How do you pre-sell SaaS?
I started writing code for an eCommerce SaaS idea but stopped because I didn't want to invest all that time without pre-orders.
The idea seems to be validated because there are similar products on the market (but not identical).
So my question is: How do I pre-sell a SaaS idea?
Wouldn't most people want to try the product before buying?
If I pitch my idea to potential customers, when do I ask for pre-payment?
What you're talking about is validation of your product, especially that final step where people hand over their credit card. Which is a good thing to focus on because there is the "niceness gap" where people say they love your idea and want to buy it, but disappear when it comes time to actually pay.
There are several ways to validate, but sales without a product are especially hard, even if you have an established relationship with the buyer. Even if you find someone to put down money you run the risk of building the product to the specifications of one buyer because they have pre-paid you and you turn yourself into a contractor for their niche needs.
Big picture, though, this dynamic is the core risk/reward of launching a product or startup. You never truly know until you know. Competition/environments might change at the last minute and a cloud of uncertainty always follows you. You can try to find buyers, but like you said, who would put money down on something that doesn't exist and might never exist? You run the risk of killing your idea with too much doubt.
Fear of wasting effort is probably the biggest thing holding people back from actually launching ideas. Think of your time and energy as the cheapest form of validation available to you: hack an MVP and try to sell it to somebody at an "early access" price, then go from there!
Thanks Nuggety. Is there anything I can do to get people interested before building the product?
Thinking that if you have a working MVP, it might be easier to secure investors. Especially if the other products have a flaw, you can try to solve that in the mvp and attract existing subscribers on the competitor platforms.
Thanks Ebell. I plan on doing this the indiehacker way -- so no investors. However, it seems that I'll need some sort of MVP to sell
I would say the most prominent way to go about this is, have a Minimum Viable Product at least and ask only 5 - 10 % of your target audience and see where it leads.
If you don't have an MVP, why would anyone pre-order it? See it from the consumer side of things as well, as you expect a consumer to see developer side of things. Good luck.