This saas business model guide template has 10 pages and is a MS Word file type listed under our business plan kit documents.
Sample of our saas business model guide template:
A Brief Guide on The SaaS Business Model A Condensed Guidebook to Help You Understand the SaaS Business Model Table of Contents Introducing the SaaS Business Model 3 Why Do You Need the SaaS Business Model? 3 The Steps for Building the SaaS Business Model 4 Step #1: Start with a Problem 4 Step #2: Create a Solution 4 Step #3: Create Your One-Page Pitch 4 Step #4: Define Your Customer Avatar 5 Step #5: Validate Your SaaS Idea 6 Step #6: Develop Your Minimum Viable Product 6 Step #7: Determine Your Pricing Strategy 7 Step #8: Focus on Your Brand 7 Step #9: Handle the Legalities 7 Step #10: Plan for Third-Party Integration 8 Step #11: Focus on Financing 8 Step #12: Build Your Solution 9 Step #13: Launch Your Solution 9 Switching to the Saas Model 9 Introducing the SaaS Business Model Software as a service (SaaS) has become an increasingly popular means of delivering software to consumers in the 21st century. The model involves a company providing access to a piece of software in exchange for a subscription fee. Often, this is done as a replacement of previous software business models, such as providing a standalone copy of the software for a larger amount of money. The SaaS business model aims to achieve higher rates of client retention by providing cost-effective access to software while ensuring the provided software is kept up to date. The result is a recurring and predictable revenue stream. Many investors and potential purchasers of a business will look for evidence of recurring revenue when coming up with their valuations and making their offers. This document explains why this may be the model for you and offers steps on how to create your SaaS model Why Do You Need the SaaS Business Model? The SaaS business model offers several advantages, particularly to start-up software companies. Chief among these are the lower operating costs that come with only having to adapt your software to web browsers. With traditional software, you must adapt to different operating systems, which is a more complex and costly process. The SaaS model also offers predictability by offering software with a subscription rather than providing it as a standalone process. In addition to ensuring your business always has money coming in, a recurring revenue model also attracts investors and potential buyers. Finally, SaaS allows you to offer superior services to your clients. In addition to being easier to use than most traditional software, as users don't have to try and configure the software to work on their systems, SaaS allows users to benefit from your consistent stream of iterations and updates. The Steps for Building the SaaS Business Model Step #1: Start With a Problem Before you can offer any type of service to consumers, you must think of a problem that needs solving. Your software should act as the solution to this problem, thus offering value that entices consumers. There are many ways to find a problem to solve. Your experience in your chosen industry may mean you have first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced by people within the sector. If you haven't worked within the industry you aim to serve, surveying those who do work within it may reveal issues that your software could tackle. Step #2: Create a Solution Identifying a problem means little if you do not have a solution. With help from those in the industry that you aim to serve, develop a solution that solves the problem while providing a better fix than anything else on the market. You do not necessarily need to begin developing your solution at this stage. However, you need to have a viable concept for a solution in place. Step #3: Create Your One-Page Pitch You need to get your idea on paper. Thankfully, you don't have to jump straight into writing an extensive business plan. At this stage, you aim to solidify four key things: Strategy Tactics Business model Schedule Your strategy is about what your SaaS business will do. Here, you explain the problem you've discovered and the solution you provide. You will also define your unique value proposition. Tactics focus on how you're going to do the thing you're planning to do. You'll write about which professionals you may need to hire to create your solution. You may also list the marketing channels you're likely to use. With your business model, you're not looking for a detailed sales forecast yet. Instead, use this section to outline your main expenses and primary revenue streams. In the SaaS business model, the primary revenue stream will be recurring subscriptions from your customers. Finally, your schedule covers who will complete the required tasks and when they'll complete them. Here, you set the goals and milestones you need to reach to get the business up and running. Step #4: Define Your Customer Avatar What does your ideal customer look like? If you don't have an answer to that question, you may not be solving the right problem with your SaaS product. A customer avatar allows you to get to know the key characteristics of the people you'll serve. Use this avatar to define the background of your ideal customer, as well as the industry they work in. Think about their role in their industry and the various challenges this person faces. All of this is information that you will use when targeting your marketing campaigns. Step #5: Validate Your SaaS Idea Before investing capital into the development of your SaaS idea, you must validate it, based on what your ideal customers want and what your competitors are doing. Talk to your potential customers, either directly or through surveys, to confirm that they're facing the challenge you identified at the start of the process. Talk about your intended solution and listen to what they tell you
