Comments on: SaaS Success – The Top Ten Dos and Don’ts

By: İşlerinize SaaS ne kadar uygun ? - SaaS Turkey

İşlerinize SaaS ne kadar uygun ? - SaaS Turkey — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:41:37 +0000

[...] SaaS Model Economics 101 pirensiplerini ve Joel York tarafından Chaotic Flow de bulunanan Top Ten Dos and Don’ts of SaaS Success. Testi oluşturmak için yapılmış her girişim bu ekenomik pirensipleri doğru bir şeklilde [...]

By: Marcos

Marcos — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:08:31 +0000

Just to tell you this is a great document.
Thanks for sharing it.

By: Lars Kristiansen

Lars Kristiansen — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:46:53 +0000

Joel, great list of advice.

At http://www.requirementone.com we have taken the SaaS model to what we consider the logical next level: completely free B2B SaaS. Free B2C SaaS has obviously been a great success. We are offering a complex requirement management platform to businesses completely free. All your dos and don’ts still apply with the added challenge of making a complex business software solution so easy to use that everybody can get started with no sales calls and no traditional marketing – just organic marketing, online help, chat and a minimum of support. We will be happy to share our experiences for your next article if you are interested.

By: Peter Tapscott

Peter Tapscott — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:11:54 +0000

Joel, a very impressive collection of hints and tips. Quite insightful was my reaction and I appreciate the effort you’ve clearly put in. As the owner of a budding SaaS application I could easily associate with many of the points you make. Some of which I think we’ve done a good job of and some unfortunately where we still have some way to go.

The two objectives of attracting patronage and earning revenue and the cost of doing this are probably the hardest issues I am facing.

Thanks heaps for articulating so simply the difficulties of getting it all right.

By: Haut Tec » SaaS Resources for ISV’s

Haut Tec » SaaS Resources for ISV’s — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:46:25 +0000

[...] Scorecard from Joel York of Chaotic Flow. Also see – SaaS Model Economics and SaaS Success – Top Ten Dos and Don’ts [...]

By: joelyork

joelyork — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 00:05:49 +0000

Hi Sean,

You are correct on both counts. Here are the explanations…

WRT Organic Growth. I am using the term as a derivative of “organic” vs. “paid” search on the Internet, so it is an operational definition with respect to customer acquisition…as opposed to the financial definition with respect to funding sources that you cite. However, the sentiment is the same. The financial definition is alluding to the idea that investors do not have to put in additional funds for the company to grow. In my use of the term, I am alluding to the idea that the company does not have to put in additional funds for each new customer.

There is a key difference between my meaning and “viral” or “word of mouth” in that these terms generally relate only to the awareness stage of the purchase cycle or to a free information product (like a video), and I am emphasizing the concept of enabling customers to find, try and buy your SaaS product without your help (not just find it).

WRT the PDF. It is meant to be a pass-along. Much of the content in the top ten PDF is compiled, revised, improved blog posts. So, the HTML version is the blog. And the way to get it is to subscribe

Happy Holidays.

By: Sean Murphy

Sean Murphy — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:56:10 +0000

This would be more useful as HTML. There are not charts or graphs and a number of hyperlinks in the text itself. Why did you only make a PDF version available?

You define “organic growth = revenue generated with (near) zero marginal acquisition cost” I think this is the definition of “viral growth” or “word of mouth” or referral driven customer acquisition. Organic growth is normally defined as growth that relies on the cash flow that the business generates to grow.

By: Haut Tec » Head to Tail - Leveraging the Network Effect for SaaS

Haut Tec » Head to Tail - Leveraging the Network Effect for SaaS — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:37:33 +0000

[...] the first article in this series, we asked the question, “Which of Joel York’s Top Ten Do’s and Don’ts of SaaS” relate to the concept of The Long Tail?” If you haven’t read Joel’s article I [...]

By: Jijesh

Jijesh — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:34:01 +0000

Joel, as a SaaS evangelist, I really enjoyed reading your dos and don’ts. Thanks for sharing them and keep up the exemplary work.

By: Haut Tec » The Long Tail - What It Is & Isn’t

Haut Tec » The Long Tail - What It Is & Isn’t — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:25:09 +0000

[...] is a critical concept. Going back to the well-written and much reviewed piece by Joel York – “Software-as-Service Success, The Top Ten Do’s and Don’t of SaaS” – Let’s assume for a minute you have read the piece (please!) and list the do’s [...]