Portal SaaS Big picture SCQA + H v1.0 [ready to be tested]

Portal SaaS Big picture SCQA + H v1.0 [ready to be tested]

Consolidated questions and answers

  • How do we acquire clients? And can we acquire enough clients cost-effectively? With internal resources to start with (we need to track the time spent - ie create an internal project) and may want to switch to outsourcing if and when it goes beyond 2k a month
    • How do we find leads? we have the list of data portals https://github.com/datopian/opendataportals and we can start reaching out and maybe at some point if we are overcommitted, outsource it (lead generating company) // Targeted marketing campaign
    • How do we sell the offer? mainly outbound // place the offer on datopian.com website // draft emails for the outbound outreach // proactive sales in sales calls // banner on datahub.io
    • Who is our target audience? Small to mid size governments and NGOs and existing data portals (different use cases –> outdated, socrata)
    • What's our pitch? Get your data published online quickly, easily and cost-effectively without coding expertise; Easy-to-use, quick and accessible low-cost solution, user friendly UI, Open-source, Iterative approach (start small) suitable for when one wants to 1. test if and what works 2. avoid tedious tender processes
    • What's our funnel? Email –> Offer on website –> Sign up form –> Loom video intro page –> Live demo page with button to schedule a call –> sales call –> proposal –> closing the deal
  • Where do we market it? What channels do we use? Email marketing, datopian.com website and a banner on datahub.io website // bonus: social media
  • Who can help us market it (if outsource)? We won't outsource for now and if/when we do, we want to try out the YLL company (one-time 1000 EUR set-up fee + 200 EUR per sales call that has taken place with what we have described as our ideal customer)
  • What strategies can we use to drive traffic on website and increase sign ups? What happens when a user signs up? Quick sign-up form –> They should get redirected to a quick Loom video demo as an introduction + action buttons (Schedule a call, Contact us via email, Explore demo instance) –> live demo page to play around + A MUST is an action button to schedule a call with us available throughout the whole user journey. We also need to follow up with these people via email if they fell out of the funnel and interrupted their journey
  • How can we lock in the website visitors Follow-up emails (not necessarily automated before we need that) after sign-up if they haven't scheduled a call with us
  • What does the user journey look like currently? Google search –> Datahub.io –> Click on Live demo –> Sign up form –> Demo instance –> They close the tab
  • What do we want the user journey to look like? They land on the website offer –> they click on an action button –> they get directed to a loom video or similar with instructions –> they get access to the live demo –> they click to schedule a call with us –> sales call –> proposal –> we close the deal
  • What are the pain points that we are addressing? easiness of use + cost + quick setup + for governments no procurement needed; expensive solutions on the market; complicated and long projects; back and forth due to trying to crystalize all requirements in advance; a lot of reseach and decision-making required as a wrong move would cost a lot..
  • What features do we / will we have (off-the-shelf)? Started an article with features we want to include https://github.com/datopian/bizdev/blob/main/blog/DataHub%20Open%20Data.md
  • What is the value proposition that we are providing? See our pitch and the pain points
  • Why would someone buy from us? we are experts in data & data solutions since 2 decades; we are actively creating new tools & exciting projects; we have a lot of experience working for notable clients; we are very flexible in terms of contracting, time zones, approaches and collaboration terms etc.; we understand your pain points and crafted the perfect solution that addresses them; a lot of flexibility in picking this route - stay with the basic version or upgrade / customize as you see it // bonus: similar work done for similar customers with similar use stories
  • What is the current demand for SaaS solution among our target audience? If we assume it's the same target audience then no big demand (prospects are very often interested in customization and have special requests that fit their specific case) but if we assume it's not the same then we think there may be a sufficient demand to do a market test
  • How does the offer compare to other similar / competitive offers on the market? cheaper; quicker; easier to onboard; from CKAN creators
  • Who is our SaaS Portal team? See below
    • Who will sell this offer? Monika, Anuar, Daniela, Michael/Luccas M/Demenech
    • Who will produce the marketing materials? Yoana + techical input from Luccas M, Demenech
    • Who is the technical team, ie. who will deploy the solution if a client buys? Luccas M, Demenech
  • Can the customers pick at least the rough looks / the color pallette or any other basic things? What exactly do the clients get? Yes, they would get 1-2 hrs of customization work from a junior dev which will be equal to eg. changing fonts, colors, maybe hero image and theming. For more sophisticated designs we can offer professional services work
    • What happens when a client purchases the Portal SaaS? if they purchase it will be after we have made them a proposal based on their needs so basic next steps would be to spin up the instance and spend 1-2 hours to customize the UI
    • How do we best explain / demo what the product really looks like and offers? See user journey
    • What is the technology behind this offer? How would the publisher publish? CKAN + PortalJS // same backend, different frontends; we maintain just 1 instance; Each customer = CKAN organization and they won't be able to see other organizations
  • What is the pricing strategy and what options do we want to provide to our prospects? subscription-based with different tiers e.g base plan, advanced plan, enterprise plan
    • What would each entail? The base plan should only cover eg. spinning up the instance for them and providing 1-2 hrs of custom UI effort; Advanced - a monthly package of a few hours custom work maybe?, enterprise - prof services work based on their custom needs
    • How much time and effort is it currently taking us to deliver our offer to a client? 20 to 60 mins to spin up the instance + 1-2 hrs of custom work for basic UI changes/theming
  • Can we create marketing collateral, videos and other materials to help us promote the offer? We need to know what is most important and prioritize given the lack of resource
  • What minimum materials do we need in order to go out and sell / pitch the offer to prospects? 1. This SCQA v1.0 finished and approved // 2. Loom demo video as an introduction // 3. Proposal template - standard and we share it with everyone interested // 4. Bonus quick short deck explaining its functionalities, containing demo link and a success story or two if possible
  • How can we do a proper market test? Define the strategy + define metrics for success, test it, collect data and evaluate after eg. 3 months.
    • How do we measure success? What does success mean for us? Number of visitors vs number of people signed up + number of prospects won… numbers to be defined
    • What metrics do we want to capture/collect from on our market test so that we can decide if we should keep investing effort into this offer? See above answer
    • How do we know when the data collected is enough to justify our conclusions? We should define a time period, eg. 3m and budget and evaluate at the end
  • What resources and money do we need to invest to overcome all the complications mentioned above? 1 full day of focused team work to kick this off
  • What is our MVP? https://opendata.datahub.io/

Hypotheses

  1. There is a potential demand on the market for a turnkey easy-to-use low-cost SaaS solution and we can create an additional revenue stream with the Portals SaaS solution. We have a list of data portals that we think will be interested in exploring / adopting this solution if we reach out to them and offer it proactively.
  2. We can cost-effectively gain new (open) data portals SaaS-type business and reach:
    • +$100k of recurring revenue (incl. add-ons) within the next 12m (spread between 20-60 clients)
    • +$300k of non-recurring revenue (one-off customizations) within 12m
    • Whilst investing no more than $30k // we may want to consider the investment budget
  3. In order to go out and sell, we need the following materials (MVP):
    1. Near-term roadmap
    2. Landing page for after clicking on "Send" (sign-up form) with Loom video + action buttons 2.1. Loom demo video recorded by Luccas M or Demenech 2.2. Update the URL
    3. Standard proposal template for Portals SaaS booted by Anuar
    4. Define the pricing tiers - Special offer ($99) + add-ons if needed // Enterprise
      • Add-ons such as more storage, internal data
    5. Short deck outlining Product functionalities created by Yoana
    6. Email templates for outbound sales to cover the different scenarios by Yoana (see https://coggle.it/diagram/ZFJDkgAjwnrft9C4/t/outdated-data-portals)
    7. List of metrics to be tracked and how they will be tracked –> try to map to the rounds?
      • Number of visitors (landing page)
      • Number of people who signed up
      • Number of sales calls scheduled
      • Number of proposals shared
      • Number of contracts signed
    • Email metrics:
      • Yoana to add

Near-term Roadmap brainstorm

  • Milestone 1: Solidifying hypothesis and creating the roadmap
  • Milestone 2: Preping MVP materials (see list above); by 2nd June
  • Milestone 3: Launch w/c 5th June
    • Updated Portals SaaS page / website offering
    • Emails OUT (we need to define parameters)
  • Milestone 4: Nurturing clients (email follow-ups, etc) in June/July/August/September + first sales calls etc.
  • Milestone 5: Analysing gathered data and metrics // end of Q3
  • Milestone 6: Reflecting and re-defining roadmap if needed

Portal SaaS Big picture SCQA(H) v0.1 (first draft) 04-05-2023 updated on 17-05-2023 with more answers from workshop on 11-05-2023

Situation (What and why of the product)

  • There's a growing market demand in open data (based on market research, see eg. source, source and source)
  • There is a lot of research material online pointing out that Govs, Cities, NGOs face different challenges in terms of adopting open data initiatives e.g.
    • lack of financial resources, insufficient technical skills, and complex data management processes. (source)
    • data quality, systematic harvesting of metadata etc. (source)
  • There are 1000s of open data portals
  • We have the technical stack already
    • We already spent a significant technical effort to get this tech stack ready
    • We have the expertise
    • We can spin up a Portal SaaS solution for less than an hour (20-60min)
  • Our stack is largely open source
  • We host, maintain and support ~50 CKAN instances in our GCP and X on clients' infrastructure. Our current ARR for this is ~427K USD. All of these are dedicated CKAN instances (= high cost for us)
  • Our actual revenue is lower than our initial plan (=we aren't doing enough sales)
  • Our proposals have been rejected several times due to high pricing (Montreal, IAEA, Ministry of Armed Forces, etc)
    • X governments have shared that if the fees are up to some cap (often 10-20k), they don't have to go through an RFP process (eg. Santa Monica, IDDA.AZ, etc)
  • We are planning to introduce a $99/mo offer (pricing is not yet live) which is for multi-tenant CKAN (aka Portal SaaS): https://f051b1ec.next-datopian-com.pages.dev/pricing

Complication

  • We aren't gaining sufficient sales: we want at least 2m a year
  • We don't have a turnkey offering which increases price point reducing potential sales and reduces our margins
  • We don't necessarily know where/how to market it in order to reach our target audience
    • We may not be very clear on our target audience?
    • We don't know how exactly to reach (cost-effectively) customers
  • We don't have a lot of data/metrics to validate if it's worth investing efforts into the SaaS offer
    • SaaS isn't always suitable for Governments, e.g., federal gov in US would require you to be FedRAMP compliant. In many countries govs would prefer (and are even required to) host everything within their infrastructure (e.g., middle east, asia etc).
    • SaaS would mean Enterprises need to conduct security checks, it's common when they want certain certifications etc.
    • SaaS isn't suitable for non Open Data, eg, PII data or any other sensitive data.
  • Most of the prospects have at least a few custom or partially custom requirements that would require at least SOME additional development work, and that are not covered by the Portal SaaS out-of-the-box instance
    • Very often our prospects mention tools they've been using on a company level that they want to connect the portal with. And this always requires custom work.
    • The majority of our prospects already have some existing infrastucture / cloud solutions on a company-level
  • Our budget is limited which means our social media and marketing efforts are also limited
    • We don't even know what our budget is
    • We haven't tested advertising so far so there may be a learning curve and a period of trial and error before we can optimize our ad campaigns for maximum effectiveness (=cost)
  • The open data market is increasingly competitive and with well-established players that offer similar if not better (?) solutions so differentiating and standing among competitors can be challenging (we need clear value props and messaging)
    • We haven't developed marketing collateral in order to effectively showcase our solution properly incl presentations, video demos, tuts etc
  • Due to nature of industry and our clients we have long sales cycles and we currently have no evidence to indicate that we can significantly shorten this process
    • Our sales team is very small in terms of resources which may limit our ability to engage with a lot of potential clients and close deals quickly
    • Establishing strategic partnerships can be challenging for the same reason

Questions

  • How do we acquire clients? And can we acquire enough clients cost-effectively? with internal resources to start with (we need to track the time spent - ie create an internal project) and may want to switch to outsourcing if and when it goes beyond 2k a month
    • How do we find leads? we need to do outbound. We can start ourselves, eg. reach out to the data portals https://github.com/datopian/opendataportals and maybe at some point if we are overcommitted, outsource it (lead generating company) // Targeted marketing campaign
      • [Daniela] get a list of small cities/governments/municipalities in the regions where we are active and reach out (cold emails or cold linkedin outreach); or even better = hire a lead generating company to find leads for us due to lack of resource
      • [Monika] RFPs..; perfect client profile + research & list & touch-base; we find partners and enthusiasts and they find clients?;
      • [Yoana] through targeted marketing campaigns, outreach to relevant organizations, attending industry events, leveraging our network; monitoring relevant online forums, social media groups, industry news + lead generation tools (LinkedIn Sales Navigator)
      • [Anu] Existing data portals out there + templates for the different scenarios https://github.com/datopian/opendataportals/issues/11
    • How do we sell the offer? mainly outbound // place the offer on datopian.com website // draft emails for the outbound outreach // proactive sales in sales calls // banner on datahub.io
      • [Daniela] Marketing strategy needed but suggest: placing it on our website and then sharing via social media + newsletter + drafting emails for outbound
      • [Monika] content, website, presenting it in client meetings.. few success stories, participation in events?; newsletter, posting in relevant platforms & social media
      • [Yoana] leverage digital marketing channels (SEO, content marketing, social media, email campaigns, webinars), offer product demos/trials, video tuts, attend industry-specific events & conferences, build strategic partnerships, train sales team + main thing: targeted campaign for this particular solution with testing, tracking, optimizing
    • Who is our target audience? Small to mid size governments and NGOs and existing data portals (different use cases –> outdated, socrata)
      • [Daniela] NGOs, small local governments and municipalities, small to mid size businesses (maybe in financial/pharma/health sector) + if we attract our current target audience then it will only be an entry point of the sales funnel
      • [Monika] small businesses, startups, non-profit organizations, or government agencies with limited resources / budget; AND all organizations who value the iterative approach, MVP-like approach; those who want to avoid tendering.
      • [Anu] NGOs + governments
      • [Yoana] all above + SMEs, data-driven organizations
    • What's our pitch? Get your data published online quickly, easily and cost-effectively without coding expertise; Easy-to-use, quick and accessible low-cost solution, user friendly UI, Open-source, Iterative approach (start small) suitable for when one wants to 1. test if and what works 2. avoid tedious tender processes
      • [Daniela] easy-to-use, quick low-cost solution, starting small and then iterating, very accessible (also for non-technical folks), user friendly UI, maybe able to test for a month before annual subscription; low to 0 maintenance
      • [Monika] quick start; cost-effective; iterative approach. suitable for when one wants to 1. test if and what works 2. avoid tedious tender processes
      • [Yoana] The affordable, user-friendly open data platform empowering governments and small cities to efficiently manage, visualize, and share their data without coding expertise. See marketing strategy: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UrVfD8Aa13Jf3FZ6qk62hecabwC7dhC94XIEgLeEN20/edit#
        • Affordability
        • User-Friendly and Intuitive Interface
        • No Coding Skills Required
        • Fast and Easy Deployment
        • Expertise and Trust
        • Scalable and Flexible
      • [Anu] Get your data published online quickly, easily and cost-effectively. Open-source,
    • What's our funnel? Email –> Loom video intro page –> Live demo page with button to schedule a call –> sales call –> proposal –> closing the deal
      • [Daniela] cold emails/messages on Linkedin –> qualifying leads –> initial meeting with live demo –> sales call –> proposal –> closing the deal
      • [Anu] We can look at the funnel here https://app.excalidraw.com/l/9u8crB2ZmUo/9wTFcY8gBhc (I believe we should focus on stage 1-2).
      • [Monika] SEO to increase organic search to website & from there –> meeting
  • Where do we market it? What channels do we use? Email marketing, datopian.com website and a banner on datahub.io website // bonus: social media
    • [Daniela] website, email (newsletter + cold outreach), social media (posts + cold outreach)
    • [Yoana] Various channels:
      • social media - LinkedIn, Twitter
      • email marketing campaigns
      • industry blogs, forums, websites
      • online advertising (Google Ads, social media ads)
      • industry events
    • [Monika] social media, newsletter, content marketing, events & community platforms and channels
    • Who can help us market it (if outsource)? We won't outsource for now and if/when we do, we want to try out the YLL company (one-time 1000 EUR set-up fee + 200 EUR per sales call that has taken place with what we have described as our ideal customer)
      • [Daniela] Lead generating companies, eg. YLL (approx. cost = one-time 1000 EUR + 200 EUR per sales call that has taken place with what we have described as our ideal customer)
      • [Monika] partners; external sales companies; community enthusiasts (indirectly)
      • [Yoana] Doesn't make sense to outsorce marketing imo - hard to afford it (maybe we can engage e.g. freelancers to help with specific aspects of our marketing strategy, such as content creation, social media management, PR etc)
    • What partnerships and collaborations should we pursue? Do we have resources for that? Anu will keep contacting the list of partners https://github.com/datopian/portals-monorepo/blob/main/docs/journal/2023-03-28.md#contacts-for-reseller-etc-etc
      • [Daniela] See above
      • [Monika] consulting companies that act as advisors to organizations?. just occured to me though: not sure how that whole thing with partners would work given the low profit we'd have from X client
      • [Yoana] Partnerships:
        • Tech partners that offer complementart services (if this enhances the value of our offering) - we can do collaboration and co-marketing (mutual benefit)
          • We obviously need to do a research and identify what companies can complement our Portal SaaS solution, we can check out e.g. Microsoft Azure Data Factory https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/partners/ (we'll have to join Microsoft Partner Network)
        • Channel partners (business that help sell, distribute and support our offer) e.g. VARs (value-added resellers), IT consultants, system integrators etc that can help sell Portal SaaS to their existing clients - they can provide value-added services, such as implementation, customization, support (they usually have a customer base thet can leverage; commission or margin based on the sales they generate)
          • VARs: GIS Cloud, Carto
          • IT Consultants: Gartner, McKinsey, PwC
          • System Integrators: Accenture, Deloitte
        • Strategic partners (that share the same vision or objectives) such as NGOs, complementary service providers, industry associations etc - collaboration to achieve mutual benefits
        • Affiliate partners (industry influencers, bloggers and content creators that have a significant following in the public sector, data management or open data communities) - they can create buzz around our solution as their main focus is to promote/market our offerings through their online platforms (commission based on sales or leads they generate)
        • NGOs, Educational institutions
  • What strategies can we use to drive traffic on website and increase sign ups?
    • What happens when a user signs up?
      • [Daniela] Quick sign-up form –> They should get redirected to a quick Loom video demo as an introduction –> then to the live demo page to play around + A MUST is an action button to schedule a call with us available throughout the whole user journey. We also need to follow up with these people via email if they didn't schedule a call
    • How can we lock in the website visitors?
      • [Daniela] Follow-up emails (not necessarily automated before we need that) after sign-up if they haven't scheduled a call with us
  • What does the user journey look like currently?
    • [Daniela] Google search i guess –> Datahub.io –> Click on Live demo –> Sign up form –> Demo instance –> They close the tab
  • What do we want the user journey to look like?
    • [Daniela] They land on the website offer –> they click on an action button –> they get directed to a loom video or similar with instructions –> they get access to the live demo –> they click to schedule a call with us –> sales call –> proposal –> we close the deal
  • What are the pain points that we are addressing?
    • [Daniela] easiness of use + cost + quick setup + for governments no procurement needed
    • [Monika] expensive solutions on the market; complicated and long projects; back and forth due to trying to crystalize all requirements in advance; a lot of reseach and decisionmaking required as a wrong move would cost a lot..
    • What features do we / will we have (off-the-shelf)?
    • Do the SaaS portal built-in functionalities match what's been looked for on a market-level?
      • Eg. Can we ensure security and privacy while maintaing user-friendly SaaS solution
  • What is the value proposition that we are providing? See our pitch and the pain points
    • Why would someone buy from us?
      • [Monika] we are experts in data & data solutions since 2 decades; we are actively creating new tools & exciting projects; we have a lot of experience working for notable clients; we are very flexible in terms of contracting, time zones, approaches and collaboration terms etc.; we understand your pain points and crafted the perfect solution that addresses them; a lot of flexibility in picking this route - stay with the basic version or upgrade / customize as you see it
      • [Daniela] Success stories, similar work done for similar customers with similar use stories; affordable; expertise
    • What is the current demand for SaaS solution among our target audience? If we assume it's the same target audience then no big demand (prospects are very often interested in customization and have special requests that fit their specific case) but if we assume it's not the same then we think there may be a sufficient demand to do a market test
    • How does the offer compare to other similar / competitive offers on the market?
      • [Monika] cheaper; quicker; easier to onboard; from CKAN creators
  • Who is our SaaS Portal team? See below
    • Who will sell this offer? Monika, Anuar, Daniela, Michael/Luccas M/Demenech
      • [Monika] I, Anu, Luccas M., Demenech?
      • [Daniela] Sales team (Monika, Anuar, Michael/Luccas M/Demenech, Daniela eventually) + outsourced team if we hire a lead generating company
    • Who will produce the marketing materials?
      • [Daniela] Yoana + techical input from Luccas M, Demenech
    • Who is the technical team, ie. who will deploy the solution if a client buys?
      • [Daniela] Luccas M, Demenech
  • Can the customers pick at least the rough looks / the color pallette or any other basic things? What exactly do the clients get? Yes, they would get 1-2 hrs of customization work from a junior dev which will be equal to eg. changing fonts, colors, maybe hero image and theming. For more sophisticated designs we can offer professional services work
    • What happens when a client purchases the Portal SaaS? if they purchase it will be after we have made them a proposal based on their needs so basic next steps would be to spin up the instance and spend 1-2 hours to customize the UI
    • How do we best explain / demo what the product really looks like and offers?
      • [Daniela] See sales funnel
    • What is the technology behind this offer? How would the publisher publish? CKAN + PortalJS // same backend, different frontends; we maintain just 1 instance; Each customer = CKAN organization and they won't be able to see other organizations
    • [Yoana] CKAN + PortalJS
  • What is the pricing strategy and what options do we want to provide to our prospects? subscription-based with different tiers e.g base plan, advanced plan, enterprise plan
    • [Daniela] (One-time setup cost maybe) + subscription-based, one month trial that extends automatically to an annual subscription if they don't terminate? We should have different tiers, Base, Advanced, Enterprise
    • What would each entail?
      • [Daniela] The base plan should only cover eg. spinning up the instance for them and providing 1-2 hrs of custom UI effort; Advanced - a monthly package of a few hours custom work maybe?, enterprise - prof services work based on their custom needs
    • How much time and effort is it currently taking us to deliver our offer to a client? 20 to 60 mins to spin up the instance + 1-2 hrs of custom work for basic UI changes/theming
      • [Daniela] From what I know from Anuar, between 20 to 60 mins depending on who is delivering
  • Can we create marketing collateral, videos and other materials to help us promote the offer?
    • [Monika] I don't see why not.
    • [Daniela] We need to know what is most important and prioritize given the lack of resource
  • What minimum materials do we need in order to go out and sell / pitch the offer to prospects?
    • [Anu] We can create proposal template - I think it can be standard and we share it with everyone interested.
    • [Daniela] This SCQA v1.0 finished and approved // Loom demo video as an introduction
    • [Monika] quick short deck explaining its functionalities, containing demo link and a success story or two if possible
  • How can we do a proper market test?
    • [Daniela] Define the strategy + define metrics for success, test it, collect data and evaluate after eg. 3 months.
      • How do we measure success? What does success mean for us?
        • [Daniela] Number of visitors vs number of people signed up + number of prospects won… numbers to be defined
      • What metrics do we want to capture/collect from on our market test so that we can decide if we should keep investing effort into this offer?
        • [Daniela] See above answer
        • [Monika] are people interested in a SaaS solution - how many qualified leads; is this way of starting a project helpful - feeback from people; does it address their pain points - feedback; how many potential clients / interested prospects
      • How do we know when the data collected is enough to justify our conclusions?
        • [Daniela] We should define a time period, eg. 3m and budget and evaluate at the end
  • What resources and money do we need to invest to overcome all the complications mentioned above?
    • [Daniela] 1 full day of focused team work to kick this off
  • What is our MVP? https://opendata.datahub.io/

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