Getting really good at fixing peoples problems with SaaS solutions, but...

[circleme]

Hi guys,

I've been training my problem-solving muscle a lot lately and I'm getting really good at it. I see problems everywhere and try to solve them with software - if possible.

The result: many satisfied users.
The problem: They are users, not customers.

It's mostly MVPs that I launch into the market. They solve a problem, usually a relatively small one. I then very quickly get into the mode of "It's nice that I'm solving this, but the benefit on a meta level is so small, I can't ask for anything." This means that I get satisfied users who are very happy about my solution, but they don't pay anything for it.

I have already worked with a paywall in the form of freemium as well as usage restrictions. Anything that could annoy users more and is always viewed as very skeptical. Especially if I integrate the paywall into a product that was previously free.

Now to my question:

What opportunities do you see for making money in the future with a SaaS product that already solves a small problem? Have you already had your own experiences here? I would be very happy to receive your feedback.

I'm currently brainstorming in this direction:

Free software with usage restrictions > email sign-up so you can use the software unlimitedly > user feedback for additional features > transition into freemium.

What I also thought about is a pure annual fee, which is very low because the benefit from my software is relatively low. But that means that no one can use my software beforehand - which I generally find to be a bad thing.

It would be very helpful for me to have good/best practices to go from soft validation to hard validation without the users being pissed off because I'm now integrating a paywall.

 

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[Pink Sheep]

I would say it varies case by case, depending on the problem you are fixing. Any examples?

Can you get paid by someone who is not the user?

Why does the problem exist? Can you charge who made the problem?

 

[shubham___3011]

Hi guys,

I've been training my problem-solving muscle a lot lately and I'm getting really good at it. I see problems everywhere and try to solve them with software - if possible.

The result: many satisfied users.
The problem: They are users, not customers.

It's mostly MVPs that I launch into the market. They solve a problem, usually a relatively small one. I then very quickly get into the mode of "It's nice that I'm solving this, but the benefit on a meta level is so small, I can't ask for anything." This means that I get satisfied users who are very happy about my solution, but they don't pay anything for it.

I have already worked with a paywall in the form of freemium as well as usage restrictions. Anything that could annoy users more and is always viewed as very skeptical. Especially if I integrate the paywall into a product that was previously free.

Now to my question:

What opportunities do you see for making money in the future with a SaaS product that already solves a small problem? Have you already had your own experiences here? I would be very happy to receive your feedback.

I'm currently brainstorming in this direction:

Free software with usage restrictions > email sign-up so you can use the software unlimitedly > user feedback for additional features > transition into freemium.

What I also thought about is a pure annual fee, which is very low because the benefit from my software is relatively low. But that means that no one can use my software beforehand - which I generally find to be a bad thing.

It would be very helpful for me to have good/best practices to go from soft validation to hard validation without the users being pissed off because I'm now integrating a paywall.

this is what i feel there are many ais out in the market but there isnt one collective ai package that could solve everything for business, they often have to buy different ai for different purpose, making a saas platform where the business can pay of all the ais at once and can use it in a single place will really be help full

 

[StrikingViper69]

How many users are we talking here, 10, or 10,000?

Are they returning?

What's the competition like?

It's great that you are doing something and people are responding!

 

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[Andy Black]

Hi guys,

I've been training my problem-solving muscle a lot lately and I'm getting really good at it. I see problems everywhere and try to solve them with software - if possible.

The result: many satisfied users.
The problem: They are users, not customers.

It's mostly MVPs that I launch into the market. They solve a problem, usually a relatively small one. I then very quickly get into the mode of "It's nice that I'm solving this, but the benefit on a meta level is so small, I can't ask for anything." This means that I get satisfied users who are very happy about my solution, but they don't pay anything for it.

I have already worked with a paywall in the form of freemium as well as usage restrictions. Anything that could annoy users more and is always viewed as very skeptical. Especially if I integrate the paywall into a product that was previously free.

Now to my question:

What opportunities do you see for making money in the future with a SaaS product that already solves a small problem? Have you already had your own experiences here? I would be very happy to receive your feedback.

I'm currently brainstorming in this direction:

Free software with usage restrictions > email sign-up so you can use the software unlimitedly > user feedback for additional features > transition into freemium.

What I also thought about is a pure annual fee, which is very low because the benefit from my software is relatively low. But that means that no one can use my software beforehand - which I generally find to be a bad thing.

It would be very helpful for me to have good/best practices to go from soft validation to hard validation without the users being pissed off because I'm now integrating a paywall.

1) What problems do people *already* pay to solve that you can produce a little paid tool for?

2) What tools or calculators do people search for that you could create and get in front of people? Can they be some sort of lead generation tool? E.g. mortgage calculators, contractor hourly rate to employer salary calculators, kitchen remodelling cost calculators, solar panel electricity savings calculators, etc. Maybe use the Google Keyword Planner to find these?

3) Can you focus on getting paying customers first, and building out a SaaS product second? Maybe people pay monthly for information sent by email first, and then you build an app or SaaS later that delivers that information and other functionality?

 

[circleme]

How many users are we talking here, 10, or 10,000?

Are they returning?

What's the competition like?

It's great that you are doing something and people are responding!

~5.000 Users for my current app. They love the basic version and I'm sure that I can add more value to it based on user feedback. But that's not the point. My point ist to develop a repetable process for my next product. I know, nothing can be replicated 100%, but I'm interested for concepts that worked a lot of times for someone else. Concepts and processes, that make the likelihood of going from soft validation to hard validation quite high. That's my main question.

What problems do people already pay to solve that you can produce a little paid tool for?

Ah, I smell Dan Norris there. I have read the the 7 day startup book based on your recommendation in another thread about the book The Lean Startup. Thank you for that, Andy.

The issue is, that I'm already too far. I already have the soft validation but not any hard validation. But I will go that route for my next idea for sure.

 

[Andy Black]

~5.000 Users for my current app. They love the basic version and I'm sure that I can add more value to it based on user feedback. But that's not the point. My point ist to develop a repetable process for my next product. I know, nothing can be replicated 100%, but I'm interested for concepts that worked a lot of times for someone else. Concepts and processes, that make the likelihood of going from soft validation to hard validation quite high. That's my main question.

Ah, I smell Dan Norris there. I have read the the 7 day startup book based on your recommendation in another thread about the book The Lean Startup. Thank you for that, Andy.

The issue is, that I'm already to far. I already have the soft validation but not any hard validation. But I will go that route for my next idea for sure.

If you're going to move to a new project anyway, then why not tell everyone it's going to be paid soon and see who signs up?

Also, I do a few "I'm thinking of..." or "Let me know if you're interested in..." posts to my Facebook and LinkedIn timeline. People raise their hand and some then pay after I've built a quick MVP (typically a course in my case). I've only 1k followers on Facebook by when I launched a $15/mth course membership I got to nearly $1k MRR straight away (there were some higher levels so it wasn't just the $15/mth level). I asked people to raise their hand before building though.

 

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[circleme]

If you're going to move to a new project anyway, then why not tell everyone it's going to be paid soon and see who signs up?

I am going to stick with it and not giving up, as there is a lot of good feedback from the userbase and it is helping people out on a daily basis, BUT I'm still looking for some input regarding the transition from free to paid. If there are any best practices and/or things I should consider doing, please let me know.

But I'm going to add a usage restriction and see what happens. Worst case: People get pissed off.

Also, I do a few "I'm thinking of..." or "Let me know if you're interested in..." posts to my Facebook and LinkedIn timeline. People raise their hand and some then pay after I've built a quick MVP (typically a course in my case). I've only 1k followers on Facebook by when I launched a $15/mth course membership I got to nearly $1k MRR straight away (there were some higher levels so it wasn't just the $15/mth level).

That's quite an awesome approach, Andy! Thank you for that. I have a few questions, tho:

1. Do you have any metrics/patterns that you use and say, for example: Okay, that's 1,000 views on my post and 30 thumbs up and that's enough for me to start the MVP?
2. I don't have a userbase right now but you gave me an idea (building a user-base in the form of an email list for everyone who wants to avoid the upcoming usage restriction). Anyways, would you apply your process with things like paid traffic + a survey to people who don't know you to get a first overview of potential demand?

At this stage of my fastlane journey I do believe that soft- and hard-validations are one of the most critical parts. I do want to learn as much as possible about those and I'm looking forward for any ideas/concepts/best practices in that area. Thank you for your input, Andy, I really do appreciate it!

 

[Andy Black]

I am going to stick with it and not giving up, as there is a lot of good feedback from the userbase and it is helping people out on a daily basis, BUT I'm still looking for some input regarding the transition from free to paid. If there are any best practices and/or things I should consider doing, please let me know.

But I'm going to add a usage restriction and see what happens. Worst case: People get pissed off.

That's quite an awesome approach, Andy! Thank you for that. I have a few questions, tho:

1. Do you have any metrics/patterns that you use and say, for example: Okay, that's 1,000 views on my post and 30 thumbs up and that's enough for me to start the MVP?
2. I don't have a userbase right now but you gave me an idea (building a user-base in the form of an email list for everyone who wants to avoid the upcoming usage restriction). Anyways, would you apply your process with things like paid traffic + a survey to people who don't know you to get a first overview of potential demand?

At this stage of my fastlane journey I do believe that soft- and hard-validations are one of the most critical parts. I do want to learn as much as possible about those and I'm looking forward for any ideas/concepts/best practices in that area. Thank you for your input, Andy, I really do appreciate it!

What if you message all your users asking if they're interested in a paid add-on feature or something?

 

[StrikingViper69]

~5.000 Users for my current app. They love the basic version and I'm sure that I can add more value to it based on user feedback. But that's not the point. My point ist to develop a repetable process for my next product. I know, nothing can be replicated 100%, but I'm interested for concepts that worked a lot of times for someone else. Concepts and processes, that make the likelihood of going from soft validation to hard validation quite high. That's my main question.

Ah, I smell Dan Norris there. I have read the the 7 day startup book based on your recommendation in another thread about the book The Lean Startup. Thank you for that, Andy.

The issue is, that I'm already too far. I already have the soft validation but not any hard validation. But I will go that route for my next idea for sure.

Can you create a free trial system for new members?

Add something current members want and make it paid?

Are you afraid of losing current users if you change something?

 

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[Desolation Row]

You seem to know what people want, so why not start paid from the start for your next project?

For your existing software: Is it possible to ADD some premium functions or features instead of restricting the basic version?

Anyway, congratulations to your success !!

 

[circleme]

Can you create a free trial system for new members?

Add something current members want and make it paid?

Are you afraid of losing current users if you change something?

Yes, I could do that, at least for new users. For existing users I'm certainly afraid that they will not like the swap from free to free-trial or freemium. They are used to use the features for free and it clearly was my lack of planning there. I just wanted to provide a shit ton of value for them and propably did provide too much in the free version.

"Add something current members want and make it paid?" This is propably the best way to move forward from my current situation. I will ask them for additional features and will feature-gate them in future versions.

My learning so far: Next time, I seriously need to decide on which features I am going to give away for free and which ones I don't. Feature gating is something I dind't pay too much attention tbh.

 

[circleme]

You seem to know what people want, so why not start paid from the start for your next project?

For your existing software: Is it possible to ADD some premium functions or features instead of restricting the basic version?

"My learning so far: Next time, I seriously need to decide on which features I am going to give away for free and which ones I don't. Feature gating is something I dind't pay too much attention tbh."

Yeah, I'm going to do that with my next project. It was clearly a planning issue from my side. But I'm starting to improve the current version with some more premium features and feature-gate them.

 

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[StrikingViper69]

Yes, I could do that, at least for new users. For existing users I'm certainly afraid that they will not like the swap from free to free-trial or freemium. They are used to use the features for free and it clearly was my lack of planning there. I just wanted to provide a shit ton of value for them and propably did provide too much in the free version.

"Add something current members want and make it paid?" This is propably the best way to move forward from my current situation. I will ask them for additional features and will feature-gate them in future versions.

My learning so far: Next time, I seriously need to decide on which features I am going to give away for free and which ones I don't. Feature gating is something I dind't pay too much attention tbh.

If your free users quit... so what?

You said you wanted a way to do a hard test... well this is it, at some point you got to ask for the money.

"Hey, thanks for using the software, server costs, development costs yada yada here's a price and new features"

 

[Desolation Row]

"It's nice that I'm solving this, but the benefit on a meta level is so small, I can't ask for anything."

I also think you massively underestimate the value you provide.

~5.000 Users for my current app. They love the basic version and I'm sure that I can add more value to it based on user feedback.

Just imagine a room with 5000 people. You provided lots of value to all of these people.
Don’t yo think that’s impressive?

I really think the point is that people don’t like to pay for something that was previously free. No matter how useful or valuable the product …