“Hardware is hard.”

Phrases like these don’t get a lot of critical thinking. If you run a business that manufactures a physical product, “hardware is hard” is the kind of thing you’d say in a meeting while lamenting the unavailability of silicon. Or when complaining about a delay. Everyone around the room will solemnly nod and agree.

Hardware companies face unique challenges that pure software companies don’t. Inventory, supply chain, shipping, logistics. Slower design cycles. Defects and returns. There are many challenges associated with making real things that software companies don’t have to deal with.

But there are lot of things about software that are hard too. Pricing is hard. Reducing churn is hard. Increasing sales velocity is hard. Recruiting is hard. Scaling is hard. Is hardware uniquely hard?

I would argue that the biggest difference is mindset. The challenges a software company might face are perceived as solvable problems that separate strong SaaS companies from weak SaaS companies. Some software companies have high churn; others don’t. If your churn is low, you’re good. If your churn is high, fix it or die.

We’ve developed this kind of mindset because the internet is full of great stuff like this:

If you are building a SaaS business, there is an incredible wealth of shared knowledge available to send you down the right path. Investors know what to look for in a SaaS business; founders know what metrics to monitor and improve; executives know what problems to fix and what opportunities to exploit. This knowledge is quickly and easily passed around through Medium posts and tweets