101–110 of 165 posts
I think it is doable. I write a few desktop apps (text editor) for OS X, Windows, Linux, iPad and I have a few games in the app store with more coming. Some days I pull my hair out from the stress but overall I am happy writing the products.
Yes it's possible. I've been doing it for nearly four years now running networking infrastructure software which has even stricter requirements than a typical SaaS business. It's not easy though. Assuming you have product/market fit (i.e. something that sells): Reliability is paramount. It is everything to you. If your system breaks, it will stop new development, marketing, support responses, sales calls. Because the…
> By the time they get to the docs they're already frustrated, so it needs to be fantastic.
Well said.
You might be interested in http://www.microconf.com/ I went to the conferences when I was a one man startup, and it was helpful.
I've heard many things on Microconf from Mike and Rob on Startups for the Rest of Us. The problem is paying for a ticket as well as airfare to get there. Due to family financial responsibilities my company operates its own accounts and can only spend what it takes in. I'm currently down to a couple hundred dollars and I have monthly expenses that take cuts out of that. Any sort of conference is out of the question. I…
There was some useful stuff on landing page optimization.
patio11 gave a talk that year that was great.
I also found it helpful to talk to other people doing the same thing I was. A solo startup can be kind of isolating.
So it isn't anything you need to do. As I mentioned below this, the book "Start Small, Stay Small" has a lot of the practical stuff, if $25 is more in your budget.
Not the same thing exactly, but I'm able to run 2 ecommerce sites with non-trivial sales volumes, by myself. The two biggest things that make this possible: a) Email support only, no telephone support (sales or post sales). Not everyone likes it, of course, but if you're determined to be a one man band, it's essential. b) Automation of every single thing you can. For you, it would be a different list, but I had to au…
This is important. Redundancy and automation are your allies, but it is prudent to implement some sort of keyman insurance.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Word. I started my current SaaS with the goal of working 10hrs a week and making 15k a month. I'm getting close to my monthly revenue goal but if I'm not sleeping, I'm working. I don't regret it. I'm enjoying the challenge now but it wasn't what I had thought I was getting myself into. I truly underestimated the gravity of emails and support requests. As a one man shop, it can grind entire days to a halt. Passive inf…
Didn't you mix up the goal and the result? As a fellow (though happy) SaaS owner I'm trying to imagine being in your shoes. My goal is spending my time on something (~a problem) that interests me and hearing that customers benefit from what I offer. I think that is the awesome part of it. This results in freedom and earning money, among other things. I don't earn as much as you but I care very little as long as I can…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Word. I started my current SaaS with the goal of working 10hrs a week and making 15k a month. I'm getting close to my monthly revenue goal but if I'm not sleeping, I'm working. I don't regret it. I'm enjoying the challenge now but it wasn't what I had thought I was getting myself into. I truly underestimated the gravity of emails and support requests. As a one man shop, it can grind entire days to a halt. Passive inf…
I know support, especially good support, is a hard problem to solve. However have you explored documenting processes in extreme detail in order to outsource that part of the business? The upfront investment would be great, but the returns in time alone would seem worth it.
I built Jollyturns ( https://jollyturns.com ), a ski and snowboarding oriented business. I currently have a fairly extensive web site, and two mobile apps, on iOS and Android. I started with the iOS mobile app, I wanted something to show me on a ski resort's map where my friends are, and keep track of my skiing statistics. I tried finding a partner to work with, but that's pretty much impossible in Silicon Valley whe…
Balsamiq Mockups is a good example that microISVs are still viable. At least, Peldi (the founder and sole dev initially) started off solo some years ago, was solo for a while, and became successful while still solo. Then got some employees over time due to more growth. http://balsamiq.com Source: I read about Balsamiq Mockups soon after it was created, used it in some commercial projects as a consultant/freelancer, c…
First got to know of him via his blog:
and have corresponded with him too on a few occasions.
He has many interesting / useful posts about the ISV business on his blog - on many aspects - from technical (he uses C++ and Qt) to commercial, though more of the latter, IIRC. I've read many, and found them interesting. Just got one today in my email, in fact. It's about how one-day sales helped him boost his sales some. (He tries various marketing / sales experiments now and then.) Another interesting thing is that he reviews or interviews other microISVs and their products sometimes - those posts are interesting too. There was one about a file compare tool which was doing quite well - Beyond Compare.
He also started another desktop product, HyperPlan, much after the first, and I read that it too is doing okay.
I built Jollyturns ( https://jollyturns.com ), a ski and snowboarding oriented business. I currently have a fairly extensive web site, and two mobile apps, on iOS and Android. I started with the iOS mobile app, I wanted something to show me on a ski resort's map where my friends are, and keep track of my skiing statistics. I tried finding a partner to work with, but that's pretty much impossible in Silicon Valley whe…
Glad to hear this exists. Ive had a few whims to build something similar myself over the years but cellular data was missing or spotty in most resorts so i tabled the idea. How do you get around this problem? Or perhaps coverage at resorts is much better than it was now.