Productive Insights Podcasts

044. Hiten Shah — Cofounder of Kissmetrics — How To Assess If The Software As A Service (SAAS) Business Model Is Right For You

Written by Ash Roy | Sep 18, 2015 6:27:18 AM

Hiten Shah — Cofounder of Kissmetrics — How To Assess If The Software As A Service (SAAS) Business Model Is Right For You

Hiten Shah is an expert in SAAS – also known as software as a service, content and growth hacking. He’s the co-founder of kissmetrics.com and crazy egg which allows you analyze the behaviour of your visitors on your websites through heat maps based on visitor clicks. He’s worked with high-profile clients and has been known about his excellent in the growth hacking area. He’s also got a weekly newsletter called SAAS weekly where he shares relevant content for anyone who’s interested in SAAS as a business. His blog is called hitenism.com I’ve had the honour of speaking with his co-founder at KISSmetrics on the first episode that was Neil Patel.

Key points (with timestamps)

  • 2:33 – Ash introduces Hiten Shah, co-founder of kissmetrics.
  • 3:24 – Hiten Shah talks about his entrepreneurial journey and how he arrived at the SAAS model.
  • 5:22 – The recurring income/subscription aspect of SAAS businesses.
  • 6:43 – Microsoft 365 and the Adobe licensed SAAS model
  • 7:32 – How does an entrepreneur evaluate SAAS as a business model for their business?
  • 8:44 – A good framework to think about whether or not SAAS is a good solution for a business
  • 10:06 – Hiten’s take on Facebook as a free SAAS product
  • 12:10 – IBM’s tiny microchip – Comparable to the size of DNA and implications on SAAS!
  • 13:36 – Moore’s law is already broken.
  • 14:59 – Hiten’s interview with Leo Babauta about his dad – an anesthetist with an entrepreneurial mindset
  • 15:30 – Biggest challenges in getting started with software as a service and what’s worked best with overcoming them
  • 17:50 – It pays to solve the problem without software first and then automate it with software. But make sure you can solve the problem first.
  • 19:37 – How to use customer development to gauge the problems they’re facing and how they can solve them – a step by step guide
  • 21:36 – Ash talks about Ryan Levesque‘s ‘Ask Methodology’.
  • 22:29 – Ash asks about quick wins that the listeners can take if they want to get started with SAAS.
  • 25:55 – “Is the software solving a legitimate problem?”
  • 26:28 – Software is just a tool (to execute on a solution).
  • 26:52 – Ash asks about what books had the biggest impact to Hiten.
  • 28:21 – How to get in contact with Hiten

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