my plan to beat SaaS startup's competitors

Summary

In 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

• 🚀 The founder is embarking on a zero to one journey with a software SaaS startup in a highly competitive market.
• 💡 Despite being outnumbered and out-funded, the founder sees the presence of many competitors as a source of excitement and validation of demand.
• 🛠 Early stages will focus on 'hand-to-hand combat', avoiding the pitfalls of premature scaling, automation, or delegation.
• 👨‍💼 The founder is prepared to do the grunt work themselves, viewing every customer and research interview as crucial battles to be won.
• 🤝 Emphasizing the importance of one-to-one human relationships in the early stages to gain critical insights and build lasting business relationships.
• 🔄 Considering adding 'done-for-you' elements to the business model to enhance the value proposition and make the product more attractive to customers.
• 🎯 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.
• 🌱 Long-term strategy involves playing the long game, bootstrapping the business, and avoiding the pressures of venture capital.
• 🛡 The absence of investor pressure allows for a focus on maximizing customer value rather than short-term revenue gains.
• 🌐 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

00:00

🚀 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.

05:01

🛠️ 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.

10:03

🌱 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.

Keywords

💡Zero to One

The term 'Zero to One' refers to the process of creating something from nothing, or building a business from the ground up. In the context of the video, it represents the speaker's journey of starting a software SaaS startup in a competitive market. The speaker acknowledges the challenges but is excited by the opportunity to fill gaps in the market, which is a core part of the 'Zero to One' concept.

💡Competitive Market

A 'competitive market' is an industry with many sellers offering similar products or services, making it difficult for any single company to dominate. The speaker mentions being 'outnumbered' and 'outfunded,' indicating a highly competitive market. This sets the stage for the strategies the speaker plans to employ to succeed despite the odds.

💡Hand-to-Hand Combat

In the video, 'hand-to-hand combat' is used metaphorically to describe the intense, close-quarters struggle of competing in a tough market. The speaker emphasizes the need to avoid common pitfalls like premature scaling and instead focus on the gritty, personal work required in the early stages of a startup.

💡Delegation

Delegation is the act of assigning tasks or responsibilities to others. The speaker warns against delegating in the early stages of a startup, arguing that founders must be deeply involved in every aspect of the business to truly understand and address customer needs.

💡Grunt Work

'Grunt work' refers to the hard, often tedious or menial tasks that need to be done. The speaker uses this term to describe the necessary work in the early stages of a startup, emphasizing the importance of founders getting their hands dirty rather than relying on others.

💡DIY (Do It Yourself)

DIY stands for 'Do It Yourself,' and in the context of the video, it refers to products or services that require customers to take action based on the provided content or tools. The speaker contrasts this with 'Done With You' and 'Done For You' models, discussing how different delivery models can affect a business's approach to customer service and value proposition.

💡Done With You

'Done With You' implies a collaborative approach where a service provider works alongside the customer to implement solutions. The speaker considers adding 'Done With You' elements to enhance the value of their SaaS product, suggesting a more hands-on approach to help customers achieve their goals.

💡Done For You

'Done For You' services are those where the service provider executes tasks on behalf of the customer. The speaker contemplates adding 'Done For You' elements to their offer to make the product more attractive by providing outcomes rather than just software.

💡Bootstrap

To 'bootstrap' a business means to start and operate it with little or no outside investment. The speaker mentions bootstrapping as a strategy, allowing for more flexibility and less pressure from investors, which is a significant advantage in the long game.

💡Customer Success

In the video, 'customer success' is defined as ensuring that customers achieve their desired outcomes using the speaker's product. The speaker prioritizes customer success over short-term revenue, viewing it as a key performance indicator and a competitive advantage.

💡Internet Marketer

The speaker refers to their background as an 'internet marketer,' highlighting their experience in acquiring customers profitably and focusing on fundamental marketing strategies. This background influences the speaker's approach to building the SaaS startup, emphasizing simplicity and effectiveness over complicated B2B marketing tactics.

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