

Ask HN: Finding a business partner to sell my SaaS? - fnid2

I have a fairly unique product offering that I want to sell to the health care device/pharmaceutical industry. It will help these organizations manage data they are required to report to the government soon and many of them have no way to do this now.  Creating a system to manage and report the data could be quite costly, but I have a system they can sign up and start using with little overhead.<p>My question is, what is the best way to find a business person who would be able to bring this idea to the people who need it? I need help on the business side.  The product needs just a little more work, but before I invest more time into it, I'd like to know I have a partner who can help sell it and create text and maybe even graphics for the website.  A designer would be a good addition to the team as well.<p>I see a lot of business people looking for technical people to help found a company, but how would a technical person go about finding a business founder to help build a company?
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jacquesm
> The product needs just a little more work

That's a thing I've heard many times before when 'a little' was eventually so
long that the whole thing got scrapped.

Can you qualify that better ?

Maybe outlining what still needs to be done, you might really be within sight
of the finish line and yet that single line might scare people off.

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fnid2
Nothing serious or too time consuming. More in line with "every piece of
software can be made better."

Here's what's done: The data model is built, online forms to enter the data,
reporting, an easy to administer setup system and accept new clients, easy
integration with paypal subscription. It's a multi-tenant system, so we can
have lots of companies sign up and it's fairly easy to add new customers. It
can also be packaged as a "behind the firewall" system. It's also built on a
flexible platform in case the clients want to add fields or modify the
application to suit their needs. There's a rest-like interface for integration
into existing information systems the clients may already be using. Tons of
security setups for multiple groups and who which information they can view or
enter. It works on mobile devices so client reps can enter data while out on
the road. Lots of pharmaceutical sales people will _love_ this capability.

What still needs to be done is setting up the brochure site to sell the
product. Create a blog and start adding content to get people involved. I've
bought a great domain name that will help with SEO. There's also some
aesthetic stuff like gradients and moving form fields around, but this can be
done with drag and drop.

It's ready now to do a demo for clients. My thought is put up a brochure site
where potential customers can sign up for a webinar and we can walk them
through the site and how it works. It's not very complicated really.

More work from the business side would be finding the decision makers and
approaching them. Someone with a Rolodex would be very beneficial to the team.

I suspect the SaaS could sell for between $2,000 and $5,000 a month. Behind
the firewall systems on the order of $50,000 + maintenance fees.

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mikeleeorg
One idea is to use LinkedIn and find sales & business development people
(perhaps preferably with an entrepreneurial background) in the health care
device/pharmaceutical industry. Then craft a nice, persuasive email and try to
pitch them your idea. You'll probably have to pay for LinkedIn's premium
service though, but if you can find a good, trust-worthy partner, it might be
worth it.

Part B of that idea is to look for a LinkedIn group within that industry, join
it, and look around for potential business partners that way.

A second idea is to try this new service called <http://founderdating.com/> ,
though it's only in a few cities right now and doesn't seem to be running all
that often.

I'd recommend trying to get at least 3 people who are interested & willing to
help, then interviewing each and checking their references.

Just my $0.02. Good luck!

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mschaecher
I'm a "biz guy" and you caught my curiosity and I would like some more info...

What are the coming reporting changes that the industries are required to
adapt to? (Links are fine) Also when is soon for the required reporting?

Have you been developing this with input from potential user/customers, aka
Customer Development? How do you know many of them have no way of doing this
now?

You can respond here or via email if you want. Mine is in my profile. Lots of
other questions...

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lionheart
Where are you located? I assume that you'd want a partner that lives in your
local area.

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fnid2
I work remotely with people on different continents, so I think they don't
need to be local. Probably isn't going to be a local person because I live in
a rural area with few technical/business people anyway.

I use gotomeeting / phone and skype to work remotely with people.

