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

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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 #8 Think You Can Control It

Managers love control. It’s in their nature and it’s reflected in business maxims like “You can’t control what you don’t measure.” When you are selling a million dollar deal, you get lots of face-time with your prospect and there is considerable give-and-take on both sides. Not so online.

The need for control can lead good managers to make poor SaaS business decisions by favoring control over performance, such as increasing sales staff when there is insufficient inbound lead flow to support it. Or, spending money on low ROI email and paid search campaigns, rather than taking a decisive leap into the fuzzy worlds of social media and organic search.

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