How to start a saas business
Build a Saas business from nothing
Write code to build an audience before you build a product.
Micro saas business does not raise IPOs, they are run by 1-5 people but they earn a lot of money.
Venture back business
Lifestyle business
Solve problems for individual users.
Solve urgent and important problems in their workflows.
Micro saas
There are many problems that concern very few people. Even a single person can run such a business. There is no outside funding. Micro SaaS businesses can be built rapidly. It is possible to directly communicate with customers and directly get their feedback. It does not depend on location and can be built from anywhere. It has a great appeal to individuals and freelancers. There is a niche market and it uses minimal resources to solve it. It could a problem as small as the Shopify's e-commerce store.
How to find a good idea?
There are some questions in Tyler Tringas’s meat grinder:
Can I make this? Do you or your close circle have the skills to build this product without any outside help?
Are people currently spending money on it? If people are not already tackling what you are going to offer maybe it is not a problem.
How will I get the first 25 customers? Then the next 250? How can you make your business go viral? Think upon your stakeholders and your inner circle to use the word of mouth.
If it works will it be sustainable? Think about how you will make a profit. Will there be extra costs along the way? Will customers stick to your business in the long-term?
Am I the person to build this business? You should enjoy dealing with the problem you are referring to and the people facing this problem. You will spend a lot of time with these people so make sure you are also interested in the topics they like to talk about.
Note: answer these questions honestly.
Put your idea into the meat grinder. If there are all positive answers, if your idea survived through the meat grinder, here are other aspects to consider.
Your idea should be 5x better than the existing solution.
It could be 5x cheaper or functionally 5x better.
Know your audience.
So you need to market your service efficiently.
Large businesses have complex and long bureaucracy that makes them harder to reach and close a deal, sell your service in this case.
Individuals and freelancers are easy to reach and flexible,
Where to look for Micro-SaaS ideas?
Analyze existing SaaS businesses so you can come up with a niche version of them.
Pick an already growing market rather than a stagnant one.
Talk with freelancers and consultants.
The path from idea to product in a Micro-SaaS
Pre-launching takes a lot of time. It aims to see the potential customers beforehand but Micro-SaaS has a narrow focus and it is not like a blog or podcast. You need customers to use your product immediately so that you can grow your business through feedbacks.
What to consider while building your Micro-SaaS MVP
You have few resources so your MVP should not take more than 3 weeks to build; otherwise, it means that you are doing something wrong.
Focus on delivering value to your customers.
Don’t pretend to be a big professional business.
Don’t exaggerate branding.
Do not have multiple pricing and payment options.
Do not allow multiple users per account. Having multiple options would require a lot of effort and coding. Do not make things complicated from the very beginning.
Getting your first customers
It is hard to find the first customers whether it is a regular SaaS or a Micro-SaaS..
Try going to forums that your customers hang out.
For example, if you are making an e-commerce Micro-SaaS look to the forums of Shopify, Bigcommerce, Volusion. Look for popular comments and comments that involve the problems of customers. Add helpful comments and leave the link to your product. Further, look for industry blogs, conferences, online journals.
Be where your target audience is.
Once you reach your first customers it is all about retention.
You should build deep connections with your customer.
You are a Micro-SaaS and it is okay to sometimes mess up. Do not cover up your mistakes, rather use them to engage with your customer. If you apologize and explain the reason behind it customers will understand.
Those customers are more likely to stick to you.
Higher prices will raise your customer’s expectations. Which may lead to greater dissatisfaction. Think deeply about the trade-off between price and customer retention.
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