SaaS companies and startups have a tortured relationship.
They’re codependent, but the relationship is usually one-sided and always very tumultuous. Startups are notorious for commitment issues and SaaS for being unreliable.
This shouldn’t be the way of things. No one wins when startups are promiscuous, and I honestly think startups are playing the field simply because they don’t know any better. CXOs don’t have the time to evaluate potential partners before investing in strained relationships. They make bad choices, and then regret them.
Truthfully, a boot-strapped startup without a lot of cash doesn’t need that many SaaS. Even venture-funded startups don’t need that many SaaS because it simply doesn’t scale. You don’t just buy more SaaS when you have more funding or more people. As I explain in my blog post about technology as a tool, that’s not the point.
SaaS should help your business be better. This means they should increase efficiency while lowering costs. Here are 3 types of SaaS you need for a startup. Choose one of each and stick with it.
1. Analytics/Optimization
The first type of SaaS you need to succeed in business is often the last one purchased by many data-unsavvy CXOs. Analytics can be intimidating for people who don’t have professional experience, but it’s 100% necessary for growth.
Too many startups are caught in a negative feedback loop called “survival.” Your goal as a startup is not to survive — it’s to thrive. Better knowledge of your target consumer, your market, and your competition is the only way to bigger sales.
3 Options:
2. CRMs/Project Management
Project management is one of the most unforgiving roles in any company. You’re expected to make sure everything goes right. Perfection is the standard and a single mistake can spell disaster. Not to mention you’re constantly overworked because the CXOs (some of whom have never project managed anything) will never understand how much work you actually do.
And guess what? As efficiency increases, we’ll all continue to take on project management duties. Even if we aren’t full-time project managers.
That’s why customer relationship management and project management software are so important. Whether you’re using Salesforce or SmartSheets, CXOs and line managers alike should all know how to use these programs.
3 Options:
3. Marketing Automation
Marketing spend is going up every year, but no one’s surprised. Content marketing continues to evolve with evolving channels, and market for marketing is still wide open.
If you wanted to market your brand the way it deserves to be marketed, your marketing department has to be anywhere from 2x to 10x as big as it is right now. Obviously, that isn’t an option. And that’s why marketing automation exists. A combination of analytics and project management, marketing automation software is indispensable for startups and Fortune 500 companies alike.
3 Options:
Eloqua
There are a handful of other major SaaS types and thousands more options to choose from. I haven’t gone over social media scheduling, time management, mail merge, etc. because the 3 categories I described are the minimum for success. Everything else is nice, but not necessary.
Disagree? Let me know which 3 SaaS you think are absolutely crucial to startup success.
