What's the best way to scale your startup for the first two years?

Suhas Bhat
47 replies
Hey PH community, what do you guys recommend scaling up SAAS based startups for the first two years? Try getting a seed fund asap or bootstrap until you break even?

Replies

Hemanth G
Do things that don't *Scale* - Talk to your customers and users, spend time in their environments - Build simple quick and dirty solutions that can give get you quick feedback - BE FRUGAL AS FUCK!
Suhas Bhat
@hemanthg4 other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Hemanth G
Everything else Funding, revenue, margins etc... are just side effects.
Suhas Bhat
@hemanthg4 make sence, thanks Hemant
Rowe Morehouse
Sales Likelihood Calculator
Sales Likelihood Calculator
cold calling.
Suhas Bhat
@rowemore cold calling always works :),other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Stefani Sparysheva
- Do a lot of research and interviews in your niche; - Hire a comprehensive team with a product-marketing-based approach; - Analyze and implement your findings!
Scott Kosmach
@stefaniya_sparysheva ^ this. Research and finding your niche is a prerequisite to finding product market fit. Product market fit is a prerequisite to scaling. Otherwise you're only path to scaling would be breaking the bank with advertising. At best you'll end up as a flavor of the month and not a sustainable long term business.
Suhas Bhat
@stefaniya_sparysheva my only concern is not to lose time on reseach and interviews and look back thinking oh boy 2 years is gone already lol
Suhas Bhat
@stefaniya_sparysheva completely agree on this,other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Suhas Bhat
@skosmach other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Stefani Sparysheva
@skosmach can't disagree with you :)
Archisman Das
Brew Money | Take control of your crypto
I guess it depends significantly on the kind of company you are trying to build. There is no right or wrong answer. Raising capital sets an exit expectation of a certain scale and velocity. Of course there are anomalies in between too. Atlassian if I recall correctly was bootstrapped and significantly profitable for the longest time. They raised capital a few years before going public primarily to prep themselves for the next level of growth.
Suhas Bhat
@archisman_das one way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do try it out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Varun Varma
Never hire any senior sales professional till you have boiled down to an ICP or some level of PMF. Founder led sales is the way to go
Suhas Bhat
@varunvarma91 other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Huipin Zhang
Don't scale up until your users ask more from what you can handle, i.e., more features, faster release, more integrations, etc.
Suhas Bhat
@huipin_zhang other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Jaroslaw Pidburskyj 🇮🇹Ï🇺🇦SEO
You’ll probably have a website. Analysis and find a better way to optimise your onpage SEO so it doesn’t end up as "SEO is Slow" but "SEO is a lot faster" and traffic starts generating visitors instead of just twiddling it’s thumbs waiting for Google.
Shaur ul Asar
Startups are challenging for a number of reasons, including the intense work pace and sleep deprivation. As you grow older, these challenges will only become more difficult. Recruiting two cofounders is the best approach to scaling a startup through the first two years. One cofounder should focus on strategic decisions while another handles operational matters.
Suhas Bhat
@shaur_ul_asar other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Ansh Sdhana
I say get a team together that can start fueling the hype train regarding your product. This can be done through discord community building, promotions amongst students that can be done by launching campus ambassador programs, interactive virtual campaigns during offline events like college fests and business summits, and the one that never fails to disappoint when it comes to getting your name out there is cold emailing. This may sound weird to some when I say cold emailing is effective, but you can look up the success stats on the internet. The two core parts of cold emailing are lead generation and lead nurturing, both of them are equally important and should be given individual attention. Generating email leads can be done using prospecting tools like Aeroleads, there is no need for building lead magnets or doing anything very marvelous because this one is just to find people and not for people to find us, I have mentioned other strategies for this. Just make sure that you have formulated a standard procedure for finding and qualifying leads because once you have that, you can even hire smart interns to either just keep it running or maybe even increase the output. As for nurturing these leads, you will have to do research and some trial and error to figure out what kind of nurturing method will work best for your audience, you can refer to articles on the web for those. All the very best!
Suhas Bhat
@ansh_sdhana other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Abhishek Singh
Hard to say for everyone in general, you're the the one running your business and are the expert on it. You have to decide how you feel about doing both of these ways. But a general framework would be to look at the market and see if you build it without raising funds - is it likely that somebody else who is working on a similar thing gets ahead of you or is at the same level (then it would be wise to raise). Because it becomes difficult to get customers if somebody is out there with more validation than you (in terms of investor or customer). Unless obviously, your product is far superior compared to the others. But I could be entirely wrong if I suggest one thing over the other.
Suhas Bhat
@abhishek1846 other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Kenneth Crocker
Definitely hire a team that is good at what they are doing. This will save your time and effort. And you can use your time to focus on areas that you are good at. If you are not able to understand what your strengths and weakness are
Suhas Bhat
@kenneth_crocker other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Rob Mark
Find some excellent co founders who are domain experts where you are not, ship fast and early and spend as much time as possible talking to customers/users, look for 1% better in everything you do everyday and stay lean for as long as possible (3 high output high performing founders will out perform a team 5x their size any day of the week).
Suhas Bhat
@rob_mark other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Rob Mark
@socialbhat content marketing is great but its typically a long play thats unlikely to be a key growth driver in the first two years of scaling (in my experience).
MS PURWOKO
I just want to start this business, so I can't answer your question
Suhas Bhat
@bungomedia any business can be started with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Daniel Miller
Again, Hire competitvely!
Daniel Miller
I think surround yourself with genius talent that already knows your industry so you are not alone in being the genius in the company.
Suhas Bhat
@recruiterpm other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Ferhat Gök
Araştırmalar ve röportajlar ölçeklendirme için gerçekçi bir yön çizmez. Demo ve düşük ücretli, farklı hedef kitlelere kullandırmak, geri bildirim almak ve girişim için kullanıcı ödeme gücü ve arzusunu test etmek gerekebilir.
Suhas Bhat
@ferhat_gok i absolutly agree with you here and other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do try it out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...
Jahanzaib Khan
The first and most important step for scaling any startup is of course "Team". and its the most difficult task to have honest and hard working team members. It takes time and effort to find good team.
Suhas Bhat
@jahanzaibkhanjs cant disagree on this,other way is to scale up is with content marketing, I have been playing around with this long form AI content writer called Juice.ai, which creates long form articles under 30 seconds. This is my first hunt for PH seek support ❤️ do check out. https://www.producthunt.com/post...