SaaS startups are constantly looking to improve their software development process and increase speed to market to stay ahead of the competition. But what exactly does it take for a SaaS company to gain a competitive edge in its industry?

According to ProductPlan’s 2025 State of Product Management Report, 78% of SaaS companies consider time to market their top product KPI. In addition, McKinsey (2024) found that digital-first organizations that shorten their development cycle by just 20% can see revenue growth up to 30% higher than competitors.

In this article, we’ll cover what speed to market means, why it is important, and five data-backed tips for increasing your company’s speed to market.

What is Speed To Market?

Speed to market, also known as time to market (TTM), refers to how quickly a company can transform an idea into a finished product ready for customers. It measures the entire process, from ideation and design to development, testing, and deployment.

In SaaS, speed to market has become a core differentiator. Teams that streamline their delivery pipelines through automation, AI-assisted development, and lean product practices gain a competitive edge. According to GitLab’s 2024 Global DevSecOps Survey, companies using AI-enhanced CI/CD pipelines reported 55% faster code delivery and 41% fewer deployment errors than traditional teams.

Why is Speed To Market Important?

Speed to market matters because it helps you stand out in a crowded digital landscape. Instead of following competitors, you become the innovator who sets new standards.

• First-mover advantage: Early product launches create brand recognition and capture market share before competitors. For example, Notion entered the productivity space early with its “all-in-one workspace,” growing to over 15 million users before the market became saturated.
• Faster customer feedback: Quick iterations allow SaaS teams to validate assumptions, improve features, and adapt based on real user data.
• Reduced costs: Every extra week of development adds financial overhead. According to Accenture’s 2024 Tech Pulse, optimizing development flow can cut engineering costs by 15–25%.
• Higher customer satisfaction: Frequent updates and improvements signal reliability and responsiveness, both key to retention.

5 Tips For Increasing Your Speed To Market

As you develop your software product, here are five important tips to help you increase speed to market.

1. Set Clear Goals and Expectations

Develop a set of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) aligned with your vision. Create a clear roadmap outlining timelines, workflows, and milestones.

According to LinearB’s 2024 Engineering Productivity Report, teams that set defined sprint velocity goals ship 2.3× more releases per quarter. Setting measurable objectives keeps your team focused and helps identify bottlenecks before they slow progress.

2. Adopt Agile Methodology

Traditional project management models often struggle in fast-moving industries. Agile methodology enables teams to deliver faster by focusing on iteration, collaboration, and customer feedback.

Recent studies show that 84% of SaaS companies now use Agile or hybrid frameworks. Agile helps prioritize the minimum viable product (MVP), adapt to change, and deliver incremental value to users. When combined with DevOps and CI/CD practices, it reduces development friction and boosts release frequency.

Map your value stream to find time wasted between code commits and production, this often reveals hidden delays you can fix quickly.

3. Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Building an MVP is one of the smartest ways to speed up your product launch. It allows your team to test assumptions, gather real feedback, and improve before committing to full-scale development.

For instance, Dropbox’s original MVP was just a short video demonstrating its core functionality, enough to validate demand before writing full production code. According to Crunchbase (2024), SaaS startups that launch with an MVP attract 42% more funding on average.

You can develop your product in small sprints, release core features first, and gather insights to refine each iteration.

4. Have the Right Team

To increase your speed to market, it’s crucial to have the right talent and structure in place. A successful SaaS development team typically includes:

• Skilled full-stack developers
• QA engineers (preferably with automation experience)
• Product managers or scrum masters
• UI/UX designers
• DevOps or cloud engineers

When internal bandwidth is limited, nearshore partnerships can accelerate delivery. According to Gartner’s 2025 IT Outsourcing Report, companies that nearshore development reduce time-to-hire by 65% and project delays by 40%.

At Devsu, for example, we provide on-demand engineering teams who integrate seamlessly with your internal workflow, helping SaaS startups deliver high-quality products up to 50% faster.

5. Communicate Effectively

Strong communication keeps projects aligned and moving quickly. Whether working with an internal team or an external partner, create communication structures that ensure clarity and speed.

• Hold daily stand-ups and weekly reviews to track progress and address blockers.
• Use collaboration tools like Slack, Jira, and Notion for transparency.
• Encourage an open culture where feedback loops are short and consistent.

According to Harvard Business Review (2024), teams that maintain structured communication routines improve their delivery speed by 23%.

In Conclusion

Building a SaaS product can feel daunting without the right people, process, and planning. But in today’s competitive environment, the speed of your software development directly impacts your growth potential.

Implementing these five strategies—setting clear goals, adopting Agile, building an MVP, having the right team, and communicating effectively, can drastically increase your speed to market while maintaining quality.

If you’re ready to reduce development time and launch faster, Read here how Devsu partner with AI and experienced nearshore engineers who deliver reliable, scalable, and secure SaaS products on time and on budget.