SAAS Execution, Dane Maxwell style

[tafy]

Martin, You are not going for cleaning business apps anymore? E-learning now?

Funnily enough my friend is going into education market with his saas app, my advice to you is target schools and teachers and they will pay for anything that saves time.

 

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

[MartinH]

Martin, You are not going for cleaning business apps anymore? E-learning now?

Funnily enough my friend is going into education market with his saas app, my advice to you is target schools and teachers and they will pay for anything that saves time.

No, I'll stick to the property cleaning industry for now. E-Learning is just a personal passion of mine so in my free-time I want to pursue that.

 

[tafy]

Ah a true entrepreneur brain, always looking for opportunities

 

[Ellis]

This is a great thread. I am also beginning to follow the foundation recipe for starting a SaaS. Martin H, if you want to start a group or maybe get some skype calls going for inspiration and to bounce some ideas off of one another, that might me beneficial for both of us. Let me know what you think.

Ellis.

 

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

[MartinH]

Day 41:
I learned more about rails today. I'm reading books / web articles, watching tutorial videos, doing interactive tutorials and so far I really like the diversity of the learning material.
At the same time I observe what kind of tutorial is most popular in the community and I'll try to design a platform that combines the most popular concepts. Learning is something I genuinely enjoy (as does any entrepreneur I guess - out of necessity) so it's a passion of mine to make learning as efficient and easy as possible.
We'll see how far I'll come with this. So far it's only an idea, a vague concept.

 

[MartinH]

Day 42 + 43
I was invited to a party in bavaria so that meant a lot of time driving in the car and I only got back today in the afternoon.
I really focused on developing a clear concept for this e-learning platform I'd like to create and I got feedback from a lot of people.

 

[MartinH]

Day 44:
Basically spent the whole day doing research on the e-learning market and learning theories.
I had little to do apart from that so I simply did it because I enjoyed it very much!



Day 45:
I went to my programming mentor's office and showed him the app I developed for him and luckily he gave me two hours of his time and corrected my mistakes and explained some Rails concepts that I was not yet familiar with. This really helped me move forward.
Later that day I drove to my uncle's place because tomorrow I'll meet a controller for a major property cleaning company and validate the idea of my potential business partner in that industry: What I want to do is simply find out if there's demand for what this guy I want to partner with thought out and developed and if there is that would give me a new focus...

 

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

[MartinH]

Day 46:
I had a long conversation with the controller of a big property cleaning company and we discussed this project I
wanted to do for public procurement. Turns out there's no real need for something like that, for property cleaning companies at least.
But the software is aimed at state owned companies anyway so I spoke with the CEO of a public institution and he told me there could be need for software like that but at the moment his company lets a consulting company do the "dirty work" (public procurement and evaluation of bids).
It's not easy to sell to state owned companies anyway, even if you save them money/time, and this particular software would not be easy to program and I'd have to update it several times per year because laws and requirements change all the time.
So I'll pass on that project and try to do something easier (that's also easier to sell )...

 

[MartinH]

Day 47:
Spent the day programming a little bit and working on this new concept for a learning platform.
I still feel like the Dane Maxwell method is awesome but at the moment I'm even more excited about this other path.

 

[davedev]

Dude you're rockin' out.

Keep at it.

 

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

[tafy]

So you still going after the cleaning businesses or education? Getting confused

 

[MartinH]

So you still going after the cleaning businesses or education? Getting confused

Not exactly. I finished a software project for a property cleaning company after I found a relatively small pain and now after one week of research and talking with people about a different project (public procurement software) for property cleaning companies I decided I won't even start that because it's too hard to market and too hard to make.
So before I go back making calls I wanted to test this idea I had for a learning platform.

Day 48:
I created several concepts on canvanizer to gain a better understanding about the learning platform I'd like to start.
Really awesome app, I recommend it to every entrepreneur starting out. Thanks @nickR8 for the hint!

I did a lot of research in the e-learning market and there are a lot of competitors. Especially for coding / tech stuff.
The market literally exploded. I was writing an ebook about e-learning back in 2012 and so many new e-learning start-ups have emerged since then, it's amazing. Still, the concept I want to pursue is pretty unique.

Apart from that I finished two small applications (the invoice app and the app for my RoR mentor) and I'll get paid during the next few days so I'm pretty happy about that. I didn't want to work at a job just to make a living while pursuing my ventures so it was pretty convenient that I kind of "eased" into programming because without any trouble it's generated more money than I ever made at a full time job - and I've been programming only a couple of days for those projects

 

[MartinH]

Day 49:

Didn't get so much done today, maybe because I'm not focused on just one project anymore but many...

MJ said somewhere
"If you truly want to change your life, you need to quantify those goals.
Mathematics is measurable -- subjective statements are not."

My goals are not SMART at the moment so I have to get more specific.

I have many different plans the the upcoming week, I hope I can make them specific enough to achieve my goals.

Something unexpected happened after all:
The CEO I spoke with two weeks ago called me and invited me to his place next week to discuss our potential partnership for this public procurement software (that I had already given up on a few days ago). He sounded really excited and I want to give this partnership a try.

I'm also really tempted to put in some time to acquire clients for programming & web design work - just to see how many different clients I can get. I could do much work myself and outsource the rest, after my initial success I feel like software development is something pretty lucrative (And also easy to do if it's for "small" projects)


From what I've read on Dane's Blog several successful Foundation students didn't actually get recurring revenue (and build a SaaS company) but instead simply sold software.
Following Dane's method has led me on a path as a freelance developer myself.
I could use my newfound knowledge to acquire more customers and let (cheap) freelance developers develop that software for me --> simply found a software development agency OK, that wouldn't really be passive income like I planned but it would be an income.

I followed the whole "to code or not to code" debate on this forum and from my own experience I can say that learning to code has given me an invaluable insight into many areas I didn't understand earlier. And it is definitely a valuable skill.
And combined with sales skills knowing how to code is even mightier...

 

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

[Steve Daar]

I just joined and this thread caught my eye bc it mentioned Dane.

Met him at a conference about a month ago & had no idea who he was.

Awesome guy.
-------

Skimmed through the thread - - I admire your commitment to consistent action dude. Congrats on the progress.

 

[MartinH]

Day 50:

I got more serious about Rails and installed RubyMine, Tower and iTerm and connected everything with my Nitrous box.
I'm also close to finishing Micheal Hartl's tutorial. I sent a few rails developers a message on LinkedIn to connect with them and hopefully learn something

I created a powerpoint presentation about my learning platform (only for personal use - to structure my thoughts)
and a flowchart for the UX and a few mockups for a potential UI.
Did a lot of research for tools to use to build the functionality and read many blog posts about the future of e-learning and similar topics.
From what I read in reviews of conventional e-learning courses and from what psychologists advice my concept would fit very nicely.
As a matter of fact, the few courses that currently exist that follow a similar concept as mine received feedback like "best tutorial ever" or "never learned so much in any other tutorial". I'm pretty optimistic. E-learning is the future and my passion for quality learning resources combined with my disdain for "traditional" education in colleges will definitely drive my project forward.

 

[JimmyRose]

Hey dude good to see you are still plugging away. On developing Rails apps for clients - that could be a really good way to go in the interim while you work out what you want to build.

I hit a kind of crisis point a few weeks ago, and had to fix cashflow ASAP. Given that I've been doing web marketing, SEO, websites etc for years I started offering it publicly and telling people I know that I do "marketing and websites". Have got a bunch of clients really quickly which has helped out a TON. It might be harder to get clients quickly with custom web apps, but they payout is more, and it's definitely a potential road you can go down

 

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

[MartinH]

Hey dude good to see you are still plugging away. On developing Rails apps for clients - that could be a really good way to go in the interim while you work out what you want to build.

I hit a kind of crisis point a few weeks ago, and had to fix cashflow ASAP. Given that I've been doing web marketing, SEO, websites etc for years I started offering it publicly and telling people I know that I do "marketing and websites". Have got a bunch of clients really quickly which has helped out a TON. It might be harder to get clients quickly with custom web apps, but they payout is more, and it's definitely a potential road you can go down

Sure man, always moving forward
I'm glad that you could make some quick money using your skills!
It's definitely harder to find clients that want custom (web) apps developed (at least for now, because I'm just starting out) but you're right, once I find them even a small project brings in 4-figures.

Day 51:
I did a SWOT analysis for my learning-platform-idea and it encouraged me even further. It's looking good so far.
I'm procrastinating a little bit but my next step forward should be finding a teacher for a specific subject and having him create a first lesson for that platform, just to test if there is demand for what I'm offering. If I could get a well-known teacher to work with me I'd have access to his current students through his email list and could test more directly and get valuable feedback.

Later that day I had an awesome video call with my mentor and he took more than two hours to help me solve a few problems I had with an application and to explain some Rails conventions and how I could use Git more effectively, something I had avoided until now

Watching him solve problems within minutes that had annoyed me for hours was very insightful and definitely motivated me to learn more.

 

[MartinH]

Day 52:
I was working on a project for my mentor for many hours and he joined me on google hangouts to help me from time to time.
There's so much to learn, it's a bit overwhelming.
I really want to get better at coding, it's (for me) the easiest way to make a living without investing too much of my time.

 

[MartinH]

Day 53:

I won't get much work done today, it's a friend's birthday and the hottest day of the year
So we're gonna have a BBQ and cold beers in the sun. I'm looking forward to this because I didn't go out with friends so much lately.

 

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

[MartinH]

Day 54:
I read a few books today, mostly for programming Ruby. Then I watched some screencasts and later started creating mockups for different views of my learning platform.

It's weird, I started out 54 days ago and was convinced I really want to pursue this Maxwell method:
It's all about finding a pain in a certain industry and solving that pain with a SaaS product.
Then I realized that what this method does is help me become a software entrepreneur without technical skills.
So I decided to become a software developer with technical skills instead

During the past weeks I found out that almost every business I talked with had painful problems that could actually be solved with software BUT most businesses in my target industry didn't have the same problems. Or even when they did they needed completely different solutions to that problem due to countless different parameters.
It is nearly impossible to find a problem that is relatively easy to solve AND valuable enough for me to charge >100€/month or 12k€/year respectively and that many companies share.

 

[tafy]

It is nearly impossible to find a problem that is relatively easy to solve AND valuable enough for me to charge >100€/month or 12k€/year respectively and that many companies share.

You dont want easy to solve, you want hard to solve so that you service is valuable and hard for competitors to enter

 

[Carrots]

Could you tell us your programming journey and how you learned?

 

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

[MartinH]

Could you tell us your programming journey and how you learned?

Sure, I might just do that but in a different thread I'll let you know.


Day 55:
Spent some time reading "Agile Web Development with Rails" and building that depot application.
I also watched a lot of video tutorials and then created a detailed to do list for next week.

I'm planning to meet one, maybe two CEO's of big hospital chains in my area to discuss my potential business partner's idea
for public procurement software.
Next week I'll meet that business partner and tell him whether or not I'll build this software.

In the evening I worked on mockups for my learning platform and read many reviews of popular learning platforms online always looking for complaints or criticism :joyful:
I also refined my USP and the overall concept and created different powerpoint presentations -
one to describe the concept and another to show the UX.

 

[MartinH]

Day 56:
I divided my time equally between coding and working on my learning platform.
I'm progressing with both and it's fun. I made enough money so I won't have to concentrate on making money for a few weeks and I'm using this free time for getting better at coding and jumpstarting my learning platform.
I intend to have an MVP ready and publish the first lesson by August this year
My sister and my girlfriend both finished their studies and they agreed to help me with this project.
If the MVP will take off and if my concept would be superior to what's on the market right now I will also look for a co-founder with a marketing background.

At the same time I might still continue selling software to property cleaning companies, though, because

 

[tafy]

At the same time I might still continue selling software to property cleaning companies

You need to choose a path and stick to it till the bitter end

 

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

[MartinH]

You need to choose a path and stick to it till the bitter end

I know what you mean but atm I'm still finding my path

Day 57:
Didn't get much done today, spent time with my family and times passed too fast...
In the end I still managed to build a small personal project in Rails and I made some more mockups for my learning platform and started building the landing page.

 

[MartinH]

Day 58:
I didn't have a detailed plan for today so I just did whatever I felt like doing.
I registered a domain for my learning platform. Took me many hours + Seth Godin to figure out a short, clear and memorable name for the platform.
I also set up a meeting for next week with a potential business partner (property cleaner) and prepared a lot of questions + a SWOT analysis for the product we'd be working on together.
Also I got a lot done in Rails, played around with different gems for authentication and tried to wrap my head around testing with Rspec

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Your thread has been renamed to a more appropriate title. Good luck with the project Martin.

 

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

[MartinH]

Good luck with the project Martin.

Thank you MJ, that means a lot me!

 

[MartinH]

Day 59 + Day 60:

It's been about 2 months now since I started calling companies and looking for painful problems to solve.

I made about $3k in june (which is more than I ever made in a single month )
by selling an invoice application to a property cleaner and
creating small web-apps for my programming mentor.

To make that amount of money I worked only about 45 hours which is good but I won't get any "passive" income from this.
I got much better at programming in the past two months and went from a being total noob to being able to create (simple but fully functional) web apps in Rails and Mac OS X runtime applications in Filemaker Pro Advanced.
I got a freelance job (working for & with my mentor) which enables me to make enough money to survive and at the same time doesn't consume too much time so I can still concentrate on other projects.

I'm currently working on several projects:
1. Public procurement software for property cleaning companies
2. Sell the invoice app I created to small businesses
3. Create a learning platform

I will stop posting daily and only post updates weekly.
It was a fun journey so far and I learned really much.
Thanks to all the people in this thread and the people who sent PM's, you really helped me a lot, especially when I just got started!