Step 1: Creating a Value Proposition for Your SaaS Product
There is no sense in creating something nobody wants. As a result, you must first establish what value your SaaS product will provide to the market before writing any code. We developed a method for answering this question and ensuring that you develop an innovative, user-focused solution:
What problem are you aiming to address with your SaaS product?
The first step is to figure out what problem you are attempting to solve. After all, how can you know what value you are providing if you do not understand the issue your SaaS solution tries to tackle?
Who is Your Main Target?
Once you have decided what to address, the next step is to figure out whom you are addressing it. It may appear obvious, but actively determining your users is an important stage in ensuring that your SaaS service is useful.
You should learn about them in terms of demographics, psychology, and observed behavior. You will eventually need to develop UX Personas, so any research you do now will come in handy.
How are your Target Stakeholders currently dealing with the problem?
There is certainly a solution in your market already, even if the competitor who provides it is an indirect one.
Take, for example, the automobile industry, which was founded by Henry Ford and revolutionized transportation. It would be simple to state that he had no rivals.
People were, however, addressing the issue of moving from A to B before the Model T was introduced. They rode horses. As indirect as it may appear, there was still competition in Ford’s market.
Most likely, your target market already has a solution to the problem you want to address. It is vital to understand not just how they’re doing it but also who is doing it for them.
Why is Your SaaS Product Better Than the Current Solution?
It is time to lay out how your product is superior to those solutions.
What are you bringing to the table that no one else is?
You will have to persuade your market to abandon their existing solution and switch to yours, so you will need a compelling reason why they should.
Sum up Your Value Proposition in an Elevator Pitch
The final stage in preparing your SaaS solution for development is to distill your value proposition into an easy-to-understand elevator pitch.
The elevator pitch you offer should be simple, stupid, and crystal clear. The reader or listener of this elevator pitch should know exactly what your value is and why your SaaS solution is worth adopting. After that, you are ready to move on to step two: setting the assumptions necessary to validate with your SaaS service.
Here is a sample template:
[Name of your SaaS product] was designed for [your target stakeholders] who [identify the issue they are trying to solve]. [Name of your SaaS product] is a [statement of its primary value]. We [explain what sets you apart from the competition].STEP 2: Make a list of the Key Assumptions You will Need to Verify
Make a list of all the assumptions you have about your product. Verify them once you have made this list.
Begin by researching existing solutions to identify assumptions that have already been proved. Once you have identified the “pre-validated” ideas, cross them off your list.
Then, you must decide which assumptions can only be validated/proven through creating a SaaS product.
Once you have figured out which assumptions need to be validated with a product, you should also establish the KPIs to assess whether your expectations are valid. This might be anything from adoption rates and retention ratios to other metrics.
You are now equipped with the knowledge you need to move on to the next stage: building something that validates those assumptions as soon as possible.
STEP 3: Verify Your Assumptions as Quickly as Possible
It is time to make a list of features to include in the first version of your SaaS solution after completing your list of assumptions and elevator pitch.
Examine your list of assumptions and figure out what function(s) is required to validate them. Then compare it to your elevator pitch to ensure that these components exhibit your value proposition.
Leave any features that do not verify your assumptions or exhibit the value proposition of your solution.
At this point, you should have a brief set of features that prioritize addressing your users’ issues. You are ready to proceed to the first stage of building your SaaS solution: choosing the appropriate tech stack.
Step 4: Deciding on the Tech Stack for Your SaaS Product
Many SaaS applications utilize a variety of popular technologies.
React, Angular, or Vue.js are popular front-end technologies. Node.js and Django are popular back-end platforms. These have grown in popularity as they are lightweight, enable high performance at a lower cost, and make scaling easier.
Next, you will need a database. These contain all of the data your SaaS solution needs. PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB are just a few of the popular databases out there.
Finally, you will need a SaaS hosting provider. Any reputable cloud service will work. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and Microsoft are all well-known for their dependability, flexibility, and most importantly, security.
With these being the most popular SaaS stack configurations, it is probable that their talent pools will be bigger. This implies that if you pick one of the above stacks, onboarding talent will be easier than if you pick one of the less common ones.
To make a more educated decision on the specific stack to utilize, I recommend learning the basics of tech first. Remember that technical decisions at this point are also business judgments.
Then, I advise you to conduct some more study by looking at your competitors. If they are already successful in your industry, they are almost certainly using the appropriate technology stack.
You can also ask your technical Jedi contacts about the stack they would choose. You may even contact a software development firm to inquire what they think you should construct it in. Most reliable firms will happily comply with this request, as long as you keep in mind that everyone you ask has their own preferences (particularly if they want to work with you
Once you decide on the tech stack that best suits your needs, it is time to go looking for some great talent developers to assist you in developing it.
Step 5: Building Your SaaS Product Development Team
There are three strategies for finding the appropriate technical stakeholders to create your SaaS product.
- Find a CTO/Technical Co-Founder
- Hire a Freelance Developers Team
- Work with a high-quality Software Development Company
If you can find the right CTO/Technical Co-Founder, you should immediately onboard them and never look back.
Having a senior technical stakeholder on your team to handle both building your SaaS product and growing your technological staff is unquestionably beneficial. That being said, finding the ideal person for the position may take a long time.
It’s critical to make sure that the technical people you bring on board are following the most effective practices.
If you do decide to work with freelancers, keep in mind that you will be in charge of the team. This can be a significant burden for a non-technical entrepreneur, especially when you have to think about business aspects.
If you work with a business partner who does not adhere to the industry norm, you could run into difficulties in terms of user experience, scalability, security, and dependability.
This also applies if you choose to work with a software firm.
The most difficult part of finding a software agency is separating the wheat from the chaff. If you pick the wrong partner, things can go horribly wrong.
This is simply because the agency they worked with did not follow industry best practices. The convoluted mess of code our team had to unravel simply could not be salvaged, and it had to be deleted.
This blunder is both time and money costly, and not all entrepreneurs have the luxury of getting a second chance. That isn’t to say that you cannot develop a successful SaaS product with an agency; you just need to make sure you do your homework and pick the appropriate partner for the position.
Aside from ensuring that the technical stakeholder you pick follows good work habits, there is one last thing to consider:
It’s critical that the technical stakeholder you pick aligns with your product and business goals.
This is true for both CTOs and freelancers, as well as agencies. You are never going to completely agree with your technical stakeholder, no matter how much time you spend together. However, you must have a single objective in mind.
Once you have located the right technical stakeholders and developed and thoroughly tested your SaaS solution, it is time to move on to the next stage: the launch.
