This article is a part of the article published on the site operated by the venture capital, All Star SaaS Fund.The full text can be read here.Career consultations on the company's e -mail magazine "All Star SaaS Newsletter" and career consultation on startup startups are also being accepted
In 2021, the barrichal SaaS, which specializes in the barber shop that raised a large fund from Tiger Global, is "SQUIRE".With "all -in -one platform to strengthen the operation of barber shops", we will continue to grow rapidly by knowing the unique circumstances of barber shops, such as reservation management, staff scheduled management, inventory management, POS, payment, etc.I am.
In addition, FinTech products are being developed in parallel, such as the functions that can easily pay the barber shops as well as SaaS, and the functions that can automatically collect rent from barber shops.
SaaS companies involving Fintech are one of the most recently increasing trends.Why do they work on these products?And despite being a niche market called barber shop, why is it poured as a unicorn candidate?
「ALL STAR SAAS CONFERENCE TOKYO 2021」でも注目のセッションより、抜粋・再構成して記事化しました。SquireのCEO & Co-founderであるSonge LaRonさんに、前田ヒロが彼らのストーリーを聞きました。
Maeda: Squire is attracting attention as a new SaaS startup.First of all, why did you start SaaS, which is specialized in barber shops, with many options?Can you tell me from that background?
SONGE: The trigger was from my own experience.I started going to a barber shop with my father since about 6 years old.Even after 20 years, I was busy working at a law firm in New York, but continued to go to a barber shop.
One day, I noticed that I was calling a barber shop about once every two weeks.Otherwise, you may be waiting for hours at the store.In the first place, the hurdle of reservation was high, so there was no choice but to send a message to a barber or go to the store for the time being.Moreover, payment is only cash and it cannot be used by Creca.
Even though technology and software are so popular, it's outdated.But none of the companies noticed this issue.Dave Salvant, a co -founder of Squire, also worked in the financial industry in New York, but had the same experience.
"Time" is valuable for working people.It's only painful to wait for hours at a barber shop.We just want to enter the store, have your hair cut right away, pay and leave the store.This was the trigger, but as the product evolved, our focus has changed.
Maeda: Why is the trouble of reservations and the inconvenience of paying?Did you know that "pain point to be solved" at the stage of entry?Or did you know while looking at the problem surrounding the barber shop?
SONGE: At first, you didn't pay attention to the management problem of a barber shop.I was only looking at issues related to the reservation and payment of the customer who went to the barber shop.There was not much idea of developing a product solving product on the barber shop and entering the B2B market.
Therefore, the first thing I worked on was to build a service that allows a barber to accept reservations and manage schedule and payment.
Maeda: Did you have a "decisive hit" that you wanted to proceed with a vertical SaaS for Buramo?For example, an episode from a customer.
SONGE: Before I decided to start a business in full time, I talked to many stakeholders, including barber, shop owners, and customers waiting at barber shops.I spent a day to keep listening to the customers in the waiting space, "Would you like to use this kind of service?"
When we organized the dissatisfaction that barber shops have, there were many things in common, such as "It is troublesome to stop by the ATM to prepare the cash for chips" and "I do not want to pay in the first place".Definitely a pain point and it is clear that there is a need.
Through such a process, I was convinced that there is absolute opportunity here!The barber shops also wanted to use the product.They wanted a specialized product that solves the unique challenges of a barber shop.
As a result of continuing to investigate while learning, I thought, "We should specialize in the barber shop industry, and here we can build a big business."
Maeda: One of the first struggles for entrepreneurs is "pricing".How did you calculate the proper price?
SONGE: I don't know if the correct settings are still available.I think the price setting is like between art and science ... but it's more science than art.Because there are large companies with pricing departments, it is impossible to set a perfect price.If you're an early startup, don't waste time.
But first, you should try it at the most appropriate price.We had to do so.I guessed how much you would like to pay, while examining the competition.
How to monetize from the transaction side?I knew here that we had a great business opportunity for us.So it doesn't really need to be SaaS.SaaS makes money from subscriptions.
For SMB, the profit of this model does not work.However, it is not attractive to set up the total revenue per user.If you monetize on a transaction or trading basis, you can link to customer sales, so you can open up a greater opportunity.
Maeda: You mentioned earlier that you started with a "building a service that can manage reservations and payments by yourself".Was the start of the slide well?
SONGE: Actually, I couldn't solve the problem of the entire store.Until the final pivot was done, it became our main weakness and hindered growth.
Maeda: From the viewpoint of the value proceeding, can you tell me how you pivot?
SONGE: Of course.Our product was initially deployed in the iOS app.A customer can search for a barber and pay the price and chips from the app ... It's like "Uber for Barber".Just as the driver could check the deposit amount along with the schedule, the barber was able to immediately confirm the deposit amount.
I thought, "With this, I was able to solve all the existing issues and I was better than other services. I made a great product!"But when I released it, I immediately realized that the reaction from the market was not good.The barber had been accepting reservations in various ways after the introduction of our products.
Our products were not used in all transactions, but only occasionally used.Cash payments were still occurring, and reservation management was also used together with other services.
Maeda: Why in such a situation?
SONGE: When we talk to the owners of the barber shop, they answer, "This app looks convenient," but we continue to say "But ...".
"We have five barber, can we manage everyone's schedule together with this app?" "I have a product and I have stock, but can I link with those management systems?" "Credit card payment."I want to be able to do it, but do you have a POS system? "" Is there a credit card reader? If you don't, can you work with the existing system? "
……etc.In response to such questions, we couldn't even think of needs.So I returned to the start and realized that I had to build a complete end -to -end solution that could cover all the core job flow of business owners.
It was also important not only to manage the schedule by each barber, but also to provide solutions for the owner to manage the overall operations.
Maeda: That's a pretty hard request.
SONGE: That's right.Well, it was certainly an important hint, but it's like building a completely different product.
BRIDGE editorial department Note: Click here for continuation of "Creating a product to replace everything with SQUIRE".
———
All Star SaaS Blog has a SaaS -specific venture capital All Star SaaS Fund, learns know -how and knowledge from SaaS companies that are active in the SaaS industry and state -of -the -art initiatives, and distribute articles and podcasts along with practical examples.SaaS specialized blog.We aim to contribute to the growth of everyone involved in SaaS and the SaaS industry as a whole.Email magazine is also accepted
BRIDGEでは会員制度「BRIDGE Members」を運営しています。会員向けコミュニティ「BRIDGE Tokyo」ではテックニュースやトレンド情報のまとめ、Discord、イベントなどを通じて、スタートアップと読者のみなさんが繋がる場所を提供いたします。登録は無料です。