Which is the best way to find your first customer for a B2B SaaS product?
I am working on a side project.
It is a B2B SaaS product feedback tool to internally track which customers requested which features, and to decide which ones to develop first depending on the "money" value of the feature.
I wanted to create it because I had the same problem working as a product manager for a SaaS company and I am looking for pilot customers to test it out.
My first thought was to use product management groups in LinkedIn to find potential customers.
Which other channels would you use? How would you go about it?
For starters, I would stop working on the product until I would have spoken to several potentials customers who'd show a serious interest in the product.
Next, I'd sit down and write down a clear description of the problem you think your product is going to solve. Then, I would do the same for your target audience; who's is having the problem your product is aiming to solve? What does a typical day look like for them? Where do they hang out online? Try to get as specific as possible.
Now that you have a clear description of your potential customer, finding them will become a lot easier. I am a big fan of Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, message board/forums, etc. Start making a list of say 25 people and reach out to them by sending them a cold email or by using social media. See if you can get them on the phone to have chat about your product. See if they see a need for your product and ask if they'd be willing to pay for your solution if you'd build it. During this phase, it could help to have some mockups or visual aids in explaining how your product will work.
If you can get 10 people to commit to purchasing the product after you build it, start coding it. While you work on the product, continue reaching out to potential customers and by doing so, start building a following/audience. Send out regular emails about the progress and keep people in the loop.
Voila; when you launch you'll have your first paying customers lined up and ready to give you money!
That, or you spend the next six months coding whatever you think the product needs, throw it on Product Hunt and hope for the best ;)
This is great advice! For a B2B project I'm working on I did exactly that, I joined multiple FB groups and reached out to people and posted in the group. Remember to be genuine, and approach them as a person with a solution that is truly helpful to a problem they have that you're passionate about! I'd also recommend creating a short and concise survey to handout so you can gather concrete, quantitive data that you can analyze! (You can also ask them to pass it on to anyone that they know as well, so you could potentially get more replies that way too)
A lot of the potential customers for me are brick and mortar stores, so I also went and talked to them in person with interview questions and surveys. I set up multiple meetings and had in person conversations that heavily influenced how I designed the use cases and workflow of the app, which turned out to be quite different from my original plans (this is one of the reasons why it's best to do user research beforehand, customers know what they need best!). If you can do this in any way it could also be very helpful.
Good luck!
Excellent man, that's the way to go! It's a big hurdle for us developers to overcome, but once we commit to this way of building products, we save ourselves sooooo much time and frustration down the road.
Going to talk to your customers face to face is even better; as they're tons of subtle hints and nuances you can pick up on during a real conversation which you'd miss during an email thread or phone call.
How do you design your survey? Do u have an example?
I first started by asking a couple questions about the companies/people I was talking to so I can understand their background and gage what type of businesses/people showed the most interest in the product, I then asked about their current solutions to the problems I was solving, see what they like/don't like and whether or not they're using an app/SaaS in the first place. I then asked closed it off with some questions related to use cases and an option to leave an email if they're interested!
Thanks for the suggestions. I will also try Facebook groups and shortlist 25 product managers working in SaaS companies.
Unfortunately, it is a bit late to "stop" coding. The prototype is pretty advanced and - in general - I take also as an opportunity to learn.
But it is isn't really "too late to stop coding", is it? Be honest with yourself and ask whether this is something you're telling yourself for whatever reason.
Of course you could decide to stop coding today and start going after customers first.
To me, it's sounds rather scary when you say your prototype is "pretty advanced". This would basically mean you've build an advanced first version of your product without having talked to any customers. This puts you in the position of ending up having built something which your customers could very well not end up wanting /needing. This is why it's so important to get real potentia customers involved as early as possible.
I understand you're seeing this as an opportunity to learn, and I totally get that! However, learning and validating are not mutually exclusive: you can do both at the same time. And doing just that, decreases the risk of building a product/business with no customers.
Either way, best of luck man!
Thanks a lot man. You hit a sweet spot. I thought only about "my" problem and the "my" solution. I involved a lot of "family, and friends" for validation, but not "real" potential customers.
I guess I am going to start scavenging LinkedIn and Facebook groups, to find them.
Good stuff! Let us how it works out.
If your PoC is advanced enough I'd go with the approach of reaching out to product managers.
I'd say how when I was a PM this was one of the biggest headaches so I built a tool to help with that and would love their feedback.
Then if they were interested, I'd ask when their next release date is and offer to get them set up right away so they find out how it makes their life easier.
I will do it. I would love to have your feedback as well.
excellent thoughts.
This x100, especially for a SaaS company. Not only does it provide validation but as Mattijs said by the time it's built you'll have customers willing to pay already lined up.