How to Launch a Million-Dollar Business this Weekend w/Noah Kagan

[bambz]

Of course there is. The money is in their account vs the money is in your account.


That's cool. Just bear in mind they're not a customer or client till the money is in your account. Until then the money is in their account and they're still a prospect.

Okay but the point is I should have their money before start creating product. This is real validation (you, gurus, say this).

How can I achieve this if people are not willing to spend money for presaling especially in my country ?

 

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[Andy Black]

Okay but the point is I should have their money before start creating product. This is real validation (you, gurus, say this).

How can I achieve this if people are not willing to spend money for presaling especially in my country ?

Business is a series of figuring stuff out.

In some cases it's normal to pay afterwards, like paying a plumber after they've fixed a leaking toilet.

In others cases it's normal to pay beforehand, like ordering products off Amazon.

What folks are saying is you need people to give you money at some point to validate you're solving a problem people are willing to give you money for.

 

[bambz]

Business is a series of figuring stuff out.

In some cases it's normal to pay afterwards, like paying a plumber after they've fixed a leaking toilet.

In others cases it's normal to pay beforehand, like ordering products off Amazon.

What folks are saying is you need people to give you money at some point to validate you're solving a problem people are willing to give you money for.

Okay, but if you gonna build a software solution (SaaS) where is the moment to truly validate it by receiving money?

I am at point when I have 10 conversations with people who say that „ye, it’s great idea and XXX / month is ok price”.

I could really help them when I build MVP and it needs 2-3 weeks.

So I’m wondering .. should I invest this time
To build MVP or try to receive some payments by creating preselling form (Landing Page). People in Poland won’t give me money via some pay pal link. No chance ;p

EDIT: another few people said that they are waiting for full version of app, because it's great idea and they hope it will be subscription payment. I don't have still their money, but ask them if they will pay for presale with 50% discount for first year. I do not have better idea to get their money now.

 

[Ella R]

Hi, @noahkagan! I’ve been following you on YouTube for a while now and really enjoy your content. It's great to see you here on the forum!

My question arises from insights gained through watching some of your interviews and reflecting on my personal experiences. What advice would you give to someone who, due to having a massive resistance to failure and being highly perfectionistic, finds themselves in a constant battle between these two tendencies, not only when initiating business ideas and ventures but also when the business is operational and facing potential challenges or setbacks?

 

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[ZackerySprague]

No, a lot of his examples are physical products, like beef jerky was one of his test pilots.

I have an example for SaaS for System Administrators. Based on your book, my constant frustration was with Patching at our Contracted job.

We would have Tenable run daily scans across all the agents installed on our endpoints on a daily basis. To which then the data gets transferred to Splunk for reporting, to which then gets exported in a CSV file in excel.

First, it's horrible reading this data from excel when you have over 3000 lines.

Second, it's also hard to figure out which applications need to be patched first based off the CVSS score.

This process was a motherboard.

You would then have to read when was the patch publication date for the vulnerability, then read the severity score. If it was a high based on the 3.0 scale, then you would have 90 days to patch the system. If it was a Criticsl then you would have 30 days to patch the system.

Not only that you would then have to watch out for what's coming up in the next 60 to 90 days. We called it Patch Tuesday every two weeks.

So when I found Rob Wallings video on creating a Monitoring System for System Administrators. I was like this is what I need. This would be great. A software or desktop application that tells what you what's all in your environment, what versions their on, where to find the patch, what to patch first, and can it be automated in anyway in terms of silent installs.

Patching Frustrats me so much, but yet I loved the process.

 

[Doug Smith]

Grabbed the Audible version, It's next up in my queue. I also grabbed a year of Goal Sumo. Loving it so far. Thanks.

 

[Andy Black]

Okay, but if you gonna build a software solution (SaaS) where is the moment to truly validate it by receiving money?

I am at point when I have 10 conversations with people who say that „ye, it’s great idea and XXX / month is ok price”.

I could really help them when I build MVP and it needs 2-3 weeks.

So I’m wondering .. should I invest this time
To build MVP or try to receive some payments by creating preselling form (Landing Page). People in Poland won’t give me money via some pay pal link. No chance ;p

EDIT: another few people said that they are waiting for full version of app, because it's great idea and they hope it will be subscription payment. I don't have still their money, but ask them if they will pay for presale with 50% discount for first year. I do not have better idea to get their money now.

I don't want to put words in Noah's mouth, and I'm not a SaaS guy, so make of this what you will:

Maybe people will pay somehow to help you build the MVP. Have you asked? Maybe get some contribution for the first month, or the first month's fee that you'll refund if the MVP isn't available in a month?

Also, if it will only take 3 weeks to build something that could really help them then I personally would be tempted to do so. That's not too long and I presume won't cost you too much either.

Either way, you don't need permission from anyone to figure it out how you see fit.

 

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[bambz]

I don't want to put words in Noah's mouth, and I'm not a SaaS guy, so make of this what you will:

Maybe people will pay somehow to help you build the MVP. Have you asked? Maybe get some contribution for the first month, or the first month's fee that you'll refund if the MVP isn't available in a month?

Also, if it will only take 3 weeks to build something that could really help them then I personally would be tempted to do so. That's not too long and I presume won't cost you too much either.

Either way, you don't need permission from anyone to figure it out how you see fit.

Wooo! I was thinking for 2 days about how to resolve my problem with validation and I see we think similar!

Currently I have some conversations with potential customers who really like my product, give me features they want and write long messages.

What I gonna do:
Choose few best conversations, collect their all requirements and formulate the app features (for version 1). Then I will inform them about that, tell about monthly price and also that I want to be sure that they really want my product, because I gonna build product with high quality. To do that, I will ask about one payment (for first three months, no brainer value) and tell them that if I will receive min. 5 payments I will start build the solution. Of course, the first 5 people who give me money will be ambassadors of my app, will have an impact on future functionalities and a lifetime discount.

 

[bambz]

@Andy Black @noahkagan
Wow, the customer first approach is amazing!

Okay, I invested more than 48 hours (few days) to create MVP and sent for free in FB group.

I've gotten some likes, comments and conversations. Some people were interested in my SaaS (b2b).

They gave me some advices and after 2 days I came back with new version.

Currently I have first customer who is very excited and asking about my account number, because he wants to be the first, real customer and my app just started helping him!

 

[noahkagan]

@Andy Black @noahkagan
Wow, the customer first approach is amazing!

Okay, I invested more than 48 hours (few days) to create MVP and sent for free in FB group.

I've gotten some likes, comments and conversations. Some people were interested in my SaaS (b2b).

They gave me some advices and after 2 days I came back with new version.

Currently I have first customer who is very excited and asking about my account number, because he wants to be the first, real customer and my app just started helping him!

Way to go bambz. Taking action. Really proud of you Keep starting!

 

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[noahkagan]

Grabbed the Audible version, It's next up in my queue. I also grabbed a year of Goal Sumo. Loving it so far. Thanks.

Nice Doug. Let me know how it goes

 

[georgetod79]

Great book @noahkagan .. and thanks for the $1 on Venmo lol

I got $1 too

 

[georgetod79]

Okay, but if you gonna build a software solution (SaaS) where is the moment to truly validate it by receiving money?

I am at point when I have 10 conversations with people who say that „ye, it’s great idea and XXX / month is ok price”.

I could really help them when I build MVP and it needs 2-3 weeks.

So I’m wondering .. should I invest this time
To build MVP or try to receive some payments by creating preselling form (Landing Page). People in Poland won’t give me money via some pay pal link. No chance ;p

EDIT: another few people said that they are waiting for full version of app, because it's great idea and they hope it will be subscription payment. I don't have still their money, but ask them if they will pay for presale with 50% discount for first year. I do not have better idea to get their money now.

PayPal is quite secure for the client. I think they had a 6-month period when someone could dispute a transaction and get a refund. (you can check and show them that)
Alternatively, you can list the beta version of the product on a third-party platform for more authority and customer security (like AppSumo, for example, or Product Hunt, GumRoad, etc.). It would be good for your reviews. But these platforms also ensure the client's protection from fraud.
And if they are too hesitant, maybe they don't have the problem, or maybe you need to communicate the benefits in a better way. Get them on Zoom, make a nice presentation, and share some testimonials.
3rd option - they are not your best customer and it would be a pain in the ... to work with.
Good luck!

 

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[Panos Daras]

I got 1EUR easy. I overachieved on this target since 1EUR is 1.08$ lol (I am so much fun at parties).

The funny part is that I also asked for a 10% discount at my local gas station just for the laughs, and it made that person's day.

The old woman behind the cashier, genuinely found it funny (maybe it's my face or something), burst into laughter, and declined.
I thought she would tell me to F*ck off, but she didn't.

A good day after all.

 

[Andy Black]

I got 1EUR easy. I overachieved on this target since 1EUR is 1.08$ lol (I am so much fun at parties).

The funny part is that I also asked for a 10% discount at my local gas station just for the laughs, and it made that person's day.

The old woman behind the cashier, genuinely found it funny (maybe it's my face or something), burst into laughter, and declined.
I thought she would tell me to F*ck off, but she didn't.

A good day after all.

My gran used to make bank tellers laugh when she asked if they had any free money.