Selling SaaS solutions

Yes but it's quite hard as so many people want stuff for free. But if your offering is really good, people WILL pay BIG money for it (check out Salesforce.com!!!)

Hi,

I have not done it personally, but I know one guy who came up with an SAAS solution which was initially a hurdle during the development phase, but he managed to make it profitable within a year.

Yes, but if you have a chicken and egg (multi-sided platform), it will take 10x longer than you expected.

Check out "the 10x rule " by Grant Cardone, this applies to everything, not just software

Also, get some good mentors and start to build a network - join some meetups of other startups or join an accelerator/incubator in your city.

PS- Launch an MVP before you dump money into it. Do customer development and make sure you're building what they want, at a price point they'll pay for. Price isn't everything, but it has to make sense to them

Well, it was an inferno at start but gradually there was an evolution. It worked out just well; "Paradise", i would call it. Doubly, the reward was extensively satisfying.

Honestly, Marada has done a great job addressing the topic at hand. However, zooming into the statement made - "Launch an MVP before you dump money into it" - must be one of your first most considerations before exploring this field of business.

It is better to play it SAFE and make it BIG than to RISK it all and COLLAPSE at the end.

If you plan on building a SaaS platform use the Lean Startup Methodology (http://theleanstartup.com/principles). That's what I used for my startup and new project I'm working on now. What you need to do is reach out to someone, who works in the industry your looking to build the platform on, and ask them open ended questions to find verify or even find a problem you did not know existed.

Once you find the problem, ask them if there was a software available right now that solves your problems, how much would you pay per month to use it? Each person you speak with will give you different amounts on what they would pay. So all you have to do is find the medium and go with that amount. You can even ask if they would pay for the development of the software and in exchange you would allow them to use it free for a lifetime.

I bet your wondering, So how do I go about reaching out to people and what people do I reach out to? What I did to validate my startup idea is I created a Linkedin account and then searched for people who worked in the industry I wanted to build the software for. In my case I'm in the Human Management Market (Recruiting/Hiring).

Here is the example message I sent to have a conversation with anyone:

"Hi James,

I'm trying to solve a problem in this space. Your an expert and I respect you. I'd love your expertise to understand if its worth solving. Whats a good format for you for me to get alittle bit of advice to help me with my idea? I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks, Eric"

Hope this helps you guys out.