--- title: "Secret To SaaS Success: Recognize That You're Not Selling Software" description: Winning in SaaS is not about selling software, it's about delivering success. image: https://www.onstartups.com/hubfs/arrow-ground-up.jpg --- # Secret To SaaS Success: Recognize That You're Not Selling Software Written By: [Dharmesh Shah](https://www.onstartups.com/author/dharmesh-shah) March 7, 2017 - [saas](https://www.onstartups.com/topic/saas) - [#StartupAdvice](https://www.onstartups.com/topic/startupadvice) Secret To SaaS Success: Recognize That You're Not Selling Software Written by [Dharmesh Shah](https://www.onstartups.com/author/dharmesh-shah) on March 7, 2017 - - - - I've been working in the software industry for over 25 years. Pretty much my entire professional career (if you don't count that stint as a night clerk at Red Roof Inn). Back in the late 1900s, when you sold software, you *sold software*. What your company produced was a large set of properly aligned bits (software). You then got those bits to your customers somehow (floppy disk, DVD, FTP, whatever). And, then those customers installed those bits on a computer of their choosing and if all went well, they'd get some value out of it. But, that wouldn't always happen. Often, they'd fail to *ever* install it and get it working. Or fail to learn it. Or fail to use it properly. Basically fail to get the value expected -- or the value promised, or sometimes *any* value. Ironically, the higher the purchase price was, the lower the chances of seeing success. History is replete with multi-million dollar software purchases that never saw the light of day. As an entrepreneur, this pains me. Most start software companies to make money, they start companies to *solve problems*. ![arrow-ground-up.jpg](https://www.onstartups.com/hs-fs/hubfs/arrow-ground-up.jpg?width=320&name=arrow-ground-up.jpg) Now, fast-forward to today. It's 2017. Many software companies are now *Software as a Service *(SaaS) companies. What they produce is the same as before: A large set of properly aligned bits (software). Only now, instead of shipping those bits off to the customer somehow, they "host" those bits on the customers behalf and off the benefit of that software as a *service*. Makes sense, right? Now, naive folks that are new to SaaS often make the mistake of thinking they're still selling software. They're not. Because... > **SaaS = *Success* as a Service** If you're in the SaaS business, the only way to survive in the long-term is not to just deliver software. It's to deliver success. You have to actually deliver the *benefit* that the software is promised to provide. And, if the customer *fails* to get that benefit then *you* have failed. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200. The reason for this new bar is relatively straight-forward. Back in the old days, you got paid for your software upfront and though you *wanted* your customer to succeed, and maybe even labored to *help* them succeed, if they didn't succeed, well, such was life and you moved on. Today, if the customer doesn't succeed, they cancel. In a month, in a quarter, in a year -- but eventually, they cancel. And, more likely than not, if they cancel, you've lost money. The math won't work. So, to survive and thrive in the long-term, you can't sell software, or even access to software, you have to sell -- and deliver -- success. Let me give you a concrete example and some lessons learned from my company, HubSpot, which provides marketing/sales software. HubSpot is a textbook SaaS company. We're about 10 years old, and we're now public [NYSE:HUBS]. Here's what we invest in (because it works): 1. **Onboarding**. If you help customers get started with your product, they are more likely to do so. Ideally, your software is so simple and intuitive and easy that customers just get up and running and *succeed* on their own. But, if you have a relatively broad or sophisticated product, customers will often need help. In those cases, onboarding works. 2. **Education**. HubSpot has [HubSpot Academy](https://academy.hubspot.com), which is a team that helps educate people on inbound marketing. Interestingly, they don't just invest in HubSpot customers, they educate the broader marketing industry. 3. **Community. **HubSpot hosts [inbound.org](http://inbound.org), an online community built for marketers. It allows them to find the best content (curated by the community itself), discuss topics of interest, post jobs and find jobs. It acts as the premier professional network for marketers. The community has over 200,000 members now. So, why does HubSpot spend millions of dollars educating and supporting marketers? It's simple. because we've realized that our success depends on the success of our customers. We've learned and accepted that we're building a "Success as a Service" company. ## Related Posts [Startup Marketing ABCs marketing June 9, 2010 The following is a guest post from Mike Volpe, the VP of Marketing at HubSpot, who has helped grow our marketing software company from a handful of customers to nearly 3,000 customers… Read Post ** ](https://www.onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/12875/Startup-Marketing-ABCs.aspx) [Why I Wish My Competitors Well And You Should Too strategy February 22, 2010 I’m going to start with a story — which includes a confession. When I started my first company, I didn’t start with a grand mission. The idea behind the business wasn’t… Read Post ** ](https://www.onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/11916/Why-I-Wish-My-Competitors-Well-And-You-Should-Too.aspx) Subscribe ### Get OnStartup News and Updates in your Inbox. ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Dharmesh Shah", "url" : "https://www.onstartups.com/author/dharmesh-shah" }, "dateModified" : "2021-03-05T23:28:40.634Z", "datePublished" : "2017-03-07T15:02:04.000Z", "headline" : "Secret To SaaS Success: Recognize That You're Not Selling Software", "image" : [ "https://www.onstartups.com/hubfs/arrow-ground-up.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.onstartups.com/secret-to-saas-success-recognize-that-youre-not-selling-software", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.onstartups.com/hubfs/mjtw-assets/logos/onstartups-logo@2x.png" }, "name" : "OnStartups" } } ```