Even Dane Maxwell Would Be Amazed - Creating A SaaS Business with NO Money Like In The Foundation

[tafy]

Tomorrow we attend an entrepreneur fair and listen to some speeches, I am looking forward to that.

This is important, make sure you hang around and talk to some people after. Its helped me bigtime

 

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[RoadTrip]

Can somebody drop some sentences, please? Do I just have to practice more? Is this industry just too big?

Keep practicing as you will never stop learning. Try to look back for a second at all the things you have learned by calling this industry: confidence in cold calling? idea extraction techniques? ability to notice needs? shortcuts for getting the owner on the phone?

You are making progress, adjusting by picking a new industry and moving on. I tried the logistics industry as well and dropped it pretty soon. Moved on and tried couple of other industries like plumbers, accounting offices, cleaning industry. In any industry I called I did found some problems, but they were either too complex to solve or too different from each other.

When you are deciding for a new industry, I suggest to take the following into account:

• Do you have any friends or relatives working in the industry
• Are you at least some passionate about the industry or can you get passionate about it? I understand some will say that once you get in the process of building a solution you will become passionate. But it makes it so much easier if you already like the industry from the beginning
• Is the industry not too complex: if you don't know anything about an industry, cleaning industry is easier to understand than accounting
• Is there enough money being made

It took me a long time to find a problem several companies are having. And I am still having doubts about continuing with this need or not because it does not seem like a real pain in the ***. I will let the market decide and am now in the process of testing the solution.

Therefore another suggestion I have is to really find a problem that hurts. I think that it is generally the first problem that comes to their mind. Then dig into that further. No matter what the problem is (staff too expensive, government regulations, etc.). Setting up a call might also help instead of cold calling because they will have time to think about their problem. I noticed that when asking problems through a cold call sometimes nothing pops op in their mind at that moment. But I already saw that you had a low response rate to your emails. Maybe it works better in the new industry you are picking.

You are taking real action which will pay off eventually. Keep trying, keep digging and you WILL find a problem.

Unfortunately, not a lot of the more experienced members are posting here so far. But you can find a lot of their mindset in the IceCreamKid thread about "the astonishing secrets zen******* never told you" thread.

Keep up the good work and keep us updated

 

[Harti]

This is important, make sure you hang around and talk to some people after. Its helped me bigtime

Unfortunately this was a total slowlaner event. I took the points out of it that help me but you could always feel in the speeches that the people are seeing entrepreneurship as a replacement for their jobs. Additionally we were by far the youngest guys out there. Most of them were 40+

eep practicing as you will never stop learning. Try to look back for a second at all the things you have learned by calling this industry: confidence in cold calling? idea extraction techniques? ability to notice needs? shortcuts for getting the owner on the phone?

Exactly stuff like that. I am extremely convinced that this time was not wasted and I feel how my life has become more abundant because of the cold calling. In the past I didn't even like to call my doctor to make an appointment, now I enjoy it (as far as calling your doctor can be enjoyable ;D).

You are taking real action which will pay off eventually. Keep trying, keep digging and you WILL find a problem.

I think so, too. Thank you for your post @Senergia .

The event was exhausting for me, don't know if I do additional stuff. If I do it will be summarizing what I learned today.

Harti

 

[Brentnal]

Hi Harti,

I live in Holland and i am 18 years old. If there is anything i can help you with, just ask.

 

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[tafy]

Unfortunately this was a total slowlaner event. I took the points out of it that help me but you could always feel in the speeches that the people are seeing entrepreneurship as a replacement for their jobs. Additionally we were by far the youngest guys out there. Most of them were 40+

Thats a shame, look at berlin.techhub.com if your close to Berlin, you can arrange a meeting and they will talk to you about you plans. You will meet fellow entrepreneurs with tech startups and you can get major inspiration

 

[Harti]

Day 13 + 14

The last days I didn't do much. Even though I have rational and valid excuses for that (social life, world cup and illness) it feels so bad I can not stand it one more day. As weird as it sounds, it feels like my self respect is decreasing every day I don't work.

Here a list of niches I have contacts in:

• Retail industry (glasses, supermarket)
• Mobile communications
• Startup scene in Berlin (an academy for example)
• Field service for jewelry
• Bank (IT department)
• Consulting business regarding to television

I already talked to @MTF about it and it seems that nothing from the list is a good fit for SaaS. Tomorrow I'll make a list of the niches successful Foundation members built software for to get the bigger picture and look for more online.

What I learned during this weekend: My short term motivation to start working is not really present if I have no "concrete" tasks to handle. To stay productive and engage I need to find a way to structure them.

Harti

 

[Harti]

Day 15: Ideas are everywhere!

Today I had an appointment with my doctor again and got into a conversation with her. She was talking about a new problem she has that was introduced through our bureaucratic state. I immediately started idea extraction and asked questions about it - the problem is extremely time-consuming and really painful. Unfortunately I had to go after talking for like 20 minutes because she had other clients waiting for her. I may be onto something, I'll definitely talk to her soon again about that.

When I was at home I created the list of the successful SaaS companies created in The Foundation. I couldn't find any specific trend - it really is all over the place - but the tendency is to go to smaller and more concrete niches than logistics.

The thing I learned today is really simple: Ideas are extremely abundant, everybody has problems. The thing that matters is enhancing your idea extraction skills and listening to the people. The more you hang around professionals, the more problems you will face.

Since I am 18 I haven't friends working (everybody just finished school) so I have to think about how I can maximize my time around them.

Additionally I set up my Xing profile today and will shoot a photo next week (a photographer friend of mine will be back from his vacation then) to make it more appealing. Until then I hopefully will have a niche and some people to add there.

The rest of the day and tomorrow will be dedicated to research.

Harti

 

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[LouieLouie]

When I was at home I created the list of the successful SaaS companies created in The Foundation. I couldn't find any specific trend - it really is all over the place - but the tendency is to go to smaller and more concrete niches than logistics.

Harti

Do you mind sharing that list? I am signed up and working my way into the foundation.(Not totally sure I understand what they are offering but I am very interested in the SaaS route too.)

I am seriously considering joining you on the same journey. (Might be fun to have some friendly competition? )

Anyway good luck, keep going don't give up!

 

[Harti]

Do you mind sharing that list?

I could but it would really not help you. I think it could even close your eyes for opportunities that exist where you might not expect it after the list. Just keep your vision broad.

I am seriously considering joining you on the same journey

Would appreciate it, just open a progress thread so others can learn from it, too.

 

[Harti]

Day 16 + 17: Pattern Breaking

After the bad feeling of the last days I took some action that will get me in the right direction again.

I have two contacts in the golf niche and might be able to speak to the president of the local golf club. Wrote the person that could connect me to him. This niche seems extremely profit oriented to me and I like the idea of it.
Tomorrow I will contact the doc again and setup a meeting. Then I will head to the town and start observing and talking to the people I can find there. I think it will be interesting and open my mind a little bit more.

Even though my actions are not that big I finally want to break my pattern of stagnation and inactivity. I must do something that gets me closer to my goal.

And more importantly I need to find the reason why "working" alone paralyzes me - probably a limiting belief but I don't see it. Any ideas or comments on that?

Harti

 

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[apprentice]

Great Thread Harti!

I really enjoy your dedication and enthusiasm for this! Rep+

And more importantly I need to find the reason why "working" alone paralyzes me - probably a limiting belief but I don't see it. Any ideas or comments on that?

I think it's normal to feel that way. A partner makes you feel more secure, like he's got your back. Don't worry about it, I think you're doing great and that facing it is the best way to overcome it!

 

[BlakeIC]

Man it's awesome to see someone in my age group working like you!
Gave me a kick in the butt to not avoid cold calling at all costs

 

[Harti]

Thank you both @apprentice and @BlakeIC , really appreciate your posts.

I think it's normal to feel that way. A partner makes you feel more secure, like he's got your back.

That seems logical to me. I think it's the fear of failing that holds me back. If I f*ck it up now it is totally my fault and there is no one else to blame. Even though I knew this from the beginning it didn't feel like it emotionally.

This quote comes to my mind:

If you are going through hell, keep going.

Let's see what I can accomplish on this extremely hot day before going swimming.

Harti

 

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[curran]

Hi harti,

Great thread, have you completely given up on the logistics industry? I am currently work with a logistic/freight company and have seen many issues from a sales point of view. But with the logistics/Freight its broken into Air,Road,Ocean, Sea.

Biggest issue from a sales point(especially for prepaid customers) of view is judging the size of freight, a lot of customers always try to say the sizes are smaller when in truth its bigger, this brings issues as once we get the true size we need to readjust the price and end up falling out with customers, Normally this is not done until we pick up from supplier.

Hopefully you don't give up on the industry as it does get very interesting after a while, i think you could focus more on either the operations or sales side of the industry and look at issues there, ask the employees, maybe call customers see there side of issues.

Just on cold calling(thats my main job) to make it effective its all about numbers for me i call up to 100-150 customers a day. Me and my co worker have two approaches in 10 minutes i will make as many calls as possible, my colleagues focus is on spending more time on the phone with customers, so while i call 10 customer he calls 2 or 3.
And end result in 6 months I have contracts worth just under €200,000 for my company. He has less than €50,000.

Anyway following your thread, keep up the good work!

 

[Harti]

Thanks for your insights @curran and the nice words from you all - extremely motivating.

We talked with the people about the topic of freight transporting. The only "problem" they mentioned was determining which driver to send for it (who has enough free capacity, is nearby and stuff like that..) but we found out that this is a highly individual thing which cannot be approached by software so easily. Talking to customers seems like a nice approach.


Day 18: Doctor talk

Unfortunately my gf came earlier than expected and I just came home again but i was able to talk to the doctor mentioned earlier in the thread. She kind of rejected me because of my approach "I want to see if I can help you.." but gave me some nice keywords to search for if I want to understand the problem. I will check that out and re-approach her with my new knowledge.
Didn't have time to go into the town and observe but I will do this on monday (hopefully it isn't that warm then anymore). Lastly I found some keywords and websites in my language to search for niches - more of it tomorrow. I am extremely tired right now - good night.

Harti

 

[BlakeIC]

Thanks for your insights @curran and the nice words from you all - extremely motivating.

We talked with the people about the topic of freight transporting. The only "problem" they mentioned was determining which driver to send for it (who has enough free capacity, is nearby andi

A site that i felt you would find useful if you plan on changing industry
http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/home.aspx#industrylist

It gives the amount of businesses in that niche and the growth rate of it
Also lists a few of the big guys in the niche if there is any

 

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[Harti]

Thanks for the website @BlakeIC , checked it out and it overwhelmed me.

Rationally I know that there are unmet needs in every market (EVERYBODY has some problems) but I stagnate massively because I emotionally fear the same fate like in the logistics niche.. Another factor I spotted today is that I try to prevent cold calling and rejection due to my experience with the doctor (she was kind of amused that I want to help her - at the phone she was like "do your research and if you have some questions then I can help you.").. Don't know, I didn't feel taken seriously.

Tomorrow my friend will be back - he was in Berlin visiting some startups and stuff like that. Maybe this will accelerate some things..

Harti

 

[LIkeafox]

I'm curious if you might have more luck talking to the office manager for a doctor, they might have more of a pulse on what the business side of the practice is.

 

[Kyle Tully]

I'm curious if you might have more luck talking to the office manager for a doctor, they might have more of a pulse on what the business side of the practice is.

This.

The office manager is key.

They are in charge of all the day to day stuff and are the ones dealing with most of the problems. The doctors themselves are often pretty clueless and never have any time to talk anyway.

 

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[tafy]

Doctors tell people what to do all day every day, take this pill, dont smoke that, dont put that up there etc

So when you come along with "I want to help you speech" they are like WTF there is an alien in here

But seriously like the other posters said, Doctors dont know shit except helping patients and half the time they screw that up.

 

[Harti]

Day 20: Finally chose a niche

Thanks guys.

About the doctor: The thing is that this office consists of two people and I talked to the head of it. Even though that seems small and non profitable at first the problem concerns every office in the industry employing at least one person.

But I won't research this further since we (@JayTrump and me) came to the conclusion that we will choose the golf niche. Basically there is a lot of money in it (both B2B and B2C - golf equipment is expensive), he is playing golf and we both have some contacts in it.

Coincidentally we found a need he has as a golf player and worked on the idea. After ~30 minutes we researched it and found out that some big players are already doing that - there is a market for it. To be honest I'm proud that we had a valid idea so fast but we won't follow up on it. Instead we will follow ICK advice in this thread.

So now there are some references to look at. The research will start tomorrow.

Harti

 

[Harti]

Day 21: Talking to a golf instructor

Today we coincidentally met the golf instructor of my friend. It could be because he's an American but he was incredibly open to us regarding to the topic of finding a need ("You want to be entrepreneurs? I like the idea."), a very pleasant person.
By talking to him we found a need and researched on that later the day. It was solved only one time in a way that is not very good marketed and there are many points we can work on.

The disadvantage (is it?) is that this would be a physical product. We would need an engineer for the construction and other stuff like that which would result in so much more complications and things to consider.

We also thought about ways to validate the idea and might be going to the local golf club tomorrow to talk to some employees about it.

Harti

 

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[Tregan]

Harti,

I've been lurking since your first post but now feel compelled to chime in. Once I read 'golf' in your posts I perked up as I too pursued a golf oriented SAAS idea a while back. I contacted several hundred pro shops, the club managers contact info was some of the easiest to find since they want their clients to find them without hassle. On 99% of the golf course websites I found everything I needed.

What I've found is they are very interested in making things easier for their operations AND their clients. If you can prove the benefits of software from both ends then you are in a great niche. Another thing to account for, their time. They are very busy and some are rarely able to meet or talk at length.

Hope this helps in some way!

 

[Harti]

Awesome post @Tregan , thank you very much for the information. I am sure you saved us much time.

To be honest I like the idea of SaaS much more than creating a physical product but I don't want to close my eyes if there is a good idea in front of me.

 

[RoadTrip]

Exactly, don't disregard the idea because it is a physical product. A physical product can be as much fastlane as saas. And probably less headaches too (my slowlane is in software and really anything can go wrong with it).

 

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[Harti]

Day 22 + 23: Idea Validation

Yesterday we didn't do anything because we had both personal stuff to do, today we thought about concrete methods to validate our idea.
We came to the conclusion that we have two possibilities for that: Interviewing people ("How much does the current way you solve the problem cost?") + market research (are there other companies that already do that?).

We started with the market research today and besides two YouTube videos from some hobbyists and one prototype from a bigger company we didn't find anything. We will not stop researching but I somehow like the fact that there doesn't seem to be a competitor (even though I know that the follow-ups are often the most profitable business in the end - it feels safer).

The great news regarding to the interviewing is that the golf niche seems so well indexed. We searched one minute and found a website with every golf club here in Germany + phone numbers, websites and stuff. After some minutes we also found a nice way to determine the market leader. Awesome thing and way better than in the logistics niche.

But before we start interviewing we want a better overview about the whole niche. Even though it seems pretty simple we have some questions open. The next days will be about answering them and researching further about the product.

Since we didn't validate the idea by getting it described as "a really painful problem" we take this point extremely seriously.

Harti

 

[Tregan]

Harti,

You hit the main idea with "Since we didn't validate the idea by getting it described as "a really painful problem" we take this point extremely seriously".

In the golf niche, it's going to be interesting to hear the answers you get regarding that painful problem. You may do well talking to as many acutal golfers as you can too, get a whole rounded perspective.

My .002 cents worth anyway

Keep up the great work!

 

[tafy]

What I imagine is a problem for the golf course

1. Admin: Managing Members and their yearly fee, being PCI compliant
2. Bookings: Taking and managing bookings by walk-in/phone/internet
3. Marketing: Local papers, magazines, adwords etc

You should try and work for a golf course if you really want to see what their problems are, get friendly with the local golf course and ask to work there

 

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[Harti]

Sorry for the lack of updates the last days. Yesterday was my birthday and I didn't work, at Friday I was preparing stuff for that and also celebrated. Let's see how the next days are going.

 

[Harti]

Day 27: Further market research

Since my friend is in Berlin again I have to work on my own. Today I researched more about existing products that solve this problem. The conclusion is that there is one company who solved it in the US and has several explanations about the technical side of the product online and in videos.
This motivates me really much because now I know that the implementation is possible and that there must be a market for it (even though the website looks pretty bad it is online for several years now).

Even though we only talked to the golf instructor about it it seems extremely logical to me that this is something the people would want. It feels similar to the idea of putting wheels on a bag.

The next thing to do is to find out how much the problem is costing the golf clubs at the moment. I will calculate it roughly and try to talk to some people about it.

Harti