Spreadsheets on Steroids
You are reading the free version of I/O B2B SaaS You can get the full report here.
Bottom-up SaaS
End-users experience problems – not product managers. The best products come from scratching your own, preferably unique, itch – then evolving them into something better. Great SaaS is rarely developed top-down. See: Gall's Law.
Micro SaaS
We're in a wave of unbundling. SaaS is no exception. Hyperniche products that solve super specific problems fill in the gaps left by generic large-scale solutions.
NoCode Revolution
NoCode is democratizing the ability to build. Tools like Bubble let you build apps without writing a line of code. The barrier to entry has lowered, thus more SaaS products flood the market.
Businesses waste time and money on Inefficient, ineffective processes.
Customer
Manual, Repetitive Tasks
Manual, repetitive tasks are a time waster, and are prone to human error.
Human Error
Anything manual is prone to human error. In mission critical documents, you want to reduce that chance as much as possible.
Static, isolated documents.
Many documents contain content that touch other parts and processes of the organization, but do not exchange information with those parts & processes.
Version History Nightmare
Static documents need to be updated and saved manually, resulting in multiple versions, confusing end users.
SaaS offers user-friendly, time-saving tools that streamline processes.
Key Features
via TK Kader
Collaboration
SaaS offer real-time collaboration and version syncing.
Static Data → Workflow
SaaS turn static data into workflows. No more copy pasting across documents.
Integrations
SaaS offer integrations with other tools, so that data can be exchanged across processes within an organization. NoCode tools make this easier.
Dashboarding
SaaS organize data and visualize it in an insightful way, which leads to better decision making.
Automation
SaaS offers automation of repetitive tasks and processes, reducing the need for human intervention.
"Every mission critical spreadsheet in a large organisation is a potential SaaS company." – @Tawheed
Attribute | Score | Comments |
---|---|---|
Cost | Very Low | Using NoCode tools a SaaS can be built for $100 or less. |
Difficulty | Moderate | Depending on the size, B2B SaaS can get tricky depending on the amount of integrations with other systems. |
Competition | High | Anything worthwhile that is low-cost and low-ish difficulty will face a lot of competition. |
USPs 🧲
Niche Specific
In unbundling markets, finding and claiming a niche is a long term competitive advantage.
Onboarding
Onboarding is the 'unboxing' of SaaS. Make a good first impression, and set the user up for repeated use.
User Friendliness
Many SaaS that save money and time are still a hassle to use. A little UX can turn a hater into a lover.
3 more in the Pro Report
Moats 🛡
Specific Knowledge
Building a SaaS that productizes a unique skill or expertise you possess and makes it available to the public, is hard to copy or compete with.
Type: Cornered Resource
Integration
Integration between your products and other software or processes used in the organization create an interdependence that makes it difficult to switch systems
Type: Switching Costs
3 more in the Pro Report
For SaaS it's important that you solve a frequent problem.
Models 💲
How to make money?
Subscription
Subscriptions are the standard for most SaaS products.
Pay per Use
Subscription is often combined with Pay-per-use, often in the form of 'seats' (users). A monthly fee per user.
Freemium
The Freemium model is ideal to let customers explore your product (good onboarding plays into this) and create lock-in before monetizing.
Tiering
Larger, more complex SaaS often choose to Tier their pricing, adding features, seats, and services with each tier.
4 more in the Pro Report
Leverage 📈
How to scale money?
Build once, Sell ∞ The huge attraction of software is that you build it once, but can sell it ad infinitum.
Data Data benefits from Network Effects. The more users and data you have, the more valuable it becomes.
Go-to-Market Strategy 🛫
How to find and attract users?
Create an ICP
Create an Ideal Customer Profile, and go as granular as possible with this, so that you can hypertarget this user.
Direct Sales Team
Larger B2B SaaS businesses depend largely on a Direct Sales team for acquisition.
Paid Ads
Smaller SaaS companies can leverage paid ads, especially if they piggyback on a larger platform (s.a. Shopify Plug-ins)
Product Demos
Product Demos on YouTube by you or influencers, or 1-on-1 in person help customers find and understand your solution.
3 more in the Pro Report
Cheat Codes 🎮
How to accelerate the Go-to-Market?
Exports / Shares
Making it easy to export and share outputs, graphs, etc. from your SaaS helps them spread within the organization. Brand your exports for extra effect.
Internal Referrals / Invites
Collaboration functionality is so powerful because users will automatically invite team members to your product when they need their input.
Monitor Customer Engagement
Customer engagement data allows proactive deployment of trainings, targeted advice on best practice, and improvement of the product roadmap.
via a16z
3 more in the Pro Report
Shopify
One of the great heroes of SaaS across the board. Study them.
Salesforce
Needless to say: Extremely powerful sales team and processes put them on top.
Superhuman
Created a new market: Luxury Software.
Adobe
Though challenged in recent years, their 'suite' deal is exemplific.
Stripe
Almost entirely built on integration.
Fast.co
The Next Stripe. Great use of viral marketing and branding.
Oberlo
Built on Shopify. Leveraged a huge trend perfectly and right on time.
Arvid Kahl
A case study in how superniche SaaS can be super successful. So is Vimeo.
Pieter Levels
Bootstrapping SaaS before it was cool. Always superniche, always built in public.
The Last of Us II
Not SaaS, but a cross industry example of what accessibility should look like. Blind kids can play their video game.
Buy the Pro Report for even more SaaS Startup Insights.
What you get:
- SaaS Flywheel: This report in one image.
- Validation: Build a SaaS people will pay for.
- MVPs: Build & launch your SaaS in one day.
- Key Metrics: How to measure SaaS success
- Dream Team: Who do you need to win?
- Risks: How to avoid SaaS failure.
- Responsibility: How to run an ethical SaaS.
- BONUS: +4 Business Models, +3 Cheat Codes, +3 G2M Strategies, +3 Moats & +3 USPs.
👋 That's all, peeps!
See you next time.
⚡️ Need help launching your Online Community startup? Check-out our startup coaching (DM), and venture building offering.
Resources
- https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/tech-laws-success-failure/
- This Thread by @Tawheed
- https://venturism.substack.com/p/nocode-and-the-next-wave-of-saas
- https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/zero-to-sold/
- https://medium.com/craft-ventures/the-cadence-how-to-operate-a-saas-startup-436aa8099e8
- https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/the-most-important-bottom-up-saas
- https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/gmrgh0/a_stepbystep_guide_of_how_i_would_build_a_saas/
- https://a16z.com/2013/10/15/the-saas-manifesto-part-two-its-time-to-build-a-real-sales-team/