If you want to start a software business, watch this | Lisbon, July 15
Summary
TLDREl video discute la diferencia entre las empresas de software y las de software como servicio (SaaS), enfatizando que requieren habilidades distintas. El creador, con experiencia en ambas, destaca los desafíos de encontrar el adecuado ajuste del mercado para un producto SaaS y la importancia del enfoque en el marketing. Expone las ventajas de una agencia de servicios, como el flujo de caja inmediato y la facilidad de inicio, frente a la valoración más alta y potencial de salida de un producto SaaS, pero con un flujo de caja inicial limitado. El mensaje principal es que la elección entre estos modelos debe basarse en la viabilidad y los recursos disponibles, y que el éxito en cualquiera requiere habilidades de negocio más allá de las técnicas de programación.
Takeaways
- 😀 La habilidad para desarrollar software no es la misma que la habilidad para crear un negocio de software, son habilidades fundamentalmente diferentes.
- 🔍 Antes de iniciar un negocio de software, es crucial elegir entre crear un producto tecnológico o una empresa de servicios de software.
- 🏭 Un producto tecnológico, como un software como servicio (SaaS), es un tipo de negocio que construye un producto para ser vendido, a diferencia de una empresa de servicios que ofrece trabajo de desarrollo en comisión.
- 💰 Los productos tecnológicos, especialmente los SaaS, pueden tener un valor de salida muy alto, con múltiplos de valor empresarial de 8 a 10.
- 📈 La ventaja de un SaaS es que una vez que se construye, puede valer mucho dinero y generar ingresos de manera continua con poco mantenimiento.
- 🛠 Una empresa de servicios de software tiene un valor empresarial más bajo y su crecimiento depende de la contratación de más recursos humanos, lo que implica un mayor costo marginal de replicación.
- 🤔 Encontrar el equilibrio del mercado para un nuevo producto SaaS es difícil y requiere una inversión significativa en marketing y desarrollo.
- 💡 La decisión de iniciar un negocio de SaaS o de servicios depende de la fase y recursos disponibles, así como de la factibilidad y el enfoque de tiempo a largo plazo.
- 💼 La gestión de un negocio de software implica habilidades empresariales adicionales, como la obtención de clientes, la gestión de proyectos y el manejo de recursos humanos y financieros.
- 🚀 El crecimiento y éxito de un negocio de software, ya sea de productos o servicios, requieren un fuerte enfoque en el marketing y la comunicación con los clientes.
- 💡 El creador del video sugiere que, dado el costo y la complejidad de iniciar un negocio de SaaS, una empresa de servicios de software puede ser una opción más viable y menos riesgosa para los desarrolladores.
- 🔑 El conocimiento de ambas opciones (producto y servicios) y la evaluación de las necesidades y recursos propios es fundamental para tomar una decisión informada sobre el tipo de negocio de software a iniciar.
Q & A
¿Qué diferencia hay entre una empresa de software y una empresa de servicios SAS?
-Una empresa de software se enfoca en desarrollar productos tecnológicos, como una plataforma o un servicio en la nube (SaaS), mientras que una empresa de servicios SAS ofrece servicios de desarrollo de software a otros negocios, actuando como agencia.
¿Por qué es importante elegir entre crear un producto tecnológico o un negocio de servicios de software?
-Es importante elegir porque requieren habilidades y enfoques diferentes. El producto tecnológico se enfoca en la creación y venta de un bien, mientras que el negocio de servicios implica la prestación de servicios de desarrollo de software a otros clientes.
¿Cuál es la ventaja de crear una empresa de productos tecnológicos SaaS?
-La ventaja principal es el valor de salida alto, ya que las empresas SaaS suelen tener múltiplos de negocio altos, lo que significa que si decides vender la empresa, el valor de salida puede ser significativamente mayor que los ingresos anuales.
¿Por qué es difícil encontrar el equilibrio del mercado para un nuevo producto SaaS?
-Es difícil porque requiere la identificación de una necesidad única que no haya sido cubierta antes y la creación de un producto que cumpla con esa necesidad, lo que es un desafío debido a la competencia y la innovación constante en el mercado.
¿Qué riesgos se enfrentan al iniciar una empresa de productos SaaS?
-Se enfrentan dos tipos de riesgos: el riesgo de idea, que es si la idea del producto es útil y tiene demanda en el mercado, y el riesgo de ejecución, que es la capacidad de llevar a cabo la idea y convertirla en un producto viable.
¿Por qué es difícil competir en el mercado SaaS sin financiamiento inicial?
-Sin financiamiento inicial, es difícil invertir en marketing y desarrollo, lo que es esencial para alcanzar el equilibrio del mercado y crecer rápidamente, especialmente cuando se compite con empresas establecidas que ya tienen una base de usuarios y recursos.
¿Qué ventaja ofrece una empresa de servicios de software en términos de flujo de caja?
-Una empresa de servicios de software ofrece un flujo de caja inmediato, ya que se recibe dinero por los servicios prestados, lo que permite reinvertir en el negocio y crecer sin depender de inversionistas.
¿Cuál es el desafío principal al decidir entre un negocio de productos o servicios de software?
-El desafío principal es la elección entre el flujo de caja inmediato pero con un valor de salida potencialmente menor en el negocio de servicios, y el flujo de caja restringido pero con un valor de salida potencialmente mayor en el negocio de productos.
¿Qué lecciones aprendió el hablante sobre la importancia de habilidades de negocios al crear una empresa de software?
-El hablante aprendió que las habilidades de negocios, como la gestión de clientes, la comunicación, la planificación de proyectos y la contabilidad, son igual de importantes que las habilidades técnicas de programación para el éxito de una empresa de software.
¿Por qué el hablante considera que la mayoría de los desarrolladores subestiman la importancia de la marketing para un producto SaaS?
-Porque la marketing es crucial para llegar a los clientes potenciales y hacer crecer el negocio. Muchos desarrolladores se enfocan en la creación del producto y no comprenden la dificultad y la inversión requerida para marketing exitoso.
¿Cómo ayuda el haber una agencia de servicios de software a observar y aprender sobre el éxito en el negocio de productos SaaS?
-Al trabajar con diferentes clientes y proyectos de software, se pueden observar y aprender estrategias y prácticas exitosas que otros productos SaaS utilizan para crecer y mantener su éxito en el mercado.
Outlines
🤖 Diferencia entre compañías de software y SAS
El primer párrafo destaca la distinción entre compañías de software y de SAS. El hablante, con experiencia en desarrollo y negocios, enfatiza que crear software y gestionar un negocio de software son habilidades distintas. Aborda la elección entre iniciar una compañía de productos tecnológicos (como SAS) o de servicios de software, y señala que intentar hacer ambas simultáneamente puede ser contraproducente debido a la importancia de la concentración en un solo modelo de negocio. Además, menciona las ventajas de los productos SAS en términos de valor de salida y rentabilidad potencial, pero también los desafíos asociados con la falta de flujo de caja inicial y la necesidad de inversión.
💡 Desafíos y estrategias en el lanzamiento de un SAS
En el segundo párrafo, el hablante profundiza en los retos de encontrar el acomodo en el mercado para un nuevo SAS, destacando la importancia de la adaptación y la innovación para superar el riesgo de idea y la ejecución. Comparte su experiencia personal con un negocio educativo y cómo las compañías de tecnología a menudo requieren una inversión significativa en marketing y distribución, lo que puede resultar en un flujo de caja limitado en las etapas iniciales. También menciona la diferencia en la valoración de las compañías de servicios de software, que suelen tener un flujo de caja más inmediato pero un valor de empresa más bajo en comparación con los productos SAS.
🛠 Habilidades necesarias más allá de la programación
El tercer párrafo enfatiza que el éxito en el negocio de software no se limita a las habilidades técnicas de programación. El hablante comparte su experiencia al almostar el quiebre de su agencia de software debido a la falta de conocimientos en aspectos comerciales y de gestión de negocios, como la obtención de clientes, la comunicación, la administración de proyectos y el manejo de recursos. Destaca la importancia de la observación y el aprendizaje de las estrategias de marketing exitosas de otros productos de software a través de su agencia, lo que le ha permitido adquirir una perspectiva más holística del ámbito empresarial.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Software Companies
💡SaaS (Software as a Service)
💡Tech Product
💡Product Market Fit
💡Exit Value
💡Software Services
💡Agencia de Software
💡Flujo de caja
💡Investment
💡Ejecución del negocio
💡Mercadeo
Highlights
Difference between software product and software service companies
Software product companies build and sell a product, while software service companies provide coding services for clients
SaaS products have high exit values due to high business multiples
Software service companies are typically valued at a lower multiple and build lower enterprise value
Focus is crucial for moving faster in any endeavor
The difficulty of finding product-market fit for a new SaaS product
The importance of eliminating idea risk when building a SaaS company
The challenges of competing in a market with existing SaaS products
The high cost of playing the SaaS game and the need for significant upfront investment
The cash flow advantages of a software service business model
The feasibility of starting a software service business with limited resources
The risks of taking on investors and the potential for underpayment as a founder
The necessity of business skills beyond software development for running a successful company
The underestimated importance of marketing in the success of a SaaS product
Observations from running a software service agency and learning from other software companies
The benefits of starting a software service business to learn and prepare for a future SaaS product
Reflection on the decision to focus on a services business and its impact on business growth
Transcripts
in this video I wanted to talk about
software companies both software
agencies unlike the SAS companies
because I see so many people talk about
them and I've been running a software
company for the last two and a half
years before that like I tried to build
a SAS type of company I'm a developer
myself I've been interested in business
and development since I was 13 like this
is the thing that I've done for the past
you know seven or so years of my life
and I wanted to make this because I see
a lot of people conflate the ability to
make software and the ability to make a
software business which I use to confuse
as well those are fundamentally
different skill sets if you want to make
any kind of software business the first
thing is you must choose the kind of
business that you want to make so the
first option is like a tech product and
so that might take the shape of a SAS I
mean a tech product nowadays everybody
calls a SAS but any any platform that
you build or whatever is ultimately some
kind of tech product now it is important
to call a SAS or a platform a tech
product because it highlights the game
that you're playing and that is the
product game you are building a product
company not a Services Company the other
side of that coin is you can also build
a software services company which is
what I have also tried building a
software product company that is that is
a completely different game to play and
you know I'll in this video I I'll talk
a little bit about the pros and cons
because I think I've seen a lot of
people kind of divided I think the one
thing you should not do is try to do
both because like focus is the the most
important thing I think in moving faster
in any Endeavor that that you have and
so Focus like I don't I I've never seen
anybody actually pull it off like people
you know will try to build like three
businesses at once when they haven't
even built one successfully before I
think it makes no sense but
fundamentally you know you you have
those two options so I want to start by
just looking into those two so what's
the difference in a software product
versus software service software service
is basically you know a kind of agency
model where other companies hire you to
build stuff out for them so my clients
hire me to build software for them for
their teams for their companies for
their clients for their users whatever
it is that is what we do so we get paid
to write code a software product you
basically write code to build something
and then you sell that thing that you
built now in the case of a tech product
specifically a SAS the benefit is that
once you build something it's worth a
lot of money like the exit the exit
value is very very high they have
multiples of 8 to 10 they have some of
the highest business multiples what that
means is when you if you ever decide to
sell the business when you sell the
business people will take the revenue
and multiply that number by let's say 8
to 10 which is a huge multiplier so if
you if your business does a million
dollar a year you will exit for maybe 8
to 10 million so it's very very valuable
you build what's called Enterprise Value
whereas you know in the opposite of that
if you build a software services company
like mine you are typically valued at a
much lower multiple so for example maybe
1 to three times your revenue or your
profit depends you know there's lots of
ways to calculate it but the the point
is you tend to build lower Enterprise
Value because the SAS product you know
you've built a product that will keep on
selling itself and and if and if people
are subscribed to something and the turn
is relatively low and you've built a
good product you know that product will
continue to make money with relatively
little upkeep whereas a software Service
Company obviously you have employees to
take care of you know and you you to in
order to scale your marginal cost of
replication is very very high what that
means is if I build a software product I
can replicate it infinite times at no
marginal cost of replication so I write
code today I can reproduce that same I
can run my application that I coded one
time I can I can run that application on
10,000 100,000 million laptops right
whereas for my software service business
you know the resources that I use to
build one application you know my
development time my employees whatever I
cannot use that 10,000 times over I will
need 10,000 more hours if it takes me 1
hour to make an app and I want to make
10,000 different apps I need 10,000
hours whereas if I make a software
product one time I can use it 10,000
times so that is why sass is so valuable
and and you know everybody jumps into it
whatever and at this point you might be
wondering okay well if SAS is so good
why don't I run a SAS company or a
software Product Company why am I doing
a service thing the problem is getting a
product right is really hard it's really
hard to find to build a new product is
not easy it is not easy to find
something with product Market fit
immediately a matter of fact that is
that is you know the entire like Silicon
Valley accelerator YC combinator like
all of that stuff the the the whole like
startup scene and Tech startup scene
it's basically just everybody trying to
find product Market fit that is the
thing that everybody struggles with
because it is not easy to actually
cohesively you know solve a unique
problem that has not been solved before
and I want to expand on this because
basically in a in a business that does
something new that does innovation you
have two risks idea risk and execution
risk execution risk is always there it's
basically are you competent enough to do
everything idea risk is Is My Idea
fundamentally useful so basically a risk
is do I have product Market fit or not
the thing with a new SAS product or
whatever is that finding product Market
fit is hard and once you find it like if
you want to eliminate idea risk right so
let's say I want to build a SAS company
and I eliminate idea risk that means
basically I'm I'm just building
something I'm building some kind of tool
that does what's already on the market
and so I'm just going to compete with
the existing Market players then you are
playing a marketing and distribution
game it's not actually about software if
like if you want to build something
that's already been tested before and
you know users want so for example a
cold emailing app right you know this
exists you know there are companies that
do it you can you could replicate their
software and then just try and beat them
on marketing that's the other option you
have but it's very very very hard
because you have no money upfront to
play with that is one of the big
downsides of SAS that is why Tech gets
so much investment from Venture
capitalists it's because it's a game
that's very hard to play it's like you
get a lot of money on the back end if
you sell the company but it's upfront
it's very expensive it's a very
expensive game into play because you
know Netflix makes billions of dollars
but they make you know a 10 20 $30
subscription per user and so when they
were starting out let's say you have a
100 users paying let's call it $10 each
that's $1,000 a month with $1,000 a
month you don't even pay one salary in
the US right for an engineer for
whatever so you need a bunch of money to
supplement that and and to spend on
marketing and whatever and you end up
playing a game of basically who's got
more money to burn to burn into funding
the whole startup life because tech
companies tend to lose money for a very
long time and then they make money at
the end and so you have to be able to
afford to lose a lot of money and this
was something I did not understand when
I started my uh first kind of real tech
company when I was 16 it was like an
edtech thing edtech is also a very hard
space to succeed in but yeah so I I
learned that basally made no money on it
whatever but you have to be able to have
the resources to either put in a lot of
capital yourself to fund the marketing
and whatever or get VC investment that's
going to fund that marketing for you
it's very hard to compete bootstrapped
you can but it's very very hard and you
have to find product Market fit in
something and grow really fast so that
is one of the key drawbacks on the flip
side of that if you're on a Services
business it's cash flow first so you
know when I started the agency like I
have no cost to fulfill if I fulfill it
myself I'm a developer so I just find a
client and then they pay me and that's
profit and you know they have it and and
you can start the agency there and then
you hire other people and you scale that
operation and you know now I have a team
and I have more clients and projects are
more complex and I don't do a project by
myself and you know I run bigger margins
and I make more money and it's a bigger
business and you know things things go
from there but fundamentally it's it's
easier to kind of like kick off and you
you basically you get more cash flow
that you can then reinvest into into
growing the business whereas with a SAS
you basically do you you are starved for
cash flow for a very long time before
then then you make copious amounts of
money at the tail end of that but the
thing that like I realiz is for the
stage that I am at the software Services
thing is a lot more feasible for me it
was about feasibility like I wasn't
going to be able to get investment and
whatever and so what can I do with the
resources that I have at hand that was
that was a key question that I asked
myself yeah and you know like is the
exit multiple the same absolutely not
but you make like you make more cash
flow up front overall though you will
you'll probably make less than maybe a
tech software product right but with a
tech software product let's say let's
say I built like a a SAS company for 10
years I will get a huge exit at the
10-year Mark but until then you
typically don't get a bunch of money
because you have to go find investors
and if you take on investors then
investors are going to sit on your cap
table and you can't be taking it a you
can't be taking a ridiculous salary
because they know and so like you you
can't just pay yourself a stupid amount
because you have to be reinvesting in
the business because you're making
everybody else some money and stuff like
that and you have to then put everything
in the only thing you can take out is a
regular employee salary and this is one
of the things that I identified which
which I saw as a huge risk which is if
you take on investors and you basically
get a salary and you are the founder and
your thing eventually fails I mean it
was an awesome Journey but you basically
got like violently underpaid because you
know a salary doesn't cost do does not
cover the stress of a founder and CEO
like from Ground Zero like it is it is
very stressful to think about everything
and and you know like that salary is
just what you will have to live on for a
very long time until you exit the
business and then you make you know
ridiculous amounts of money unless you
know unless you're able to do it without
investors on the flip side of that a
Services business will get you more cash
flow up front but the exit will not get
you that much money right compared to
the SAS product and whatever and and so
it is about the timeline that you have
that that influences your decision and
also like the resources that you have at
your disposal and that is Network that
is funding that is are you you know if
you if you have zero resources doing a
SAS product is probably not the best
idea that has been my experience and I
and I I run a thing called Dev launch
like disclosure it's it's a thing to
help people start agencies because I
have one and people have asked me how to
do it and and I've never seen anybody
else kind of like help people set up
software agencies so I started the thing
and in every single conversation I've
had with anybody who's interested you
know like it's always developers right
that's the entire point is to help
developers create agencies and and
almost every single conversation I've
had the like the people who up on the
calls are always like oh I was thinking
about the SAS thing you know I I I
started a SAS on the side but it didn't
really make any money money or it's
actually really hard it's like yeah SAS
is a really hard game to win and you
need funding and you need a lot of
things it's not just about how well you
can code there's a whole like other
skill set outside of that and I I I
guess I should have said this at the
start of the video the other thing I
want to talk about in this video is that
like one part is you know are you doing
a product or service company the other
part is what is actually needed to build
a software company and what I want to
strain and highlight there is it is not
just the software skill set what I mean
by this is when I started my software
agency I thought I know how to code so I
can just get clients code for them and
make an agency right happy days what I
didn't realize is like the whole skill
set of getting clients of managing
clients managing communication with
clients managing timelines and projects
and employees and hiring and and and
like accounting even like just business
stuff that that's admin whatever legal
documents contracts all of this stuff
that is outside the scope of software
engineering I committed the mistake of
thinking just because I can code I can
run a software business and and that was
a violent mistake that I I learned to
you know I I eventually learned from
that but in the first year of business I
almost bankrupted the company twice cuz
I I just I didn't really know what I was
doing and in many ways I'm still I'm
still learning a lot of stuff and
figuring a lot out I have learned a lot
and I have been been able to build a
little you know A Little Agency of mine
but there's still you know I still have
a ways to go and a lot to figure out and
a lot to learn but that is all on the
business skill business skill set side
like the the actual software engineering
part of it is only a very very small
component it is the Fulfillment
component but even then like knowing how
to code in in it of itself is not is not
the only skill you need it's it's about
knowing to have high standards and how
to communicate things to your clients
and keep people up to date that is a
really important part of a software
Services business and equally if you do
software product like the marketing
thing is huge and one of the reasons I
started this agency was because I
actually like my entire thought process
was I'd like to build a software product
someday but right now that seem like
given the things that I've observed
which is you need a lot of money it's
very hard to find product Market fit I
want to observe what other people are
doing well and so a software Services
Agency helps other software products and
so I get to observe what my clients are
doing well what are the most successful
clients doing and one of the things I've
observed is the most successful clients
focus a lot on marketing like you need
to Market hard and that is a big part of
the SAS game and and any business really
but marketing I think was the part that
I most underestimated and I think most
developers that I've spoken to when they
try and do SAS I think that is the
biggest thing is they underestimate how
how hard marketing is and if you have
you know with an agency at least you
start to get money to put into it
whereas with a SAS business you you
basically have to fund it yourself and
that's extremely hard or you have to do
everything yourself you have to code the
product and Market it and do everything
and and it's a really hard game to play
you know I would I genuinely would not
recommend it to I think even my worst
enemy it's a like it's a it's a losing
battle but yeah that's that's my two
cents on software companies just because
I've like I've seen a lot of of people
question what they want to do and say
that they want to start something of
their own especially developers because
I'm you know I'm a developer myself and
speak with a lot of them and and running
this thing to help other developers set
up software agencies and seeing a lot of
them kind of I've seen a lot of people
think oh I'm going to build a SAS
product AI product you can and there are
benefits to it but it's I think it's
worth knowing both sides of that and so
that's why I wanted to kind of speak on
that CU I think I've seen like through
my agency I've been exposed to a lot of
software companies a lot of developers a
lot of found
and that's giv me an interesting
perspective and I wish I had thought
like this about my services business I
wish I had started it sooner to be
honest because that probably one of the
better decisions I've made in in
everything in business it's just like
focusing on the services business
because I get to learn from other people
that are doing the thing that I think I
want to do so yeah I'm probably going to
head to sleep now and record something
again tomorrow
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