[bob1029]

In my specific case, we were already doing business with a client for unrelated matters and they brought a new problem to us asking if we might be able to address it. Turned out the broader market had a similar problem so it took off. Once we had 1 client, we could convince the 2nd and so on.

I think much of this is chicken-egg at the end of the day. Trust & networking is a hell of a challenge. There is no reality in which we could have walked into a client totally cold and proposed what we are selling today.

I think "hunting for problems" is part of the mission, but you also need people to be willing to work with you once you identify one. One element of successful professional networking should be a constant stream of "hmm maybe an opportunity?".

Building reputation in your target market seems to be the most difficult aspect of B2B SaaS.