Paint By Numbers: From Productized Service to SaaS

In which I try to convince would-be software entrepreneurs to not start a SaaS business immediately and, instead, start with a productized service (a type of consulting offering) and build from there.

I (patio11) presented this at Microconf 2017 Starter edition.

Transcript

1. PAINT BY NUMBERS: FROM
   PRODUCTIZED SERVICE TO SAAS
   PATRICK MCKENZIE (PATIO11), STRIPE
   

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2. PEOPLE SOME JAPANESE PEOPLE THINK I AM
   

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5. $1,022,890
   

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6. BRIEF BACKGROUND
   

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8. $280,000
   

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9. DON’T START IN SAAS
   IF YOU CAN POSSIBLY AVOID IT
   

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10. THINGS YOU’LL DO RUNNING A SAAS BUSINESS
    ▸ Develop an app
    

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11. THINGS YOU’LL DO RUNNING A SAAS BUSINESS
    ▸ Develop an app
    ▸ Design
    ▸ Testing
    ▸ Server administration
    ▸ Security
    ▸ Automated Deploys
    ▸ DevOps
    ▸ User management
    ▸ Customer support
    ‣ Monitoring
    ‣ Emails
    ‣ Invoicing
    ‣ Bookkeeping
    ‣ Marketing site
    ‣ Admin application
    ‣ Backups
    ‣ Data import/export
    ‣ Onboarding
    

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12. REPEATABLE
    SALES PROCESS
    

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13. 
    
    
    
    
    
    

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14. BUSINESS FIRST.
    SOFTWARE LATER.
    

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15. YOUR TARGET FOR
    NEXT YEAR: $12K/MO
    

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16. SELL TO
    BUSINESSES (*)
    

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17. PRODUCTIZED CONSULTING
    THE GLIDE PATH TO SAAS
    

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18. WHAT MAKES GOOD PRODUCTIZED CONSULTING OFFERINGS?
    ▸ Operations: run a business process for them
    ▸ Reporting / Analysis: pull the numbers & make
    recommendations
    ▸ Training: teach people what you know
    

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19. CHARGE MORE
    

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21. WHAT TO CHARGE IF WE HAVE MULTIPLE PACKAGES?
    ▸ $49: I’ll teach; you do the work.
    ▸ $99: I’ll teach and inspire; you do the
    work.
    ▸ $249: I’ll teach, inspire, and get you
    started; you do the work.
    

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22. WHAT TO CHARGE IF WE HAVE MULTIPLE PACKAGES?
    ▸ $49: I’ll teach; you do the work.
    ▸ $99: I’ll teach and inspire; you do the work.
    ▸ $249: I’ll teach, inspire, and get you
    started; you do the work.
    ▸ $499: … I’ll remind you that you have to
    actually do the work.
    

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23. WHAT TO CHARGE FOR TRAINING
    ▸ On-site: $5k per day, minimum two days,
    you pay travel. $3k if you record it.
    ▸ Online (private): $250 a seat (or $5k) +
    $3k if you want the videos, for 1/2 day
    ▸ Online (public): $99 for a lecture, $249 a
    half day
    

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24. $800 A MONTH
    

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25. THINGS TO BUILD, IN ORDER
    ▸ A landing page
    ▸ Three artifact to demonstrate expertise
    ▸ A sales page for the offering
    ▸ A one month email course which sells offering
    ▸ A “premium” / “lead magnet” for the email course
    ▸ The actual offering
    

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26. WHAT’S ACTUAL PRODUCTIZED CONSULTING HEAVY ON?
    ▸ Your raw brainsweat. You do you, very well, already.
    ▸ Repeatable outcomes which are visible to clients.
    ▸ Process, process, process.
    

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27. TURNING A PERFORMANCE INTO A ROUTINE
    ▸ Do it once by the seat of your pants.
    ▸ Write down what you did.
    ▸ Do it according to the script.
    ▸ Automate parts of the script.
    

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28. SELL THINGS THE
    MARKET ALREADY BUYS
    

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29. WHAT’S THAT LOOK LIKE FOR A REAL EXAMPLE? (BACKUP CZAR)
    ▸ 45 minute scoping call.
    ▸ Request for access to systems/services.
    ▸ “I’m going to do X for you every month. You will get your
    first X in Y days.”
    ▸ “I’ve done X. Here’s your beautiful report.”
    ▸ “Thanks for your business. We will X again next month.”
    

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30. USE REMARQ.IO
    

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32. AUTOMATE THE
    TOILSOME BITS
    

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33. A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE FROM STRIPE (FORUM STATS)
    ▸ Data Source: Admin login on Discourse.
    ▸ Value Added Work: Counting.
    ▸ Reporting: I update a spreadsheet (Google docs).
    

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34. A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE FROM STRIPE (FORUM STATS)
    ▸ Data Source: A backup of our Discourse database.
    ▸ Value Added Work: Load database locally. Write SQL
    queries by hand.
    ▸ Reporting: I update a spreadsheet (Google docs).
    

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35. A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE FROM STRIPE (FORUM STATS)
    ▸ Data Source: A backup of our Discourse database.
    ▸ Value Added Work: Load database locally. Execute a rake
    task. Output a CSV file.
    ▸ Reporting: Copy/paste the CSV file into a spreadsheet
    (Google docs).
    

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36. A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE FROM STRIPE (FORUM STATS)
    ▸ Data Source: Integrate with Discourse via a plugin.
    ▸ Value Added Work: Load database in a VM. Execute a
    rake task. Output a CSV file. Save stats in persistent DB.
    ▸ Reporting: Output the graph to a URL, behind a login.
    

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37. SEEK THEE OUT
    INTEGRATIONS
    

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38. FUNDAMENTAL THEORY OF RECURRING REVENUE BUSINESSES
    

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39. RADICALLY MORE VALUE,
    FASTER,
    FOR MY BEST CUSTOMERS
    

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40. SOFTWARE IS SOCIAL
    ▸ Aggressively solicit invitations to colleagues early in
    onboarding flow.
    ▸ Write emails designed to be forwarded to other people.
    ▸ Integrate with Slack.
    

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41. BUSINESSES ARE
    EXPENSIVE
    

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42. RETURNS ARE
    BACK-WEIGHTED
    

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43. MAKE FRIENDS.
    KEEP THEM.
    

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44. I LOVE TALKING TO PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU
    ▸ @patio11 or patrick@kalzumeus.com or patio11@stripe.com
    ▸ bit.ly/atlas-mc17 <— If you want to incorporate with Atlas
    (and please talk to me!)
    ▸ bit.ly/patio11-mc17 <— free course about lifecycle emails
    ▸ https://stripe.com/atlas/guide <— Nuts and bolts of business
    ▸ https://training.kalzumeus.com <— You all should be on my
    email list.
    

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