Picking a SaaS for your stable is a 3-5 year decision. Migrations are painful, data gets lost, people adjust to systems. So ask the right questions before signing.
1. Is it for your scale?
Some SaaS are tuned for 5 horses, others for 100. Check how many horses and clients your candidate handles in production — not just in the price list.
2. E-invoicing certification
In 2026 mandatory e-invoicing rolls out across the EU. Without compliance certificate — you can’t issue an invoice. Ask straight: “Do you have it, since when?”. If the answer is “we’re working on it” — run.
3. Who owns the data
Every SaaS has a “data ownership” section in the terms. Read it. Your data (clients, horses, transactions) must be yours — with the right to machine-readable export (JSON, CSV) on demand.
4. Localization and currency
A Polish stable with Polish clients needs a Polish UI, Polish bookkeeping integrations and local payment rails. A SaaS translated by Google Translate with English-only support is a bad investment. Check:
- Full PL localization (not auto-translation)
- Bookkeeping export (PL JPK files for accountants)
- Polish payment rails (BLIK, Przelewy24)
- EUR billing option for cross-border clients
5. How fast does support reply
Email support and time the response. A 24h SLA on the contract is worthless if reality is 5 days.
6. Can you leave?
Ask about data export before signing. If the answer is “yes, as PDF” — that’s not export, that’s a printout. Export = JSON / CSV / SQL dump that imports elsewhere.
7. Public roadmap or hidden?
Hovera, Linear, Vercel — all have public roadmaps. If your candidate keeps the development plan in a safe, the plans are either ill-thought-out or change often. Both — red flags.
8. Pricing without asterisks
“Contact us for pricing” on the entry plan = you’ll negotiate, you’ll lose time. Pick a SaaS with a clear public price list. Negotiation belongs to Enterprise.
Bonus question: ask 3 current customers (request references). If the SaaS refuses — another red flag.
At Hovera: we’ll give you 5 stables to talk to directly. Anna, Marek, Karolina, Tomasz — write, call, ask. No second-bottom answers.