Ask HN: How to build a startup when your network is zero? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to build a startup when your network is zero?

32 pointskaliyarachan16 comments

Can I build a successful business if I don't know whom to talk after building my SaaS product? Can internet alone help me to build a successful SaaS business?

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> Can I build a successful business if I don't know whom to talk after building my SaaS product?

My advice:

Don't build the SaaS product first. Build the customer list. That means going out and talking to folks who you think might pay you money to solve their problem.

It is far far too easy to get wrapped up in building something (building is fun!) that never gets used because you didn't talk to potential customers.

Patio11 has a great article on this process here: https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/validatin...

Software as a service is difficult to monetize and can be a poor fit for certain technologies. Generally speaking you will find more success if you can sell or give away the core software as a stand alone package and then provide support and infrastructure on top. It gives customers the confidence that they can host their own workloads on their own hardware if you ever stop providing your service.

Also, don't be afraid of providing some granularity in plans and be flexible about letting customers adjust them as they go. Underutilized plans are good for you in the short term, but probably not a good way to retain users if another service comes along to offer them what you won't.

That's just my two cents as someone who is frequently frustrated by enterprise cloud services.

Building first and talking after isn't likely to end well, especially for B2B. Trying to buy online ads after the fact is not likely to get you anywhere... you are just one of a million voices screaming out in a crowd.

If you don't feel comfortable talking, consider partnering with somebody who does.

The B2B startups I've seen that grew into something real all had did some consulting in their area at the start. It gave them a broader experience in the problems they were trying to solve, and helped them build relationships with their first customers. I'm not in SF or anything though, so things might just be a little different here.

Sure! Step one is trying to find those customers so you can talk to them and find out what problem they have that is excruciatingly painful.

Remember this has to be a terrible terrible problem they are so desperate to solve that they would use a product made by some random guy.

If you think about it though you probably have problems in your own life that are so annoying if someone solved it you wouldn't care who made it.

Ads are a way to validate ideas like this. Internet forums are a good place to look. Reddit. Discord channels. Local meetups. Depends a lot on the problem space you're working on. Trying to figure out where your users hangout (online or in meatspace) can be a first step.

I am the editor of a newsletter called bulletpitch (http://bulletpitch.xyz) We help founders like you get recognized! We have an awesome subscriber network of founders, vc analysts, and angel investors. We pride ourselves in helping founders get noticed (especially those who have great ideas but might not have great visibility.) Feel free to shoot me an email team@bulletpitch.com . Maybe there are some synergies! Hope this helps! -Brett

Who did you build your SaaS product for?

Start by talking to them. Once you have customers and revenues it's relatively easy to talk with VCs and take things to the next level.

If you don't know anyone in your target customer group, you need to take a step back and figure out how to make those connections and understand their needs before moving forward. The odds of creating something useful to users you don't deeply understand are pretty low.

You haven't said who you want to talk with and why.

If you haven't talked with customers or users, you don't know whether you have a product or some code and a way to run it. The difference is that a product is something that people will pay YOU for.

As for whether the internet can help you build a successful business, what kind of help are you looking for?

Do your customers use the internet to find products like yours?

SaaS is super difficult to maintain long term unless you know exactly what you're doing. And not having a network is definitely not helping. If you feel like you check these boxes go for it, but I'd much rather build a network first.

The brutal answer is no. Most business start with at least one customer and some idea about how to branch swing to the next ones.

If the product truly is killer, expect to get cloned.

You really need to be connected somehow or you are boned.

What is successful to you? In my definition for success (as single founder and operator) I say yes; if success is world domination then it is probably no.

It would be easier with a cofounder though.

Have you checked yc's free startupschool.org?

Can confirm, CoFounder matching is a godsend. I didn't finish a prototype yet but already found promising cofounder. But it may not happen on your first day of searching.

everything looks rosy at the start. i'd very much like to know what happens 1 year later when likely you're slogging through the trough of sorrow.

That can always happen anyway in any endeavour.

Indiehackers

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