A Shopify like platform for SaaS businesses 🔥
All the startup ideas from My First Million Podcast 💵 Episode #107 with Chris Bakke
Hey guys, here’s the latest recap of all the startup ideas from the latest MFM podcast. I include time stamps and links. Hope you all have a nice long and wonderful Labor Day weekend!
You’re only one idea away 🦄 Sign up so you don’t miss it…
17:00 Create a Shopify like platform for SaaS businesses
Look at what Shopify has done for all the people who have started an e-commerce business…can do something similar for small, niche SaaS businesses.
Shopify has empowered hundreds of thousands of “accidental” e-commerce entrepreneurs
Stripe Atlas has done similar things with SaaS but they have not taken it all the way
Chris thinks there are tens or even hundreds of thousands of these small SaaS businesses
Best in class is something like an accelerator or incubator: Someone to take a sizable position in your company and hold your hand through the process of making your small SaaS business successful: how to find your first customers, how to set up the organization, how to hire, billing, store builder/designer, etc
There’s only so many components: user registration, admin privileges, payment collection, analytics and dashboards. All of these things are “componentized”.
An all-in-one platform that can do this stuff for the SaaS companies in a no-code / low-code way an in an efficient way
At 21:45 Chris explains the challenges with this type of business and why he decided not to pursue it
23:25 Asynchronous instructor business like golf lessons
Golf business is an example: The customers upload a 2-5 minute video of them hitting balls at the driving range at different angles, etc
A professional golfer will then give customer advice on how to improve
The instructor will simply record audio over the uploaded video with advice. i.e. “see here how your eyes were not on the ball when you swung”, etc.
$99/month
Very tailored instruction approach
Can do this business from anywhere
Can scale this: Might take 30 minutes per customer. Work 5 hours per day. 10 customers per day serviced. Do this 20 days a month so 200 customers at $99 each so about $20,000/month. Could hire additional instructors, etc.
This is a conveniently designed business
27:00 Hybrid franchises
Chris is obsessed with how can we create more entrepreneurs and founders in America?
Chris likes hybrid approaches: draw 2x2 matrix of [old problem] x [new problem] x [old solution] x [new solution]. Crossing these and finding hybrid approaches is the way to go
Throughout 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s there was a hybrid approach to entrepreneurship where if you don’t want to start a company from the ground up you could open a Mcdonalds, Starbucks, etc and de-risk yourself as an entrepreneur but still have some of the benefits
The problem with franchise is they have really high capex costs
How can you take this franchise business idea and apply it to these times where people are working from home?
One idea is a “franchised version of Geek Squad”.
At Indeed, Chris would provide remote helpdesk support from Indeed’s IT team in Austin Tx to employees who had broken laptops, etc.
As you have so many different technologies from home that becomes mission critical, there is a need for direct to consumer but also B2B.
Run this like a startup / franchise / hybrid approach that is less capex costs to start
34:00 Nana brings together local technician’s for home appliance repair in one website / app. They also offer classes so you can become a local tech. They get revenue from the Academy as well.
Create a “micro school” or online tutoring for specific subjects. Don’t need a brick and mortar building anymore like Kumon. So a online version of Kumon.
40:00 Day camps for your dogs
$80 / day per dog
Earning $1000/day on your back yard property you already have
Could easily take high quality videos showing them how happy their dogs are having
Look how messy they are getting but I can wash them before they come home (for a fee!)
43:50 What do the rich have that the poor would want?
Used to be only rich had chauffeurs, but now everyone does with Uber
Rich people have vacation homes, not AirBnB gives you a weekend trip at a ski villa in Deer Valey, Utah
Private chef used to be for the rich, not you can use Door Dash to get food delivered
What do big companies have that small companies would want? Small companies can’t afford a full time IT person or staff but what if we could subscribe to this “Geek Squad” idea at $300/month.
Any fractionalized executive to reduce costs such as a CFO, office manager, etc. If you only have 2 people you don’t need a CFO but need to stay in compliance.
47:40 How to keep company culture awesome?
There’s always one person that keeps track of social events / issues at companies: birthdays, when people get sick, organize parties, etc
If you are good at these things, you could prove this as a service to companies from the comfort of your home
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