Want to build SaaS? Amazing,but don't start with it.

Question

You are 99% likely to fail with SaaS as a first startup for 2 reasons:

— Not enough audience to support you
— Not enough knowledge about customers' problems

Odds are against you 🥲

Start with these products to solve these issues.

Launching SaaS next would be a piece of cake.

1) Curated list
2) Notion template
3) Newsletter
4) Closed community
5) 30-day challenge
6) 1-person agency
7) Pre-recorded course
8) Podcast
9) Email course
10) Blog

Full thread — https://twitter.com/DanKulkov/status/1543663255230377985

What product idea would you add?

Sushil Sharma · Accepted Answer

@kronop Seriously, I started making a curated list before I launch my main freebie product. I was thinking in the same line with my partner to hunt for a small product first and then the main product. Your discussion came at the right time. Thanks, man.

Sushil Sharma · Answer

Thanks, Dan for sharing it. Really helpful.

Sveta Bay · Answer

E-book is a popular one also!

Prachi Gupta · Answer

Research tool to survey my target audience and early adopters

G. M. Mehdi · Answer

What would you say to founders who've built a great product with enough of no.2(solving real problems) but not enough of no.1 which is the community?

Krati Gupta · Answer

this is a good roadmap. thanks for sharing.

Prajwal Prakash · Answer

Interesting take! I think the audience point is definitely relevant. But to get more insight into customers' problems, one key has to be to get actual feedback on what you're building. SaaS companies also fail because they launch late and can't pivot.

Dan Kulkov · Answer

@prachi_gupta2 love it! sounds really smart

Dan Kulkov · Answer

@basv ebook is a great product for sure!

Aspen Chadderdon · Answer

The start-up I recently started with has built a great community around the product and was founded by a team with first-hand experience of the problem. This post gives great insight into why people are willing to jump on board with the SaaS model.

Dan Kulkov · Answer

@sushil_sharma2 glad that you liked it Sushil!

Dan Kulkov · Answer

@bobby_swinson it takes less time to ship an MVP, it often can be cheaper or even free for customers, it's easier to market

Dan Kulkov · Answer

@g_m_mehdi you can't know the problem without having a community. spend more time gathering people

G. M. Mehdi · Answer

@kronop I agree. In my case I'm creating a product for marketers, to help with marketing, and being a marketer myself I'm not unfamiliar with common problems. So while I may not have built the community for my product launch, I'd like to think I'm aware of its issues and available solutions.

Want to build SaaS? Amazing,but don't start with it.

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