Entrepreneurship

Here’s Why I Love Working on SaaS

By Dennis Seymour · November 10, 2018

I’ve been doing online marketing for the past decade, promoting my own stuff as well as businesses of other people but I’ve recently transitioned to working on my own SaaS product and I can say that there’s really nothing like it.

I love e-commerce, I love the agency model but right now, I can definitely say that I am in love with the SaaS model. I definitely prefer it over the traditional agency model.

Why?

CONTROL

Sure, the agency service model will net you bigger returns per contract but with a SaaS model, you own the product, you get a more predictable monthly income, you can scale faster, you have more possible solutions to explore for various problems, and you definitely are in control of your destiny. You control what you product becomes, what you do to acquire users, to activate them, to convert them and so on.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

The actual product part is a lot of fun for me to be honest. Being part of the brainstorming, development and feedback loop is just so much fun.

Though it can get overwhelming fast, I definitely enjoy the process. If you don’t enjoy this part but like SaaS, be sure your partners love this part because your product will suffer if nobody on the team actually loves to improve it.

CHALLENGE

The challenge is also really crazy, both mentally and physically, at least for my most recent startup, SeriousMD.

The mental toll from all the product iteration, promotion efforts and so on, while traveling and meeting with users from all parts of the country is draining and balancing that with personal matters… well, let’s just say that I have to keep reminding myself of why I’m doing these things to keep myself sane LOL.

HIGH BARRIER TO ENTRY

SaaS is not for everyone. It also takes a lot of time and you’ll need a very good idea. You’ll also need a solid way to acquire users, activate users and build a good feedback loop.

If you’re a bootstrapped SaaS, then you’ll have to double the level of the challenge and if you’re a funded company, well, that has it’s own challenges.

On the flip side, there are less competitors and sometimes, practically zero direct competitors and that’s why I love it. For me, competitors in the market is just a nice to have but I’d rather be the only recognized player and have a monopoly especially on emerging industries.

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Anyway, this is just a quick post and it’s by no means telling you that SaaS is better than what you are doing now. This is just here to inspire soon-to-be SaaS founders and those already in the trenches with their own SaaS to remember what made them love SaaS so they’d push on and succeed.

Keep SaaS-ing.

How to Systematically Find an Idea that Will Make You Money

By Dennis Seymour · July 25, 2018

People ask me about this and you know what? I started off asking myself to do the same thing.

“I need to generate ideas to make money.”

I still do ask that myself as the entrepreneurial bug can never be squelched.

BUT, is generating a list of ideas enough to get you started?

Chances are, you are reading this because it hasn’t.

In most cases, you probably generated a list of ideas then it’s still stuck on your notebook or to-do list somewhere, right?

I know how that feels, I have a whole notebook with ideas from back then.

I’m creating this short post to help out a fellow entrepreneur out there that’s on the same boat I was.

I kept creating a list of ideas and taking no action because I simply didn’t know where to start.

So, what I did was to look at it from a different view to come up with a system that will help me filter make money ideas and help me take action on what I really want to do right now.

What can I do?

I start by asking myself, what can I do? Basically, this is a list of business ideas or services that I can offer. This can be really long or you can end up with just 2.

What ideas do I like?

This part is simple, which of the ideas from the list are things you’d “like” to do. It should be interesting to you. Why? Business is hard, and if you are engaged, you will keep pushing. It’s easier to quit if you don’t like what you are doing.

What do I want to do?

Now, filter which of these things that you actually like to do. Trust me, not everything on your list is something you’d like to do because most of them are tedious. Be honest, look at them and select what you really want to do.

What can I take action on now?

Now, the final step is to pick out which you can take action on right now. This is the “be realistic” step. You can’t do everything. You probably have a job. You probably need to spend time with your family. You probably have other hobbies. There’s just not enough time even if you hustle 24/7. So now, just pick 1 from the remaining business/ make money ideas because that’s all you have time for right now.

Having a hard time to pick 1? Pick your top 3 realistic things and from there, you’ll see that it’s easier to pick your number 1. As for the rest of your ideas? It’s not goodbye forever, just for now. You can come back later on after you execute what you realistically want and like to do.

Now, grab your notebook, write the four things above, take action and go be successful… then tell me about it.

People think we charge too much, but the others say we charge far too low. How do you deal with them?

By Dennis Seymour · June 23, 2018

Some say we charge too much.

Some say we charge too little.

Some say we shouldn’t be a subscription.

Some say we should be free.

What is it really?

We all know the famous saying that people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.

For most SaaS companies, what you create doesn’t really have an existing market. That means, you are a new product to the people you want to serve. It’s why you will certainly face some push-back to your pricing.

We faced that and are still facing that to this day even with ultra happy subscribers relying on our app daily.

It’s just the nature of the beast.

This post is not going to tell you how you can come up with the perfect pricing because there’s no such formula.

You know your value. You know your costs. I don’t.

That’s why you need to come up with your pricing yourself.

What this post is for is to show you how I look at these different segments and how to deal with people like them.

To those that say we charge too little

These are your top guys. They are the early adopters that are willing to test and will stay with you in the long run. They will be the ones that promote you to their friends. They are the people that see your value already. It won’t be hard to keep them, so be sure to keep them happy. Give them a good offer if you can. Communicate with them regularly and they will forever love you.

To those that say we charge too much

These are your middle of the pack guys. Either you lose them right off the bat or they give it a try and see the value in the long run. These are the people you nurture and if you lose them, you lose them. Don’t fret and get mad if they send you a message that you are expensive. Just keep your cool and realize that they don’t know you. The fact that they are there tells you that they are interested, it’s up to you and your team to close the deal. If you look at it like that, then you’ll start to see the possibilities and not just look at them like nagging prospects.

To those that say we shouldn’t be a subscription

You will get these people. Much like the previous group, you can still close these people. Don’t get angry. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you because they don’t know any better. They don’t know the costs involved, how much your servers are, how much a great developer is worth, how much support costs and so on. Chances are, these same people are using an existing software that they bought for a 1 time fee (and a 1 time setup fee) and in many cases, they are paying for maintenance costs, then they pay support costs if they need help. Now, isn’t that also a subscription? Get on the phone, talk to them about their concerns and show them how you differ. Trust me, the other party can’t match what you offer, it’s why they are contacting you nagging about you being a subscription!

To those that say we should be free

These are the worst type. These are freebie seekers or just spoiled from all the free stuff out there. There’s a lower chance to convert these people but if you do get the chance to get them on the phone, just explain what they are losing because of free-ware. Most industries have “standards” and what they are using are usually not complying to standards. Most of them also lack the stuff they need, it’s why the person contacted you. The usual suspects: mobility, encryption, security, limits, updates and support. There’s a reason why those are free, right? They just don’t realize it yet.

As you can see, there’s always a way to deal with these different segments of people.

Talk to them, pre-qualify them to see if you’re a great fit and go from there.

To many prospects, they just need somebody to talk to. At least in my experience, that already makes a world of difference.

In SaaS and Software, Just Do Your Best

By Dennis Seymour · May 25, 2018

Starting a SaaS company? Here’s my advice.

Just do your best.

That’s the only thing you can do.

Shit will come in non-stop. You won’t have much time to service everybody, especially since you are starting up. You just don’t have enough people.

Requests will come in.

DEMANDS will come in.

Things will fall apart when everything has been working perfectly for the past month! (Murphy’s Law)

Shit just happens.

That’s why after you filter the things and prioritize, just do your best and deliver a product that you’ll be proud of. A real, kick-ass product that your market needs.

Your users will appreciate what you do. It ALWAYS shows in your work if you really put everything into it.

Over time, they will learn to be patient. They will learn that it’s not magic and you can’t just magically make things appear inside your app as they appreciate the improvements you make.

There are also plenty of advantages for being small, one of which is your speed. Your competitors won’t be able to match your speed in churning out the things your users want. People love and appreciate that.

As your user gets to know you and your company, they will start to appreciate you more and understand what you’re dealing with on your end.

Just don’t forget to communicate it with them.

Sure, most of them won’t answer. Usually, you’d think that they don’t really see your notifications, newsletters and such but they do.

So on that end, just do your best and communicate with them as well as much as you can.

Cliche, I know, but this is coming from my own experiences.

Trust me, just do your best and things will work out.

The Other Day, Jimmy Told Me That He’d Build an “MVP” to Make All His Great Ideas Happen. Here’s What I Told Him.

By Dennis Seymour · April 25, 2018

“A Half Assed Product From a Bunch of Great Ideas??”

He didn’t like that tone one bit. He was pumped, but I shot it down. He was PISSED.

Not so positive, eh?

So, I asked him to calm down and let me explain.

As entrepreneurs, we’ve already made this mistake multiple times in our lives.

For new entrepreneurs, stop making the same mistakes as your predecessors and save valuable time.

It’s natural to want to turn a bunch of great ideas into a (crappy) product because you are short on time and you want to do everything at once.

What you’ll get in the end is what I call a half-assed product.

You have to face the facts and swallow your pride. You just can’t do everything you want at the same time if you want to do it well, that is.

Your time is limited, your resources are definitely limited and your focus is finite. Trust me, it is. You can only focus on so much each and every day.

Spreading yourself too thin will lead you to NOTHING.

It’s hard enough to do one thing right.

Trying to do ten things well at the same time? Just forget about it.

My advice? Sacrifice.

Cut your ambition in half. If your core product idea is great, then you are doing it for the greater good of those that need it, those that you will serve.

Your “MVP” is not just a product with half features chopped out. It’s not a way to get the product out the door earlier.

In fact, the MVP doesnt have to be a product at all.

An MVP is not something you build once and then consider the job done. An MVP is a process that you repeat over and over again. Your whole MVP is a constant process you need to improve upon to reach that one GOAL.

When you build a product, you make many assumptions.

You assume you know what users are looking for, how the design should work and so on. No matter how good you are, some of your assumptions will be wrong. The problem is, you dont know which ones are wrong.

That is why you have to build out a clear process for everything you build and do.

Focus on one thing at a time and put out a half-product that is already great on it’s own at what it does.

You’re better off with that than a half-assed whole product.

Most of your great ideas won’t seem all that great once you get some perspective, anyway. And if they truly are that fantastic, you can always do them later.

Trust the Process

As a Sixers’ fan, AKA, a Sam Hinkie fan, I do trust the process. Sometimes, it’s a chore, it’s a grind, but it usually works for the better in the end.

Focus on one great thing, build it, test, improve it, iterate. Then you can add your next great idea on your kick ass half-product.

How do you know? You’ll start getting messages like this…

I’m speaking from experience. From building my products, to eventually starting a SaaS app for doctors (seriousmd.com).

Even with a team of great minds, you can still fail by putting together a half-assed product.

Remember, directors cut good scenes.

Musicians drop good tracks to make a great album.

Writers eliminate good pages to make a book great.

Developers cut features to make something work better rather than having a cluttered UI.

Your MVP is a process.

Your MVP is a process.

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Don’t fill it up with everything. Focus on what’s important right now, the one thing that users really need. Then you can build further from there. This is my go-to “Trust the Process” Technique.

Now go, be smart, be motivated and build a kickass Half-Product. Then tell me about it!

What’s your kickass half-product?

Disrupting The Philippine Postal System

By Dennis Seymour · January 15, 2018

I ordered packages from Wish.com recently. I found a lot of neat shit in there and I know that I’m getting myself into. Most of them will be China products in the middle to low grade but a lot of the items are unique.

They guarantee 60 days turnover time, which is fine with me as I ordered a bunch of items that are just for kicks.

Then, the wait started.

7 days.

30 days.

I checked the tracking info inside the app. The stuff arrived in the Philippines in less than 2 weeks.

I asked Wish about it and they recommended that I wait it out and they will refund it for me if it doesn’t arrive in time.

I waited until the 70th day and asked for a refund.

A week later, the local post office dropped off a card to let me know that I had a package. Note: it was just 1 card (out of 6 orders) and I’m assuming the rest weren’t even processed yet.

So…

It took a good 2 months and a half to process my packages. Perhaps it took 2 months to process, then 2 weeks to send the card to me. The post office is a 15 minute walk from my place.

I’m in no way blaming the personnel in my local post office. I’ve met them and they are a hardworking bunch but I’m not so sure about what’s going on in there. I know there’s some kind of automation, but it’s a safe bet that most of the processes all pretty much manual. There might also be a lot more packages coming in nowadays and they are undermanned. I don’t know, there must be a reason.

I had somebody in the US order the same thing from the same Wish merchant. Item took 2 weeks to arrive in California. In less than a month, the item was with him.

See the issue there?

If not then let me put it like this:

The US is like a million miles a way and China is literally besides the Philippines. Come on! The math doesn’t add up!

Obviously, our postal system here in the Philippines is broken and needs a much needed upgrade.

If you guys in power are reading this, then yes, you can hire us to fix it for you but for entrepreneurs reading this post, this is an opportunity. It’s ripe for disruption.

Find a way to be the alternative to the Philippine postal system. Come up with something, I don’t know what, just come up with something. There must be a way to improve this and I’m sure it will be profitable as e-commerce grows bigger and bigger over the next years.

Why the Lean Startup Approach might be Wasting your Time

By Dennis Seymour · February 27, 2017

The lean startup approach has affected millions of entrepreneurs and their startups.

Our startup, for one, also adapted it.

Build, measure & learn.

Lean Startup Diagram — Drawn on Snapchat

It’s how you get from the assumption, to building it out, to tracking/learning from the data.

After all, the faster you test things, the faster you get to product-market fit, the closer you get to success. It’s why this approach is so effective.

But with all great things, there are times that it can be a detriment to your success.

As you already know, it’s very important to document and validate your assumptions.

The one thing that can definitely affect you is the time that you waste always trying to validate all your assumptions.