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Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

themvpsprint.com

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Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#11

Post by timjones »

bak3y wrote: post #6
timjones wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the thoughts! I agree, and was thinking something along these lines as well. I'm leaning towards having a permanent free tier with a low seat limit. On billing, I'll definitely have an annual subscription option. From interviews I found that, in some cases, team leads will have to file expense reports and doing it monthly would be too tedious. I'll have to think through offering quarterly and semi-annual p…

Consider also a "true-up" model where buyers can exceed their user quota on your platform until their subscription is set to renew. Then perhaps you can catch the big multi-team renewals due to inertia, as well as catching back-pay for the months they were over subscribed?

Interesting. So if their 12-month plan allows for 100 seats, and they grow to 150 seats during those 12 months, then for month 13 they would:

1. Pay a pro-rated amount for exceeding the seat limit during the first 12 months.

2. Pay the 12-month contract rate for 150 seats (or maybe more if they expect to continue to grow)

Is this a common practice?

Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#12

Post by timjones »

xwdv wrote: post #8
timjones wrote: post #2

Hey HN! Author here. I know there are tons of readers out there with more SaaS sales experience than me (which is none...). See any major flaws with my strategy? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Explain your customer support funnel.

1. Customers email me.

2. I fix their issues and answer their questions as quickly as possible.

3. I email them back.

I'll develop processes when this starts to break down or take too much of my time.

Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#13

Post by aeoleonn »

Hi Tim,

Inspiring page about your journey. HelloHailey looks great. But I am still left wondering-- in one sentence, what is the product? It's great that you list the benefits of the product. What is the product itself though? I am left wondering, "Is this product a map of colleagues where it shows their headshot/avatar along with a message?" -- i.e. is the product/service actually the map at the bottom of the HelloHailey website?

Thanks!

Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#14

Post by thaumasiotes »

timjones wrote: post #11
bak3y wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider also a "true-up" model where buyers can exceed their user quota on your platform until their subscription is set to renew. Then perhaps you can catch the big multi-team renewals due to inertia, as well as catching back-pay for the months they were over subscribed?

Interesting. So if their 12-month plan allows for 100 seats, and they grow to 150 seats during those 12 months, then for month 13 they would: 1. Pay a pro-rated amount for exceeding the seat limit during the first 12 months. 2. Pay the 12-month contract rate for 150 seats (or maybe more if they expect to continue to grow) Is this a common practice?

I have no relevant experience, but I felt I should note that I would be extremely offended by being billed retroactively.

Hopefully you would provide some notification at the time they exceed their limit.

Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#15

Post by timjones »

aeoleonn wrote: post #13

Hi Tim, Inspiring page about your journey. HelloHailey looks great. But I am still left wondering-- in one sentence, what is the product? It's great that you list the benefits of the product. What is the product itself though? I am left wondering, "Is this product a map of colleagues where it shows their headshot/avatar along with a message?" -- i.e. is the product/service actually the map at the bottom of the HelloH…

Definitely a good question! Short answer - I have a strong idea, but nothing concrete yet.

I've started this whole journey with a problem-first mindset.

In the first 2 articles, I chose a problem and a niche:

As a remote product or engineering leader in tech, it's hard for my team to develop personal connections with teammates distributed across time zones.

Over the next 2 weeks I'll set my product vision and share specific requirements for an MVP. I'll scope an MVP that I can build in a month or less.

The landing page today is vague - I was hoping the problem and potential outcomes would resonate with potential users, with the goal of collecting and qualifying early waitlist sign-ups.

So far I've had 50-60+ signups, but hard to say how serious they are.

Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#16

Post by sparkywolf »

aeoleonn wrote: post #13

Hi Tim, Inspiring page about your journey. HelloHailey looks great. But I am still left wondering-- in one sentence, what is the product? It's great that you list the benefits of the product. What is the product itself though? I am left wondering, "Is this product a map of colleagues where it shows their headshot/avatar along with a message?" -- i.e. is the product/service actually the map at the bottom of the HelloH…

I also found that very unclear. It kind of sounds like another...Slack? Maybe?

Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#17

Post by TheAdamAndChe »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #14
timjones wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. So if their 12-month plan allows for 100 seats, and they grow to 150 seats during those 12 months, then for month 13 they would: 1. Pay a pro-rated amount for exceeding the seat limit during the first 12 months. 2. Pay the 12-month contract rate for 150 seats (or maybe more if they expect to continue to grow) Is this a common practice?

I have no relevant experience, but I felt I should note that I would be extremely offended by being billed retroactively. Hopefully you would provide some notification at the time they exceed their limit.

I second this. Instead of billing retroactively, consider just not billing for the extra seats during that period. Maybe notify the user that they've entered a grace period for this billing cycle, but starting next cycle they can expect to get charged for the extra seats.

Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#18

Post by timjones »

sparkywolf wrote: post #16
aeoleonn wrote: post #13

Hi Tim, Inspiring page about your journey. HelloHailey looks great. But I am still left wondering-- in one sentence, what is the product? It's great that you list the benefits of the product. What is the product itself though? I am left wondering, "Is this product a map of colleagues where it shows their headshot/avatar along with a message?" -- i.e. is the product/service actually the map at the bottom of the HelloH…

I also found that very unclear. It kind of sounds like another...Slack? Maybe?

Likely to be built within Slack, but certainly not a competitor.

Re: Selling to unicorns from my parents basement

#20

Post by DidISayTooMuch »

aeoleonn wrote: post #13

Hi Tim, Inspiring page about your journey. HelloHailey looks great. But I am still left wondering-- in one sentence, what is the product? It's great that you list the benefits of the product. What is the product itself though? I am left wondering, "Is this product a map of colleagues where it shows their headshot/avatar along with a message?" -- i.e. is the product/service actually the map at the bottom of the HelloH…

I had the same exact question. What does this product do? The landing page does a poor job of explaining, imo.
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