Linear #007: The Laundromat Problem, How To Build a vSaaS in 60 Days, The Story Of Postman
One business story, one how-to, and one vertical SaaS breakdown. Once a week.
Happy Sunday folks!
Another episode of the linear newsletter here.
One Vertical SaaS Breakdown:
The Laundromat Problem
Industry-specific vertical software companies will eat some of the most iconic internet businesses of the last decade — and it all starts with a laundromat.
The impending vertical software tsunami and what I call ‘The Laundromat Problem’:
If you look at the world of software, the general goal is to build products that solve broad, industry-agnostic problems for a large number of companies. But there's a problem with software that's designed for wide, market-agnostic problems. Enter Dustin's Laundromat.
Dustin runs a laundromat on a busy street corner. Today, to support his business, Dustin uses 10+ software products. He has a Point-Of-Sale system, an inventory management solution, and 3 kinds of advertising software.
None of these solutions cater specifically to laundromats. So, Dustin spends many hours configuring them to talk to one another. This creates a really annoying, challenging process for a non-technical group of folks who are literally there to fold laundry.
Configuring, maintaining, and integrating all those SaaS products is a lot of work—and nobody at Dustin’s Laundromat has the skills to do it optimally. In general, the software is being mis-used... if it’s used at all.
You might think, “it’s just a laundromat,” but here’s the catch: the Laundromat Problem is NOT unique to Dustin’s business. Some spin on The Laundromat Problem is happening at almost every company in every market.
The average company today uses more than 20 different software solutions.
That’s insane. This is happening because everyone has a cluster of point solutions, not an all-in-one tool that’s catered to its specific business/industry. But this isn’t sustainable.
Think about how much time companies spend configuring their Business Intelligence Tools, their CRMs, their support desks. And that’s companies that can afford to spend time and resources on this.
What about markets that don’t have IT support or engineers?
How much do you enjoy opening a birthday gift that takes multiple days to assemble? Do you enjoy later finding out that you put it together incorrectly? That’s the world of horizontal SaaS
Companies might not understand why they have this problem, but they feel the pain.
Vertical SaaS solves The Laundromat Problem.
Cents solves it for Laundromats.
Carbon Health solves it for doctors' offices.
ClassPass solves it for gyms.
CourseKey solves it for trade schools.'
The pain killed by market-focused software is real—which is why these companies have legs long term.
This is just the beginning of the Vertical SaaS Tsunami.
One ‘How To’:
How To Build A Software Company In 60 Days
One Biz Story:
The Story of Postman: From Humble Roots to Silicon Valley Titan
Thanks for reading: Linear: A Vertical SaaS Newsletter. If you enjoyed it, share it with a friend or leave a comment. Have a great week!