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 )

hyperreal

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
86%
Apr 2, 2021
14
12
Switzerland
Hi @eliquid. First of all, thank you for sharing your knowledge and taking time to answer everyone. I have been going through this 5 year old thread and it is awesome. The following topics have been touched on briefly, but I would like to ask you more specific and detailed questions.

I selected a few problems that I could solve with SaaS in my niche, where I have a competitive advantage. There are some successful solutions on the market (which may be a good sign), but they do not look good and there are many drawbacks listed in reviews. Sounds like a good place to start my first online business.
I have a technical background and a very basic understanding of HTML, PHP, Python, C or Solidity. I even built a simple one page website in the past, but it was mostly copy pasting code from Stack Overflow. I am able to master PHP and Python probably within a few months following courses and tutorials. My problem is that this would delay the launch and validation of my products. More importantly, I would much rather focus on the business side than sit in front of code. This is where my strength is and what I like more.

The first alternative is of course to hire a developer. Here I completely agree with you and I don't want to outsource at this stage, at least not the MVP.
This is where I came across no-code tools like: Webflow (website building and hosting), Memberstack (user authentication), Stripe (payment processor), Zapier (integration and workflow automation), Airtable (database). I thought this could be a fast way to build a landing page with semi automated MVP (where I still do some of the tasks manually) or fully automated MVP. Once the product is validated and investment can be at least partially paid from revenues, it would be much easier to work together with a developer to rewrite the logic from no-code tools into the proper code and migrate users. This way I can launch few products and scale the most successful one. Can this work in practice?

I see one advantage of this solution as security. I would imagine using these tools to be much more secure than code written by a beginner fresh after completing programming courses.

On the negative side there is a counterparty risk that if one of the vendors goes out of business, my site will stop working. It doesn't sound like fulfilling the commandment of Control. But maybe this is not so important from the beginning. Also in case the first version MVP turns out to be successful and interesting for acquisition, reliance on other vendors services could reduce the value of the company. Can a product built with no-code tools even be sold for a good profit?

I understand from the thread that you are a fan of building websites from scratch. My question is: would you consider starting your first project MVP based on no-code tools if you were in my position? Or this is a complete waste of time and it does not work as I imagine. I want an honest opinion because I am considering both, just no-code tools sound like a better way to get going and launch sooner than later.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Bell

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
219%
Feb 10, 2019
63
138
Zihuantanejo
Just read through this whole thread. I am in SEO and have a sass idea from a issue I have had that has never been fixed or done before. The one thing is the last time I coded was in code camp when I was 13 (nerd I know :p). I would love to pay someone to bring forth my vision. Are there any resources you would recommend for taking an idea and then finding a developer to bring it to life. I realize this isn't something that can be covered in a forum post and likely requires me taking a course or something of the like.
 

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 @eliquid. First of all, thank you for sharing your knowledge and taking time to answer everyone. I have been going through this 5 year old thread and it is awesome. The following topics have been touched on briefly, but I would like to ask you more specific and detailed questions.

I selected a few problems that I could solve with SaaS in my niche, where I have a competitive advantage. There are some successful solutions on the market (which may be a good sign), but they do not look good and there are many drawbacks listed in reviews. Sounds like a good place to start my first online business.
I have a technical background and a very basic understanding of HTML, PHP, Python, C or Solidity. I even built a simple one page website in the past, but it was mostly copy pasting code from Stack Overflow. I am able to master PHP and Python probably within a few months following courses and tutorials. My problem is that this would delay the launch and validation of my products. More importantly, I would much rather focus on the business side than sit in front of code. This is where my strength is and what I like more.

The first alternative is of course to hire a developer. Here I completely agree with you and I don't want to outsource at this stage, at least not the MVP.
This is where I came across no-code tools like: Webflow (website building and hosting), Memberstack (user authentication), Stripe (payment processor), Zapier (integration and workflow automation), Airtable (database). I thought this could be a fast way to build a landing page with semi automated MVP (where I still do some of the tasks manually) or fully automated MVP. Once the product is validated and investment can be at least partially paid from revenues, it would be much easier to work together with a developer to rewrite the logic from no-code tools into the proper code and migrate users. This way I can launch few products and scale the most successful one. Can this work in practice?

I see one advantage of this solution as security. I would imagine using these tools to be much more secure than code written by a beginner fresh after completing programming courses.

On the negative side there is a counterparty risk that if one of the vendors goes out of business, my site will stop working. It doesn't sound like fulfilling the commandment of Control. But maybe this is not so important from the beginning. Also in case the first version MVP turns out to be successful and interesting for acquisition, reliance on other vendors services could reduce the value of the company. Can a product built with no-code tools even be sold for a good profit?

I understand from the thread that you are a fan of building websites from scratch. My question is: would you consider starting your first project MVP based on no-code tools if you were in my position? Or this is a complete waste of time and it does not work as I imagine. I want an honest opinion because I am considering both, just no-code tools sound like a better way to get going and launch sooner than later.

You should try the no-code.

When I started, there was no no-code. A few years ago when I looked at no-code, it was in its infancy.

Today, things might be a whole lot different.

Try it out as an MVP, just don't bet your whole life on 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
Just read through this whole thread. I am in SEO and have a sass idea from a issue I have had that has never been fixed or done before. The one thing is the last time I coded was in code camp when I was 13 (nerd I know :p). I would love to pay someone to bring forth my vision. Are there any resources you would recommend for taking an idea and then finding a developer to bring it to life. I realize this isn't something that can be covered in a forum post and likely requires me taking a course or something of the like.

I'm sure there are course and guides and tutorials on this.

But wanna know what I learned from things like that?

It comes down to common sense. Things if you just sat down and applied them to other things, would be common sense and things you probably have heard or seen in other niches/applications in life.

1. Find someone with good reviews

2. Find someone that fits your budget

3. Communicate weekly if not daily with that person and be very clear on what you want to the letter.

4. Have milestones

5. Test everything.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

bambz

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
74%
Sep 11, 2021
87
64
@eliquid
When you build your saas and e.g. frontend you make in javascript and react and backend in python, do you make the landing page as part of this project or use ready-made generators and transfer from the ready-made landing page to the website you wrote?

And a similar question about payments, account management, subscription, etc. - is this also part of your project and you write it every time yourself or do you use ready-made tools? Well, because I assume that such subscription management as regular downloads from the account has already been implemented by someone hundreds of times.

Best Regards
 

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
@eliquid
When you build your saas and e.g. frontend you make in javascript and react and backend in python, do you make the landing page as part of this project or use ready-made generators and transfer from the ready-made landing page to the website you wrote?

And a similar question about payments, account management, subscription, etc. - is this also part of your project and you write it every time yourself or do you use ready-made tools? Well, because I assume that such subscription management as regular downloads from the account has already been implemented by someone hundreds of times.

Best Regards

If I can find something that does exactly what I want, then I will use a pre-made tool.

The issue is, lots of times you don't know what something will do, exactly, until after you buy it ( if it cost money ).. install it.. debug it... and then test it... and then read lots of code to see if it is scaleable.

That's a lot of time sink.

Time that could have went into, writing it yourself and getting exactly what you want. Of course, this depends on your level of coding.

Someone new to coding or bad, this could take weeks. Someone good, this could take an hour or 2.

I've found that normally I can not find exactly what I want, how I want, with a pre-made tool. And the time to evaluate it, install it, debug it, and read all the code to see where it can scale.. just ends up wasting my time.

Most of things I want are heavily customized though.

You might just want something bland and generic. If so, pre-made will be for you.
 

Ksaeys

PARKED
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
0% - New User
Mar 15, 2023
2
0
Hi all, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Very useful! I am wondering if you could also give some advice about my situation. So please allow me to tell my story to provide some background information.

I currently work for a high demanding top 10 consumer electronics brand worldwide in the marketing/retail environment. I've more than 5 years of experience with 3 different companies within top 10 brands worldwide. I've always been very ambitious and wanted to grow in my role and I tried to build a network within this sector.

Now, my dream is to start my own business just to be able to do my own thing and have complete freedom so that I do not have to be somewhere on a certain time just because my manager is asking me to do so. I really want to have complete autonomy and decide myself on how to spend my time and work from where I want and when I want. Don't get me wrong, it is not that I want to work less or want to have less stress or want to earn much more. It is just an autonomy thing for me.

So why this story in a thread about SAAS you are asking?

Well, during my current job I noticed there is a need for a specialized ERP system to make the process I'm currently working on much easier for a lot of different stakeholders, people in and outside of the company (think about agencies - sales staff in the store).

In the last couple of months I thought of a complete tool on how to make this process much easier. I believe this tool would be hugely beneficial for the company as it will be saving costs as forecasts will be much easier and more accurate. It will lower the workload, it will make it easier to do reporting, files will always be correct and up-to-date so efficiency will be higher.

I have talked with European colleagues and they experience the same issues that I'm facing. So I know it would be useful for them as well. Doing this already on local level would have a big impact, but just image doing this on European or global level as well as within different departments/product groups in the company.


I have also talked with my direct manager about this process and that we should improve it. I shared a few of my ideas on how we could do it and she was very enthusiastic about it and said it would be very useful. I also talked about the cost for implementing something similar and she said that it would be worth it.

As I'm not a programmer and do not know how to develop the software for this tool, I've had contact with different freelancers/companies who can build this. So I have a good idea on the cost for building the tool and also for starting with an MVP. I would sell this tool as a SAAS and ask a monthly subscription.

I believe this would be a CENTS business because:
Control: at the start this would be dangerous because I would depend on one company (where I'm currently working) but I believe the tool would also be useful for other brands and even retailers worldwide. So the market is huge.
Entry: This is a difficult market to get into as you need to know about the problem and you need the network to sell the solution to the right person, which I have thanks to my experience within this sector.
Need: I believe this tool is really needed as it is making things much easier for employees (+-35 persons - in and outside the company would work with the tool on a local level) and next to the convenience it would also be saving costs for the company on the long run.
Time: The tool doesn't need me to be working at certain time or certain place. I can work whenever and wherever I want
Scale: The software is easy scalable to other countries/brands even retailers without the need for extra (big) investment into the software itself only into marketing/sales. Of course it could be possible that certain features need to be finetuned for certain markets.

So now why am I writing this? Because I'm struggling at the moment with a few things.

  1. I'm currently still employed with a good salary. So I'm afraid to give up my job at the moment to start the business. As I'm not able to develop/program the tool myself I need to do an investment of around 100k. So what if I say goodbye to my current job and start with the development. I need to sell this to my current employer, so I need to maintain a good relationship with my manager and rest of management team as I need to convince them to buy the tool. So what if they do not buy the product from me? Then I do not only lose 100K but also my high paying job…
  2. Or should I quit my job and then try to sell it before building the tool? This way I can probably minimize the potential loss to only lose my current job?
  3. I'm struggling with the compliance. If I quit my job, is it allowed for my ex-colleagues to buy this from me…?
  4. If it all works out, should I ask a onetime set-up cost (covering the total amount of development - around 100k) next to the monthly billing? Or should I try to split this development cost between different customers? But what if I do not get any other customers as I'm not 100% sure that other brands would also pay for this solution… I think they would but as I said not 100% sure…
  5. How do I get the 100k that I need to develop the tool? Should I go to a bank and pitch the idea or go to investors? Or try to sell with a one off set-up cost covering the initial investment needed?
  6. How do I set the price for the monthly subscription? Based on the amount of users? Based on the impact the tool makes? Based on the monthly costs I have plus a certain margin? How high should that margin be?

I think deep down I know what I need to do and just take the leap but somehow it is easier said than done as I want to provide for my family and not bring them down with me if it all goes south. So I think some encouraging words to take the leap would be useful. If there is anyone on this forum that has been in this situation, I would very much appreciate if you would want to share on how you dealt with this situation. I would love to learn from you.


Thanks for reading and already thanks for your advice and encouragement.
 
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
Hi all, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Very useful! I am wondering if you could also give some advice about my situation. So please allow me to tell my story to provide some background information.

I currently work for a high demanding top 10 consumer electronics brand worldwide in the marketing/retail environment. I've more than 5 years of experience with 3 different companies within top 10 brands worldwide. I've always been very ambitious and wanted to grow in my role and I tried to build a network within this sector.

Now, my dream is to start my own business just to be able to do my own thing and have complete freedom so that I do not have to be somewhere on a certain time just because my manager is asking me to do so. I really want to have complete autonomy and decide myself on how to spend my time and work from where I want and when I want. Don't get me wrong, it is not that I want to work less or want to have less stress or want to earn much more. It is just an autonomy thing for me.

So why this story in a thread about SAAS you are asking?

Well, during my current job I noticed there is a need for a specialized ERP system to make the process I'm currently working on much easier for a lot of different stakeholders, people in and outside of the company (think about agencies - sales staff in the store).

In the last couple of months I thought of a complete tool on how to make this process much easier. I believe this tool would be hugely beneficial for the company as it will be saving costs as forecasts will be much easier and more accurate. It will lower the workload, it will make it easier to do reporting, files will always be correct and up-to-date so efficiency will be higher.

I have talked with European colleagues and they experience the same issues that I'm facing. So I know it would be useful for them as well. Doing this already on local level would have a big impact, but just image doing this on European or global level as well as within different departments/product groups in the company.


I have also talked with my direct manager about this process and that we should improve it. I shared a few of my ideas on how we could do it and she was very enthusiastic about it and said it would be very useful. I also talked about the cost for implementing something similar and she said that it would be worth it.

As I'm not a programmer and do not know how to develop the software for this tool, I've had contact with different freelancers/companies who can build this. So I have a good idea on the cost for building the tool and also for starting with an MVP. I would sell this tool as a SAAS and ask a monthly subscription.

I believe this would be a CENTS business because:
Control: at the start this would be dangerous because I would depend on one company (where I'm currently working) but I believe the tool would also be useful for other brands and even retailers worldwide. So the market is huge.
Entry: This is a difficult market to get into as you need to know about the problem and you need the network to sell the solution to the right person, which I have thanks to my experience within this sector.
Need: I believe this tool is really needed as it is making things much easier for employees (+-35 persons - in and outside the company would work with the tool on a local level) and next to the convenience it would also be saving costs for the company on the long run.
Time: The tool doesn't need me to be working at certain time or certain place. I can work whenever and wherever I want
Scale: The software is easy scalable to other countries/brands even retailers without the need for extra (big) investment into the software itself only into marketing/sales. Of course it could be possible that certain features need to be finetuned for certain markets.

So now why am I writing this? Because I'm struggling at the moment with a few things.

  1. I'm currently still employed with a good salary. So I'm afraid to give up my job at the moment to start the business. As I'm not able to develop/program the tool myself I need to do an investment of around 100k. So what if I say goodbye to my current job and start with the development. I need to sell this to my current employer, so I need to maintain a good relationship with my manager and rest of management team as I need to convince them to buy the tool. So what if they do not buy the product from me? Then I do not only lose 100K but also my high paying job…
  2. Or should I quit my job and then try to sell it before building the tool? This way I can probably minimize the potential loss to only lose my current job?
  3. I'm struggling with the compliance. If I quit my job, is it allowed for my ex-colleagues to buy this from me…?
  4. If it all works out, should I ask a onetime set-up cost (covering the total amount of development - around 100k) next to the monthly billing? Or should I try to split this development cost between different customers? But what if I do not get any other customers as I'm not 100% sure that other brands would also pay for this solution… I think they would but as I said not 100% sure…
  5. How do I get the 100k that I need to develop the tool? Should I go to a bank and pitch the idea or go to investors? Or try to sell with a one off set-up cost covering the initial investment needed?
  6. How do I set the price for the monthly subscription? Based on the amount of users? Based on the impact the tool makes? Based on the monthly costs I have plus a certain margin? How high should that margin be?

I think deep down I know what I need to do and just take the leap but somehow it is easier said than done as I want to provide for my family and not bring them down with me if it all goes south. So I think some encouraging words to take the leap would be useful. If there is anyone on this forum that has been in this situation, I would very much appreciate if you would want to share on how you dealt with this situation. I would love to learn from you.


Thanks for reading and already thanks for your advice and encouragement.

This was your first post on the forum?
 

Ksaeys

PARKED
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
0% - New User
Mar 15, 2023
2
0
This was your first post on the forum?
Yes it was, why? Maybe it was not the right thread? If so I'm sorry for that. Still trying to find my way around here... I felt the need to write everything down to get it clear in my head and just wanted to get your and if possible other opinions about the situation. Would be highly appreciated.
 

ZackerySprague

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
117%
Jun 26, 2021
1,180
1,385
Fort Worth, Texas
How or what is your process to finding/Identifying problems within the Tech space? I have 7 years of experience. As being a Work From Home worker and what I do, I don't really have enough exposure to find problems within my field. I am just a pencil pusher who install's software, clicking next, next, next.

Do you not mind telling me your process? I do know one method, which is to incorporate yourself or become apart of the tribe/group. Meaning I would have to create a Twitter following and eventually hope along the way that I find problems. Not a bad idea.

Maybe their's another process that I am not seeing?

In terms of my close circle, the only thing so far that has a common theme is how to get their very first IT job. I thought about writing a book and selling it based on my experience on how I got in.
 
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
Yes it was, why? Maybe it was not the right thread? If so I'm sorry for that. Still trying to find my way around here... I felt the need to write everything down to get it clear in my head and just wanted to get your and if possible other opinions about the situation. Would be highly appreciated.

No, it was fine.

It was just a lot, for what was your first post... typically on this forum. lol

A lot of what you are asking, is actually business/life advice and not really SaaS questions.

I look at the world as options. Which choice gives me the most options? But that is me, specifically. Your background and needs may be different.

So in answering your questions, I am keeping them high level and generic as they are not really SaaS questions and also, I have to answer them from my perspective.

1 + 2. I wouldn't leave my job. That's cutting out a huge option for you. I would stick with my job until you can prove this SaaS can pay your bills and more. If you end up feeling you can't stay at the job to grow, I wouldn't leave until you have $100k to pay a developer/help to build the SaaS ( if you can not code it yourself ) and ALSO have 12 months of living expenses saved up.

3. You'd have to go over the employer agreement you signed and also talk to an attorney about this. There is no way for me to know.

4. If you are building a SaaS, you never build for 1 customer. I mean, you could.. but that limits options and introduces a ton of un-needed RISK. You always build for multiple customers... so that should answer the cost question.

5. This is pretty hard to answer. With interest rates the way they are now, there is no way I would ask for a business loan from a bank. But that is me personally. If you really need $100k, I would try to save up and not go into debt over it. This is why I preach learning to code and do things yourself. Most people in your situation can not find investors, so I tend to not answer with that.

6. This is where I preach being a domain authority. If you have experience in this, you already know what the cost should be. This is why I tell people to only build in the domain experience they have, because you could look at competitors and other factors to determine what is currently going on in your industry. Ultimately, each business will be different though based on factors none of us will know like what you spend on cloud hosting, customer service, payroll, what your churn rates are, etc. But knowing your industry well and knowing your competitors well will give you at least some insight. That would be your starting point.
 

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
How or what is your process to finding/Identifying problems within the Tech space? I have 7 years of experience. As being a Work From Home worker and what I do, I don't really have enough exposure to find problems within my field. I am just a pencil pusher who install's software, clicking next, next, next.

Do you not mind telling me your process? I do know one method, which is to incorporate yourself or become apart of the tribe/group. Meaning I would have to create a Twitter following and eventually hope along the way that I find problems. Not a bad idea.

Maybe their's another process that I am not seeing?

In terms of my close circle, the only thing so far that has a common theme is how to get their very first IT job. I thought about writing a book and selling it based on my experience on how I got in.

I feel that maybe, you didn't read the whole thread.

I would go back and start at the beginning and read all 20 pages.

This isn't a dig at you, trust me. It's not.

But the high-level question you are really asking here is answered multiple times in this thread over and over again and it would do you a huge favor to reread the whole thread than me just regurgitating the answer here each time someone asked it.
 

ZackerySprague

Gold Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
117%
Jun 26, 2021
1,180
1,385
Fort Worth, Texas
I feel that maybe, you didn't read the whole thread.

I would go back and start at the beginning and read all 20 pages.

This isn't a dig at you, trust me. It's not.

But the high-level question you are really asking here is answered multiple times in this thread over and over again and it would do you a huge favor to reread the whole thread than me just regurgitating the answer here each time someone asked it.
I’ll go back and read the whole thing, I didn’t, my apologies.
 
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

mojorisin

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
119%
Oct 6, 2019
59
70
@eliquid - I'm working on a SaaS offering that started with solving a financial problem for myself and friends via spreadsheets. I've hired a developer, and we've built the solution to solve my personal problem. I now have 2 others who are using my SaaS product to solve their issue - they are satisfied, and I'm taking feedback from them.

My question to you: there is a massive community I'm a part of who all have this same issue. Its a paid service for advice we all subscribe to, so there is a single leader who we pay for advice. My solution does not conflict with advice, but tracks and records via SaaS vs. individual spreadsheets.

So the question is: how should I approach this community to start using my SaaS offering? Ideally I would sell the community owner who would sponsor my SaaS to the entire community. However I'm nervous he will say no and shut me down lol.

Another part of the question: my thinking is to offer a 90 day beta for free to the first xxx adopters for feedback. Then after 90 days begin charging for the service once its passed QA of xxx members.

Would love your thoughts on my approach here as I may only get 1 shot!

Thanks.
 

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
@eliquid - I'm working on a SaaS offering that started with solving a financial problem for myself and friends via spreadsheets. I've hired a developer, and we've built the solution to solve my personal problem. I now have 2 others who are using my SaaS product to solve their issue - they are satisfied, and I'm taking feedback from them.

My question to you: there is a massive community I'm a part of who all have this same issue. Its a paid service for advice we all subscribe to, so there is a single leader who we pay for advice. My solution does not conflict with advice, but tracks and records via SaaS vs. individual spreadsheets.

So the question is: how should I approach this community to start using my SaaS offering? Ideally I would sell the community owner who would sponsor my SaaS to the entire community. However I'm nervous he will say no and shut me down lol.

Another part of the question: my thinking is to offer a 90 day beta for free to the first xxx adopters for feedback. Then after 90 days begin charging for the service once its passed QA of xxx members.

Would love your thoughts on my approach here as I may only get 1 shot!

Thanks.

I'd first see if they would be interested in being an affiliate for such service, so they could promote to their community.

Give them a free seat/membership and then offer them 20% for life. I wouldn't go into too much how it works though or else you risk the chance of them copying it and now having a competitor who could take all the easy market share ( since they have the community ).

As for the regular users, I would offer them a free trial. 90 days seems a bit long, but maybe you need that amount of time due to your specific SaaS. Normally though, I wouldn't go longer than 30 days. However, there might be a need for you to go 90.
 
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
How did you acquire your first 100 users usually?

You'll have to read the thread from the beginning.

I know somewhere in this thread I answered this.. but you will need to read the thread and find it.
 

BAS

PARKED
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
0% - New User
Jul 13, 2021
3
0
Hello everyone.

A lot of you know me for my digital marketing Gold Thread here on the FLF ( see sig ), as well as other posts in the forum.

What you might not know is that I've successfully built 6 profitable SaaS programs either solely by myself, or with a single partner ( and with no other employees other than VA's ), and that I am working on building my 7th SaaS

I've learned a few things in SaaS over the last 7 years that span:
  • Handling competitors
  • Reducing churn
  • Fraud reduction
  • Technology for SaaS needs
  • Big Data ( billions of new data points daily over years )
  • Increasing LTV
  • APIs
  • Pricing
  • Onboarding
  • Project management
  • Marketing
  • Customer service
  • Partnerships
  • Customer demos/profiles, MVPs, UVP's, ahHa moments, etc
  • many many more things

I've focused all my SaaS programs in the digital marketing space, but I have some ideas for new SaaS programs expanding outside of that for the future.

I can't answer questions related to:
  • Legal - please seek an attorney
  • Specific finance questions about my current or past SaaS programs - I'm not going to divulge other than generalities to the public. I can verify for a mod though if needed.
  • Info on verticals outside of digital marketing - meaning if you have a SaaS for doctors and you ask me a specific medical question, I won't know it if it pertains to doctors or medical
  • LLC vs Scorp Vs etc - This is legal
  • How long is a piece of string type questions

And before anyone asks.. NO, not all 6 SaaS are currently running right now. I closed down the first 5 over the years at different times due to either partner problems or interest died off for me and I rolled into the next SaaS combining ideas to make something new.

For clarification, I am running 1 active SaaS right now and building another ( the 7th ) that is not public atm since it is not finished.

Ask away!


P.S. - Listen, I'm a different type of person. I have very unique views that don't always fit the norm you might have heard elsewhere. What I tell you is what has worked for me and the way I see things from my own personal experience. There are many ways to skin a cat. If you don't agree, that's cool but always think things over for yourself and what will work for you.

.
I'm building realr.ai ,my skills are graphic design predominantly, what steps should I take to grow
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Vasudev Soni

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
105%
Jul 31, 2022
194
203
22
Ghaziabad, IN
Hello everyone.

A lot of you know me for my digital marketing Gold Thread here on the FLF ( see sig ), as well as other posts in the forum.

What you might not know is that I've successfully built 6 profitable SaaS programs either solely by myself, or with a single partner ( and with no other employees other than VA's ), and that I am working on building my 7th SaaS

I've learned a few things in SaaS over the last 7 years that span:
  • Handling competitors
  • Reducing churn
  • Fraud reduction
  • Technology for SaaS needs
  • Big Data ( billions of new data points daily over years )
  • Increasing LTV
  • APIs
  • Pricing
  • Onboarding
  • Project management
  • Marketing
  • Customer service
  • Partnerships
  • Customer demos/profiles, MVPs, UVP's, ahHa moments, etc
  • many many more things

I've focused all my SaaS programs in the digital marketing space, but I have some ideas for new SaaS programs expanding outside of that for the future.

I can't answer questions related to:
  • Legal - please seek an attorney
  • Specific finance questions about my current or past SaaS programs - I'm not going to divulge other than generalities to the public. I can verify for a mod though if needed.
  • Info on verticals outside of digital marketing - meaning if you have a SaaS for doctors and you ask me a specific medical question, I won't know it if it pertains to doctors or medical
  • LLC vs Scorp Vs etc - This is legal
  • How long is a piece of string type questions

And before anyone asks.. NO, not all 6 SaaS are currently running right now. I closed down the first 5 over the years at different times due to either partner problems or interest died off for me and I rolled into the next SaaS combining ideas to make something new.

For clarification, I am running 1 active SaaS right now and building another ( the 7th ) that is not public atm since it is not finished.

Ask away!


P.S. - Listen, I'm a different type of person. I have very unique views that don't always fit the norm you might have heard elsewhere. What I tell you is what has worked for me and the way I see things
Hello, I co-founded an app with @Jai Mittal approximately four months ago. Since then, we've garnered around 20,000 downloads with approximately 5,000 active users. Of these numbers, roughly 75% of them are organic while 25% come from paid advertising on Google. Our app is designed for buying and selling used products near your location.

I have a few questions that I'd like to ask:

  1. How can I improve user engagement and generate thousands of organic downloads on a daily basis?
  2. Is it possible to secure investment at this stage given our low revenue from AdMob and in-app purchases?
  3. Our app is built using Flutter (Dart) and relies on Firebase as its backend. Is it sustainable to keep using these technologies as our app grows, or should we consider switching to something else? If the latter, what would you suggest?
  4. Do you have any other advice that could help me navigate the challenges of running an app?
 

MaximilianT

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
84%
Jun 25, 2021
49
41
17
Italy
Hi @eliquid , @gilli and me founded a Analytics SaaS and are currently building the dashboard etc, do you recommend using css frameworks like tailwind? Because a major problem with building the frontend is "doing things yourself", because building all the css and especially logic components from scratch costs enormous amounts of time and therefore, what is your opinion on those frameworks? Is for example tailwind worth it or not?
 

Vasudev Soni

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
105%
Jul 31, 2022
194
203
22
Ghaziabad, IN
Hi @eliquid , @gilli and me founded a Analytics SaaS and are currently building the dashboard etc, do you recommend using css frameworks like tailwind? Because a major problem with building the frontend is "doing things yourself", because building all the css and especially logic components from scratch costs enormous amounts of time and therefore, what is your opinion on those frameworks? Is for example tailwind worth it or not?
Using tailwind is definitively worth it. It will save you lots of time which you can spend on improving the features and functionality of the dashboard.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Vasudev Soni

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
105%
Jul 31, 2022
194
203
22
Ghaziabad, IN
Hello, I co-founded an app with @Jai Mittal approximately four months ago. Since then, we've garnered around 20,000 downloads with approximately 5,000 active users. Of these numbers, roughly 75% of them are organic while 25% come from paid advertising on Google. Our app is designed for buying and selling used products near your location.

I have a few questions that I'd like to ask:

  1. How can I improve user engagement and generate thousands of organic downloads on a daily basis?
  2. Is it possible to secure investment at this stage given our low revenue from AdMob and in-app purchases?
  3. Our app is built using Flutter (Dart) and relies on Firebase as its backend. Is it sustainable to keep using these technologies as our app grows, or should we consider switching to something else? If the latter, what would you suggest?
  4. Do you have any other advice that could help me navigate the challenges of running an app?
Hey, any suggestions on this?
 

Raja

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
90%
Dec 31, 2019
740
668
Hi @eliquid , @gilli and me founded a Analytics SaaS and are currently building the dashboard etc, do you recommend using css frameworks like tailwind? Because a major problem with building the frontend is "doing things yourself", because building all the css and especially logic components from scratch costs enormous amounts of time and therefore, what is your opinion on those frameworks? Is for example tailwind worth it or not?
Max you can use daisy ui, its a component library on top of tailwind. also checkout shadcn tailwind if you are using react based framework.

I have generally seen a productivity boost using tailwind.
 

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
Update:

I started a X/Twitter. If you like to read about my thoughts on SaaS, marketing, and business and learn more things I didn't share in this SaaS thread.. then you might want to read my postings on X at


Would appreciate any follows and interaction.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,699
Ireland
Update:

I started a X/Twitter. If you like to read about my thoughts on SaaS, marketing, and business and learn more things I didn't share in this SaaS thread.. then you might want to read my postings on X at


Would appreciate any follows and interaction.
I've not been on Twitter for months. Will follow though.

What about posting the same content to LinkedIn?
 

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've not been on Twitter for months. Will follow though.

What about posting the same content to LinkedIn?
Thank you Andy.

The fact you are willing to follow even though you aren't using X much reminds me why I love you so much.
 

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've not been on Twitter for months. Will follow though.

What about posting the same content to LinkedIn?

I prob will to LinkedIn at some point.

In the past, I would jump on all the social media channels at once and try to fill them all with content every day all the time.

I got super burnt out and bored real quick.

I decided this time around, I was going to post to 1 channel... learn it inside and out even if it kills me... and once mastered move to the next channel.

So, started with Twitter/X and then once I get the engagement and followers I want and the funnel I want, then move to LinkedIn.

Will come, but just doing it differently this time around.
 
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 man, I heard you're shutting down?

SERPWoo, went offline 30 days ago. Shutdown was Sept 15th.

Tech will be used internally by partners and some of the tech is getting used to start new SaaS offerings.
 

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