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SaaS Application
In recent years I have written a lot about SaaS applications. I quickly count about 117 articles on ITpedia. SaaS has many aspects and I thought it would be a good idea to make a SaaS application myself. Curious about what I would come across. But before I started, I thought carefully about my conditions. Fortunately I am a programmer by origin, so I didn’t have to worry about that.
At this stage there are no users and no colleagues or clients yet. Just an idea. I was able to draw up my own conditions. I want it to be a real SaaS application, so what conditions does it have to meet?
SaaS usually comes via the internet and is a web 3.0 solution. That makes is easy for me because it is scalable and easy to manage. Moreover, the chance of technical failure is small and the hosting provider takes a lot of work off my hands. Also when making changes, I only have to do that in one place. That saves a lot of work with new releases.
At this point I didn’t have a clue about how my SaaS application would facilitate your life, I waited with that until point 12. What I knew was that the application had to be very accessible. Super easy to use and a feast for the eyes. People who would use it must love it and keep coming back.
The mistake of creating a Dutch-language website and then translating it into English you make only once. You get a lot of misery if you want to bring a multilingual solution to the market. I will make this new application only in English and other languages are not involved. Most people with some education speak English so that does not have to be an issue for an intelligent SaaS user.
Although I work 12 hours a day, I have a lazy nature. And lazy people by definition want to delegate as much as possible. I also don’t want to have any employees, a few maybe. Employees are people and people have problems. The more people the more problems and the employer is often a victim of this. That’s why I want to automate as much as possible. Business processes such as registering, paying and unsubscribing, for example.
Far too often I have seen SaaS applications that had both simple mobile screens and more complex PC screens. Aaagr! I would certainly not make that. Because I want to do as much as possible myself, everything must be operable with only a Smartphone. As admin I want to be able to manage my clients on a towel on the beach in Spain. The same thing should be possible for my resellers and users.
The SaaS application must be generic, which means that you can make a lot of settings. But, I am not going to make a custom version for you. That is far too much work for me to keep up with. I want to keep the price low, so all development costs must be spread over all subscribers. Moreover, a user can start immediately.
The SaaS business model certainly has advantages. A user does not have to invest in a SaaS application. This is also possible because there is no customization. Everyone must be able to become a member and also be able to cancel every month. Every month a debit is made and if that stops, the membership will also stop. The monthly amount must be manageable and may not raise an additional threshold. The SaaS business model must mean a big saving for the customer.
Because I am lazy, do not want any staff and also don’t want to spend a lot of money on advertizing, I have to use affiliates, resellers and customers who want to promote my SaaS application. They may cost me money, but I run little risk. I only pay them when the user’s first payment arrives. Because I want loyal resellers I pay them a monthly recurring revenue (MRR), as long as the member stays. On the other hand, I also want to become terribly rich. So it has to be a killer application to draw many members that stay.
To convince the user that this is the best conceivable application for his problem, he can use it for free for a while. And when his trial period is over he can just stop for free. In fact, he does not have to do anything, it automatically stops when he didn’t pay. The duration of the trial period is at least 2 weeks. However, the reseller can decide whether this is extended to a month or 2 months. In that case we both do not earn anything for a while.
I have looked at several payment methods and what I was looking for was a system that could do recurring collections. After all, we want monthly payments without having looking after them. The Dutch would like to pay with Ideal and in other countries they other preferences. In fact, these are all small local systems. This is a difficult decision to make, because it has to be huge (thinking big but start small). In addition, the new European legislation imposes stringent requirements on recurring collections. First a separate agreement for payments from a bank account and then you can make collections from, for example, a credit card.
What a misery. If you are looking for convenience, only one system remains intact. And that is PayPal, easy paying with your e-mail address and more than 200,000,000 users worldwide. Recurring payments start in one go and users can stop it with one click. I may miss a number of customers who only want to work with Ideal, but your bank account can be linked to PayPal. I may have to reconsider this point later if the thresholds turn out to be too high.
No, I don’t want to invest much money in it, and that is possible because I have a VPS that already has other web applications running on it. That VPS is underloaded, the only thing I need is a good domain name. Since it is a crazy plan, I have registered www.insaneplan.com. Finally, I have to invest time, a lot of time. My estimate is at least half a year to make it run smoothly.
What should my SaaS application be about? What problem does it solve? And do people want to spend money for that? Before I started programming in May, I thought about that for a long time. If the price is low, many people need to be interested before I get a reasonable income from it. I had already done some experiments with planning software with an Outlook integration. That worked well but is the market big enough ..?
And then I talked to someone about a Hyves Widget that I once made, a calorie counter. There are many users worldwide for it, because many people want to lose weight. I immediately saw the possibilities for SaaS, but also that the original did not meet my new convenience requirements. The counter must have a super low threshold. Moreover, there are already many free counters so I had to come up with something that made it worth paying for.
I have offered the first version to a select group of testers in India, Brazil and Holland. Now I am processing the results of the first test round at www.insaneplan.com. I overlooked the feedback and realized I need more focus. After making a lot of changes a second test round can start now. Early adapters can register en start testing right away. They receive a lifelong membership when they provide feedback. Don’t hesitate, just join and try ….
In a subsequent article I want to talk further about the MVP and USP of InsanePlan, if I still have time to write of course.
Lees de Nederlandse versie.
(Insaneplan is renamed to Foods and Diets)
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