Starting a software startup can be an exciting yet daunting task. You have a great idea, but limited resources and expertise to make it happen. This is where SaaS software development services come in. They provide the technical talent and infrastructure you need to quickly build, launch and scale your startup.
The following guide will help you decide whether to use Saas software development services or not, how much it will cost, and what the benefits of using them are.
Follow these steps to launch with SaaS developers:
Research Development Partners
Many dev shops offer SaaS development services. Do research to find ones fitting for your startup.
Key factors to consider:
- Expertise in your tech stack
- Experience building and launching SaaS products
- Flexible engagement models (hourly, project-based, etc)
- Development processes and communication practices
- Cultural fit and soft skills
- Pricing and budget needs
Shortlist a few top contenders. Vet them thoroughly through calls, demos, references, online reviews, and portfolios. Ensure they can deliver the skills needed to build your product.
Define Product Requirements
Before engaging a dev team, clearly define your product vision and specifications.
- Outline the core features, functionality, and workflows.
- Map out UI/UX design and architecture.
- Document target users, their pain points, and how you’ll solve them.
- Plan integrations needed with other tools/platforms.
- Consider technical considerations like hosting, infrastructure, security, compliance, etc.
Thorough requirements set your dev team up for success. They understand your product and can estimate work accurately.
Create a Roadmap
Break down the entire product build into logical phases.
Prioritize features into releases, starting with a minimal viable product (MVP). Decide which pieces are absolutely essential for launch vs. nice-to-haves for later.
A phased roadmap helps scope work for the dev team into digestible chunks. It keeps the first release focused on critical functionality. Extra features come later.
Hire Your Dev Team
With requirements defined, choose a SaaS dev partner to engage. Be clear about expectations, timeline, budget, process, and communication upfront.
For many startups, hiring a small agile team is best. This keeps costs down while maintaining flexibility. Common roles needed:
- Project manager: Leads planning, tracks progress, facilitates communication
- Backend/API developers: Build server-side logic and integrations
- Frontend developers: Code user interfaces and client-side interactions
- DevOps engineers: Manage testing, CI/CD, hosting, infrastructure
- Quality assurance: Perform testing to catch bugs pre-launch
Consider hiring freelancers or augmenting with an in-house technical co-founder.
Develop in Phases
Take an iterative approach to product development. Build in cycles, not a single marathon sprint.
Typical phases:
Planning: Requirements, design, technical spec, schedule, team kickoff
Core feature build: MVP development focused on must-have functionality
QA and refinement: Rigorous testing, fix bugs, improve UX
Initial launch: Deploy first working version for small beta test group
Ongoing enhancements: Release additional features per roadmap, gather user feedback
Phase sizes depend on scope, but 1-4 weeks per cycle works well. Review progress often and re-plan upcoming phases.
Optimize for Speed
For rapid product iteration, optimize the development process for speed.
- Use agile methodologies like Scrum or Kanban
- Automate builds, testing, and infrastructure with DevOps tools
- Employ lean processes to eliminate waste and inefficiencies
- Release often, gather feedback, continuously improve
- Empower developers to make decisions without bottlenecks
- Provide them high-end tools and environments
Speed enables pivoting as you learn during launch. Weeks of work, not months, are lost if changes are needed.
Manage Quality
While moving fast, ensure quality via:
- Unit, integration, and manual testing
- Security and performance testing
- Peer code reviews and QA automation
- UX testing and refinement sprints
- Monitoring after launch to catch issues
High velocity means nothing without high quality. Great software dev teams uphold both.
Own the Product Vision
Although you hired a dev team, it’s crucial you own the product vision and guide the direction.
- Review progress often. Give feedback and approval.
- Make business and UX decisions, don’t leave it to developers.
- Drive conversations about goals, tradeoffs, and priorities.
- Provide assets like stylesheets, branding, copy, images.
- Participate in planning meetings and demos.
You know your customers best. Lead wisely towards solving their needs.
Plan Next Phases
After launching MVP, don’t stop! Use early traction to plan enhancement releases.
- Review analytics and user feedback to guide priorities.
- Map future phases focused on growth, engagement, and retention.
- Build on core functionality with features customers request most.
- Assign estimated timelines and requirements for dev team.
- Repeatedly refine and improve the product.
Phased development helps make the right product before you scale.
What are the Benefits of Saas Software?
SaaS (Software as a Service) offers many benefits that make it an attractive option for software delivery and usage compared to traditional licensed software.
Flexibility – SaaS software can be accessed from any internet-connected device. This enables employees to work from anywhere and collaborate easily. SaaS tools can scale up or down on demand to meet changing business needs.
Lower costs – SaaS eliminates high upfront license fees, as well as expense for supporting infrastructure. It converts capital expenditure to predictable operating expenditure with subscription-based pricing. This optimizes cash flow.
Automatic updates – Cloud delivery means software updates happen automatically. No more waiting months for new features or fixing bugs yourself. SaaS vendors continuously improve their products.
Newest capabilities – By accessing SaaS software via the cloud, you always use the latest version packed with cutting-edge features. Innovations are added constantly.
Reliability – Leading SaaS vendors deliver excellent reliability and uptime on enterprise-grade infrastructure. Your data and apps are accessible 24/7.
Collaboration – SaaS tools enable real-time collaboration across teams and locations. Shared access to data and workflows improves productivity.
Security – Reputable SaaS providers implement rigorous security best practices and controls that often surpass what individual companies can achieve. Reliance on SaaS software can enhance security posture.
Conclusion
Launching an early-stage SaaS startup is achievable using an experienced software dev provider. They handle building the product. You handle guiding the strategy. By partnering with care, startups can launch and validate ideas without huge upfront development costs.
Outsourcing SaaS development lets you start testing your vision with real customers quickly. Prove out core product value before you bet the company on it. Using an agile, phased approach, make something users want before you make something massive. Launching an MVP first enables startups to get traction while controlling costs and quality.
FAQ
Why should I outsource SaaS development?
Outsourcing to a SaaS dev shop lets you launch your product without having to hire a large in-house tech team. It saves costs while accessing specialized expertise.
What should I look for in a SaaS development partner?
Look for proven experience building successful SaaS products on time and budget. Seek expertise in your tech stack, excellent project management practices, quality assurance rigor, and great communication skills.
When should I engage a development team?
Bring on a dev partner after thoroughly defining your product vision, requirements, and launch roadmap. Give them specifics to estimate work accurately.
How much does SaaS development cost?
Costs vary based on project scope, team size, timeline, and geographic location. Many dev firms offer flexible models like hourly consulting. Expect an MVP to start around $25-75k.
Should I hire freelancers or an agency?
Weigh pros and cons of each. Freelancers often have lower hourly rates but less oversight. Agencies provide project management and infrastructure. Every project has unique needs.
What is the best development approach?
For SaaS startups, take an agile, iterative approach. Build in short phases focused on launching with core features first. Release often and improve based on user feedback.
How can I ensure quality with fast development?
Make rigorous QA and testing standard in each sprint. Perform security reviews, test coverage analysis, peer code reviews, user acceptance testing, and monitor apps post-launch.
How involved should I be during development?
Stay very involved! Guide priorities, give feedback on progress, participate in planning, provide branding assets, and make business decisions. Don’t hand off all control.
Disclosure: The articles, guides and reviews on BlowSEO covering topics like SEO, digital marketing, technology, business, finance, streaming sites, travel and more are created by experienced professionals, marketers, developers and finance experts. Our goal is to provide helpful, in-depth, and well-researched content to our readers. You can learn more about our writers and the process we follow to create quality content by visiting our About Us and Content Creation Methodology pages.
