This sounds really appealing - build a great service with an awesome API that developers love, and you're practically guaranteed success.
And there are a few good examples - Stripe and Heroku are killing it, right?
But the reality might be a little different. There are tonnes of businesses out there using crappy software products. Those businesses are not engineering-driven, and they'll continue using those products until a sales guy from BigCorp sells them the next iteration of those products. Even if there's a better product out there that "only takes 2 hours to integrate", their understaffed tech department already has a 12-month backlog.
As a SaaS company, focussing on nimble, fast-moving startups means that your sales cycle is fast, but you end up servicing companies with minimal revenues. It's like the ultra-vocal tip of the iceberg. 95% of traditional businesses still work on traditional sales cycles. It sounds crazy, but they freak out if they don't need to sign an NDA to get your API documentation.
And there are a few good examples - Stripe and Heroku are killing it, right?
But the reality might be a little different. There are tonnes of businesses out there using crappy software products. Those businesses are not engineering-driven, and they'll continue using those products until a sales guy from BigCorp sells them the next iteration of those products. Even if there's a better product out there that "only takes 2 hours to integrate", their understaffed tech department already has a 12-month backlog.
As a SaaS company, focussing on nimble, fast-moving startups means that your sales cycle is fast, but you end up servicing companies with minimal revenues. It's like the ultra-vocal tip of the iceberg. 95% of traditional businesses still work on traditional sales cycles. It sounds crazy, but they freak out if they don't need to sign an NDA to get your API documentation.
And maybe we have to adapt to that.