I created a Saas for schools that require parents to volunteer. It's actually running in one Charter that is comprised of four schools. The problem is the Education space just isn't a space I feel passionately about. They are very budget conscious and usually try to find ways to lower my fees. Also, I just do not feel enthusiastic about chasing administrators, cold emailing or cold calling other schools or even going to Educational conferences, which is likely something I’d have to do if I want to increase my user base. Should I still pursue it and try to grow it? Or should I just maintain it for the schools it's running with now?
It's extremely hard to sell something you're not passionate about.
Have you looked into other options, such as selling the company or hiring a sales team? With only a few clients it probably wouldn't be a huge sale, but someone who has connections in the education space could further monetize it, and you'd be delivering a working, proven moneymaker.
A sales team would be riskier, but if you like working on the company and just don't want to deal with sales, you could figure out a way to pay other people to sell to administrators. It would require an upfront investment, but you just have to do the math: "if I hire this person for three months at $5k/month, how many clients would they need to bring in to make it worth doing?"
A salesperson with passion and connections in the space can likely sell far more than you could (given your lack of passion).
The question is: if you could grow your user base without doing the selling yourself, would you want to continue working on this company?
I've started and sold (or folded) several SaaS companies, and I'd be happy to discuss my decision-making process, strategies, and outcomes with you. Just let me know if you'd like to talk.
Good luck!
Answered 9 years ago
Passion is an energy, a fuel. Use it to fuel you to success, to fuel you to how you see your life after building (and exiting as per my experience) a successful business. THEN ask yourself what kind of business would you need to build to achieve your personal vision of success. You can read more here: RMentrepreneur.fyi.to/Passion
Success!
Answered 9 years ago
I'm running several side projects of my own, and I had hard times to maintain some of them because their domain did not interest me anymore.
Depending on the project and the engagement that you have with your customers, you have several strategies. Either you go in "maintenance mode" with the current customers and welcome new ones without actively doing marketing, or maybe you can sell the business to a competitor or someone interest (there are markeplaces for that), or maybe you can also shutdown the whole thing.
I'd be happy to share my experience with you :-)
Answered 9 years ago
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