Startups For the Rest of Us

Episode 778 | Pricing Pilot Projects, Niching Down, Skipping Stairsteps, and More Listener Questions (A Rob Solo Adventure)

June 10, 2025

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  • Entrepreneurship inherently involves calculated gambles, and the concept of 'de-risking' is better understood as having contingencies like pivoting or expanding market reach rather than eliminating risk. 
  • Pricing pilots should generally be based on a percentage of the value delivered to the customer, and it's crucial to charge for pilots to ensure customer commitment and avoid devaluing the service. 
  • While building an audience can be valuable, it's not always the most efficient marketing strategy for SaaS businesses, and founders should consider alternative, shorter routes to market. 

Segments

Tiny Seed Tales Feedback
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The raw, unvarnished stories of startup struggles and successes in ‘Tiny Seed Tales’ provide invaluable lessons on the inherent uncertainty of building a business, even for experienced founders.
  • Summary: The conversation begins with a listener’s thank you for the ‘Tiny Seed Tales’ series, highlighting how it demystifies the entrepreneurial journey by showcasing the uncertainty and challenges faced by founders, even those with backing. The host acknowledges the positive feedback and discusses the production effort and delayed gratification involved in creating these documentary-style episodes, while also teasing the upcoming season.
Pilot Project Pricing Strategy
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(00:08:46)
  • Key Takeaway: When pricing pilot projects, founders should aim for a price that reflects a percentage of the value delivered, ensuring the customer has skin in the game and the founder doesn’t feel they’ve done significant work for free.
  • Summary: A listener asks for advice on pricing a pilot project for a large visual effects studio, emphasizing the potential value and the company’s current cash sensitivity. The host discusses the importance of charging for pilots, suggesting a starting point of 10% of the perceived value, and differentiates between pricing for custom work versus features that can be reused for future customers.
Niche Down and De-Risking
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(00:15:16)
  • Key Takeaway: De-risking a startup bet is a misnomer; instead, entrepreneurs should focus on making calculated gambles and adapting through pivots and market expansion as new information emerges.
  • Summary: The discussion shifts to a question about niching down using industry knowledge and de-risking bets. The host argues against the idea of de-risking, framing entrepreneurship as calculated gambles and emphasizing the importance of course corrections based on new information. The segment also touches on how to niche down by identifying problems within specific industries and being open to market pull.
Starting a SaaS Business
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(00:22:30)
  • Key Takeaway: Building a successful SaaS business like Sidekick often requires significant luck and a pre-existing audience or strong reputation, making it a challenging endeavor to replicate without those elements.
  • Summary: A listener inquires about starting a business similar to Sidekick, an open-source project that became a successful SaaS. The host cautions that replicating such success is difficult due to the inherent luck involved and the importance of a strong open-source foundation and audience. The conversation also delves into when to start charging for products and the complexities of the SaaS model.