heysander
Consistency is key
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I've been building my SaaS for years. Started it while running an e-com business, then kept building nights and weekends while working a dev job. Last year things finally started clicking. MRR doubled. Doubled again. System works now.
But I almost didn't make it here. Not because the product failed. Because I almost gave it away. Twice.
Writing this is a bit of self-therapy. I'm ashamed of both of these moments. But if it helps one person not make the same mistakes, it's worth sharing.
1. A guy wanted a share when I was small
Through my network I was introduced to a guy who was great at marketing. He sold himself as a heavyweight entrepreneur. Sold his business, had 20% in multiple companies, took me to expensive restaurants, showed a lot of interest in what I was doing.
Over the months he helped me with my pricing, strategy, and just involved himself more and more. At one point I asked him what he wanted. He said he loved working with me, nothing more. But if I ever offered shares, we could make this huge.
I felt seen. I considered it.
He never put in any actual money (thank god) but energetically he had me and he knew it. I started reporting progress to him. Acting like he was already part of the business. It was an isolated time in the journey and I was weak for this predator.
In hindsight this was a parasite. He holds 20% in multiple businesses but none of them are really making it. He doesn't work in any of them. Just waiting for that big check. He was once part of a SaaS startup and got bought out right before they made it big. He's still bitter about it. Says he got F*cked because they hired a sales guy who didn't like him and forced him out. At the time I thought that was their mistake. Looking back I can see exactly why they didn't want him around.
Lesson: Watch out for people who collect equity like lottery tickets. They show up when you're small and lonely, offer advice and dinners, and hope one of their bets pays off. Real partners put in money or real work. If someone wants shares but only offers strategy calls, they're buying your future for free. And watch out for the delegators. Their job is creating work for everyone else but they don't do shit themselves. They make you busier while they sit back and wait.
Cost: A lot of energy that could have gone into growing faster.
Gain: Independence. I now push away anyone who wants to collaborate. Success has a smell. People want to be part of you.
2. I almost sold for 100k when I was burned out
At a certain point I really burned out. I had demanding small customers acting like I owed them everything. I was running it like custom work instead of SaaS. I gave too much and got drained. Next to a full time job.
I started thinking this thing can't scale. Customers need too much attention. What a drag. I put everything on autopilot. Didn't touch it for months. Revenue dropped (avg. churn kept going).
Then someone said why don't you sell it? Got introduced to two devs who wanted to start something for themselves. They saw a proven product with paying customers. We talked.
The deal was 100k cash up front but I had to help them for some time, few hours a month. They wanted to rewrite the whole software because "the architecture wasn't scalable" (real devs in the house).
I thought 100k sounds nice. Runway to restart. I have enough ideas and tinkering in me (A trap since I love that first MVP process). Next time I'll build that ultimate SaaS that doesn't need human onboarding. Fully automated...
The deal fell through because they got nervous about some legal docs I didn't want to deliver (thank god again).
Until this day I feel guilty, ashamed. spoiled even. How could I almost let this go? How much luck is involved that they opted out... What if the deal went through?
Lesson: Burnout makes you think the thing is worthless. It's not. Your brain is fried and everything looks broken. Rest if you need to but don't make big decisions from rock bottom. The grass isn't greener on the next idea. Water the one you have.
Cost: Energy.
Gain: Self-worth. After the deal fell through I read Rob Walling's new book about building SaaS. Made me tweak a few bottlenecks and move forward. MRR has only gone up since then.
Final thoughts
I'm sharing this because I'm still ashamed when I think about it. I almost threw away years of work twice. Once for validation, once because I was tired.
Value what you built. Value yourself. If you can't see it clearly, ask people you trust. Post on this forum. Get an honest outside perspective.
The lonely moments will come. The burnout will come. Just don't sign anything when you're in them.
Sometimes I read posts (mostly from indiehackers) saying the business idea failed or this thing didn't work out. Based on what? If the business model makes CENTS and customers are paying (or you did NO acquisition yet and have 0 customers), what does failure even mean? Does anyone have a framework for determining when something actually failed? Might be useful.
But I almost didn't make it here. Not because the product failed. Because I almost gave it away. Twice.
Writing this is a bit of self-therapy. I'm ashamed of both of these moments. But if it helps one person not make the same mistakes, it's worth sharing.
1. A guy wanted a share when I was small
Through my network I was introduced to a guy who was great at marketing. He sold himself as a heavyweight entrepreneur. Sold his business, had 20% in multiple companies, took me to expensive restaurants, showed a lot of interest in what I was doing.
Over the months he helped me with my pricing, strategy, and just involved himself more and more. At one point I asked him what he wanted. He said he loved working with me, nothing more. But if I ever offered shares, we could make this huge.
I felt seen. I considered it.
He never put in any actual money (thank god) but energetically he had me and he knew it. I started reporting progress to him. Acting like he was already part of the business. It was an isolated time in the journey and I was weak for this predator.
In hindsight this was a parasite. He holds 20% in multiple businesses but none of them are really making it. He doesn't work in any of them. Just waiting for that big check. He was once part of a SaaS startup and got bought out right before they made it big. He's still bitter about it. Says he got F*cked because they hired a sales guy who didn't like him and forced him out. At the time I thought that was their mistake. Looking back I can see exactly why they didn't want him around.
Lesson: Watch out for people who collect equity like lottery tickets. They show up when you're small and lonely, offer advice and dinners, and hope one of their bets pays off. Real partners put in money or real work. If someone wants shares but only offers strategy calls, they're buying your future for free. And watch out for the delegators. Their job is creating work for everyone else but they don't do shit themselves. They make you busier while they sit back and wait.
Cost: A lot of energy that could have gone into growing faster.
Gain: Independence. I now push away anyone who wants to collaborate. Success has a smell. People want to be part of you.
2. I almost sold for 100k when I was burned out
At a certain point I really burned out. I had demanding small customers acting like I owed them everything. I was running it like custom work instead of SaaS. I gave too much and got drained. Next to a full time job.
I started thinking this thing can't scale. Customers need too much attention. What a drag. I put everything on autopilot. Didn't touch it for months. Revenue dropped (avg. churn kept going).
Then someone said why don't you sell it? Got introduced to two devs who wanted to start something for themselves. They saw a proven product with paying customers. We talked.
The deal was 100k cash up front but I had to help them for some time, few hours a month. They wanted to rewrite the whole software because "the architecture wasn't scalable" (real devs in the house).
I thought 100k sounds nice. Runway to restart. I have enough ideas and tinkering in me (A trap since I love that first MVP process). Next time I'll build that ultimate SaaS that doesn't need human onboarding. Fully automated...
The deal fell through because they got nervous about some legal docs I didn't want to deliver (thank god again).
Until this day I feel guilty, ashamed. spoiled even. How could I almost let this go? How much luck is involved that they opted out... What if the deal went through?
Lesson: Burnout makes you think the thing is worthless. It's not. Your brain is fried and everything looks broken. Rest if you need to but don't make big decisions from rock bottom. The grass isn't greener on the next idea. Water the one you have.
Cost: Energy.
Gain: Self-worth. After the deal fell through I read Rob Walling's new book about building SaaS. Made me tweak a few bottlenecks and move forward. MRR has only gone up since then.
Final thoughts
I'm sharing this because I'm still ashamed when I think about it. I almost threw away years of work twice. Once for validation, once because I was tired.
Value what you built. Value yourself. If you can't see it clearly, ask people you trust. Post on this forum. Get an honest outside perspective.
The lonely moments will come. The burnout will come. Just don't sign anything when you're in them.
Sometimes I read posts (mostly from indiehackers) saying the business idea failed or this thing didn't work out. Based on what? If the business model makes CENTS and customers are paying (or you did NO acquisition yet and have 0 customers), what does failure even mean? Does anyone have a framework for determining when something actually failed? Might be useful.
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