---
date: 2019-06-07
modified_at: 2020-05-30
tags: [entrepreneurship]
description: Understanding the stages from idea to market in a SaaS startup and why senior developers should be aware of these stages to become more driven and successful.
---
# The SaaS Stages Funnel

(Open for new titles that generate more curiosity)

Excerpt: Is your project successful? Do you even care, or do you just ship
features? In this essay, the stages from idea to market are explained, and it is
argued that it could help you to become more a more driven and successful senior
developer.

Outline:

 * Short introduction of myself, what I do, have done, and how I failed in
   projects
 * More detailed Explanation of how I see the stages in a SaaS startup ( see
   picture)



 * Answer to these questions:

Should a senior dev be aware of these stages? What is the role of a senior dev
in a project, apart from developing? Should a senior dev just focus on
development, and get the ‘what’ from their boss/PO (or should he have an opinion
about the direction of which way to go, based on awareness on the stage they’re
in and the technical challenge).

Some points that came out of the discussion:

 * Big teams may lead to much discussion. It’s in the Dutch culture to be direct
   and discuss a lot. It may be better to adopt a more South American culture
   and just do something in a way you don’t necessarily agree with but just do
   it so you all have the same direction. Avoiding discussion could save time.
 * It can be very motivating to understand the user better
 * All knowing the bigger picture and deciding together what to do with the app
   is probably good for team spirit
 * Smaller projects with smaller teams that are in an earlier stage should be
   more aware of the stages as it may change rapidly what is important. Too
   rapidly to get directions from your boss
 * When developing a Greenfield project, it’s important to test your assumptions
   as early as possible. Disproving your assumptions may be tough, but it may
   save you a lot of time wasted going in the wrong direction.
 * A common pitfall of big companies is to overdevelop and not validate early
   enough. As a matter of fact, most startups probably don’t validate early
   enough too. I don’t either. It’s hard. But it can be done. This is an
   extremely good book about validating early https://www.gv.com/sprint/ (before
   PoC). But it’s a common pattern to throw a years work of development with a
   big team into an idea and discover it won’t work a year later. This is a
   waste of money.

Conclusion: it can be good to be more aware of these stages and to see the
bigger picture outside of your expertise. It will probably make you a more
motivated and driven developer. Although it’s maybe not what’s expected of you,
it may surprise your employer in a good way if you come up with ingenious
discoveries.

Idea for another blog: Feature Ownership (Full stack + Design + PO in one with
responsibility) versus Code Ownership (FE, BE, PO, Designer, Tester, Feedback,
all apart, together in a team). Advantages and disadvantages.