The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Ask Me Anything About SaaS ( I'm building my 7th )

JonathanMiz

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
197%
Apr 4, 2020
36
71
Israel
The ones prior, I either closed down or rolled into the next SaaS.

My first SaaS, it did OK but wasn't really taking off. When I started my 2nd SaaS I closed down the 1st one and rolled all that code and it's customers into my 2nd one.

My 2nd one I had a partner. After a couple of years things didn't work out between us, so I closed that down too and rolled the ideas, code, and customers into my 3rd one.

etc, etc, etc.

So by the time I got to my 6th SaaS, it was pretty much the evolution of the all the SaaS behind it. Some of them did run by side by side at the same time, but the majority were versions of the prior SaaS rolled up into it.



I typically build everything myself, at least to the MVP. In some cases I have built past that myself too, in others someone else has helped build past that.




Getting to MVP, it is possible.

You might have overlooked that I have been building things online since 1998-ish. I started with HTML and quickly got into Perl and PHP/SQL, etc all before 2000 rolled around.

The same thing happened with marketing too. By 2000 I had already been buying PPC clicks from GoTo and manipulating pre-SEO by adjusting listings on DMOZ and Yahoo Directory.

I was doing millions on Facebook ads in 2008 as a top affiliate. I was bulk emailing to millions of emails in 2010. By 2013, I had forced Google to push out the Payday algo update for the SEO stuff I was doing.

Later I was handling the marketing budgets for Alibaba, John Deere, Virgin Group, and TeamViewer.

You start wrapping all that experience together and you find building out systems, marketing, and other stuff just comes 2nd nature to you. What might take someone a full week to do, I might get done and be confident about in 1 day.

Yes, it still takes time. But getting something to MVP might take me 2 weekends and since all my SaaS have been in the digital marketing industry, throwing my new SaaS into my existing SaaS customers and where they hang out is pretty much "already done". Managing the business, well that's not too hard either since a lot of the code, customers, and industry are related.

Even if I was building things in different fields, like Elon Musk.. I think I could pull it off too though.

All this experience means you:

1. Skip a lot of errors and mis-steps.

2. Already have frameworks in places for code, marketing, business, etc

3. Have confidence to make choices that you otherwise might stumble on or delay

4. Have answers to the most routine questions and how to answer them



Sometimes. Many times I have just kept it to myself.

Sometimes I bring on a partner.

Sometimes I hire a VA to delegate to.



Thanks

OMG thanks for the detailed answer, connected a lot of dots for me,
Now I can model you properly:--)

Inspired by your info, my idea right now is to build a kind of MVC platform where
I have everything deployed and can test MVCs fairly quickly for users,
idea -> build -> deploy -> see how users react
then once I get something good, will double down on it.

Tech stack: Java/Kotlin, Angular, Heroku, PostgreSQL
Marketing stack: direct response marketing (funnels, webinars, etc...), YouTube and LinkedIn content, paid ads

BTW is there a way to find out about your consulting services other than PM
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
Hey Jason,

Did you have to hire sales rep to grow your companies or did you only used marketing and word of mouth?

If so, what would be your tips about hiring a sales rep?

Never had a sales rep, but I have had affiliates.

I wouldn't be able to answer about the sales rep though.
 

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
OMG thanks for the detailed answer, connected a lot of dots for me,
Now I can model you properly:--)

Inspired by your info, my idea right now is to build a kind of MVC platform where
I have everything deployed and can test MVCs fairly quickly for users,
idea -> build -> deploy -> see how users react
then once I get something good, will double down on it.

Tech stack: Java/Kotlin, Angular, Heroku, PostgreSQL
Marketing stack: direct response marketing (funnels, webinars, etc...), YouTube and LinkedIn content, paid ads

BTW is there a way to find out about your consulting services other than PM

Other than PM, no not really. Meaning, I don't have the "offer" for consulting up anywhere else ( like a web page or some social media profile ).

I'm not really consulting on SaaS anymore to others. I got really busy with another project and while I do have a few left over clients for consulting on SaaS, it's not something I really push anymore.

Maybe I can help you on the side from time to time though.
 

Carnegie

Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
210%
Jun 13, 2011
10
21
UK
Hi Jason

Thanks again for your time, I have a pricing strategy question and wondered if you’d provide some thoughts please?

All the SaaS with which mine will compete priceon a complicated tiered scale.

Most have “unlimited users”, but then price on an “x number of items limit” (items being keywords in your case, which I'll use from now on). Like Serpwoo has say 750 keywords for the basic tier, then say 2000 keywords for the next tier.

What I’d like to try is a pay-as-you-go tierless offering like AWS or Digital Ocean. I think I can bill on a per hour basis, where costs are as shown like below:
  • Basic: $1, per keyword, per year (billed hourly per month)
  • Advanced: $2, per keyword, per year (billed hourly per month)
  • Pro: $3, per keyword, per year (billed hourly per month)
The industry tends to obfuscate pricing behind many tiers of requirements and layers say, “if you want keyword research that’s an extra $100 per month per 1000 keywords” and then says, “if you want to store those keywords, that’s another $50 per month”,’. New users, that’s $1000 per annum up front per user. Want email updates, that’s $200 per month. I think you get the picture.

The whole industry absolutely milks the users and often ties them into multi-year contracts and even has annual pricing reviews and annual “license fees”!

This is mainly due to the industry previously being mainly installed on on-site servers and they don’t want to give up those juicy “license fees”!

The industry does now have many SaaS offerings, but I don’t think it prices well, it loves laying up the extras and hiding the true cost. I'm conflicted though - I also feel like I’ll be leaving money on the table in not doing this, (over charging per month/annum would make more money - obviously)!

tl:dr is it worth trying an entirely new (to the industry) "pay-as-you-go" pricing strategy with total transparency and leaving money on the table by not charging tiered levels with fixed quantities of allowed items (keywords in your case) per month?

Using your SaaS as an example, what would the pros and cons, as you see them, be in charging say per keyword per year charged on an hourly basis, please?

Thanks again
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
Hi Jason

Thanks again for your time, I have a pricing strategy question and wondered if you’d provide some thoughts please?

All the SaaS with which mine will compete priceon a complicated tiered scale.

Most have “unlimited users”, but then price on an “x number of items limit” (items being keywords in your case, which I'll use from now on). Like Serpwoo has say 750 keywords for the basic tier, then say 2000 keywords for the next tier.

What I’d like to try is a pay-as-you-go tierless offering like AWS or Digital Ocean. I think I can bill on a per hour basis, where costs are as shown like below:
  • Basic: $1, per keyword, per year (billed hourly per month)
  • Advanced: $2, per keyword, per year (billed hourly per month)
  • Pro: $3, per keyword, per year (billed hourly per month)
The industry tends to obfuscate pricing behind many tiers of requirements and layers say, “if you want keyword research that’s an extra $100 per month per 1000 keywords” and then says, “if you want to store those keywords, that’s another $50 per month”,’. New users, that’s $1000 per annum up front per user. Want email updates, that’s $200 per month. I think you get the picture.

The whole industry absolutely milks the users and often ties them into multi-year contracts and even has annual pricing reviews and annual “license fees”!

This is mainly due to the industry previously being mainly installed on on-site servers and they don’t want to give up those juicy “license fees”!

The industry does now have many SaaS offerings, but I don’t think it prices well, it loves laying up the extras and hiding the true cost. I'm conflicted though - I also feel like I’ll be leaving money on the table in not doing this, (over charging per month/annum would make more money - obviously)!

tl:dr is it worth trying an entirely new (to the industry) "pay-as-you-go" pricing strategy with total transparency and leaving money on the table by not charging tiered levels with fixed quantities of allowed items (keywords in your case) per month?

Using your SaaS as an example, what would the pros and cons, as you see them, be in charging say per keyword per year charged on an hourly basis, please?

Thanks again
It is worth it.

The problem you run into is, people wont understand it simply.

So, you gotta make them understand it. Which means teaching or showing them. Which means you really gotta nail it.

Similar to how AWS had to, they have lots of calculators and diagrams how "how much you will save" compared to others.

You will need to bust out a ton of those to show them the value.

Maybe even make the calculator be part of the sign up process... "See how much you will save compared to Competitor X" and along the journey show them the savings with your model. Then collect their email for a ebook or whitepaper or trial.
 

Carnegie

Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
210%
Jun 13, 2011
10
21
UK
Thanks for the prompt reply! Love the calculator idea as part of the signup process, thanks.

I've just thought of perhaps going with giving them the choice of tiers or PAYG. Then if they choose tiered pricing having a "see how much you could save running as PAYG" link or something which shows them saving by converting to PAYG. Maybe even then refunding them if they move as a thank you.

Having just typed that last line about a refund I quite like that idea as they'd be getting something they didn't expect like a gift. I'm prepared to go all in on the trust and transparency thing, so yeah, that makes my balls tingle.
 

iHaveAName

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
200%
Jul 30, 2018
16
32
Hey @eliquid ,

I'm a long time follower and fan of this thread :)

I am currently working on my new software business and wanted to get your thoughts on a few things.

1. I want to go a "consulting / software" hybrid route. So not just having a software for x$ per month that I hand out blindly to customers but coupling that together with a consulting & custom onboarding / setup service to really get the maximum results for my customers.
I have sold close to $30k in revenue with my first 4 customers, so I went the high ticket B2B route for it. And they are super happy with it. So that is not an issue.
What are your thoughts on a Software / Consulting Hybrid business model? I run an agency myself and target other agencies with my solution.

2. I currently have build out the product using ClickUp for the interface, Integromat as the backend logic and Airtable as the Database - all 4 clients got a seperate setup with seperate accounts on these plattforms. I did that to quickly deliver results and validate the idea and the results it can produce.
But this is by no means a scalable way in the future. How would you proceed with turning this into a software, that makes it easier for us to onboard new clients. Since I want to keep it high ticket (lower volume of customers) and will offer consulting services together with the solution, I can get away with leaving alot of features out at the beginning, that would take up a lot of dev resources (like sign-up processes, onboarding processes, etc - we can just take care of that ourselves in this case, at least for a while).

I hope it all makes sense. Really appreciate this thread and all the value it already provided me with. I wouldn't have gotten to this point without this thread!!!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
Hey @eliquid ,

I'm a long time follower and fan of this thread :)

I am currently working on my new software business and wanted to get your thoughts on a few things.

1. I want to go a "consulting / software" hybrid route. So not just having a software for x$ per month that I hand out blindly to customers but coupling that together with a consulting & custom onboarding / setup service to really get the maximum results for my customers.
I have sold close to $30k in revenue with my first 4 customers, so I went the high ticket B2B route for it. And they are super happy with it. So that is not an issue.
What are your thoughts on a Software / Consulting Hybrid business model? I run an agency myself and target other agencies with my solution.

2. I currently have build out the product using ClickUp for the interface, Integromat as the backend logic and Airtable as the Database - all 4 clients got a seperate setup with seperate accounts on these plattforms. I did that to quickly deliver results and validate the idea and the results it can produce.
But this is by no means a scalable way in the future. How would you proceed with turning this into a software, that makes it easier for us to onboard new clients. Since I want to keep it high ticket (lower volume of customers) and will offer consulting services together with the solution, I can get away with leaving alot of features out at the beginning, that would take up a lot of dev resources (like sign-up processes, onboarding processes, etc - we can just take care of that ourselves in this case, at least for a while).

I hope it all makes sense. Really appreciate this thread and all the value it already provided me with. I wouldn't have gotten to this point without this thread!!!

1. I have no issue with it. I don't understand if you are just bundling in ( for free ) the consult so they can get onboarded or if you are charging "extra" for the option to have it done. If it's free, I just consider it "onboarding" really. For example, I am dealing with a phone metrics company at the moment and while the service is $20k a month, they have very deep and exact 2x a week meetings/consults for "free" that is basically just my onboarding. If you offer this as an extra paid option, I think it's great too. Just dont fall into the trap of making your non-paid customer out in the dark when it comes to help too or people will look at it as a scam.

2. I think I saw this in another thread here today actually. I think to answer your question, you really need to map out what you want and what you dont want ( like onboarding, signup, etc ) at this point. It sounds like you might have that done already.

Past that, you need to figure out if you want to keep running on Clickup, Integromat, and Airtable going forward and automate that process ( getting people into Airtable, getting people into Integromat, etc automatically ) or if you want to build your own solution away from those 3rd parties.

Honestly, I would do both. I'd find me some Macro record program or way to automate how you are doing it now so you can spend more time on onboarding and sales and possibly hire someone to do the prospecting and sales too ( automate that ).

Then once good, I'd start to build out those same core assets into our own code for when one of those 3rd parties dies/quits/gets bought out/goes out of business and so you can move away and own your entire chain.

Once you can move away from the 3rd parties, I'd start planning out the onboarding and signup stuff.
 

iHaveAName

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
200%
Jul 30, 2018
16
32
1. I have no issue with it. I don't understand if you are just bundling in ( for free ) the consult so they can get onboarded or if you are charging "extra" for the option to have it done. If it's free, I just consider it "onboarding" really. For example, I am dealing with a phone metrics company at the moment and while the service is $20k a month, they have very deep and exact 2x a week meetings/consults for "free" that is basically just my onboarding. If you offer this as an extra paid option, I think it's great too. Just dont fall into the trap of making your non-paid customer out in the dark when it comes to help too or people will look at it as a scam.

I would like to not let anyone in without the consulting service. So it'd be the first option. Framing it as the "onboarding" and not selling just the software as an alternative.

2. I think I saw this in another thread here today actually. I think to answer your question, you really need to map out what you want and what you dont want ( like onboarding, signup, etc ) at this point. It sounds like you might have that done already.

Past that, you need to figure out if you want to keep running on Clickup, Integromat, and Airtable going forward and automate that process ( getting people into Airtable, getting people into Integromat, etc automatically ) or if you want to build your own solution away from those 3rd parties.

Honestly, I would do both. I'd find me some Macro record program or way to automate how you are doing it now so you can spend more time on onboarding and sales and possibly hire someone to do the prospecting and sales too ( automate that ).

Then once good, I'd start to build out those same core assets into our own code for when one of those 3rd parties dies/quits/gets bought out/goes out of business and so you can move away and own your entire chain.

Once you can move away from the 3rd parties, I'd start planning out the onboarding and signup stuff.

It's partly mapped out. I'll need to take some time to map everything out properly.
For the 3rd party solutions, I'd like to get away from Integromat & Airtable, and just replicate the logic & database using a custom solution. BUT I would like to continue using ClickUp. Because I do not see the value of creating my own project management solution that has millions of features, when my systems power is not in those features but rather the automation & systemization aspect. Replicating something like ClickUp would take much more dev resources than building out my actual software itself. And I wont have to deal with bugs in the UI etc. They'll take care of it. But I would build out a way to switch between project management tools, just in case ClickUp dies lol.

Do you think it would be too dangerous to keep working with a 3rd party tool?
ClickUp is just the one I like the most. I can also integrate with Monday, Asana, etc. It's really just the interface that shows tasks and projects progress for my customers. All the advanced logic thats happening on the backend is done by my system.
 

Wisith

Bronze Contributor
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
144%
Aug 29, 2015
181
261
38
Hey @eliquid

Thanks for the helpful thread. Admittedly I'm asking this question without reading all the pages (planning to sometime this weekend when time permits), but would like to ask you this question for now:

A friend and myself are building a VR software (B2B). The first version is completed already and works well. The short term goal is to create a landing page to capture beta users for feedback so we can do more tweaking before charging money for it.

We don't know how to build a SAAS or web app development. I thought about outsourcing that part, but I fear about using a contractor who has no skin in the game because we'll just be another project for them to do (maybe do it half a$$ if they're busy) or maybe they'd install malware in the process.

Would love your thoughts on what'd you do. Thanks in advance, bud :)
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
I like what you said about just using what knowledge you have to get a working MVP and not worrying about pretty code or frameworks.

I have experience with HTML, CSS, and basic JS from taking some courses last summer. A bit rusty though.

Would you guys recommend going at it with my current stack or should I learn PHP/Python or any of these easier/faster languages? Or is the "big 3" enough?
 

Raja

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
90%
Dec 31, 2019
740
668
I like what you said about just using what knowledge you have to get a working MVP and not worrying about pretty code or frameworks.

I have experience with HTML, CSS, and basic JS from taking some courses last summer. A bit rusty though.

Would you guys recommend going at it with my current stack or should I learn PHP/Python or any of these easier/faster languages? Or is the "big 3" enough?
If you are rusty why don't you use no-code first.

You can either skip/do less on frontend or backend but not both, IMO.
Eg: if you are good with frontend like react you can use firebase/supabase/headless backend as the backend or if you know only backend either you can use templating engine for frontend or via api and nocode.

If you are not great at either i think you should be good with nocode atleast form MVP as there are many successful companies started on nocode
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
If you are rusty why don't you use no-code first.

You can either skip/do less on frontend or backend but not both, IMO.
Eg: if you are good with frontend like react you can use firebase/supabase/headless backend as the backend or if you know only backend either you can use templating engine for frontend or via api and nocode.

If you are not great at either i think you should be good with nocode atleast form MVP as there are many successful companies started on nocode
My hesitation going with no code is getting deep into a project and finding out that a feature I want to implement simply isn't possible vs using raw code.

I'm very comfortable with HTML and CSS and can create just about any static website. JS is what I mean when I say I'm rusty. However my MVP is very simple and the main selling point of the product is the user experience, not necessarily the backend magic.

I've checked out Bubble.io but I don't think it would be able to deliver the UX I want to create.

Do you have some examples of successful companies started with no-code?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Raja

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
90%
Dec 31, 2019
740
668
My hesitation going with no code is getting deep into a project and finding out that a feature I want to implement simply isn't possible vs using raw code.

I'm very comfortable with HTML and CSS and can create just about any static website. JS is what I mean when I say I'm rusty. However my MVP is very simple and the main selling point of the product is the user experience, not necessarily the backend magic.

I've checked out Bubble.io but I don't think it would be able to deliver the UX I want to create.

Do you have some examples of successful companies started with no-code?
Then I suggest as simple framework like petite vue js(similar to vue js) and use firebase as backend.(even jQuery would work)
That's all there is to it.
Check out fireship's video on YouTube "how to over engineer a website"


My technical bias is saying that static site should not make money but i know I am wrong, all you need is static landing page and stripe for payment. And delivery the value, it could be your html, css templates.
Not a saas but definitely a business
 
Last edited:

eramart

Bronze Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
104%
Aug 31, 2015
169
176
Moscow, Russia
I like what you said about just using what knowledge you have to get a working MVP and not worrying about pretty code or frameworks.

I have experience with HTML, CSS, and basic JS from taking some courses last summer. A bit rusty though.

Would you guys recommend going at it with my current stack or should I learn PHP/Python or any of these easier/faster languages? Or is the "big 3" enough?
You can always use Node.js backend if need arises.

If you are anything like me, you will not ever start, overthinking like that ))
 

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
1. I have no issue with it. I don't understand if you are just bundling in ( for free ) the consult so they can get onboarded or if you are charging "extra" for the option to have it done. If it's free, I just consider it "onboarding" really. For example, I am dealing with a phone metrics company at the moment and while the service is $20k a month, they have very deep and exact 2x a week meetings/consults for "free" that is basically just my onboarding. If you offer this as an extra paid option, I think it's great too. Just dont fall into the trap of making your non-paid customer out in the dark when it comes to help too or people will look at it as a scam.

2. I think I saw this in another thread here today actually. I think to answer your question, you really need to map out what you want and what you dont want ( like onboarding, signup, etc ) at this point. It sounds like you might have that done already.

Past that, you need to figure out if you want to keep running on Clickup, Integromat, and Airtable going forward and automate that process ( getting people into Airtable, getting people into Integromat, etc automatically ) or if you want to build your own solution away from those 3rd parties.

Honestly, I would do both. I'd find me some Macro record program or way to automate how you are doing it now so you can spend more time on onboarding and sales and possibly hire someone to do the prospecting and sales too ( automate that ).

Then once good, I'd start to build out those same core assets into our own code for when one of those 3rd parties dies/quits/gets bought out/goes out of business and so you can move away and own your entire chain.

Once you can move away from the 3rd parties, I'd start planning out the onboarding and signup stuff.
For charging the client for consulting vs. free onboarding, I agree with the free onboarding.

I'm doing that now (the free onboarding) with my B2B SAAS, even though the onboarding and early support/handholding takes 10-15 hours. The main reason I do free onboarding is that it makes closing the SAAS sale easier--the pricing is just a simple monthly fee.

Also, the high-touch onboarding gives me a ton of qualitative data on clients' workflow, mindset, etc. that I use for improving the SAAS, copywriting, etc.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
My hesitation going with no code is getting deep into a project and finding out that a feature I want to implement simply isn't possible vs using raw code.

I'm very comfortable with HTML and CSS and can create just about any static website. JS is what I mean when I say I'm rusty. However my MVP is very simple and the main selling point of the product is the user experience, not necessarily the backend magic.

I've checked out Bubble.io but I don't think it would be able to deliver the UX I want to create.

Do you have some examples of successful companies started with no-code?
I get what you're saying, but I wouldn't let that stop you from using no-code for the MVP & getting paying customers.

I built my SAAS in Excel. It's B2B, and clients pay $800-900/month to use it.

I could've built v1 as a cloud-based SAAS, but I would've had to hire developers to do it. But I know Excel (VBA & SQL), so I built v1 in Excel, and clients are happy with it, since it solves their problem--regardless of the platform.

Eventually I might decide to morph it into a cloud-based SAAS. But by that time, I'll have the features, design, & workflow ironed out from having enough clients using it, and I'll have enough revenue to hire developers to build it.
 

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
I like what you said about just using what knowledge you have to get a working MVP and not worrying about pretty code or frameworks.

I have experience with HTML, CSS, and basic JS from taking some courses last summer. A bit rusty though.

Would you guys recommend going at it with my current stack or should I learn PHP/Python or any of these easier/faster languages? Or is the "big 3" enough?

If you know you are going to make a career with building SaaS's, I'd say learn Node ( JS ) or PHP/Python.

Do you have to? No.

But if you know deep down SaaS is going to be your jam, you might as well do it right.

While companies have been successful using no-code, there have been 1,000's more than didn't use it and were successful. Plus, like you said.. there might be something you need that no-code doesn't provide that you will have to build out.

Again, I am only saying this if you know you are going to give 200% to SaaS and will for years.

If you are just trying things out and not sure, do the no-code.

Otherwise, why not have a bit more skill to build out what you want when you need?

You can always do no-code for now while learning Node and PHP too.
 

Raja

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
90%
Dec 31, 2019
740
668
I get what you're saying, but I wouldn't let that stop you from using no-code for the MVP & getting paying customers.

I built my SAAS in Excel. It's B2B, and clients pay $800-900/month to use it.

I could've built v1 as a cloud-based SAAS, but I would've had to hire developers to do it. But I know Excel (VBA & SQL), so I built v1 in Excel, and clients are happy with it, since it solves their problem--regardless of the platform.

Eventually I might decide to morph it into a cloud-based SAAS. But by that time, I'll have the features, design, & workflow ironed out from having enough clients using it, and I'll have enough revenue to hire developers to build it.
@NMdad If you don't mind,
How did you find that problem and how you validated it?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

NMdad

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
224%
Aug 6, 2017
612
1,370
New Mexico
@NMdad If you don't mind,
How did you find that problem and how you validated it?
Excellent question! I've been in the niche for a while as a consultant (dollars-for-hours), and a few clients came to me complaining about the problem (that my SAAS solves). It was sorta coincidental, because those clients all mentioned the same general problem within a couple months of each other.

Interestingly, COVID intensified the problem for them. I saw something similar during the great recession--not for this problem, but basically a shift in my niche that was spurred by the recession. So: crises are indeed opportunities.

To validate it:
  1. I talked with each of those clients to get a sense of the problem, what they were currently doing to address it, and how (ideally) they wanted to address it. That gave me the "before" and "after" pictures of the problem.
  2. Then I reached out to more of my clients to see if they had the same/similar problem, and found that about a third do. So, I could see that it wasn't a rare problem (i.e., that not like only 1-5% of the clients I talked to had the problem)--and that different types of clients within my niche had the same problem (i.e., that the problem wasn't specific to a tiny segment of my niche).
  3. I searched for existing/competitor solutions, and found several--some that weren't in my niche, but in related niches. I called & talked to those competitors, and got detailed info on their features, pricing, type of clients who use their solution, etc. To get that kind of info from the competitors, I told them I was a consultant in the space & that a few of my clients were asking for a solution to the problem their product solves--which was all true, but I always intended to build the SAAS myself. I got tons of great info from these calls--salespeople are super talkative. :) I ended up asking my clients if they wanted some of the features that the competitor products had so I could use that feedback to further refine my feature list. The competitor info about monthly/annual pricing, how they priced it (e.g., flat fee, by # of users, requirement for a long-term contract, etc.), & onboarding pricing was EXTREMELY useful for me when I talked to my clients & tested how much I could charge for my (yet unbuilt) SAAS.
  4. For a pre-MVP, I did a mock-up in Excel. No functionality, but clients could get a visual of the solution (i.e., buttons, fields, rows, dummy data, etc.); I walked through the mock-up during screenshare conference calls so I could get lots of qualitative feedback, have clients ask questions, etc. I did a handful of iterations on the mock-up with clients who wanted a solution. Those iterations refined the design & MVP functionality.
  5. When I had clients telling me they'd pay for a live version of the mock-up, then I started coding the actual Excel tool.
As a side note, the problem and my solution could be used for lots of business types--not just within my niche. But starting in a very specific niche means it's easier for me to identify & reach prospects, and that the solution is tailored to their workflow.
 

Ludachris

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
147%
Mar 17, 2017
70
103
47
Norcal
Hey @eliquid - question for you. Is it common to build an SAAS product (maybe a mobile app) with the intention of licensing it to business owners in a particular industry? Let's say I have an idea that I think would help Laundry Mat owners fix a pain point for their customers. Would creating an app and then licensing it to them, so they could then get their customers to use that app be a realistic model to pursue? I've never done anything like that so I have no idea if it's reasonable, or if others do that. Thanks for your time.
 

alittlebyte

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
86%
Jun 24, 2020
14
12
Greece
Hey @eliquid - question for you. Is it common to build an SAAS product (maybe a mobile app) with the intention of licensing it to business owners in a particular industry? Let's say I have an idea that I think would help Laundry Mat owners fix a pain point for their customers. Would creating an app and then licensing it to them, so they could then get their customers to use that app be a realistic model to pursue? I've never done anything like that so I have no idea if it's reasonable, or if others do that. Thanks for your time.
Actually, I would guess that, that's almost always the case when you are making a product for a B2C business.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
Hey @eliquid - question for you. Is it common to build an SAAS product (maybe a mobile app) with the intention of licensing it to business owners in a particular industry? Let's say I have an idea that I think would help Laundry Mat owners fix a pain point for their customers. Would creating an app and then licensing it to them, so they could then get their customers to use that app be a realistic model to pursue? I've never done anything like that so I have no idea if it's reasonable, or if others do that. Thanks for your time.

Yes, it would be worth trying and getting data behind it
 

awestbro

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
168%
Nov 13, 2018
69
116
West Virginia
Hey @eliquid - question for you. Is it common to build an SAAS product (maybe a mobile app) with the intention of licensing it to business owners in a particular industry? Let's say I have an idea that I think would help Laundry Mat owners fix a pain point for their customers. Would creating an app and then licensing it to them, so they could then get their customers to use that app be a realistic model to pursue? I've never done anything like that so I have no idea if it's reasonable, or if others do that. Thanks for your time.

Buddyboss (think self-hosted facebook) runs something like this model: Native Mobile App • BuddyBoss

They started as a wordpress plugin but now use the wordpress platform to power a mobile app on a subscription model. Could be something to look into if you're thinking about the white-label path.
 
G

Guest5289

Guest
this might sound like a dumb question but what's the point of learning code if the no code sites make good SaaS, I'm contemplating whether or not its worth the hours and effort, what re the pros and cons of both, also the no code breaks the barrier to entry commandment which means a lot of competition
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

alittlebyte

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
86%
Jun 24, 2020
14
12
Greece
this might sound like a dumb question but what's the point of learning code if the no code sites make good SaaS, I'm contemplating whether or not its worth the hours and effort, what re the pros and cons of both, also the no code breaks the barrier to entry commandment which means a lot of competition
You'll never achieve the same level of functionality with no-code software. However, you don't want to dive into learning how to code just for the sake of making a SaaS. You need time, patience and effort, as you correctly mentioned. It's a whole lot of a journey in itself.

If you start learning coding, don't do it in a "it's part of making a SaaS" mindset, like marketing for example. I encourage you to dive into this magic world, but for its own sake ;)
 

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
this might sound like a dumb question but what's the point of learning code if the no code sites make good SaaS, I'm contemplating whether or not its worth the hours and effort, what re the pros and cons of both, also the no code breaks the barrier to entry commandment which means a lot of competition

I would look at it like this:

What's the point in learning to cook if I can just use an air fryer and frozen food from the grocery to eat?

What's the point in learning to drive if I can buy a Tesla ( self drive ) or Uber everywhere I need?

What's the point in learning to read if I can get audio books and text to speech programs to read for me?

What's the point in me carrying cash/checks/credit cards if I have a couple BTC at Binance?

With the examples above, I am sure you can see where things break down. How things don't work as planned going to easy way. The gotchas and so forth.

You are going to run into that with no code and similar solutions.
 

Vasili27

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
47%
Jun 2, 2021
205
96
Philadelphia Pa
I have an idea for a SaaS that would involve a lot of data from multiple places and the data changes throughout time. Is this possible to integrate into a SaaS and how would I manage to pull all of this data in or to at least keep it current for customers.

Thanks in advance, Vasili
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

eliquid

( Jason Brown )
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
519%
May 29, 2013
1,876
9,731
I have an idea for a SaaS that would involve a lot of data from multiple places and the data changes throughout time. Is this possible to integrate into a SaaS and how would I manage to pull all of this data in or to at least keep it current for customers.

Thanks in advance, Vasili

Yes, you can bring it into a SaaS.

You would need to arrange to pull that data in, old and new, with an API or some agreement with the data providers.

That is unless, you plan to scrape the data without an API or agreement.

If you scrape the data, you should learn to do it wisely and within limits.
 

Vasili27

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
47%
Jun 2, 2021
205
96
Philadelphia Pa
Yes, you can bring it into a SaaS.

You would need to arrange to pull that data in, old and new, with an API or some agreement with the data providers.

That is unless, you plan to scrape the data without an API or agreement.

If you scrape the data, you should learn to do it wisely and within limits.
Ok I understand, I appreciate the response
I do have a follow up question, is it easier to collect the data with an api/agreement or is it easier to just scrape it?
 
Last edited:

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top