Bodega Sale Blog

Dying App: Bodega Sale a Web-based Bookkeeping App

For the past 2 years I have continued to struggle on selling SaaS (Software as a Service) products. Although, I have been a provider for my family as a freelancer and I get to pay the rent and bills every month. But for me and for some others, entrepreneurship is just an irritating itch that I need to scratch — maybe for the rest of my life, but I’m fine with that.

Last June, I launched my lastest SaaS product Bodega Sale the results of this adventure as of today are:

By the way, the app was launched on June 27, 2011, so after 5 weeks of marketing:

130 views of the screen cast.

6 app installs.

5 uninstalls.

2 support tickets.

0 usage.

208 coding hrs (1 year of working on the side. maybe 4 hrs every week (52 weeks x 4hrs)

So I’ve learned things the hard way. I’m now going to share with you on what I think went wrong.

Lesson 1: Focus.

Why I failed was mainly because I was out of focus. Not because I have a day job. Well maybe somewhat a little bit. But without my day job as a freelancer, I have no other sources to fund the business. So the effect of having a day job is unimportant. Working on something for 208 hours is a big deal.

The focus that i’m trying to say is the focus for the customer. As a computer programmer or preferably called web developer, and because I’m such a specialist on code writing — I believe so — I went to leverage on that expertise and just made a great product. So I went and seek out a product that was sellable and I’ve had experience with (Elohai small business solutions a small business inventory shareware. And a customized accounting software from an enterprise customer during 2004-2006). I’ve analyzed and googled a lot. The obvious choice was a SaaS accounting software. And I’ve thought these are like staple for any business they are selling everywhere around the world I would never lose. So that’s how I made an accounting app for Shopify.

Focusing back on customers. My customers and users are supreme pragmatists. They will never (99.9% never) try to replace their current accounting system for any new and unknown one. But they will maybe try if you’re the version 2 of the currently installed program. Or if they are loyalists to a brand, for example Microsoft.

Most small businesses will begin using business software by solely using excel spreadsheets, they enter their numbers they will use it everyday, they will email it to their accountant at the end of the month it’s done! The lesson that I’ve learned here is that I was a surgeon offering surgery to a patient without a bleeding neck. In other words my product has no problems to solve.

So the most important lesson was that I should have focused first on finding customers with bleeding necks. I should have spent more time on finding and communicating with people with real life problems.

Lesson 2: End users of accounting software don’t have early adopters.

There will always be early adopters in your software. Even if you hide your product from your relatives and friends. You’ll always get early adopters. They’ll signup with an email account that they never use, check out the product. But they will never come back.

To be successful here is to have those excel-using end users to uninstall excel and use your product every day. And that is very difficult to achieve and it’s the same difficulty as going to the moon. But it’s not impossible, Microsoft Office already did a great leap on making them to stop from using pen, paper and the typewriter. It’s between Windows 95 to Windows XP everyone all shifted like a herd.

This is why I believe accounting software like any ERP software are best marketed by sales people with a company insider. Just how I got the contract for my first accounting software in 2004-2006. I got that contract because I had an insider which approached me about the problem they are facing with the old dos accounting system.

Accounting software will sell if you market it with the classic cold calling, brochure giving, one on one sales, and personalized support. But unfortunately not with web-based… yet.

So maybe Bodega Sale will do well someday. I have still a marketing plan to execute and I have no intention on abandoning that plan.

But maybe someday, It could just turn into an enterprise product inside a company’s server room :)