Essential Guidelines For Building a SaaS Startup

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Ever since cloud computing became more readily available, digital software solutions have become more accessible, easier to use, and much more powerful.

With the help of cloud technology, even small companies can enjoy robust features without worrying about data storage or security.

Therefore, it's not surprising that the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market is projected to reach $307 billion by 2026 and is already at $158 billion in 2020.

However, even though SaaS remains one of the fastest-growing markets worldwide, the competition is becoming more challenging as well.

Today, only startups that follow the B2B lead generation best practices can expect to attract customers and succeed.

So, to ensure that your company is in a position to achieve its goals, let's explore some of the most important guidelines of building a SaaS startup from the ground up the right way.

1. Create Your Core Pitch

At the initial stages of starting your company, you will probably have many ideas for what you want to do and what your startup could become.

Unfortunately, when you're still in the early stages of the planning process, the number of ideas that you're working with can become overwhelming and cause your entire project to stagnate.

To avoid that, one of the most important steps you should focus on is distilling your SaaS startup into a core idea that you can formulate in less than one page.

This idea should be easy to understand, appealing to the target audience, and specific enough so that it doesn't leave any questions about how it would work.

Having a core pitch that you can fall back on will be a lifesaver until the launch, as it will help your team stay focused on what your company is all about and not get distracted by side projects that aren't important yet.

Basically, your core pitch should include the core service you want to provide, how you're going to provide it, how you're going to attract clients, and when you need to accomplish the essential milestones you set out.

You'll need to identify the unique proposition you can bring to the table to know exactly how you can position your product against the competition and make prospective customers consider switching to you.

Think about why you're uniquely positioned to solve the problem better than anyone else.

That could be either because of your experience, the innovative solution you came up with, or the unique circumstances that put you in a position to excel.

Having a core idea and ways to emphasize its advantages will help you stay focused and help when talking to potential investors or trying to create a buzz around your upcoming launch.

2. Make Your Brand Stand Out

Even though the service that you offer is crucial to your success, you also need to have a strong brand persona if you are going to get people interested in what you have to offer.

Sure, B2B audiences are more rational and make value-based decisions, but branding still plays a vital role in the B2B sales process because it helps instill confidence and showcase the values that help close the sale.

Therefore, you should think about how you can position your company to become more appealing to the audience that you're trying to reach.

If you perform a thorough research about who your audience is and understand what your product can offer, you can then create a brand name and theme that emphasizes those main benefits that you can offer.

When you come up with a catchy and relevant name, you don't have to worry about spending thousands on getting that name secured.

Setting up a cheap domain registration will be more than easy if you opt for a unique name that will be readily available and won't cost thousands of dollars to buy from someone else.

3. Do Your Research

According to some estimates, as many as 90% of startups fail to establish a place in the marketplace and end up going under.

What's even more concerning, that all of them believed that their idea was viable and invested a lot of time and resources into launching the company.

However, those who actually take off and succeed usually take one additional step that makes all the difference.

They take the time to figure out whether their product can actually earn money.

For a SaaS companies to succeed, the product must meet these criteria:

It must solve a problem
It must have an audience that needs that problem solved
And that audience must be willing to pay to have that problem solved.

Even though it seems very straightforward, and the first two steps actually are quite easy to determine, few companies take the time to research the final one, and that's where most of the problems come from.

After all, it won't matter how helpful your solution is if people just aren't willing to pay for it, especially since there can be a few different reasons why that might be the case.

You might find that many of your competitors are offering a similar solution for free or for a much lower price.

That would make coming up with an effective marketing strategy much more difficult unless you could provide a unique advantage that no one else can match.

Another reason why an audience might not be willing to pay for your service is that they do not perceive it as valuable enough.

When dealing with B2B audiences, you must not only solve a problem but also make sure that the problem itself is urgent enough to warrant an investment if you want to steadily increase conversions.

Luckily, the latter problem can often be solved by looking at how you can better position your product and emphasize its unique value.

The good thing about B2B audiences is that while they are usually very sophisticated, they are also much more likely to respond to your pitch if you can prove that your product delivers real value that has a positive impact.

4. Figure Out Your Financing Options

When it comes to financing your SaaS company, there are two leading schools of thought.

On one side, you have those that believe bootstrapping your way to the launch is the way to go, as it gives you complete control over how your product looks, how you want to operate, and who's involved in the decision-making process.

However, others like the opportunities that come with seeking out investors that can give you more flexibility, push your launch timetable to a much sooner date, and provide you with the connections and know-how that could increase your chances of success.

While there's no right answer that applies to everyone, you will need to consider whether you can comfortably launch on your own.

Bootstrapping your way through the process for the sake of it doesn't make sense, especially if that means you have to delay the launch, possibly missing an excellent opportunity for entering the market.

At the same time, if you already have enough cash flow to sustain yourself and manage to hit your milestones on time, you might want to hold off taking outside help and give yourself maximum control of how your company turns out and what you want to do with it.

5. Final Words

Launching a SaaS company is a very lucrative opportunity, with the industry projected to grow at an incredible pace for years to come.

Still, to make the most out of the potential that it offers, you must make sure that you think through each decision that you make and try to collect as much information as possible.

In the end, if you have a product or service that solves a problem, and an audience that is willing to pay for it, you will be well on your way to launching a business and establishing a presence in even the most competitive markets.

Other posts about entrepreneurship that may interest you:

- The Rat Race: 5 Ways to Escape and Live in Abundance

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