Mastering Customer Onboarding: Insights from Rocket Lane's CEO

Building Opinionated Products for Customer Success

In the fast-paced world of SaaS, creating a product that stands out from the competition is crucial. Shri Krishnan, CEO of Rocket Lane, emphasizes the importance of building opinionated products that align with specific customer outcomes. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, Rocket Lane focuses on developing a platform with a clear point of view on how to best serve their target market.

"Customers want opinionated products which help them get to their outcomes," Shri explains. "Of course, it's going to align with some outcomes, not all outcomes. So you know which outcomes customers are looking for, and if they're looking for the same outcomes that you know you're going to be able to enable, then the opinionated product works well."

This approach allows Rocket Lane to differentiate itself in the crowded customer onboarding space by offering a unique perspective on how to streamline and improve the process.

Validating Business Ideas: Beyond the MVP

While many startups focus on launching a minimum viable product (MVP) as quickly as possible, Shri and his team took a different approach with Rocket Lane. Instead of rushing to market with a bare-bones offering, they spent a year developing a full-featured product that could truly showcase their vision for revolutionizing customer onboarding.

"We did validate each of this along the way," Shri notes. "We were showing like click-through prototypes, not the real product. We never handed it to the customer, but we kept validating what are the pain points. We kept validating from customers or prospects saying, 'Hey, show us how you do this today. Show us what workarounds you're doing. Show us what you're building internally.'"

This thorough validation process allowed Rocket Lane to launch with a more comprehensive solution that immediately demonstrated value to potential customers. By taking the time to understand the market deeply and build a product with a strong point of view, they were able to create a more compelling offering from day one.

Targeting the Right Market Segment

When launching a new SaaS product, it's essential to identify the right initial market segment to target. Shri recommends starting with smaller businesses or the lower end of the B2B market for several reasons:

1. Lower risk for testing and validation
2. Easier to implement without complex compliance requirements
3. Ability to scale the product as you move upmarket

"It's also low risk to test on the smaller companies in the sense that yes, some of them may churn, but you're not losing a big name," Shri explains. "You validate in the smaller audience, then you start going upmarket because you know what you need to build."

This approach allows startups to refine their product and messaging with less pressure while still laying the groundwork for future expansion into larger enterprise customers.

Designing for the End Customer

Even when selling to businesses, it's crucial to keep the end-user experience in mind. Shri emphasizes the importance of designing products that benefit not just your direct customers, but their customers as well.

"If you do make the end customer successful, it's going to flow back to the other ones that are using your software," he says. "You should never design for the distributor. You should always design for the end customer."

This philosophy has guided Rocket Lane's development, ensuring that their platform creates value throughout the entire customer journey.

Pricing Strategies and Future Considerations

As Rocket Lane continues to grow and expand its offerings, Shri acknowledges that their pricing model will likely evolve. Currently, they charge a premium compared to standard project management tools, justifying the higher cost through the added value of their customer-facing features and the efficiency gains they provide.

However, with the rapid advancements in AI and automation, Shri anticipates a shift towards more consumption-based pricing models in the future. This could involve charging for units of work completed by AI agents rather than solely focusing on per-seat pricing.

"We are starting to build the agents that do the work," Shri reveals. "Think of it as, yes, I'm running a customer-facing project, and today Rocket Lane helps me with the work around the work, like planning the project, sending the updates, marking a task as complete. But today, we don't help with the actual doing of the work, but we started on a path to get there."

Adapting to Rapid Changes in the AI Landscape

With the breakneck pace of AI development, Shri emphasizes the need for constant reevaluation and adaptation. He advises entrepreneurs to stay plugged into the latest developments and be willing to evolve their hypotheses about what customers need and how to best serve them.

"I think the only thing that people need to pay attention to is keep evolving your hypothesis around the world itself," Shri suggests. "Because I think the way things are changing, if you asked me the same question about what we want to build four months ago, I would have had a very different answer from today."

This flexibility and willingness to pivot based on new technological advancements will be crucial for startups looking to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving SaaS landscape.

Balancing Long-Term Vision with Short-Term Execution

While it's important to remain agile, Shri also recognizes the need for some stability in product planning. At Rocket Lane, they typically plan their major initiatives on a quarterly basis, allowing for flexibility on smaller tasks while maintaining a clear direction for larger goals.

When it comes to enterprise customer requests that could potentially derail the roadmap, Shri advocates for open communication and managing expectations:

"We instead said, 'Here's what you want, here's how we want to build it. We're thinking slightly bigger than what your requirement is because we want to keep this kind of flexibility to achieve these other things as well while we build what you asked for.' So it's going to take us longer, and we delivered some things a year and a half after we brought on those customers."

By maintaining transparency about timelines and the broader vision, Rocket Lane has been able to retain customer confidence even when specific features take longer to implement.

The Future of SaaS and AI Integration

Looking ahead, Shri sees enormous potential in leveraging AI to create "radical efficiency" for customers. He believes that early movers who can demonstrate real success stories with AI integration will have a significant advantage in the market.

However, he also acknowledges the challenges of building a defensible moat in such a rapidly changing landscape. The key to long-term success may lie not in any single feature or technology, but in an organization's ability to continuously innovate and adapt to new opportunities.

"I think the moat will be, at least for the next couple of years, organizations that are capable of innovating and capable of doing it on a continuous level," Shri predicts. "So they have solid data infrastructure, they know how to gather feedback, they know how to sell to customers, and then come up with new ideas."

Conclusion: Embracing Change and Continuous Innovation

As the SaaS industry continues to evolve at a breakneck pace, companies like Rocket Lane are leading the way in reimagining customer onboarding and project management. By building opinionated products, focusing on end-user success, and remaining agile in the face of technological advancements, they are positioning themselves for long-term success in an increasingly competitive market.

For entrepreneurs and product managers looking to make their mark in the SaaS world, Shri's insights offer valuable guidance on how to approach product development, market validation, and customer engagement in an era of rapid change. By staying focused on solving real customer problems while remaining open to new possibilities, startups can create lasting value and build resilient businesses capable of thriving in an uncertain future.

As we look ahead to the continued integration of AI and automation into SaaS products, one thing is clear: the ability to adapt, innovate, and deliver tangible value to customers will be more important than ever. Those who can master these skills while maintaining a clear vision and strong customer focus will be well-positioned to lead the next wave of SaaS innovation.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deHj4h2jjpQ