www.kalzumeus.com/2013/05/23/selling-your-software-to-businesses-twiliocon-2012-presentation/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2013/05/23/selling-your-software-to...
brd 13y ago
So just to give some quick answers to points you've brought up: Pricing for Enterprise is tricky, mostly because there are magic numbers where you go from 1 channel of approval to another. The goal is to price yourself high enough that they take you seriously without pricing yourself so high that you end up needing approval from a guy who doesn't care about the problem you're solving (unless of course you're ready to pitch to that audience). The long list of features is a side effect of the risk adverse nature of enterprise. One of the big things enterprise looks for is solutions to "what ifs". What if X happens, what if Y operates different, how do we know when Z occurred? Ultimately you are trying to sell them a solution that doesn't create a whole host of new problems and the feature list helps ensure that. Besides that, long feature lists help with the sales pitch. As for finding customers, that is where the real battle exists. Ideally you already have a short list of potential customers that you can talk to and work with while you create your initial product. Creating something from scratch and then trying to sell it is a much harder path to go down. I think there are hacks to this involving partnerships with other 3rd party solution providers but ultimately getting your first customer is going to be the biggest hurdle to overcome. Personally, I've shied away from enterprise startup ideas because 1) If I'm doing a startup, its probably to get out of the enterprise world and 2) Selling to the enterprise truly is a long, arduous experience that I'd rather avoid.

gregpilling 13y ago

Have you read patio11's stuff? http://www.kalzumeus.com/2013/05/23/selling-your-software-to-businesses-twiliocon-2012-presentation/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2013/05/23/selling-your-software-to...

brd 13y ago

So just to give some quick answers to points you've brought up: Pricing for Enterprise is tricky, mostly because there are magic numbers where you go from 1 channel of approval to another. The goal is to price yourself high enough that they take you seriously without pricing yourself so high that you end up needing approval from a guy who doesn't care about the problem you're solving (unless of course you're ready to pitch to that audience). The long list of features is a side effect of the risk adverse nature of enterprise. One of the big things enterprise looks for is solutions to "what ifs". What if X happens, what if Y operates different, how do we know when Z occurred? Ultimately you are trying to sell them a solution that doesn't create a whole host of new problems and the feature list helps ensure that. Besides that, long feature lists help with the sales pitch. As for finding customers, that is where the real battle exists. Ideally you already have a short list of potential customers that you can talk to and work with while you create your initial product. Creating something from scratch and then trying to sell it is a much harder path to go down. I think there are hacks to this involving partnerships with other 3rd party solution providers but ultimately getting your first customer is going to be the biggest hurdle to overcome. Personally, I've shied away from enterprise startup ideas because 1) If I'm doing a startup, its probably to get out of the enterprise world and 2) Selling to the enterprise truly is a long, arduous experience that I'd rather avoid.