SaasSoft a Lean Startup
Over the last 6 months my team and I have decided for the most part to leave behind working for marketing agencies, and head in a new direction actually doing what we love. We’re building unique software that focuses around targeted niche markets. This radical departure has been quite strenuous on my pocket book, as I’m keeping myself and 2 others employed. However, with the maintenance contract and a few small jobs coming in, we are making a life long dream happen. Not to mention I’m very lucky to have such a loving and understanding wife who fully supports me in this venture.
Within the next 5 years we’re planning to release 5 software products which will be built on a software as a service (SaaS) platform. I believe the days of buying expensive software to run on a computer are over. The trend is now to move “To The Cloud”. I have also come to the conclusion that instead of using the old company name, which had a business focus of working with agencies, and non profit organizations, it would be best to create a new company focused around SaaS software. We just finished and submitted the paperwork this week for a new company called SaaSsoft.
Our first public project under SaaSsoft is TombFinder.com. Its goal and mission is to create a new market of specific software for managing and finding burial records. To date we have not found any direct competitors, just a few random websites that only manage burials, tombstone records, and eulogies in different and unique ways. With tombfinder.com we want to create a unified brand and identity so that any cemetery website you go to you can find information in a quick manner. So far we’ve created a licensable API (releasing this summer), and an administrative iphone app that cemeteries can use to quickly upload tomb stone photos and GPS info. The site also provides a unified search space to quickly sift through thousands of records to find deceased loved ones, And a unique site for all participating cemeteries in the Database. Our goal is to provide a 3-7 static page website and database of all the records on the site.
Since November we have come such a long way! Right now we’re focusing on making sure all data is correct and well laid out before we push forward with any additional features. We’d like to be able to provide our service to at least 10 cemeteries by the end of June. In order to keep up this record pace with a small staff, we need to make any and all decisions quickly, such as our decision to use an app software site we stumbled upon just this month called AppSumo, as it’s a nice fit for our project. AppSumo also exposed us to lessaccounting, which will be helpful as we’re also in the process of setting up our accounts receivable, and the thought of using quickbooks, is dreadful especially on a Mac. This week I have also been looking into what SMTP server we are going to use. We’ll most likely end up using our old SMTP mail server, Google’s (which as a SMTP is slow) or a service such as sendgrid or postmark. Although, Postmark is a part of the AppSumo startup bundle, and would simplify our needs to get running quickly and can be changed in 6 months if necessary.
All in all, I highly recommend taking a look at the AppSumo startup bundle - appsumo or leanstartupand while you’re at it go and take a look at our project here - www.tombfinder.com and out first client - bards.tombfinder.com We’re currently going the route of self funding, but I imagine over the next couple months that may having to change a bit.
Finally between now and March 23rd vote for us to win some start up cash - Tweet