A SaaS product succeeds when you sell a specific way of working, not just a tool. Linear works because it embodies a clear workflow that customers want to adopt. If your way isn't explicit or doesn't represent real change, customers won't buy in.
Are you selling a tool or a way? I talked to a number of people who are building really interesting SaaS tools. And when I sit down, they boil down to, we figured out a way of doing things. We like that way of doing things. And we're going to turn that way of doing things into a tool, right? Way, way. The, and so really what they're pitching people on was to say, hey, please use my SaaS because my SaaS will reduce your costs or increase your efficiencies or whatever. They're really saying is do things my way and it will have all those effects. Like be able to accept the opinions they're seeing inside that software. When those opinions are really good, then the software is reflecting a good way and the way is easier to sell, especially when the way itself is explicitly being sold. This can work very successfully. I think of Linear in this regard. But if you are trying to sell something smaller, if you're not explicit about the way that you're selling, or if frankly the way is not compelling because they don't want to make this kind of change because it's not important enough or whatever, then you're going to have a much harder time. That is the nature of a way, and that's hard to sell.
