Productized service x SaaS

Hello and welcome to 1,2,3 Product Weekly - read by startup founders, creators, and product marketers looking to learn constantly. Support on Patreon and get weekly resources directly in your inbox.

To new subscribers, welcome onboard, and thank you.

Here is what to expect in this Saturday’s newsletter:

• Productized service meets SaaS

• Building community before SaaS

• Vendr, Folderly, Chatdesk

1. Productized service as an acquisition channel for SaaS

My First Million (MFM) is one of my go-to podcasts that I catch up with weekly. It has become public knowledge that Sam sold his newsletter The Hustle to HubSpot.

Initially, it did not make sense why a SaaS company would acquire a weekly newsletter company for over $25 million. However, it looks normal today, with the latest acquisition being Robinhood taking over Chartr (Data storytelling newsletter).

I recently wrote about Brian Dean’s Exploding Topics after selling his blog Backlinko to Semrush, another software.

The play here is SaaS acquiring content platforms with one goal - as an acquisition channel.

Productized service x SaaS

However, there is a new play taking shape - SaaS can either acquire, launch, or partner with service companies to accelerate customer acquisition.

Syed Balkhi - Founder and CEO of Awesome Motive which owns a portfolio of software and blogs including WPBeginner, OptiMonster, and more was on the latest MFM episode where he shared on this new play.

Here is an example Syed shared on how SaaS can partner with service companies in customer acquisition and then do a revenue split.

Example company; Seahawk managing and maintaining web hosting for clients.

The company has partnered with web hosting companies like WordPress, GoDaddy, and others to help manage their clients’ sites. And now these companies are white-labeling Seahawk Media’s talent to help everything with website management.

Syed mentioned they are working on their own productized service focused on web development via WPBeginner.

Note: The catch for SaaS founders to offer the service component and add extra revenue, is to acquire top-tier talent offshore (LatAm, Asia, Africa, and others)

2. Lean bootstrapping & Audience before Product

How AudiencePlus built audience before products

I have been keeping tabs on audience building for creators before launching SaaS, and the successful launches are impressive. However, it is rare to come across a SaaS company that built its audience way before launching products.

AudiencePlus is such an example and worth checking out.

Co-founder and CEO Anthony Kennada shared some insights on building the audience before the product worth noting;

Understand your target persona: Anthony suggests deeply understanding your target persona to tailor content and narratives that resonate with them, fostering a stronger connection with your audience.

Build a muscle around content creation: Anthony highlights the importance of practice and consistency in content creation to improve your skills and build a stronger connection with your audience.

Prioritize audience building: Anthony Kennada emphasizes the importance of developing an audience before creating a product, ensuring a strong foundation for product-market fit and better customer engagement.

Lean bootstrapping by YouCanBookMe

Bridget Harris, Founder and CEO of YouCanBookMe shared her journey to scaling the online booking startup to $5m in revenue through lean bootstrapping.

First, as a founding here are the three skills you need to succeed;

• Someone who can actually code

• Someone good in operations and finance

• A creative designer of sorts ( marketing, product)
  

Second, when bootstrapping cash is king. If you run off ‘fuel’ your success chances get narrowed really fast.

Lastly, on talent acquisition, pay as much as you can, and create a sort of minimal acceptable offer for people. 

3.Vendr, Folderly, and Chatdesk

Chatdesk - The CEO Aneto Okonkwo shared insights on upselling to existing customers on the SaaSOpen presentation. Here are the four lessons I picked from the video;

• First, the customers use the product ( free tool, freemium, free demo)

• Shorten your time to value such that the customers get their money quickly.

• Structure your pricing in terms of units, rather than fixed prices. However, this depends on the product.

• Stabilize the user before upselling. This is about timing when the customers may need extra features to upsell them.

Folderly Inc - Michael Maximoff CEO and co-founder of Folderly Inc shared several lessons on increasing email reply rate.

Vendr - Ariel Diaz shared a presentation on SaaSOpen and why employing velocity is a sustainable advantage against the competition. Here are the excerpts that I shared on LinkedIn.

Join the Product Letter

Become a member on Patreon, and get all the archives and deep dives like this; Product Positioning; Why 95% Miss the Mark.

Also, let's work on your startup - from product positioning, launch and even scaling. Send me a message on LinkedIn.

Thanks for reading!

God’s speed.

Okerosi