The linked interview with Swivel was interesting. I'm attempting a data visualization startup. But I've found a niche where customers have a burning need and money but lack the IT resources to implement their own solution. It's not enough to draw charts; Excel can already do that. You have to provide everything customers need, from fetching the data to analyzing the data. And it's still a tough sale because SaaS is newish and people are uncomfortable handing off critical business data. I can think of a dozen other niches where paying customers need data analysis and visualization.
The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
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Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#12"Vitamin not a pain-killer" is a great metaphor.
No, it's a terrible metaphor. The vitamin business is hugely successful! I did the research once and vitamins and supplements actually outsell pain relievers.
[ Edit: supporting research I did, which I've now cited twice in comments on Hacker News. I should probably write a blog post. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=499929 ]
Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#13Did Storytlr even bother asking people to pay for the service? Seems kind of strange that with 10,000 users you can't at least cover $500 in hosting. At $5 a month, that's only .1% signup required.
I've seen the if only we get (tiny percentage) of (huge number) to pay (seemingly small amount), we'll be rich! arguement framed about a thousand different ways. I actually cautioned an entrepreneur I was talking to last night about this.
Sales start from 0, and they continue from there. Until you have sold it a few times, who knows if .1% is incredibly easy or impossible. Sometimes any number >0 just isn't going to happen.
Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#14"Vitamin not a pain-killer" is a great metaphor.
No, it's a terrible metaphor. The vitamin business is hugely successful! I did the research once and vitamins and supplements actually outsell pain relievers. [ Edit: supporting research I did, which I've now cited twice in comments on Hacker News. I should probably write a blog post. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=499929 ]
Naturally--one takes a vitamin every day, but a painkiller only when in pain.
Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#15Did Storytlr even bother asking people to pay for the service? Seems kind of strange that with 10,000 users you can't at least cover $500 in hosting. At $5 a month, that's only .1% signup required.
“He forgot there was a number lower than one percent.”
Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#16The linked interview with Swivel was interesting. I'm attempting a data visualization startup. But I've found a niche where customers have a burning need and money but lack the IT resources to implement their own solution. It's not enough to draw charts; Excel can already do that. You have to provide everything customers need, from fetching the data to analyzing the data. And it's still a tough sale because SaaS is n…
I'm also doing a data visualization startup (link in profile). What's yours? Email me if you care to chat.
Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#17"Vitamin not a pain-killer" is a great metaphor.
No, it's a terrible metaphor. The vitamin business is hugely successful! I did the research once and vitamins and supplements actually outsell pain relievers. [ Edit: supporting research I did, which I've now cited twice in comments on Hacker News. I should probably write a blog post. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=499929 ]
In terms of patentability and profits too?
Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#18The linked interview with Swivel was interesting. I'm attempting a data visualization startup. But I've found a niche where customers have a burning need and money but lack the IT resources to implement their own solution. It's not enough to draw charts; Excel can already do that. You have to provide everything customers need, from fetching the data to analyzing the data. And it's still a tough sale because SaaS is n…
I'm also doing a data visualization startup (link in profile). What's yours? Email me if you care to chat.
You have some solid competition in this space: http://www.tableausoftware.com/
Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#19"Vitamin not a pain-killer" is a great metaphor.
That's the money quote of the whole article.
The Vitamins business is big, true, but absolutely dwarfed by the pharmaceutical industry.
You don't need salesmen, multi-level marketing or flashy advertising to sell aspirin. The only aspirin advertising is between different aspirin brands, not to convince people they need it at all. Take one, headache goes away. It's a binary test = it either works or it doesn't. That's how to build a simple business that sells. Your software should be an aspirin not a multi-vitamin. It should be self-evident on the first try how it solves a headache.
I've driven in my car late at night to out-of-the-way shops to buy aspirin. I've never bought a vitamin in my life.
Re: The creators of no-longer-with-us products explain what went wrong
#20The good thing about desktop software is if the vendor goes away, the software still works. Not too keen (as a customer) on putting my time and effort into a SAAS hobby project that doesn't scale.
Given the rate of change in OS and GUI environments, support libraries, and other APIs, most desktop apps don't work very well for long these days either. Of course unlike SaS you can always continue to use an old version indefinitely in a VM if it really matters. But I find the longevity of the vendor is still critical for supporting new environments and API requirements, and in practice I don't end up discounting t…
One of my biggest clients is a financial company whose core trading product is based on a commercial product they bought in the 70's (whose manufacturer subsequently went out of business in the 80's).
It's continued to run for 30 years, and they wouldn't dream of replacing it. I don't think they're an exception (although I suspect this is less true when you get out of the enterprise environment).