History shows that uncertain times can give rise to incredibly successful companies, including SaaS businesses. Build a SaaS app for commercial use and seize new emerging market opportunities.
COVID-19 has changed the world in many profound ways. We're just beginning to understand what the “new normal” is going to look like.
What we do know is that the economy will eventually recover (albeit in a changed way) and that many new business ideas will emerge as a result of new problems entrepreneurs will solve. SaaS companies are ideally positioned to realize success in a "new normal". By building a SaaS app and launching a new business, you can leverage your experience to take advantage of new opportunities in specialized and vertical markets.
Considering launching a SaaS app? Here are a few things to consider as you start your SaaS app.
1. Look to history for inspiration.
There’s never a “right or wrong” time to grow a startup. In previous global recessions, some of the most well-known brands launched and began to thrive..
- General Electric - Launched in 1892 as the world entered a 16-month recession with a business downturn of 40%.
- Microsoft - With the global economy crippled by a trifecta of the 1973 oil crisis, a major stock market crash, and an ensuing 16-month recession, Microsoft launched into the public domain in 1975.
- Salesforce, Google, Facebook - Each of these tech giants launched just as recessions hit in the late 90s and early 2000s. This didn’t stop their quest for growth, and today they have a combined valuation of nearly $73 billion.
2. Stay focused.
Launching a startup is challenging at the best of times. This is the heart of what entrepreneurship is all about. Finding and creating opportunities in your market that your competitors might have overlooked or given up on, and mapping out creative ways to lean into any obstacles and setbacks. By keeping a focus on the things you can control, and remaining agile in your approach to growth, your chances of riding out this recession are higher. Your competitors may not be so calm during the chaos, which will give you even more chance of success on the other side.
3. Keep consistent.
Don’t give up on your growth roadmap. By remaining consistent with your marketing and making adjustments as needed, you’re placing smart bets on the direction of your company. This ensures you’re still front and center of your audience at all times, and can position yourself to thrive once the economy picks up again.
4. Be flexible with your team and embrace remote work.
With the global workplace suddenly thrown in the deep end of learning how to function remotely, it has given companies the ideal opportunity to explore how they can run teams and make swifter decisions with less in-person contact. Twitter and Square have fully embraced the remote work ethic, allowing their employees to work from home “forever” if they choose to. In Buffer’s State of Remote Work report last year, statistics showed that 99% of people wanted to work remotely, at least some of the time, for the rest of their career. If there was ever a perfect time to learn how to develop a streamlined remote-first business, this is it.
5. Look for opportunities to pivot.
If you already have a services or consulting business serving an industry that is going to take a while to recover (energy and hospitality for example,) consider pivoting by building a SaaS app in area that you have some interest or expertise in. A great example of this is Snack Monkey. A consulting firm that usually serves the oil industry pivoted during a down time in the oil and gas industry to build this SaaS app that could help a wide range of food service organizations during and after the pandemic. The firm now has a booming SaaS business to help drive their growth.
6. Get to market as quickly as possible.
At Alpha Software our flagship development and deployment platform, Alpha Anywhere, is used for building bespoke business apps as well as for allowing entrepreneurs to build SaaS solutions rapidly - in time to seize market opportunities before competitors. Here are some examples when coupled with our worry-free hosting solution, Alpha Cloud, you get everything you need to build and deploy your SaaS app in record time.. View examples of Alpha Software customers who quickly built a SaaS apps and launched them successfully.
There’s no doubt there are challenging times ahead, but realizing your dream to get a SaaS app built now will leave you perfectly positioned to thrive in the coming months. You can start building your SaaS app for free with Alpha Anywhere Community Edition.
Comment