Sophinos: Every major vertical SaaS company eventually owns the customer's financial transactions
Luke Sophinos · How to build a $1M+ vertical SaaS business (step-by-step guide) · Sep 25, 2024 · at 46:46
CourseKey founder Luke Sophinos explains how embedding payments expands market size and drives enterprise value for vertical SaaS platforms.
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“Every single big industry specific software company owns the transaction.”
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More from Luke Sophinos
Sophinos: Vertical SaaS delivers enduring businesses despite lower VC-style growth
“There's so much opportunity for still today in 20, 24 to not go build the shiny, sexy thing with limitless, you know, market size and, Hone in and focus on one industry, you know, one type of business and build software tailored for them and build really great…”
Sophinos: Vertical SaaS founders must pick an industry before a product idea
“I'm a big believer in picking a industry and not a, an idea. So you don't come up with an idea at all. That's not the first step. That's not even the 10th step. So you have to focus on an industry.”
Sophinos: Founders do not need preexisting domain expertise to build vertical SaaS
“And there's a correlation with successful outcomes and actually, actually having the industry expertise, but it's not a requisite at all. So, you know, we've built one of the biggest vertical SaaS businesses in the country for trade schools, and it's, I didn't…”
Luke Sophinos: AI cannot yet accurately map detailed industry workflows
“I think AI isn't going to do a great job yet on like, what is every single step of the workflow for a, you know, a bank.”
Sophinos: Buy blue-collar workers lunch to get permission to shadow their workflows
“Just show up at machine shops and say, I'll buy everybody, I'll buy you guys lunch today. I know I probably look like a crazy person, but I'll buy you guys lunch today. If you just let me shadow the operation for today, go validate it.”
Sophinos: Launching vertical SaaS is a scientific, mathematical process
“I think vertical SaaS is much more of a science than an art. I think people believe starting a software business is this artistic thing where you got to come up with some crazy big idea and, you know, you got to hold it close to the vest and you can't tell any…”