I will update here as I move further along in my SaaS project.
This particular one started mid 2017 while I was doing work (for free) developing someone else's idea that didn't gain any traction. I subconsciously knew that I had little control in that case and wanted to work in an area I have much more familiarity with.
My product:
Sparing a lot of detail, it will compete with existing products with better overall value. Since I'm an expert/master in the particular field, I think the product will be viable after launch, attempting sales, adjusting course, and correcting the product/developing extensions. There's a lot of upward growth in area.
I'm doing the coding myself because the area is highly specialized and regular programmers would need significant guidance (my time) as it is outside of their curricula. Once traction has been made, I will likely outsource/hire the front end and focus on the secret sauce in the back end. At some point with positive sales, I plan on dropping my main job and focusing on this full time until it manages itself or I sell it off. I enjoy this work, and there's a lot of value to be added in the space with potentially millions of users, but I need to bootstrap it to that level.
My tools:
Vim/JS/Elixir/Rust - I'm totally self-taught. On all of these. This is also not my first project in any of these. Each of these languages has a use that, if used appropriately, will be game changing for this app for performance, consistency, and reliability.
What I have:
Partially working UI with a running and properly hosted backend. I've had others visit it and ensure they could use it/find bugs. I got what I think is the most challenging part of the UI working after lots of trial and error. It's not perfect, but it works.
What is still needed:
I need to finish the basic front end of the MVP. Then, I plan on plugging it into the existing database, add user restrictions, and set up a payment system. These so far have been simpler than the UI, as I've practiced them on other apps. Then, advertise, find customers with cold calls/emails/posts, and pull out all the Ziglar I can to get some sales.
If the product does not sell after substantial effort, I plan to evaluate and improve/iterate until viable.
What I did today:
Expanded use of a design pattern for the UI to complete the MVP.
My obstacles:
I want to turn this thread into a success thread. Soon.
This particular one started mid 2017 while I was doing work (for free) developing someone else's idea that didn't gain any traction. I subconsciously knew that I had little control in that case and wanted to work in an area I have much more familiarity with.
My product:
Sparing a lot of detail, it will compete with existing products with better overall value. Since I'm an expert/master in the particular field, I think the product will be viable after launch, attempting sales, adjusting course, and correcting the product/developing extensions. There's a lot of upward growth in area.
I'm doing the coding myself because the area is highly specialized and regular programmers would need significant guidance (my time) as it is outside of their curricula. Once traction has been made, I will likely outsource/hire the front end and focus on the secret sauce in the back end. At some point with positive sales, I plan on dropping my main job and focusing on this full time until it manages itself or I sell it off. I enjoy this work, and there's a lot of value to be added in the space with potentially millions of users, but I need to bootstrap it to that level.
My tools:
Vim/JS/Elixir/Rust - I'm totally self-taught. On all of these. This is also not my first project in any of these. Each of these languages has a use that, if used appropriately, will be game changing for this app for performance, consistency, and reliability.
What I have:
Partially working UI with a running and properly hosted backend. I've had others visit it and ensure they could use it/find bugs. I got what I think is the most challenging part of the UI working after lots of trial and error. It's not perfect, but it works.
What is still needed:
I need to finish the basic front end of the MVP. Then, I plan on plugging it into the existing database, add user restrictions, and set up a payment system. These so far have been simpler than the UI, as I've practiced them on other apps. Then, advertise, find customers with cold calls/emails/posts, and pull out all the Ziglar I can to get some sales.
If the product does not sell after substantial effort, I plan to evaluate and improve/iterate until viable.
What I did today:
Expanded use of a design pattern for the UI to complete the MVP.
My obstacles:
- Distractions:
- I spend too much time on the web non-productively. I've set up my hosts file on my work laptop to now block reddit automatically, which was huge timesink.
- Negative thoughts:
- Whatever past issues I've had in my youth tend to crop up and tell me I'm not good enough, that I can't program, blah blah blah. My resolution is to visualize my goals more and remind myself of my other successes.
- Conflicting Relationships
- I've had 2 relationships that consumed a lot of time every weekend that kept me from focusing on my apps. My last one was more supportive, but balked at me wanting to take time off and get a lot done in one chunk instead of use that time to vacation with her.
- Complacency
- I'm well paid for my job and I'm very efficient at it. This makes me very lackadaisical on work days when I feel like I've already accomplished some things. However, I'm reminded of how much I want to escape on the bad days/weeks.
- My plan is to shift my schedule around until I find something that works. For me, this is waking up later, taking a cold shower after easy calisthenics, and doing this effort mostly after work. Most of my productive time is at night anyway. Previously, I was waking up early and doing some things before work. On some days, it was very effective, but lately it was unproductive.
- Paralysis by Analysis
- Overanalyzing ideas so much that acting on the project fails. This is actually typical for people of my background, which is part of why my particular app is so well suited for it. It is geared to stop the paralysis. Fixing this for myself will be a constant challenge and I'll need to setup deadlines for some tasks.
I want to turn this thread into a success thread. Soon.
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