Growing a SaaS isn't always quick and easy.
Would love to hear from other SaaS owners who's business didn't take off straight away.
What tips do you have for those who have just launched and aren't seeing any traction?
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Would love to hear from other SaaS owners who's business didn't take off straight away.
What tips do you have for those who have just launched and aren't seeing any traction?
I think getting customers is always the hardest part for any early-stage startup. Even though I have some background in marketing, I still find it difficult to get the word out about the product.
I would suggest launching a lifetime deal on AppSumo. It's a great way to get initial traction and validate the business. Actually, I'm about to launch my own startup (upbase.io) on AppSumo to kickstart the growth.
I did consider it early on, but decided against it. What are the benefits of launching on appsumo as an early startup?
Also does appsumo have requirements on who they accept?
I've read a ton of case studies on AppSumo launch, and many founders said that their startup only took off after the AppSumo campaign. You can read some case studies that I bookmarked to check out the pros and cons of launching on AppSumo, so you can decide if it's worth trying:
https://ivanhoe.pro/appsumo-launch/
https://userguiding.com/blog/appsumo-launch/
https://predis.ai/resources/how-we-made-42000-in-1-month-from-appsumo-launch/
https://predis.ai/resources/we-made-100k-revenue-on-200k-sales-via-appsumo-our-learnings/
https://medium.com/hackernoon/why-you-want-to-be-featured-on-appsumo-even-if-its-risky-f6b60c8c0ab1
Applying for AppSumo Select program is pretty tricky, as they only accept about 10% of applications. On the other hand, listing your product on AppSumo Marketplace is quite easy.
Good to know, thanks for those links.
What's appsumo select?
There are two types of listing on AppSumo:
It's easy to get the impression when you see someone say "<a href="https://printerchief.com/">link text</a>I made 10k in my first month!" for example.
Not only SaaS but every business have it's own maturity time. The process should be followed inorder to reach the maturity stage but also it fluctuate
Lol who said it was? The default is hard and long, not quick and easy.
It's easy to get the impression when you see someone say "I made 10k in my first month!" for example.
All survivorship bias
Care to elaborate?
it's never quick & easy!
How long did it take for your SaaS to start growing?
Is it quick and easy even sometimes? Nah, i dont think so. It's always hard and time consuming 🤧
Haha, yeah pretty much never. You see it happening but it must be the lucky 0.01%, or those with large audiences.
Mine isn't taking off, however, I haven't spent anything on marketing yet either as I'm still in heavy discussion with early adopters to make sure all their concerns are heard as I'm betting that new users will have similar concerns.
I've completed a course on online marketing and SEO to prep for those future tasks, as well as a writing cohort to improve my outreach emails and website copy.
There are a lot of reason for why you could reach a revenue plateau, what is your retention like? Is your churn low, or is it keeping pace with new users?
You're making the right choice. I paid for some ads early on, and it was a complete waste of money as I was constantly changing the platform & didn't have my message right.
Have you managed to secure some paying users who are giving your feedback?
I very nearly got an enterprise client a year ago. They paid for some work, but then decided it was too early for them.
I now have 3-4 users who are close to paying, but either need to figure things out on their end or are wanting a little help here and there.
Getting lots of feedback from these users, so that helps.
Are you able to get feedback from your users?
Awesome! Well good luck trying to turn them into paying users.
Yeah, I setup a Canny roadmap so that any user can easily add their feedback there. Also having live chat works well too - people probably suggest features more via live chat.
You should start marketing now!!
You're in short just wasting time making your product perfect. You can do what is make 1 week for marketing and 1 week for coding. Thats what most indie hackers do.
I have met several founders who spend years making their product perfect and regret their decision after.
And, your product can never be perfect. Start marketing 😉
I am reaching out to people, and getting myself listed on sites. I am doing marketing, it's just that I haven't spent any money on marketing.
If I am talking to people and they need a couple fixes or features before they decide to pay, it would be much harder to convince someone who is completely fresh to the product.
While agree it's never too early to market, there is no reason to spend money recklessly.
Oh so you're doing marketing but not paid marketing? thats totally fine.
Do the people who ask you to add feature convert after you add it?
That is the part of the process I am in now. All the signals are looking good, but I'm not holding my breath until the money is in my account.
Yeah, you shouldn't. I have faced many people who were 100% sure they are gonna buy, but didnt ;-;
and later ghosted me haha
Yep, nearly had a $1k MRR client. I celebrated early, then they pivoted...
This has happened to me too many times to count, so I never get my hopes up too much haha.
However I will still add features that they suggest even if they aren't paying as long as they line up with my goal.
I understand ☹️
Very true, great advice Vikram.
Wish I started doing 1 week marketing 1 week building right from the start!
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