Making Money with Saas @ Seattle Startup Day

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you make a living with SaaS decided to So, ’ve Jeff Lawson jeff@twilio.com @jeffiel

description

Jeff Lawson speaks about how to figure out pricing for your SaaS product at Seattle 2.0 Startup Day 2010

Transcript of Making Money with Saas @ Seattle Startup Day

Page 1: Making Money with Saas @ Seattle Startup Day

youmake a living

with SaaS

decided toSo, ’ve

Jeff [email protected]

@jeffiel

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value created - some discount

= your price

simple, universal pricing formula

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Businesses: mostly rationalMake Money

orSave Money

BOTTOM LINE

Consumer

OR

Business

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ConsumersAreNotRational

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Businessesare PrettyRationalEvery decision driven two factors...

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IncreaseRevenue

ReduceCosts

ORMeasurable Value

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Whiten your teeth with Colgate Dental Proadvertisement

Xlearn more

No measurable value?Stick ads on it!

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measurable value

business customersNeat!

have a framework for

so

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Be Proudand put a price on

the value you’re generating

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Start

Does my service generate value?

Back to the drawing board How Much Value?

YesNo

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Cost Based Pricing

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Margin =ProfitPrice

Profit = Price - Cost

Price = Cost / (1-m )

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Price = Cost / (1-m )

Price = $10 / (1-0.5)

Target Margin: 50% (0.5)Costs: $10

= $20

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What if your unit costs are basically zero?

Web Server Web Server

MySQL

$200 / mo

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Value Based Pricing

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Are they......saving money

by replacing a more expensive solution?  

...saving money on efficiency because of you?  

...generating more revenue because of you?

HOW MUCH?

HOW MUCH?

HOW MUCH?

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Competitive Pricing

Red Herring, see previous slide.

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$$$

Cost Based Value Based

Competition

sanity check:

do they converge?

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IsIt?

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Customer Feedback Loops

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Split Testing

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$1,000 / Mo + 0.001 / Msg$0 / Mo + 0.10 / Msg

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Talk to potential customers, learn the value prop during private beta

(which can be free)

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Start conservative, drop prices if needed

Raise prices if merited, but

don’t fool people :)

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IsIt?

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If you’re unsure, just make more pricing

options.

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Maybe I need mustard instead

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Figure out value generated

Test with Potential Customers

Free Private Beta

Go Public with a Price Tag

Adjust as necessary, ideally down.

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Jeff [email protected]

@jeffiel