42. A start-up done different

About 90% of start-ups fail, but what sets apart that successful 10%? Adam Ross co-founder of CloudOlive spills the beans on what it takes to build a successful start-up.

Adam and his co-founder went through the Antler Venture Capital incubator in 2020. They successfully secured funding to solve a universal MSP challenge, SaaS billing management. Now CloudOlive is empowering MSPs all over the globe solving vendor on-billing and contract headaches in leaps and bounds.

Welcome to episode 42 of Insights as a Service, where Brendan and Adam talk about how to get your start-up idea funded, educating your customers, the secret sauce of what really makes a business a business, and the #1 thing to do before building any product.

Get yourself a drink and enjoy this episode of Insights as a Service. As always timestamps are below.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:30 Adam Ross’ background – Problems with MSP over or underbilling clients
• 4:45 Getting your SaaS business funded by a venture capital firm
• 7:45 Unlocking Valuating your SaaS business
• 9:15 Naming your SaaS business and what to think of
• 10:45 Educating your customers on their painpoints
• 13:25 LinkedIn marketing tips for start ups
• 14:30 A good co-founder is the foundation to success
• 16:15 Throwing a bunch of APIs together doesn’t make a business
• 17:45 #1 thing to do before building a product
• 18:30 Marketing, Sales, and onboarding to sustainably grow
• 26:30 Current state of the SaaS market and profitability
• 30:15 What it costs to acquire a (MSP) customer
• 32:15 How to determine your price points on launch
• 34:00 How MSPs are different from each other
• 36:00 Identifying your customer champions
• 37:45 Moving into the next (product market fit) phase