my plan to beat SaaS startup's competitors
Summary
TLDRIn this startup chat, the founder discusses his zero to one plan for a software SaaS startup in a competitive market. He emphasizes the importance of hands-on work in the early stages, focusing on one-to-one customer relationships for critical insights. Considering adding 'done for you' elements to the product offer to enhance customer success. He plans to play the long game, bootstrapping without investor pressure, and channeling his internet marketing skills to focus on fundamentals like profitable customer acquisition.
Takeaways
- đ The founder is embarking on a zero to one journey with a software SaaS startup in a highly competitive market.
- đĄ Despite being outnumbered and out-funded, the founder sees the presence of many competitors as a source of excitement and validation of demand.
- đ Early stages will focus on 'hand-to-hand combat', avoiding the pitfalls of premature scaling, automation, or delegation.
- đšâđŒ The founder is prepared to do the grunt work themselves, viewing every customer and research interview as crucial battles to be won.
- đ€ Emphasizing the importance of one-to-one human relationships in the early stages to gain critical insights and build lasting business relationships.
- đ Considering adding 'done-for-you' elements to the business model to enhance the value proposition and make the product more attractive to customers.
- đŻ Aiming to align the product with the 'jobs to be done' framework to understand what customers truly want to achieve and assist them in reaching those goals.
- đ± Long-term strategy involves playing the long game, bootstrapping the business, and avoiding the pressures of venture capital.
- đĄ The absence of investor pressure allows for a focus on maximizing customer value rather than short-term revenue gains.
- đ Leveraging the founder's background in internet marketing to simplify B2B marketing strategies and focus on fundamentals like profitable customer acquisition.
Q & A
What is the speaker's current situation regarding their startup?
-The speaker is currently very busy and is in the early stages of building a software SaaS startup in a highly competitive market.
How does the speaker feel about the competition in their market?
-The speaker is excited about the competition and sees it as a positive challenge that can help fuel their motivation.
What is the speaker's strategy for the initial phase of their startup?
-The speaker plans to focus on hands-on work, treating every customer interaction and research interview as crucial, and avoiding immediate scaling or automation.
Why does the speaker believe in not delegating or outsourcing in the early stages?
-The speaker believes that the early stages of a startup require the founder or early team to be deeply involved in the 'grunt work' to gain critical insights and build strong relationships.
What is the significance of 'hand-to-hand combat' in the speaker's strategy?
-The term 'hand-to-hand combat' signifies the speaker's commitment to a close and personal approach to business in the early stages, emphasizing direct engagement with customers.
How does the speaker view the role of human relationships in their business?
-The speaker values human relationships highly, especially in the early stages, as they believe these relationships can provide critical insights and potentially lead to long-term partnerships or advisory roles.
What are the three delivery models the speaker discusses?
-The speaker discusses three delivery models: DIY (Do It Yourself), Done With You, and Done For You, each representing different levels of customer support and involvement in the implementation of a product or service.
Why is the speaker considering adding 'Done For You' elements to their offer?
-The speaker is considering 'Done For You' elements to make the offer more attractive by providing a higher probability of achieving desired outcomes for the customers, as opposed to just selling a product.
How does the speaker plan to differentiate their product in the market?
-The speaker plans to differentiate their product by focusing on customer success, treating each interaction as crucial, and potentially adding 'Done For You' elements to enhance the value of their offer.
What is the speaker's perspective on the long-term strategy for their startup?
-The speaker intends to play the long game, bootstrapping the business without external investment pressure, focusing on maximizing customer value rather than short-term revenue gains.
How does the speaker's background in internet marketing influence their approach to the startup?
-The speaker's background in internet marketing leads them to focus on the fundamentals of acquiring customers profitably and delivering value, rather than getting caught up in the complexities of traditional B2B marketing.
What is the speaker's call to action for other B2B founders?
-The speaker is inviting other B2B founders to spend 15 minutes sharing their feedback on the speaker's startup in exchange for the speaker's perspective on any topic they choose.
Outlines
đ Starting a Software SAS Startup: The Zero to One Plan
The speaker discusses their plan for launching a software SAS startup in a highly competitive market. They acknowledge being outnumbered and out-funded but view this as an exciting challenge. The speaker plans to focus on direct, personal engagement with customers, eschewing early automation or delegation. They emphasize the importance of building strong, early-stage relationships with customers and see this as a competitive advantage. They also consider adding 'done for you' elements to their service offerings, positioning their product as a means to achieve specific business outcomes rather than just a software tool.
đ ïž Delivery Models and Strategic Advantages
The speaker outlines three business delivery models: DIY, done with you, and done for you. They discuss the pros and cons of each, with a focus on how they plan to incorporate 'done for you' elements into their own startup. The speaker believes that by helping customers achieve specific outcomes, they can offer more value and attract customers. They also highlight the importance of long-term customer success over short-term gains and plan to leverage their bootstrapped status to focus on sustainable growth rather than rapid scaling to meet investor expectations.
đ± Embracing the Role of an Internet Marketer
The speaker reflects on their background in internet marketing and plans to apply these skills to their startup. They criticize the over-complication of B2B marketing and advocate for a return to fundamentals, such as profitable customer acquisition and effective demand marketing. The speaker intends to leverage their expertise to build a product that delivers real value to customers, with the goal of creating a sustainable and successful business over time.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄZero to One
đĄCompetitive Market
đĄHand-to-Hand Combat
đĄDelegation
đĄGrunt Work
đĄDIY (Do It Yourself)
đĄDone With You
đĄDone For You
đĄBootstrap
đĄCustomer Success
đĄInternet Marketer
Highlights
Discussing a zero to one plan for a software SaaS startup in a competitive market.
Emphasizing the importance of treating the early stages like hand-to-hand combat.
Avoiding the common pitfall of trying to scale, automate, or delegate too early.
Accepting the need for manual work and direct customer engagement in the initial phase.
Valuing one-to-one human relationships for critical insights and building trust.
Considering adding 'done-for-you' elements to the service offering.
Exploring different delivery models: DIY, done-with-you, and done-for-you.
Discussing the value of software sitting between DIY and done-with-you.
Considering how to make the product offering more attractive with 'done-for-you' elements.
Planning to play the long game due to the ability to bootstrap without external investment.
Anticipating that competitors may face pressure from investors to show quick progress.
Focusing on maximizing customer value rather than short-term revenue gains.
Aiming to be a 'cockroach' in the market, surviving and thriving despite competition.
Channeling inner internet marketer to focus on fundamentals over complicated B2B marketing.
Believing in the power of simple, effective marketing strategies over expensive tools.
Seeking feedback from other B2B founders for mutual benefit.
Acknowledging the challenges ahead and the likelihood of making mistakes.
Transcripts
okay so in today's startup chat I'm at
my desk things have gotten serious or um
I'm just really busy at the moment um
but in this chat I wanted
to quickly talk about my zero to one
plan for the the software SAS startup
I'm building um it's in a very very
competitive market Market um I'm
outnumbered I'm outf
funded um and so it's going to be it's
going to be a long ride um kind of gets
me excited that there are so many
competitors um you know I think demand
has definitely been validated and I've
I've
noticed several areas several gaps that
I think um I can
feel um and you know I'm definitely at a
disadvantage
um but I'm you know I'm trying to to
channel that into uh good energy you
know everyone needs a bit of competition
like to fire up us um so the first thing
I'm going to be focusing on or
considering is that I'm going to be
treating this like hand-to-hand combat
so I I read this somewhere so apologies
I can't um you know uh give credit to
the author I can't remember who said it
but um I
think a common Pitfall
to to try avoid when starting a new
company is immediately trying to scale
things trying to automate things trying
to delegate things um I think in the
early stages of a stop you just can't
you you can't delegate you can't
delegate or Outsource those early stages
it really is just I think
the founder Founders or you know the
early early early team just have to roll
their sleeves up and and do the grunt
work um and so I've accepted that and
that's the way I'm going to be operating
you know although I'm going to be in my
air conditioned office sipping on uh
overpriced um cold brus you know aka the
the modern trenches um you know I am
going to be treating it as you know
every customer every research interview
has to be fought for um you know I'm
really not interested in any sort of
scale and automation they're not even
going to be in my vocabulary um for the
first several months you know I'll be
doing whatever it takes to get um
customers and I
think there's a couple of sides to this
is one I feel like those one to one
human relationships are super super
important in business um particularly in
the earli stages that's where you get
those like critical insights that's
where um you build those relationships
where people view you as more than just
you know another software provider and I
think those relationships can then go on
to be you know advisers uh influencers
um like people who are really critical
to the business um so yeah it's going to
be very manual for the first several
months but I've you know that's just
I've accepted that and it's something I
don't really have any um problems with
the the second thing is um what I'm
spending some time thinking about at the
moment is add in uh done for you
elements um to to my offer so in my eyes
there's three delivery models in
business there's do it yourself
DIY so these are things like courses um
where maybe you buy access to a course
you consume the content but you have to
action that that content those insights
yourself you have to do it yourself
right you have to learn and then you
have to apply that to your business
yourself um you then have done with you
elements uh so this is where there's
like maybe a
Content uh content is part of the
business or there's some like resources
or knowledge but then somebody works
with you to implement that into your
business so this is very common in
consult Consulting and coaching right
there might be some kind of method but
they work with you to implement it into
your business and the value add there is
well business is so nuanced that you
know you can I have like a two-hour
video on YouTube of how to Cod emo but
are you going to be a cold email expert
after a 2our video probably not and so
that's where like you know the the value
ad is is an expert somebody who's done
it before helping you implement that um
and so as a result you can charge more
money for that
and then from there you have um done for
you so this is typically what you'll see
you know a marketing agency do or like a
freelancer where they'll build the
strategy but then they'll also execute
on the strategy uh as well they they'll
do the work for you typically these are
the most expensive Services because
you're paying for human Labor uh which
is expensive now
software um from my experience typically
sits between doit yourself DIY and done
with you do it yourself this is
typically like self-served products
product leg growth where you sign up to
the product and it's up to you to figure
it out sure you can get you can message
customer support but for the most part
do it yourself you know you're paying a
subscription you're licensing the
software you now have to apply into your
business right like if you buy an email
marketing software you still have to
write the campaigns you still have to
launch them you still have to put
contacts into the into the ESP all that
kind of stuff um what but some software
companies do have done with you elements
where you can purchase add-ons like
Professional Services help you implement
um the product into your business you
know integrate it with your existing
Tech stack maybe even like hold your
hand uh provide you with reports and
stuff like that very very common in like
enterprise software um in some cases I'd
say they they shift more towards the
human side of things than like the
software side of things but you know I
digress um and so I think
in a good way to think about this is
like through the jobs to be done
framework is
people people aren't going to want to
just purchase my software nobody wants
to just purchase software right they're
usually the the trigger to purchase
software is part of like a wider project
maybe they're launching a new initiative
and software as part of that um and so
something I'm spending some time
thinking about at the moment is well
what is that project what do people
actually want to achieve what what would
they be hiring my product to do and can
I just move them along that process
quicker by layering on done for you
elements um so that's what I'm thinking
about at the moment I think it just
makes the offer more attractive rather
than hey buy my product it could be hey
buy this outcome or you know the
probability of you achieving that
outcome is going to be far greater than
if you were just to use use the product
and figure it out by yourself um so
that's what I'm I'm thinking about at
the moment you know my product is going
to be uh in the marketing realm I've
been a B2B marketer over the last um
several years and so it just naturally
aligns with my my skill set um long term
you know I think try to reverse
engineer my value ad um and build that
into the product but again I'm not
really thinking about scale at this
point point or automation or how can I
maximize my gross margins as much as
possible I'm just concerned with making
customer successful that's that that's
my kpi here if I can do that I have a
proof of concept and then I can figure
everything else out um and I think this
is a competitive Advantage most people
are too lazy to do this um they just
want people to sign up to a free trial
pay them money and you know never bother
them um that's kind of the the ideal
scenario so yeah I'm exploring done for
you
elements thirdly
um so I'm going to be playing the long
game you know a lot of my um competitors
are Venture backed I'm fortunate to have
existing businesses that allow me to to
bootstrap so I don't have to raise
external investment that might change in
the future you know um strong opinions
loosely held um and my assumption is you
know I can't confirm this that my
competitors have pressure from their
invest investors uh a lot of these
competitors raised money when um to be
quite direct it was easy easier to raise
money there was plenty of more money
floating around the system um and so I
think they're going to have pressure
from investors which means you know they
have to move fast they have to show
progress um even if it's not the right
type of progress
and that means the probability of
mistakes or bad strategic decisions
being made um is higher and often in
these cases it's the customers who pay
the price you know maybe um the company
has to increase their price in or um
they start delivering a bad service um
and so typically it's the customer who
pays the price in the situations many
such cases right um and so my I don't
have any of that I don't have investor
pressure um of course there's still a
pressure I don't have unlimited money um
but my objective is to maximize my
customers value for as long as possible
that's what matters most to me and so
I'm not optimizing for short-term
Revenue gain I'm not optimizing for like
you know how much money can I make in as
quick of time as possible it's really
about how can I build the best product
how can I deliver the best service how
can I generate as many outcomes as
possible for my customers and I think
that's a competitive Advantage um I
speaking with a Founder
recently um and they said I can
essentially be a cockroach and I don't
know if that's a good example to give
but you know I can just weather the
storms um I don't have to show numbers
to anyone I don't have to report to
anyone um I think just not dying
sticking around um and just you know
letting time do its thing um is a
competitive advantage in itself um so
that's going to be part of my strategy
as well you know not just try to survive
and let time do its thing and then
finally finish this up here
is um channeling my internal internet
marketer so I've my my entry to um
entrepreneurship was through internet
marketing and I've learned from some
really really great operators who run
you know highly profitable businesses um
and I didn't come through like this
traditional B2B marketing route um and I
think B2B marketing is so over
complicated you know I've I've worked
with startups doing tens of
millions in annual recuring revenue um
bootstrapped extremely profitable I've
worked with um and and those startups
you know they haven't had the best tools
in the market some of them haven't even
had a CRM You know despite doing tens of
billions in Revenue um and I've worked
with you know 20 year olds um doing
single digits millions in annual
recurring Revenue all B2B software
um while you know managing their
business through WhatsApp and I'm not
saying that's necessarily the most
effective or efficient things to be
doing but it just shows if you get the
fundamentals right in business then
everything else just kind of falls into
place and I think in B2B marketing the
priorities are a bit reversed it's about
oh we need to get this expensive CRM and
this ABM tool and we need to you know do
this because everyone else is doing it
and I think it's just really over
complicated so I'm just going to be
leaning into my inner internet marketer
um and focusing on the fundamentals you
know acquiring customers profitably um
you know not losing money when acquiring
customers um just like
good good demand marketing um and it
sounds so simple but I think in B2B for
for whatever reason it's just um over
complicated you know I don't think it
should be taking you 12 plus months to
to pay back your customer acquisition
costs so I'm going to be channeling that
and there's a lot of things I can do on
that front
to um get more top of funo attention uh
to acquire more customers profitably um
not going to reveal too many cards there
but yeah there's a lot I can do there
and so I'm just going to be channeling
that side uh those skills that I have
that I've learned um over the last few
years so there's four things um I'm
going to be focusing on almost running
out of time here um I have no doubt I'll
be making many mistakes and I think this
is going to be difficult I don't think
it's going to be easy I think it's going
to be a very long ride um and I hope to
share uh some of that with you uh more
news on some of that soon about how I'll
be sharing that um last note here before
I go if you're a B2B start finder uh
sorry B2B start founder if you have 15
minutes if you're willing to spend 15
minutes of your time to share for me to
share what I'm building that' be awesome
just shoot me uh a direct message give a
comment on this post just looking for
honest feedback on what building um
nothing crazy and in return I'll provide
my perspective on anything you'd like me
to um so mutually beneficial discussion
um so yeah that's it for today's stup
chat see you on the next one
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