i think the single biggest contributor to our success has been the fact that we are in close contact with our customers.
if we lose a sale, we have the opportunity to learn why we lost. during a webinar, we hear the reactions of customers. with RFP's we get a list of the features they want.
when we win, we stay close to them during implementation. we learn what works/what doesn't work with our products.
based upon this feedback, we're able to constantly refine our products and messaging to what our customers want.
we started with a product guy who could pump out code (me), and a phenomenal sales guy. the two of us essentially built the initial business.
we never took any funding.
the most surprising thing is how long it takes to build a solid product. how long it takes to get momentum. everything just takes a lot longer than you'd expect. it's also a funny thing. once you've achieved a small amount of success (and mine is small), people start thinking you actually know what you're talking about. in my experience - apart from geniuses like jobs, gates, musk, etc - there's nothing that separates you from me. it just takes time, dedication and hard work.
edit: most people find us. we also have business associates who resell to their customer base and customers sometimes give us nice referrals.
advice: b2b is great because people actually pay for shit. lots of b2b software is just awful, i think you can differentiate by providing an excellent product. it'll stand out and give you a solid niche.
i'd also say that you should not give your software away for free in b2b. but you should give it to a trial set of customers initially who can help you work out the kinks. stay close to the customers, they can help guide you and tell you where they look for software like what you're selling.
online advertising works great. use landing pages, a/b test them. all the things that you probably already know, just put them into practice. they exist because they work.
Couldn't agree more with everything said here. I have had a very similar experience.
The only thing I'd add (more in relation to the comments above) - I think people are too quick to discourage a direct sales model for bootstrap B2B companies with products in the $1K to $5K range. If each sale generates long-term recurring revenue, if you can visit several customers per city, and if initial sales tend to lead to word-of-mouth sales later, direct sales can be a great way to get started.
You can do it on the cheap compared to a big-time enterprise salesperson. Its an investment. You learn a lot, you build relationships, and you begin to develop the momentum that the comment above discusses.
Would you mind to provide examples of B2B software that we rarely heard of?
I have interest in B2B more than B2C occasionally but don't really have a lot of domain knowledge. Would you happen to know a few general tricks how or where to get such knowledge?
sure. first of all, if you're a cs major (like me) it's doubtful that you'll have the right domain knowledge.
in my case, my father and family friend approached me and asked if i could build something. our co-founder said "all the software in this (hr technology) industry sucked". can i build xyz? over a long period of time, i did.
so my general trick would be - find people who are in completely opposite industries as you are right now. doing totally different, non-technical work. often times they're consultants that are reselling other companies products. and they know - since they've been implementing products and speaking to customers on a daily basis - where the customer pain points are.
hope that helps. it only happened for me once, so it's hard to replicate, but i hope you get the chance.
we're a type s corp, so it's a flow-through entity. at the end of the year we distributed remaining profits based upon equal ownership (things have changed as we've grown). he worked off commission only to begin with and i drew a small salary once we had revenue.
but...i was in college and my salary requirements were low. the sales guy? my dad who had another job at the time (sales at: apple, sun microsystems, hitachi datasystems, etc).
i think that's not a bad bootstrapping model though. if you're both employed, you can both take commission and built it part time until you can jump ship and do it full time.
but the question i hear you saying is - "where am i gonna find a sales guy?" you and i are techies at heart and probably have mostly techie (non sales type) friends.
like everything else, sales isn't a great mystery but it's good to find an experienced person. couple ways to find people, and i had a recruiter recently give me some advice that i'll pass on to you.
linkedin is the new recruitment tool. start looking for some sales guys that already work for companies that have the kind of sales guys you want, and get a hold of them (not sure if you need a premium linkedin for that or not). there's also professional networking events around, but i find that those tend to be about measure whose dick is bigger versus making meaningful relationships.
which city are you in? look up startup networking stuff. i hear all the time about people who want to find a technical co-founder. annoyingly large amounts. and on projects i usually wouldn't invest any time in.
I've got a product that I have developed in the evenings that could be beneficial to the startups in the area. I work a fulltime as a Rails engineer, so I can only make a few contacts a night.
obviously google adwords. remarketing pixels are good. adsense blew away a ton of cash with few results.
but check out other directory listings. www.capterra.com is HUGE for us. our conversion rates there are about 12% (!!!!). organic conversion rates are about 2.5%. which is much more reasonable. but we spend a lot of $$$$ with them.
i think the single biggest contributor to our success has been the fact that we are in close contact with our customers.
if we lose a sale, we have the opportunity to learn why we lost. during a webinar, we hear the reactions of customers. with RFP's we get a list of the features they want.
when we win, we stay close to them during implementation. we learn what works/what doesn't work with our products.
based upon this feedback, we're able to constantly refine our products and messaging to what our customers want.
we started with a product guy who could pump out code (me), and a phenomenal sales guy. the two of us essentially built the initial business.
we never took any funding.
the most surprising thing is how long it takes to build a solid product. how long it takes to get momentum. everything just takes a lot longer than you'd expect. it's also a funny thing. once you've achieved a small amount of success (and mine is small), people start thinking you actually know what you're talking about. in my experience - apart from geniuses like jobs, gates, musk, etc - there's nothing that separates you from me. it just takes time, dedication and hard work.
edit: most people find us. we also have business associates who resell to their customer base and customers sometimes give us nice referrals.
advice: b2b is great because people actually pay for shit. lots of b2b software is just awful, i think you can differentiate by providing an excellent product. it'll stand out and give you a solid niche.
i'd also say that you should not give your software away for free in b2b. but you should give it to a trial set of customers initially who can help you work out the kinks. stay close to the customers, they can help guide you and tell you where they look for software like what you're selling.
online advertising works great. use landing pages, a/b test them. all the things that you probably already know, just put them into practice. they exist because they work.