In episode 735, join Rob Walling for a solo adventure where he categorizes the different levels of SaaS platform risk. He introduces a framework with three key factors: Replacement, Customer Concentration, and Lead Flow. Rob then defines eight levels of risk according to these factors and other vulnerabilities such as relying on open source – a hot topic with recent news about WordPress, WP Engine, and Automattic.

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Topics we cover:

2:32 – Are replacements available for this platform?
4:56 – How concentrated are your customers on this platform?
5:31 – What is your lead or customer flow?
8:54 – Level 1: almost no platform risk
10:04 – Level 2: reliant on a commoditized platform
11:49 – Level 3: using large cloud providers like AWS
15:33 – Level 4: deeply tied to open source software like WordPress
18:11 – Level 5: high switching costs, but replacements exist like in no-code
20:00 – Level 6: 100% lead flow risk
21:44 – Level 7: a friendly app ecosystem
23:24 – Level 8: aggressive platforms, few replacements, customer concentration

Links from the Show:

If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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Episode 735 | The 8 Levels of SaaS Platform Risk (A Rob Solo Adventure)

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