In order to sell to enterprises, SaaS startups usually need to add the same 5 core product features. These features allow for a dramatic increase in price (often a few fold) and the ability to close large accounts that may scale in the millions of dollars per customer.
The below assumes you have something that is working bottoms up that you want to adapt for enterprise. If your core product does not have product/market fit, adding the below features won’t help much.
Enterprise features usually include:
1. Single Sign On (SSO).
In some cases, SSO is sufficient to cause enterprises to adopt your product. This is often the minimal enterprise feature set.
2. Admin View & Permissions.
Often you want to be able to have an admin set permissions for individuals or groups of users. Alternatively, you want to be able to set preferences at the group level versus individual level (for example, you do not want to add every new engineering hire to 50 slack channels. You would rather add them to “eng” and have it propagate to all channels. Lastly, you want to be able to have an admin take over or manage specific permissions. This is often the second or thing most requested feature for enterprises.
3. Security & Compliance.
The most common compliance request is SOC2, which sets the data and information security policies, procedures and approaches. Other forms of compliance may include GDPR, HIPAA (for healthcare companies) and FEDRamp (for US Government contractors). (Read more…)
The below assumes you have something that is working bottoms up that you want to adapt for enterprise. If your core product does not have product/market fit, adding the below features won’t help much.
Enterprise features usually include:
1. Single Sign On (SSO).
In some cases, SSO is sufficient to cause enterprises to adopt your product. This is often the minimal enterprise feature set.
2. Admin View & Permissions.
Often you want to be able to have an admin set permissions for individuals or groups of users. Alternatively, you want to be able to set preferences at the group level versus individual level (for example, you do not want to add every new engineering hire to 50 slack channels. You would rather add them to “eng” and have it propagate to all channels. Lastly, you want to be able to have an admin take over or manage specific permissions. This is often the second or thing most requested feature for enterprises.
3. Security & Compliance.
The most common compliance request is SOC2, which sets the data and information security policies, procedures and approaches. Other forms of compliance may include GDPR, HIPAA (for healthcare companies) and FEDRamp (for US Government contractors). (Read more…)