Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 80 posts

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#11

Post by aazaa »

oliverx0 wrote: post #6
aazaa wrote: post #4

You didn't mention anything about your goals for the business. I'd start there. Taking funding might get you out of a short term hole, but it's a tradeoff with costs down the road that will be paid one way or another. > We have only 8 months of runway left, and will need to raise capital to stay afloat. Depending on your goals, there could be a number of paths open to you that don't involve outside funding.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Our goals are to build a great product and make a living. The more companies we can reach / revenue we can generate, the better. In that sense, we would be open to going down the VC route, we just don't know how to get to the point that a VC would be interested in investing (how to get the traction necessary at our stage). > Depending on your goals, there could be a number of pa…

> Our goals are to build a great product and make a living.

If those are the only goals, then they might be accomplished by either joining a company full time or consulting.

I hope you see what I'm getting at here. You'll need to be very specific about your goals and the company's goals before enumerating options.

You've picked one option - outside funding, but don't seem to have considered anything else.

As another example, you noted earlier:

> Our solution is a very horizontal process automation platform that has the potential to adapt to a lot of different industries and company sizes with the goal to automate pretty much any business process.

Your pricing model is $10/month. What other potential customer segments might there be which will pay 10x of that?

In other words, getting funding from your customers rather outside investors might be an option. You haven't said anything about what you tried in that respect.

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#12

Post by ericmarcos »

I'd recommend you to do some consulting. I know it's counter-intuitive and something you don't want to do forever, but at the beginning of a B2B company it's extremely useful for 3 reasons:

1) It provides quick cash so it removes the stress of having to look for money too soon.

2) Direct customer feedback while working with them on day to day problems. At this point you really want to understand your customers pains so later you can solve them with technology.

3) Initial validation/traction for your product. At the beginning, customers will value your consulting way more than your product, but for every new customer, try to provide less consulting and cover the rest with your product. Check if your customers are equally happy.

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#13

Post by oliverx0 »

jbob2000 wrote: post #8

Stop coding and start selling. If you have something that is up and running, you need to get it in the hands of paying customers. Until you have actual paying customers using your system, you will be guessing about what features to build. Push the people you have signed agreements with to start using the system. Maybe they don't need the features they asked for. Push them to pay you. Do not pursue an investor until y…

Thanks, we will continue to push hard on this. I am concerned however about staying afloat long enough to reach product-market fit. I really think we are on to something, but the constant stress over my head of "what are we doing to do in 8 months when we run out of runway" is concerning.

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#14

Post by oliverx0 »

ericmarcos wrote: post #12

I'd recommend you to do some consulting. I know it's counter-intuitive and something you don't want to do forever, but at the beginning of a B2B company it's extremely useful for 3 reasons: 1) It provides quick cash so it removes the stress of having to look for money too soon. 2) Direct customer feedback while working with them on day to day problems. At this point you really want to understand your customers pains…

Thank you, I think one of our customers would be open to this. This is definitely an option worth considering.

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#16

Post by oliverx0 »

aazaa wrote: post #11
oliverx0 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Our goals are to build a great product and make a living. The more companies we can reach / revenue we can generate, the better. In that sense, we would be open to going down the VC route, we just don't know how to get to the point that a VC would be interested in investing (how to get the traction necessary at our stage). > Depending on your goals, there could be a number of pa…

> Our goals are to build a great product and make a living. If those are the only goals, then they might be accomplished by either joining a company full time or consulting. I hope you see what I'm getting at here. You'll need to be very specific about your goals and the company's goals before enumerating options. You've picked one option - outside funding, but don't seem to have considered anything else. As another…

Fair enough. I quit a full-time job that paid a good salary because I was not fulfilled with the idea of working for someone else the rest of my life. So there is definitely more to it than the objectives I previously mentioned. I want to make a good living, generate a lot of impact, and have the freedom to work on my own terms. I see myself more fulfilled building a product than freelancing too.

We have not tried to get funding from customers, but I think that perhaps the idea of consulting + finding customers willing to pay for a solution that has not been built yet is a good option to consider.

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#17

Post by _1qd4 »

oliverx0 wrote: post #13
jbob2000 wrote: post #8

Stop coding and start selling. If you have something that is up and running, you need to get it in the hands of paying customers. Until you have actual paying customers using your system, you will be guessing about what features to build. Push the people you have signed agreements with to start using the system. Maybe they don't need the features they asked for. Push them to pay you. Do not pursue an investor until y…

Thanks, we will continue to push hard on this. I am concerned however about staying afloat long enough to reach product-market fit. I really think we are on to something, but the constant stress over my head of "what are we doing to do in 8 months when we run out of runway" is concerning.

I think you should put on your sales hat. I know you said that you are the "coder" and your partner is the sales person, but I think you should start selling and supporting them. Trying cold calling and cold emailing. Use some money for a marketing push.

Use the stress of your short runway to push you to sell. Every conversation you have with potential customers should be about how you can get them to pay. Talk past their requests for features or whatever, something like "This is a great feature that we are working on for you and if you sign up for a year's service, we'll discount you until the feature is delivered".

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#18

Post by oliverx0 »

brianwawok wrote: post #15

A total runway of 12 months feels short if going enterprise. Though $10 price feels small business. What is your target business size? Is there anything you can do to stretch the runway to 24? I don’t think you want to raise a new round with 0-$40 in MRR.

Our platform is actually aimed at small and medium sized businesses, hence our pricing model. Having said that, we feel the platform has the potential to go after the enterprise as well, and could adjust pricing accordingly. I do think we will need to stretch runway, hence my question. I was wondering if outside investors were an option, but based on other comments, I am not so sure.

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#19

Post by oliverx0 »

persona wrote: post #10

> 5 signed pilot agreements (to start once we finish a couple of features) Just a word of caution here. It would be important for you and the client to already be aligned on financial terms / paid pilot when based on feature development. When dealing with larger organizations, it’s not unusual do see B2B postmortems caused by ‘death by a thousand features’ where the deal never happens. Until the organization has to p…

Thanks for your advice, will take this into consideration.

Re: Ask HN: I need advice on my first B2B SaaS startup

#20

Post by oliverx0 »

_1qd4 wrote: post #17
oliverx0 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, we will continue to push hard on this. I am concerned however about staying afloat long enough to reach product-market fit. I really think we are on to something, but the constant stress over my head of "what are we doing to do in 8 months when we run out of runway" is concerning.

I think you should put on your sales hat. I know you said that you are the "coder" and your partner is the sales person, but I think you should start selling and supporting them. Trying cold calling and cold emailing. Use some money for a marketing push. Use the stress of your short runway to push you to sell. Every conversation you have with potential customers should be about how you can get them to pay. Talk past…

Thanks a lot for your advice, really appreciate it!
Post reply on HN