Ask HN: How to get a B2B SaaS idea, and get cutomers?

24 points by redmaple 7 years ago

I want to build a revenue generating project but not sure how to find an idea and customers for it. Any advice would be appreciated.

sontek 7 years ago |

Work at a business and look for problems within it that aren’t being solved. This can be inefficient processes that could be solved with software or replacing vendors you’re unhappy about with a better solution.

You won’t be able to find a B2B problem from the outside. You need to be inside and observe. If you pay attention you’ll find a ton of business ideas.

newman8r 7 years ago | |

Also, you can make a list of every job you've had in the past, and see if you can recall the inefficiencies you or others encountered.

justaguyhere 7 years ago |

Some ideas:

Look at tasks for which Excel is being used, but not really built for

Find a successful product that is desktop based, make a web version of it

Find a successful product that is not well designed (it is successful maybe because it was first) and do it better

Find tasks that are done manually, but can be automated, and automate them

Look at "traditional" biz rather than software biz - these businesses are likely to be less tech savvy and probably use outdated tools and tech.

dawie 7 years ago |

1) Find a market that (a) is using software (b) make $100K a year and (c) is reachable 2) Reach out to business owners telling them you are doing research and are looking for business problems. 3) Get on the phone with these people and talk about their problems. 4) Once you have found a problem build a quick MVP and share it with them.

ziddoap 7 years ago |

My advice would be to not worry about getting advice about customers until you have a solid idea and execution plan. No need to put the cart in front of the horse.

Identify a need in a community, build a product around that need.

smt88 7 years ago |

Get the customers first. They could be family members in a certain industry, coworkers, friends, etc.

Then ask them what they'd pay for if you built it. If it's scalable and cashflow positive, you have a business. If not, you don't.

verdverm 7 years ago |

Scratch your own itch. What is something you want to do, or be done, differently?

I'm a dev and got tired of boilerplate code and refactoring, among many other things. So I built something that makes me 10X+ more productive. Now looking for users and customers.

nellypat 7 years ago |

You could also find something that is not being done perfectly or it is dominated by one player but has potential for niche expansion. Random example: accounting software for dry cleaners...

kayhi 7 years ago |

Find forums that are industry specific and read about their questions/problems

agforthree 7 years ago | |

Any examples in the bank/fintech space?

krb 7 years ago | | |

Who is your target customer in the space? There will be different spaces based on if you're targeting the CTO vs CMO, for example.