Top Ten Dos and Don'ts of SaaS

Build a successful software-as-a-service business

Copyright 2009 by Joel York at Chaotic Flow.

saas top ten dos and don'ts

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The Top Ten Dos of SaaS Success

SaaS Do #1 - Choose a Large Market

SaaS Do #2 - Create a Hub on the Web

SaaS Do #3 - Accelerate Organic Growth

SaaS Do #4 - Craft a Compelling Story

SaaS Do #5 - Build the Business into the Product

SaaS Do #6 - Reach across the Firewall

SaaS Do #7 - Monetize Creatively

SaaS Do #8 - Enable Mass Customization

SaaS Do #9 - Open Up to the Cloud

SaaS Do #10 - Leverage Your Community

The Top Ten Surefire Ways to Fail at SaaS

SaaS Don't #1 - Chase Elephants

SaaS Don't #2 - Waste Money Marketing Offline

SaaS Don't #3 - Launch without Online Trial

SaaS Don't #4 - Cover up Shortcomings with People

SaaS Don't #5 - Invest in Channel Partners too Early

SaaS Don't #6 - Bleed Cash Indefinitely

SaaS Don't #7 - Ignore the Long Tail

SaaS Don't #8 - Think You Can Control It

SaaS Don't #9 - Fail to be Creative

SaaS Don't #10 - Depend on Network Effects

Chaotic Flow

Streamlined angles on turbulent technologies

Software-as-a-Service Success

The Top Ten Dos and Don’ts of SaaS Business Success

The Don’ts: Ten Surefire Ways to Fail at SaaS

SaaS Don't #10 Depend on Network Effects

There is one lesson everyone should have learned from the dot com crash. If you build it, there is absolutely no guarantee that anyone whatsoever will come. You can’t build a Web business on network effects alone; you must create significant, direct value for every single customer (at every single network node per se). Before you start selling your investors on those exponential growth projections predicated on viral marketing, socializing your application and network monetization, make sure you can get there from here—satisfy your very first customer.

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