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How to sell clients their own idea as a SaaS?

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I recently learned about a need/problem in my market, as two of my security freelancing clients wanted to hire me to help develop this security solution for them.

They are planning to develop the solution and make it open source. What's in it for them is that they will get the solution as well as good PR and possibly free contributions.

The price they were willing to pay for help with a part of the solution was $15k. They would then need to internally develop the rest of it, which would cost them ~$30-45k.

I preliminarily accepted their offer, but they are getting funding for it in ~6 months. So not closed yet.

I had some down time from freelancing gigs and did some research of the solution they are after, as well as its market. I ended up developing a working PoC of the whole solution just out of curiosity.

Now I haven't told my clients nor published the PoC. The source code I don't want to publish. I am not sure this PoC contains all the features they are after, but I am confident it contains the most important ones.

I am interested in turning this PoC into a product and charging monthly for its usage. My plan is to give this PoC with essential functionality for free, to discourage anyone from creating an open source solution for it. And then have a pro version with extra functionality and support for a monthly price.

Doing the math, it would make sense for my clients to use the $60k for monthly payments and get a working product with updates and support from day one. I estimated that the price would be ~$300/month, which would mean over 16 years of usage for their money. Then they wouldn't get the good PR though.

However, I am afraid how my clients will react if I suddenly show up with a full solution, when they had the idea that they would do the lion's share of it themselves. Im any case I need their feedback to add the extra functionality to the pro version.

Should I just release the PoC, let them know and then ask for feedback?

How does my plan sound? How should I approach my clients about this?
 
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Pux O jewip'v vumf nz dmoipvt pus qacmotjif vji QuD. Vji tuasdi dufi O fup'v xepv vu qacmotj. O en puv tasi vjot QuD dupveopt emm vji gievasit vjiz esi egvis, cav O en dupgofipv ov dupveopt vji nutv onqusvepv upit.

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O xuamfp'v xussz vuu nadj ecuav uqip tuasdif emvispevowit cideati vjiz siraosi tuniupi xovj tlomm vu nepehi, tu OO xuamfp'v miv vjev tvuq zua gsun djeshoph gus zuas ittipvoem gievasit. Dzcis dsoni ot e namvo-vsommoup fummes eppaem opfatvsz, tu og zua jewi e raemovz tumavoup vu e coh qsucmin, qiuqmi xomm qez gus ov.

O'mm dunnipv nusi mevis. O jewi vu sap.
 
Nuufmi, e miespoph tugvxesi qmevgusn, jet uqip tuasdif vjios dufi epf qiuqmi dep ati ov gus gsii, cav vjiz tvomm djeshi moli $90L qis zies gus vjios ipvisqsoti qmep xjisi vjiz jutv ov epf fu uvjis tvagg. Vxovvis emtu nefi vjios dufi uqip tuasdi, cav huuf madl vu epzupi vszoph vu dunqivi xovj Vxovvis atoph katv vjios dufi.

O xuamfp'v xussz vuu nadj ecuav uqip tuasdif emvispevowit cideati vjiz siraosi tuniupi xovj tlomm vu nepehi, tu OO xuamfp'v miv vjev tvuq zua gsun djeshoph gus zuas ittipvoem gievasit. Dzcis dsoni ot e namvo-vsommoup fummes eppaem opfatvsz, tu og zua jewi e raemovz tumavoup vu e coh qsucmin, qiuqmi xomm qez gus ov.

O'mm dunnipv nusi mevis. O jewi vu sap.
O nutvmz ehsii xovj zua ecuav vji uqip tuasdi vjoph. Vjisi esi vjiti qsukidvt vszoph vu tumwi tuni tactiv ug vji teni qsucmin up Hovjac, cav vjiz esi nutvmz apfudanipvif, siraosi e muv ug tivaq vu hiv xusloph, epf jewi tiip aqfevit 5 ziest ehu. Vjisigusi vjiz siemmz hiv pu atist us woixt, iydiqv gus vji siemmz vidjpodem upit epf vji upit muuloph vu fiwimuq e civvis tumavoup (moli ni).

Et vji uvjis vetlt esi ataemmz siemmz cusoph, O en puv tisouatmz egseof ug uqip tuasdi qsukidvt ievoph nz mapdj. Juxiwis, uqipoph vji tuasdi ug nz qsufadv fuit puv jimq ni op epz xez epf xuamf neli ov ietois gus gavasi dunqivovoup vu hiv vu vji nesliv.

Xjz O xepv vu howi vji ittipvoem gapdvoupemovz gus gsii ot emtu vjev ov nelit quvipvoem dmoipvt genomoes xovj nz qsufadv epf dunqepz. Effovoupemmz ov qsuwofit ni xovj wovem giifcedl epf epemzvodt vjev O dep ati vu onqsuwi qsufadv. Howoph ov gus gsii xomm uqip fuust vu howoph vemlt epf xusltjuqt jux vu ati ov op iwipvt nz dmoipvt evvipf vu.
 
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You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.

  • Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
  • MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
  • Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
  • Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."
— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."
— User Richard Peck

"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?

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