What is the most difficult part of finding product-market fit in the SaaS industry?

Jasper Ruijs
16 replies
Serial entrepreneurs, what is the most difficult stage of finding a product-market fit in the SaaS industry? 

In the framework of: a) Market Research b). Ideation c) Customer Validation e) Finding Developers/Designers d) Product Development f) Audience Building/ growth hacking

Replies

Paul Rusyn
Everything is easy if you know how to do it
Andrey
@pavell2l Can't but agree :) The question aim is to improve the knowledge
Daria Andrea
i think it depends on specific problems you're faced with in each of these honestly, I like using the JTBD to pin point stuff like this
Triv Andhare
e) with an amendment: "Finding good Developers/Designers"
Jasper Ruijs
@trivial Maybe it is my personality, but usually I get along with designers. In my experience, most developers I have met, often have some kind of diva complex ;)
Meghna Bagri
I think audience building is the most difficult stage, because the audience you want to target is already exposed to so many similar solution. And it's very important to tell them about you unique proposition.
Andrey
@meghna_bagri You are right, there are many solutions out there and it's difficult to make people even listen to say nothing about trying a product.
Jasper Ruijs
@meghna_bagri @andrey_mi How do you work around this inconvenience?
Andrey
@meghna_bagri @jas801 Just trying to use all available means to reach as many potential customers as possible.
Gordian Overschmidt
Let me phrase it like this: All points can be an equal challenge but your list is missing the g.) Make customers adopt to and pay for the product/service.
Roman Velitskiy
@gordianoverschmidt Absolutely agree. Conversion and retention is, in todays extremely fast pace of incoming information, the most challenging task.
Jasper Ruijs
@gordianoverschmidt @rvelitskiy I am growth hacker, so that is the one point, I actually never worry about.
Gordian Overschmidt
@jas801 Sorry, your growth hack (f) includes paying customers?!? But there we are. To me, research and ideation is not even a topic to talk about. Maybe you can re-define your question?
Jasper Ruijs
@Gordian Overschmid, I never said that I paid customers? The question was not what I think is the most difficult, but what others think is the most difficult. Growth Hacking takes time and the willingness to try new ideas. But like everything in the business department. If you have the experience, it becomes easier. Einstein put it well: “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” In my experience, optimization or adjustment is easier than doing research or ideation because ideation and research involve people, and those are often conflict-avoidant and biased. In contrast, data never lies, but human pattern recognition can be a nuisance. Although depending on how you perceive people and do business, I can understand that others can have a different opinion.
Vaibhav Namburi
Product Channel fit tbh